free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
On my last hike a couple of weeks ago I picked up a chest infection and have done little since. Earlier this week I took a short hike and scramble on a local ridge to see how I felt, with no after effects I decided to have a go at a moderate little hill today. I thought back to my very first hike in Canada,
Baldy Pass, and realised that was an ideal hike with potential to go further. I set off for the car park a little later than usual after talking to my son on the phone for 90 minutes as he picked his way through a traffic jam back home.
On arrival at the car park I met a guy named Kevin Papke who was continuing a challenge he had set himself to raise funds for a dementia charity having lost his dad to the condition. Kevin has a great website called
Summits for Seniors and has set himself the target of 50 summits this year, he hopes to raise $100,000 and has so far achieved almost $80,000 which is an incredible achievement.
As we talked it turns out we are initially heading in the same direction, with Kevin doing 'Midnight Peak' from the top of the pass. Whilst getting suited and booted the local CTV News van arrived and a guy asked if he could film us getting ready and get a few words on camera for this evenings news. The basis of the story was unprepared hikers/climbers going into the mountains and then requiring rescue (which fed into a large joint emergency response conference in Kananaskis tomorrow) so Kevin and I were delayed further whilst doing a '15 minutes of fame' effort. Eventually we got under way with Kevin taking the lead (at some pace too)
The CTV guy didn't get the 'unprepared hikers' he really wanted but was please to have found the exact opposite and focussed on our bear spray, bangers, flares, emergency blanket, first aid kit, multi purpose tools etc with a smile.
the trail is the same one I used back in winter when I made my first hike here but the path is now snow free and good going. We met a couple of groups of schoolchildren with teachers returning from a short morning hike and also 2 rangers from the parks department who had been clearing fallen trees from the trail.
Though Kevin was great company and we were having a laugh ascending toward the summit of the pass, I could see I was holding him back and told him to get going, I said perhaps we'll meet up later at the car park, and if not I would check his website and drop him an email later. With Kevin gone I slowed my pace back to my regular plod and found the going much easier I have to say.
On reaching the summit of the pass I felt pretty good and decided to carry on up to the summit cairn on the south end of Baldy, and maybe even further. My route climbed slowly through scattered pines along a broad ridge.
before starting out along the ridge I looked up toward Midnight Peak to see if I could see Kevin, sure enough he was well on the way up the ridge heading exactly opposite my intended route.
there is a clear trail picking its way through the pines as I begin my ascent toward Mt Baldy with the views beginning to open out with every step I take
the increased elevation soon gives a spectacular view down into the Kananaskis valley as a few scattered showers blow through further South
I look back again to see if I can spot Kevin but not this time, I think he must be in the last stand of trees along the ridge
this early stages of the ridge are very easy going, great underfoot with a gentle rise until it narrows and heads upward toward 'the Tower', which doesn't look overly imposing from here (right hand side of shot)
I grab a quick shot of yours truly with the valley behind before heading off again, onward and upward
as the ridge narrows down there is a short easy scramble with an obvious route through, to bring me to the next level
from here 'the Tower' looks a little more imposing across the orange scree, conditions are great but there is an incredible wind belting through the pass and up and over the ridge right at this point, but it is welcome now cooling the heat of the sun as I make my way along the easy going trail
almost at the start of the short scrambling section at the top of 'the Tower' I'm trying to pick a route as I approach, the ledge on the left looked good to start with but looks worse and worse as I get near.
there is a section that looks quite worn heading around to the right so I make an initial attempt at this side but ultimately it 'dead ends' into some more sheer sides with too much drop off to risk, its not a wasted effort though as the view across the prairies from this side is beautiful
I work my way back around toward the left and soon find a pretty good ascent route which was hidden behind a single pine tree at the bottom, from a point about half way up the scramble I stop for a rest and grab a shot of the view down the ridge and across to midnight Peak
zooming in on the summit of Midnight Peak I see Kevin making his way through a band of snow over knee deep and can't help but feel for the guy, I hate that stuff, but he is still going almost the same pace as he was on the flat...I'm glad I didn't try to go with him
a few steps upward and I'm looking over the top of 'the Tower' and along the ridge to my target, I can even make out a small cairn on the summit now but just need to be careful of the last few steps along this left hand edge first...this stuff is a little 'mobile'
as I break out onto the ridge top again the view back along the ridge and up to Midnight Peak is superb and I take a moment to admire it and look for Kevin to check on his progress
and there he is, standing tall at the cairn on the summit of Midnight Peak, 7650 feet and another one in the bag for his old dad.
looking around I still have a small ascent to reach my target (6930 feet) so I get my head down and head upward once more
in no time at all I'm there, the expanse of Baldy laid before me, peaks in every direction. To the right, prairies stretching out to the East and looking left more mountains than any man could ever climb stretching away the West
looking back across the pass the incredible size of the surrounding forest is clear to see as is the entire ridge between here and Midnight Peak.
I head back to my rucksack and unload half a dozen oranges that I've been looking forward to for some time. I sit down on the cool rocks, in the heat of the mid afternoon sunshine, on the top of a mountain in beautiful Kananaskis and tuck into the best tasting fruit I've ever had.
I sit and watch a storm working its way up the valley from the South and my thoughts of going further are curtailed, its been a great day I should take that and not be greedy.
I walk around the ridge a while longer, plotting a course for a 3 peak hit on the North end of Baldy at some (as yet undetermined) point in time
looking out across these peaks I feel like a kid in a sweet shop and I can only see about 0.0001% of the peaks around here, this is a good day
after enjoying a nice 15 minutes up top I'm soon back at 'the Tower' as the storm rolls by without dropping any rain in this area, it looks like Kevin has escaped it too, but further down the valley there is a good downpour going on
back at the summit cairn on the pass I stop a while and see if I can see anything of Kevin on his descent, I have a few minutes and eat my last orange before heading off down the trail.
after 5 minutes I hear Kevin shouting "YO BEAR" in the distance (a common thing in the mountains to make sure you don't surprise a bear, the idea being that any bears hear you and moves off) I laugh out loud and shout back to him, a couple of minutes later he appears, having descended down an avalanche slope right to the trail again.
We share a pleasant 45 minute wander out, putting the world to rights as we go and part company as friends who will be hiking together again at some point in the future...and it may well be in an attack on the North face of Baldy.
I don't know if we made the news as I wasn't home in time to see it, I don't really care either; this was another great day in the mountains.
The map shows my route in dark red and Kevins route in gray.
