Mount St. Piran

I hate long weekends. I suppose if my work schedule were not so flexible, I might appreciate them more, but to me, long weekends are all about crowds. At least, in the places I like to go.

My mother wanted to see Lake Agnes. Being part of the Lake Louise teahouse loop, and it being a long weekend, I was not thrilled about the prospect of slalom'ing my way through hordes of tourists. However, Frank and Tiiu mentioned that Mount St. Piran, just off from Lake Agnes, would be a much quieter and more scenic hike, so that is what we decided upon.

The trail up Mount St. Piran starts near the Little Beehive. Oddly, for whatever reason, the trail marker at the start has Mount St. Piran scratched out. My GemTrek map does show the path however as an unmaintained trail. It may be unmaintained, but enough people use it that it's very clear.

The first part of the trail goes through some bush, so wouldn't be great on a rainy day. The rest is a pretty reasonable switchback that ends at the summit. There are no false summits, so that was nice.

As you go up, the views around Lake Louise get better and better.

From the summit of Mount St. Piran

On the backside is a scrambling trail that heads down to Lake Agnes. I will have to try this sometime.

You ... uhh ... you have some food stuck in your teeth.

This little guy was very aggressive, and even climbed on Akemi's back.

Heather

So, even on a long weekend, it is possible to find some peace and quiet at Lake Louise. Mount St. Piran was a very enjoyable hike, and definitely does not require any scrambling.