Opal Falls

Opal Falls and beyond (GR371159) – July 16, 2007

Hill height (GR371159): 2488 m
Total elevation gain: approx. 800 m
Round trip time: 5:35

Solo hiking and a little scrambling.

Having spent more than 24 hours on Elpoca Mountain over the last two days (11+ on Saturday and 13+ on Sunday), I wasn’t craving much in terms of length and difficulty. From the summit of Elpoca Mountain , Mark and I had seen a very pleasant grassy hill to the northwest and commented that it might make a nice trip.

By the time I started the trip from the Opal Falls Parking lot, I had pretty much downgraded the day to a quick visit to Opal Falls, less than 1 km away. I simply lacked the energy and motivation to do anything else. Luckily, I sorta’ missed Opal Falls and ended up below a series of very impressive, near-vertical slabs. The unusual colour of these slabs was quite striking and can be seen from Highway 40. A little exploring revealed a weakness through the slabs. Up top, besides a decent view towards the Kananaskis Lake , there was a good trail leading towards a rocky unnamed peak to the east.

I followed the trail, first up and then around the unnamed peak. Along the way, there was an interesting narrow drainage to scramble up, but I eventually ran into snow blocking the way and had to turn back. Around the east side of the peak, I tried to find a scramble route up. There appeared to be a potential route, but it was too serious for me to try alone and without a rope, in case I got into trouble.

By this time the aforementioned grassy hill was close by and so I headed that way. The hill sported a pretty decent view, especially towards Gap, Elpoca, Wintour, and Jerram. Although the map revealed a potential loop route by returning via Elpoca Creek, the “Area closed: Bear feeding on carcass” at the Valleyview trailhead, prompted me to stay away from that area. I therefore returned the same way. On the way back, I did visit Opal Falls and was unexpectedly surprised by the beauty of the multi-tiered waterfall.

Considering I initially didn’t feel like doing anything, a pretty decent day out.