Yates Mountain

Kananaskis, AB, Canada

9 February 2020

With Berkay

Easy-going winter hike

My Turkish friend Berkay who came to visit me for the weekend had never been to the Rockies before and really wanted to go on a winter hike, preferably with some pretty views as well. There were about a hundred places that came to mind, but with time being a bit of a constraint we ended up choosing something relatively short and close to Calgary: Yates Mountain, aka Barrier Lake Lookout, aka McConnell Ridge, aka Prairie View Trail. Lots of names for pretty much the same hike that seems to be popular year-round, and for good reason!

A fierce wind greeted us after we left the Barrier Lake parking lot to head west across the dam, making Berkay wonder what he had signed up for today and whether the whole trip was going to be this wild! Well, thankfully it wasn’t. As soon as we hit the trees on the other side of the lake the wind was gone and we were able to leisurely walk up the packed trail while enjoying plenty of good conversations. Quite a few other people were out and about on this beautiful sunny Sunday, but not too many to make the trail overcrowded.

“Prairie View” really only applies to about 20% of this hike – the first stretch is long and pretty boring and all in the trees. But you arrive at the first lookout point, the views of Barrier Lake, Mount Baldy and all the other nearby Front Range peaks are simply a beautiful sight. What was even more exciting to me was to see the huge smile on Berkay’s face – the long awaited views of the fabled Canadian Rocky Mountains were finally right in front of him and you couldn’t help but rejoice with him!

The grade steepens significantly from the first view point to the second and again shortly before the summit. Not used to hiking up steep snow-covered trails, Berkay initially struggled on the most slippery sections but soon got the hang of it and the microspikes we had brought made a big difference. Almost everyone else on the trial was wearing spikes as well. Some sections were so slick from people bum-sliding down, it was like going up a water slide :).

The fire lookout at the very top offers a peek into the Bow Valley to the west, but to be honest the panorama from the first two view points lower down are more impressive in my opinion. We sat down in the warm sun for lunch while observing the vertical cliffs of Mount Yamnuska across the valley.

The return trip was about twice as fast as going up and we were glad to find that the strong winds sweeping across the lake had all but died down. A great little winter hike so close to the city. Thank you Berkay for joining me on this very enjoyable trip!

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