Midnight Peak

Kananaskis, AB, Canada
17 April 2025
With Wen

Nice spring outing away from the crowds

Although Midnight Peak has gained much more attention ever since So published his adventure up this front range peak on his widely popular website back in 2010, it still sees far fewer visitors than Mount Baldy next door or Wasootch Ridge down the road. As I remembered from several previous ascents, the challenge in winter or spring is the amount of snow lingering on the mountain’s northeast side: there is a short, steep slope here that can be avalanche-prone, so a good understanding is required of how to read avalanche forecasts (avalanche.ca) before your trip, and how to read avalanche terrain during your trip if you decide to go in spring or winter.

The “normal” route is to take the well-established trail from highway 40 to Baldy Pass, then turn right and hike through trees to the aforementioned steep slopes and on to the summit. We decided to try out an anti-clockwise loop route up the west ridge of Midnight Peak, then down the normal route. It worked out really well.

From the Baldy Pass parking area we crossed the road and first followed the good trail for about 850 m to the Baldy Pass turn-off. Instead of turning left and heading up to the pass, we continued south along a less-travelled trail for another ca. 450 m before branching off to the east and heading up a wide drainage. After a few hundred metres, it became easier to enter light forest covering the lower part of the west ridge. There was no bushwhacking to speak of and the trees quickly gave way to a semi-open ridge crest that was easy to follow up. The only stretch where we briefly had to wade through some knee-deep snow was in a small forested area just before our ridge was joined by another minor ridge coming in from the southwest.

Past this point we traversed a small dip and then left the trees behind for good and enjoyed a lovely ridge walk at a steady grade to the summit. Just like on previous visits I was quite taken by the beautiful sight of neighboring Midday Peak, which can be reached in about an hour from Midnight (easy scrambling). With a very late start, we were quite content with one summit today and after enjoying wintry Kananaskis views proceeded to head down the snow-covered northeast slope. The snow was firm and supportive, and the tracks from a previous party a day or two earlier were certainly helpful. It’s steep, but short, and soon we found ourselves in the forest again following a good trail down to the saddle at Baldy Pass. You can tell the pass sees frequent visitors by the amount of ice on the trail back to the parking lot. Thankfully, we had brought microspikes which made the return a breeze.

An excellent loop to an underrated summit and a great early season objective within a short drive of Calgary.

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