Wasootch Ridge Hike
Scramble Kananaskis Highway 40
Pictures are from two
trips one overcast and snowy on Sept 17, 2011 to the "End of
Trail" and the other on a very hot blue sky day Sept 24, 2011 to
the highest point
Ridge is looking right
at you on the east side of the parking lot, steep trail just to
the right of the green sign then heads left, lots of vehicles
are there for the climbing at Wasootch slabs by going up
Wasootch Creek to the right
A closer view, you can
just see the trail through the trees, it is that close, better
do a good stretch and warm up before you ascend
Start of trail
Doesn't take long and
you are gaining elevation, the first 3 bumps on the ridge gain
you about 1,500 feet of elevation
A nice view of Nakiska
ski hill
The next big hump
More trail views as you
get higher up
Scenic viewpoint
View down to Wasootch
Creek
Looking north at
Midnight Peak North and South summits
The point way in the
distance is the high point of Wasootch Ridge
One of the bigger dips
perhaps 125 feet
Getting closer
The ridge opens up a
bit
Looking back at Mt.
Lorette and Mary Barclay's
Getting closer, the
middle bumpy area is the "End of Trail" cairn and most people
call it a day there as terrain to the high point is basically
off trail and scree bashing for an hour or so
Interesting red,
reminds me of the crimson blood shed by the Savior for lost
sinners, have you availed yourself of that payment in God's
courtroom made on your behalf?
More crimson plants
Wind and snow as we
approach the "End of Trail" cairn
Last few feet to "End
of Trail"
Started too late in the
day to go any further
Yours truly
But the sky did open up
as we were at the "End of Trail" cairn
I believe that might be
Tiara Peak in the middle there?
It is farther than it
looks! Do the 2 humps then you drop down on the right or SW side
The next hump after the
"End of Trail" cairn, basically 2 humps till you drop down on
the right hand or southwest side to traverse the more difficult
part of the ridge. Once you go left after this point the trail
is pretty faint due to large rocks. You just rock hop or
traverse south towards the next hump, some route finding here
The second hump has an
obvious trail up and over it and brings you to the wind break
and the spot where to descend to do the traverse
Looking back where we
dropped down to start the traverse
Precariously there
since the Flood of Noah?
More of the traverse
Once you get around the
corner this is the view. There is a steeper looking trail higher
up on the corner but we preferred this slope to pick our way up.
Very steep with some hands down but you could pick your way on
fairly stable rock
A look at the two
ascent possibilities from the corner. We took the one closest in the picture
We ascended up towards
the rock face and traversed along and around up to gain the
ridge
The last part to the
ridge although still quite a bit to go along the ridge
Terrain along the ridge
Ridge view from summit
A tough effort for me
on a hot day as I don't really like hot weather scrambling
Another ridge view from
summit cairn
Mt Bogart left and Mt.
Sparrowhawk right
AA heads home, a long
ways to go and the feet are a bit sore!
Adeem also
A parting look back
Wasootch Ridge Hike
Scramble Kananaskis Highway 40
Scramble: Class 1 Steep Hiking to "End of
Trail", Class 2+ to the high point with off trail some route
finding and scree bashing
Altitude: 2,332m (7,650 ft)
Elevation Gain: 762m (2,500 ft) to "End of
Trail", ~ 975m (3,200 ft) to the Highest Point
5.3 km to the "End of Trail" 6.9 km to the
Highest Point
Ascent Time: 2 1/2 3 Hours to "End of
Trail", another 1 to 1 1/4 hour to the
High Point
Best Season to Scramble: May to October, Dry
Slopes, Possible Ticks in Spring
Highlights
This ridge walk is very enjoyable once you do
the steep first hour + to get past the first 3 big humps. Nice
views even though you are not above the surrounding peaks.
Highly recommended. Would say you should return the same way and
not descend to the creek bed. Though able to be traversed around
there are cliff bands below and 5 or 6 km on a rocky uneven
creek bed get a bit wearing after awhile.
Getting There
Head west out of Calgary on the TransCanada
highway # 1 to the Highway 40 Kananaskis Country turnoff (approx
60 km from the Canada Olympic Park intersection to the Highway
40 turnoff). Take the turnoff and head south on highway 40 for
approx. 17+ km to the turnoff for Wasootch. The sign just says
Wasootch and it is a left hand turn off the highway. Just a
minute down the road you come to a large paved parking lot with
the usual pit toilets. This the same parking lot for people
going up the creek bed to climb on the Wasootch Slabs.
Route Description
You can see the start of the ridge like only
20 yards from the east side of the parking lot. There is a green
sign right there, just walk like 10-15 yards behind it heading
slightly right through a small clearing and the trail up the
ridge is right there. Shortest warm up ever. Probably good to
stretch and warm up at the car as the ridge ascends steeply. The
first 3 big humps gain a lot of elevation and the scenery gets
better and better. From that point it is a long ridge walk on a
good trail up and down to just before the high point in the
distance where the trail part officially ends at a big cairn.
The biggest down along the ridge was only say 125 feet and there
were quite a few that were a lot less.
From there it is class 2+ off trail with
route finding and side hill scree bashing for a good portion to
the highest point. I dont recommend the ridge from "End of
Trail" to the High Point as it has a difficult section that a
climber might be more comfortable on or might
even want a rope for security. Dropping off the ridge to
the right or SW after the second hump
(see pictures) and going around the difficult ridge section on the scree is the easiest route.
Be careful as you go straight up and over the first hump as it
is narrow and a bit exposed then you go left and traverse big
rocks over to the second hump which has an obvious trail up and
over it.
Once you drop down and
traverse along the ridge for quite a ways you reach the corner.
There is a higher route which we did not prefer (see pictures) so we
continued left up the open slope along the rib picking our way up
the best terrain to reach the upper ridge. From there it is still a
fair ways along the ascending ridge to reach the summit cairn
