“Frankie Peak” & “Larry Mountain”

September 8, 2024. A long ridge walk tagging two lesser-visited summits in the Castle. It has been more than 4 years since I visited Whistler Mountain, and I had always meant to return and continue beyond the summit to tag “Frankie Peak” and “Larry Mountain”. These two unofficial summits are of equal height and stand […]

Leatherman Peak

September 1, 2024. A bumpy drive leading to a steep but straightforward ascent of Idaho’s 2nd tallest mountain. The day after climbing Borah Peak we set out before sunrise to climb Leatherman Peak. Located several kilometres south of Borah, Leatherman has a few options when it comes to scrambling routes. We decided on the northern […]

Borah Peak

August 31, 2024. Scrambling to the summit of Idaho’s tallest mountain. Continuing with this summer’s theme of exploring U.S. destinations for hikes, I joined a group heading down to Idaho to climb Borah Peak. Although the mountain appears as “Borah Peak” on government maps, it’s referred to by locals as “Mount Borah”. The mountain is […]

Mount Siyeh

July 27, 2024. Scrambling to the summit of a “10,000-er” along Glacier National Park’s Going-to-the-Sun Road. The last outing of my late July trip to Glacier was to bag the peak of Mount Siyeh. This mountain sits alongside the Siyeh Bend section of Going-to-the-Sun Road. It is apparently the easiest 10,000-er to climb in the […]

Highline Trail & Grinnell Glacier Overlook

July 26, 2024. A full-day hike on a popular trail high above Going-to-the-Sun Road with a short, sharp climb to a spectacular viewpoint above Grinnell Glacier. For the second day of our late-July trip to Glacier National Park, the group decided to head for Logan Pass and hike the Highline Trail. Something I didn’t realize […]

Ptarmigan Tunnel & Iceberg Lake

July 25, 2024. A long day hike tagging two picturesque objectives in Glacier National Park. I joined up with a group from Calgary for a mid-summer excursion to Glacier National Park in Montana. My only prior hike in the park was scrambling up Ninastako (Chief Mountain) last year, so I was in the pleasant situation […]

Rummel Lake & Rummel Pass

July 14, 2024. A visit to a picturesque lake in K-country with an extension (most of the way) to a high mountain pass. A short distance north of the perpetually busy Chester Lake trail in Kananaskis is the Rummel Lake trail. It is featured in both Gillean Dafferin’s Kananaskis Country Trail Guide Vol 1 as […]

Elbow Lake & Rae Glacier

July 13, 2024. An enjoyable journey to a popular lake and diminutive glacier in K-country. Elbow Lake is a picturesque and easily accessed lake in Kananaskis Country. There’s a backcountry campground on its shore and it’s also the jumping-off point for some longer hikes. Put all that together, and you have a popular and crowded […]

Mount Alderson

July 9, 2024. Straightforward but scenic scrambling to a summit overlooking the Carthew-Alderson trail. Mount Alderson is one of the Waterton scrambles described in Kane’s Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies. The ascent route is very obvious when hiking on the Carthew-Alderson trail from Cameron Lake down to the Waterton townsite. From the hiking trail the […]

Sapphire Lakes & Tanal Lake

July 4, 2024. Summertime hiking in springtime conditions in Kokanee Glacier Park. Following our first night at the Kokanee Glacier Cabin we set out bright and early for Sapphire Lakes. A well-established trail leads to the pair of lakes which sit between Lemon Pass and Glory Basin. The reputed beauty of the area was reason […]