Morin Peak

Posted on by par

May 31, 2025. Tagging an unofficial peak neighbouring one of the Crowsnest Pass’s most popular early-season objectives.

  • Region: Crowsnest Pass. Traditional Territory of the Blackfoot, Tsuu T’ina and Ktunaxa First Nations
  • Distance: 2.2 km round-trip from South Livingstone Peak
  • Total Ascent: 240 m due to repeated loss and gain of altitude out-and-back from South Livingstone Peak
  • Elevation of Objective: 2204 m
  • Total Time: 2h 15m round-trip from South Livingstone Peak
  • Safety and Disclaimer

Immediately west of Livingstone South Peak is a slightly lower outlier, unofficially named Morin Peak (a mountain in the Terrace region of British Columbia is the official Morin Peak). On previous trips to the top of Livingstone South I’d looked west and pondered whether to go tag Morin, but never actually went and did it. For the last day of May 2025 I decided to return to Livingstone South Peak with the explicit goal to carry on from there to reach the summit of Morin Peak.

The route isn’t described in any of my books. A number of online sources (see below) describe an ascent from the west which starts in roughly the same place as the trail to the ghost town of Lille. I was a hesitant to approach from that direction since it would involve weaving around some private property. Vern Dewit, however, approached from the east following an ascent of Livingstone South Peak. His trip report discusses how he dealt with the major obstacle in the traverse – a big cliff about 3/4 of the way along the ridge. The cliff is invisible when approaching from the east and directly down climbing it would go well beyond the realm of scrambling. Dewit overcame this obstacle by undertaking a significant descent to circumvent the cliff. In his own words:

I knew I could overcome the obstacle with my “secret weapon” so I wasn’t too concerned about it. What is this mysterious weapon you ask? Simple – it’s my willingness to descend 100’s of meters to avoid failure on a peak.

That might be one of my favourite bits of writing in a hiking blog. Luckily, 100’s of meters of descent wasn’t required. In my research, I also discovered that the route for the Minotaur Skyrace includes a traverse of the ridge connecting Morin Peak and Livingstone South Peak, and their route resembled Dewit’s. This information gave me enough confidence to give it a try.

Please refer to my Livingstone South Peak post for a description of trail access and how to reach that summit. To get to Morin Peak, I climbed South Livingstone then I set out due west, descending some scree and rubble to get to the connecting ridge. In short order I could make out a bit of a trail to follow, zig-zagging down. I proceeded to the first of a series of cols to cross and high points to scramble over and around. Each of these was a little different and the scrambling was very enjoyable and hands-on. The rock was poor in some places and supportive in others. I continued in this fashion until I reached the crux – a wooded rise preceding a tall cliff. I never actually saw the cliff on the approach because I needed to down-climb the steep wooded slopes to the south before reaching it. When I entered the trees I could make out some trails to follow that eventually got me below the thickest portion of the trees and allowed me to hook back to the west. There I encountered an obvious weakness that could be down climbed to get me to the gully below the cliff. Then I climbed steeply back up, following the cliff wall back toward the ridge top and a distinctive rocky pinnacle. The gully actually had a number of fascinating rocky formations, different than any other part of the ridge. Beyond the crux some more scrambling and steep hiking brought me to the summit cairn.

It was a partly cloudy day with minimal haze. I managed to summit early enough in the day that the forecast wind hadn’t arrived in force yet (it struck with a vengeance shortly after I returned to South Livingstone). Not surprisingly, the views were more or less the same as on South Livingstone Peak – which is to say they were excellent. After eating lunch and enjoying the vistas I returned along the same route.

The traverse between the two peaks was so enjoyable that I now can’t really imagine visiting Livingstone South Peak in the future without also visiting Morin. I used the Minotaur Skyrace’s gpx file to help guide me. It came in very handy, but (naturally) route finding was still necessary and completing the traverse involved scrambling that sometimes felt a little exposed. If those things are in your skillset I highly recommend this extension to the classic Livingstone South Peak route.

Though I used the resources linked above to plan my trip, you can check out the ones below if you’re considering climbing Morin Peak from the west:

Route overview, illustrating the downhill detour required to get around the large cliff on the ridge.
Heading towards South Livingstone Peak (right). Morin Peak is on the other side of the jagged ridge to the left of Livingstone’s summit. This is probably the best vantage to appreciate the undulations along the ridge. Each is a fun little scrambling section.
Looking closer at the big crack in the ridge before the final rise to the summit of Morin Peak. Hidden from view is the cliff that is the main obstacle in the traverse.
Arriving at the summit of South Livingstone Peak. Looking north.
Looking due west along the ridge between South Livingstone and Morin Peak.
The first bit of scrambling.
A change in colour for the rocks, becoming pale grey.
A section of slightly more involved scrambling.
The view beyond the pale rock section. Descending to the next col involved down-climbing sections of fairly steep but very grippy slabs.
Looking back after descending the slabby section.
Some more easy scrambling, getting closer to the crux.
Coming up on the wooded rise above the cliff.
There was a bit of a path to follow up onto the wooded rise, veering left. This became indistinct after it started descending in the trees.
A look at this section from afar to give you an idea of the terrain. It looks insanely steep from this vantage but it wasn’t that bad and didn’t feel unsafe.
A sketch showing the approximate route. The dashed line is the re-ascent following the gully at foot of the cliffs (mostly hidden because of the angle).
Descending through the trees.
Below the trees, following vague paths in the dirt and veering right (west) again.
Looking down at the weakness in the cliffs. This was a straightforward down climb.
Almost down in to the gully. If you want to cross reference with the prior telephoto shot, note where I am here in relation to the snow patches.
Looking downslope in the gully.
At the base of the cliff, looking up at the climb out of the gully. Note the distinct rocky pinnacle.
Some interesting rock in the gully.
Climbing up.
In the col above the gully, looking at the final bit of ascent to the summit.
Looking down a red “slide” descending to the south. Note the interesting rock formations to the left.
A look back at the cliff that was circumvented.
The final bit of climbing up rubble.
The summit of Morin Peak. There was a register in a Nalgene bottle tucked into the cairn. The peak doesn’t see many visitors.
Looking north.
Looking east, back towards Livingstone South Peak.
Looking south. Peaks in the Castle, Waterton, and Glacier visible in the distance.
Looking west.
Obligatory close-up of Crowsnest Mountain and Seven Sisters.
Heading back before the wind really started to blow.

One thought on “Morin Peak”

  1. Hi Par,As always, your blog is very descriptive. Peak to peak going through a gully seems very scary. Nice pictures.Thanks for sharing.Bal Boora

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