Mt. Rae

As I prepared to start my ascent, a bear warning indicated a grizzly sow with cubs was in the area. A park maintenance worker just happened to arrive at that time and he told me that the trails in the area had been closed a week ago due to the sow and cubs but had been re-opened.

Follow the Ptarmigan cirque trail as it crosses the highway and makes it strenuous approach to the cirque through enclosed forest. My cautious progress made the ascent much longer than it normally would. The grade and forest finally relents with the cirque and open ground unfolding before you. Walk to the rear of the cirque by following a spur trail. This will take you around a leftward bend and the lower ascent route up the cirque appears. The high point in the photo is not the summit but a massive gendarme.

As you proceed further to the rear of the cirque, the trail fades as it passes over broken rock. The trail guide suggests plodding up the scree gully to the col but as seen in the photo, snow covered the gully.

I decided to ascend rotting slabs beside the snow as I didn't have an ice axe with me. Frequent hand and foot holds were required and there were a few tense moments. After reaching the col, quite narrow to boot, the summit presents itself in the distance.

I navigated a tricky two foot wide section on the col filled with snow. Fortunately, there was no need to circle around the large gendarme on the ridge as the north slopes below were essentially free of snow. I descended to scree/rotting cliff bands using one of the discernible paths below the massive gendarme. There seems to be numerous possible routes at this point to the airy summit ridge.

I decided to angle towards the summit ridge and wait until I was quite close to the summit (distance wise). A prime route appeared beside a yellow spotted pinnacle on the summit ridge. A good scramblers route here was easily followed.

Once on the narrow summit ridge (maybe 4-6ft at most) , careful progress was required with the added complication of a several thousand foot drop on the north (right) side. In windy conditions this could be quite an unnerving experience! After 15 to 20 minutes of slow and steady progress, the summit is attained. A register is located in the summit cairn. While the summit is fairly flat, there is not a lot of maneuvering room.

I noted that the last recorded ascent was two weeks earlier in mid July. I was only the fourth party to reach the summit this year. I was not truly surprised by this fact as I had not encountered anyone on the ascent, perhaps the snow on the col discouraged others. The summit affords a panaramic view as Mt. Rae is the highest point in this area of Kananaskis.

After having lunch, I surveyed the descent route back to the col. I retraced the ascent route, from the summit to the col, only taking 45 minutes to complete. As I surveyed the route down from the col, some day hikers down below were no doubt contemplating the ascent to the col. A very quick 10 minute descent from the col to the rear of the cirque was aided by glissading two snowfields. The cirque was very busy with day hikers on the return.

On a personal note, Mt. Rae is the highest point I have ascended in the Canadian Rockies.

Back to my scrambles/hiking history.

©1994 All images by Craig Knelsen. All rights reserved.

Created: May 13, 1998.  Revised: Nov 12, 2002.