Mt Allan

At the time of posting, its now technically springtime which means I must finish off trip reports as the climbing season begins anew. The last trip of 08 was a solo trip I did up to Mt Allan in the Kananaskis corridor. At left is my route in google earth along with a ruler made of 14 Bessborough hotels for scale comparison for Saskatoon readers.

The trip starts off the #40 at the Ribbon Creek day use area and follows a network of switchbacking ski trails and goat tracks. After negotiating the maze the trail emerges from the trees and starts a pretty steep and relentless pitch following the ridge to Olympic summit.


Taking a breather on the ridge crest looking towards the north.



After gaining a thousand meters in elevation, the winds picked up made being exposed on the edge of a knife blade ridge rather unpleasant. I ran into two guys beating a retreat from the summit of Allan who reported wind snow and cloud. And so rather than fight for elevation only to be socked in with no view, I enjoyed the summit of Olympic and left the high traverse to Mt Allan for better weather.




View from Olympic summit south to Mt Kidd and the ribbon Creek valley.