Loaf Mountain

July 15, 2018 – A long hike culminating with minor scrambling to the summit of the highest peak in the Castle Wilderness. Though it lacks the dramatic, rocky profile of Victoria Peak, Loaf Mountain is actually the tallest peak within the Castle Wilderness with a summit elevation of 2640 m. There are multiple possible routes […]

Short Walks in Iceland

July 8-12, 2018. I have recently returned from an excellent 5-day stay in Iceland. The island is a hiker’s paradise, and I’d planned on hiking two of the more popular trails during my visit (Mount Esja and Glymur waterfall). Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate. There was rain and low cloud in the Reykjavik area and […]

Victoria Ridge

June 9, 2018. A challenging bike-and-hike with an easy scramble to the summit of a scenic ridge in the Castle Wilderness. I’ve been eyeing up some scrambles that are rated ‘moderate’ by Nugara and Kane. Foremost on my mind lately has been Victoria Peak, in the Castle Wilderness. The thing is, I don’t want to […]

Window Mountain Lake

May 27, 2018. A moderately challenging bike-and-hike to a backcountry mountain lake in the Crowsnest Pass. Window Mountain Lake is mentioned by Joey Ambrosi in the Southern Rockies Trail Guide as one of the best hiking destinations in the Crowsnest Pass area. I’ve previously researched the hike, and did a bit of a reconnaissance of the […]

Prairie Bluff / Corner Mountain

May 21, 2018. A solo trip, following an easy scrambling route up a peak in the Castle Wilderness. I have been wanting to climb Prairie Bluff (also known as Corner Mountain) for a long time. It’s a low peak in the front ranges of the Castle Wilderness area near Pincher Creek, Alberta. There are several […]

Carbondale Hill

March 17, 2018. A moderately challenging snowshoe trip up to a fire lookout in the Castle Wilderness. Carbondale Hill is the site of a fire lookout and is featured as a hiking or snowshoeing trip on a number of blogs, as well as Nugara’s book. I had an unscheduled day and the weather was friendly: […]

Island Ridge

March 11, 2018. A snowshoe trip up a low mountain in the Crowsnest Pass with moderate elevation gain, in challenging snow conditions. This is a trip I’ve been sizing up since the beginning of the winter. It’s described by Dave McMurray on his amazing Peaks and Streams blog, which drew the attention of Andrew Nugara, […]

Tunnel Mountain and Stoney Squaw Mountain

February 10 & 11, 2018. Two easy snowshoe trips to the tops of a pair of low mountains in Banff. I had a conference in Banff over the past weekend, so part of my preparation was making some plans to snowshoe. There was a winter storm which rolled through the province just before the start […]

Wedge Mountain Trail

January 26, 2018. A solo, easy snowshoe trip to the shoulder of a low mountain in the Crowsnest Pass, with a challenging extension up towards the summit. Wedge Mountain, the so-called “poor man’s Crowsnest Mountain”, was my objective on my latest outing in the Crowsnest Pass. It has a wide, easy trail that begins by […]

Grass Pass to “Sheep Summit”

January 5, 2018. A solo, moderately challenging snowshoe trip to an unnamed high point in the Highwood region of Kananaskis Country. Southern Alberta is about one week out from its most recent major snow dump. I spent most of December 30, 2017 shovelling snow off various driveways. Actually, I can’t ever remember spending so much […]