Kananaskis, AB, Canada
9 June 2020
Solo
Wonderful short hike with excellent effort-to-reward ratio
My short trip up The Orphan earlier this morning only took me 3.5 hours and when I got back to the car I didn’t really feel like driving back to Calgary yet. Plus, the weather had improved as well: the sun was out in full glory, the skies had cleared, and it finally felt like a true summer day. What to do?
Hike up Windtower, of course! I’d been up here before and thoroughly enjoyed it, so why not do it again since it’s just a few km down the road and also a short trip.
Lots of other hikers were out and about and the parking lot for West Wind Pass was full. The trail up to the pass is excellent although there are basically no views as it’s all in the forest. While most people just went up to the pass and back, one pair of hikers ahead of me had continued along the trail west to Windtower, a rising traverse to the peak’s north slopes. This was a real blessing as there were several large patches of deepish snow where I couldn’t see the trail anymore and following in someone else’s boot prints (more like boot holes!) made things a lot easier. I was actually quite amazed by how much snow was still lingering in some spots: it was waist-deep along some small rock bands in the trees. A week or two earlier this would’ve been a snowshoeing trip, or perhaps not possible at all!
Towards the end of the traverse the trail became apparent again as the terrain opened up and I reached the scree-covered north slopes. From here it’s a simple plod up to the summit, but I had to stop frequently to admire the stunning views of Spray Lake behind me and the impressive north face of Mount Lougheed I to my right. The summit of Windtower is one of the best and easily accessed vantage points in the Rockies in my opinion, with fantastic panoramic views in all directions!
Windtower sees hundreds of visitors in the middle of summer and the summit can be teeming with people on a July or August weekend, so it was nice to experience it in peace and quiet today. On my way back I briefly stopped at the pass to look down the east side and inspect the frighteningly steep north face of Windtower. It’s a sheer vertical wall for hundreds of metres – hard to believe one can just walk up the other side.
Highly recommended and hands-down one of the best short summit hikes in Kananaskis. Note that the west slopes of the mountain can be avalanche-prone during certain times of the year, so make sure to check current conditions if snow persists.
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Elevation: |
2684 m |
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Elevation gain: |
1000 m |
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Time: |
4.0 h |
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Distance: |
10.2 km |
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Difficulty level: |
Easy (Kane), T2 (SAC) |
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Reference: |
Daffern |
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Personal rating: |
4 (out of 5) |
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