Tent Ridge Horseshoe

It's ski season!

Well, okay, not quite. However, the recent weather has had me start thinking about the upcoming ski season, and I want to make a point of doing more backcountry trips this winter.

Tent Ridge is one of the more popular winter day trips in Kananaskis Country, and I wanted to check it out for myself in the summer, as the trail in was supposedly a bit tricky to find. As the Ramblers had done Tent Ridge Horseshoe a couple of weeks ago (an extension of Tent Ridge which forms a loop, but requires some scrambling), I decided to go check it out.

At the parking lot, I ran into a couple (Marilyn and Phil) that were planning on doing the hiker's trail of Tent Ridge, but they changed their minds and joined me for the scramble. We easily found the trail through the forest and arrived at the first summit quite quickly.

Panorama from just past the first summit, where you can see (from left to right) Mount Birdwood, The Fist, Mount Smuts, the high point of Tent Ridge, and Mount Shark

The hiker's trail walks in through the valley and up to the col just ahead of where the photo above was taken. We hiked down to the col then back up to the summit on the other side.

Past the col, looking back, you can see Tryst Lake, which is also a popular winter day trip.

First summit of Tent Ridge and Tryst Lake on the right

The southern slopes of Tent Ridge are almost devoid of trees, which I found curious.

At the summit, we stopped for a snack, but could see some threatening clouds rolling in.

Cairn at the summit of Tent Ridge

The most difficult part of the scramble was a bit past the summit, but I wouldn't say it was difficult at all. A tiny bit of exposure, but if you look around, you can always find a good route along the ridge. There was only one spot where we needed to come down the scree a bit due to a sharp drop-off.

Marilyn and Phil negotiating the downstep, with Mount Birdwood in the background

As we made our way to the third summit, the hail started falling. At one point, they were the size of peas, and falling horizontally due to the high winds. It was quite painful! And there was an ominous buzzing in the air ...

Past the third (and final) summit, we raced down towards the treeline, and at one point the myriad route choices caused us to take an errant route, but we corrected ourselves quickly and made it out, quite suddenly, back onto Watridge Logging Road.

On the drive back up to Canmore, I noticed a couple of cars stopped by the side of the road. There was an adult grizzly bear (you can't see the shoulder hump from this angle, but on another shot, it is very apparent) snacking on berries, and I managed to take a few photos before the crowds started gathering.

It's berry season!

On the way home, I stopped by Frank and Tiiu's for a latte and fruit (thanks!).