Windy Peak Hills is a ridgewalk that culminates on the summit of Windy Peak (2250m). It's quite pleasant and easy, although being on the "wrong" side of Highway 532, is not part of Kananaskis Country proper, and so the usage rules differ significantly (I saw mountain bikers off in the distance).
I was the second car in the parking lot, with the occupants of the first car nowhere in sight (this will become relevant later). There were many wildly divergent trails to choose from, but I basically stuck to the ridgeline and everything worked out.
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| The peak on the far right is Mount Livingstone (2422m). Just left of that, with a bit of green on top, is Windy Peak. |
There are, in theory, 5 "humps" along the ridge before Windy Peak. How these humps are determined, however, is a mystery to me. I could easily have been persuaded that there were as many as 7 humps, or as few as 3. Perhaps they took the average of those two values.
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| Wildflowers in bloom |
On the way up what the guidebook refers to as the 4th hump, I caught up with the only party ahead of me, a couple with their dog. This would not be the last time they feature in my story. We said our hellos and I passed them on my way up.
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| Snow below the summit of Windy Peak |
When I got to the base of what I eventually determined was Windy Peak (more on this later), there was a considerable amount of snow. Seeing no way around the snow, I kicked steps up the increasingly steep slope until it leveled off at the top. An ice axe would have been useful.
Once I got to the top, however, I saw another hump that was clearly higher. I started onwards towards this peak, but then the going got quite scrambly and difficult. It was nothing insurmountable, but the timing of the hike was leading me to believe that the higher peak was not Windy Peak, and that I was actually on Windy Peak already. So, I backtracked and stopped for lunch.
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| Cairn on top of Windy Peak, with Mount Livingstone in the distance |
Now, one can retrace one's steps back off of Windy Peak towards the parking lot. However, the road was clearly visible through a pass from the summit, and the guidebook described a cross-country method of doing a loop. I am all about the loop, so armed with my compass, I started heading off towards the road. The couple with the dog obviously felt that this was the more interesting way to go too. Unfortunately, they started following me (never a good idea), and in about 20 minutes I lost sight of them. I then entered thick forest, from which navigation via landmarks became increasingly difficult.
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| Interesting wildflowers in a clearing in the forest |
I eventually exited the trees into a marsh, and then saw another group of hikers that had foregone the summit and decided to loop back early (I think they were Korean ... they were all wearing gloves). Heading towards them revealed the trail they had used to get to that point, and I followed that trail all the way back to the parking lot.
I stopped for another bite to eat before embarking towards Hailstone Butte.
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| The weather station / fire lookout can be seen peeking out of the snow in the far right |
On the way up towards Hailstone Butte, I kept looking back to see if the couple with the dog had exited the forest yet, and for a good hour they were nowhere to be seen (and their car was still in the parking lot). I should have told them that my mantra is, "Do as I say, not as I do", and I would have very clearly told them not to follow me (but how do you say that in a way that is not rude?).
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| Scrambly! |
As I got up towards the ridge, it became clear that the snow would cause some problems. Normally, it's a little scramble up to the top. However, the snowcover was such that a slip would result in serious injury. Just as I was about to start kick stepping into the snow, a dog barked at me! Looking up, I saw a pretty golden retriever, staring at me. She looked very healthy, but had no collar, so I knew she wasn't alone. Thinking she was with another group of hikers (but which car would they have come in?), I decided it would be safer to traverse the rocky ridge until I could find an area without snow. This eventually led me to a fairly easy trail up to the top.
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| Tom and Cleo, heading back home |
The answer came in the form of Tom, the watchman of the weather station / fire lookout. He lives here with Cleo, his dog, for 4 months during the summer. Every once in a while, supplies are choppered in. What a life! I signed his guest book and chatted for a bit. He told me that I had indeed summited Windy Peak, and that the large summit further on was Mount Livingstone. He also told me that Plateau Mountain (which I also mentioned in the Mount Burke blog entry) has oil drilling on top, which was quite a surprise.
I eventually said my farewells and proceeded to the far end of the butte. There, I found a cairn that had collapsed. Some of the stones were replaceable, but many were extremely heavy and required two people to lift, so I did what I could then started looking for a direct route down.
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| Shortcut! |
The way down was actually quite difficult and scrambly, and on a couple of occasions I had to downclimb short sections of rock (which is quite awkward with camera gear). I also had to negotiate some snow patches. I was considering sliding down one when my footing gave way. Instead of trying to recover, I decided to ride it out as there wasn't a cliff at the end. ;)
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| A somewhat unintentional glissade |
I eventually connected back to the trail and was relieved to see that the other couples' car was gone. Either they had eventually found a way out of the trees, or else they retraced their steps.
I was quite surprised at the amount of snow on these shoulder-season hikes. Maybe I need to start packing an ice axe and crampons!
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