Mount Carthew

July 11, 2026. Bagging an easy summit in Waterton above the popular Carthew Alderson trail.

• Region: Waterton Lakes National Park. Traditional territory of the Tsuu T’ina, Ktunaxa, and Blackfoot First Nations
• Distance: 18.8 km round-trip
• Total Ascent: 1139 m
• Elevation of Objective: 2636 m
• Total Time: 5h 32m
• Safety and Disclaimer

Of the trio of peaks above the Carthew-Alderson trail in Waterton, so far I’ve only bagged Mount Alderson. The other two, Mount Carthew and Buchanan Peak are across the valley from Alderson and can be tagged in a single outing – providing one can navigate the connecting ridge between the two. The weather forecast was favourable on the day of my hike aside from some wind, and I wanted to hike in Waterton so I decided to visit Mount Carthew. I didn’t plan on carrying on to Buchanan, though. Based on Kane’s description in Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies 3ed. getting to Buchanan from Carthew involves some sketchy down-climbing – other routes exist and I’ll visit it another time.

I drove the Akamina Parkway to its end at Cameron Lake and set out on the Carthew-Alderson trail. I made good time, heading past Summit Lake and ascending the long traversing trail to the col above the Carthew Lakes. From there, instead of following the trail down towards the lakes, I proceeded left, up the ridge towards the high-point. The summit is not immediately visible and is further north along the ridge. I didn’t climb directly to the high-point but instead deviated right across the eastern face of the slope along some ledges. I initially found myself on sketchy terrain but descended a bit to a more friendly line and followed it north until I re-connected with the ridge at a broad col. From there I turned right and proceeded to climb over a couple of false summits until I reached the true summit.

Views were excellent in all directions, particularly southeast towards Mount Alderson. The wind was pushing me a round a bit, so I didn’t linger at the summit cairn. Though I didn’t intend to carry on to the summit of Buchanan Ridge I did want to explore the down-climb to the col a little. I did so, scrambling north down moderate terrain on the ridge until I reached what was clearly the difficult area of down-climbing. It looked very committing and crumbly and I was content not to carry on.

For my return to Cameron Lake, I decided to try to make a bit of a loop, staying on the ridge above the hiking trail. This proved to be a lot of fun and allowed me to hike with great views for much longer than if I were down on the trail. I realized as I approached the final high-point on the ridge – a red argillite outcrop above Summit Lake – that I was looking at what Nugara and Kane refer to as “Carthew Minor”. Since this was an impromptu diversion I hadn’t read-up on the route and wasn’t sure about the best way to approach the little peak from the northeast. I climbed around a bit, even edged around some ledges near the top but wasn’t 100% sure if I could commit to any one line of ascent. I decided I’d need to save “Carthew Minor” for another day and traversed beneath it, eventually seeing a clear line to descend and rejoin the official trail a short distance above Summit Lake.

See my Mount Alderson post for pictures of the lower reaches of the Carthew Alderson trail.

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