Wind Ridge

Wind Ridge
November 30, 2003

Mountain height:      2,164 m
Elevation gain:         762 m
Ascent time:             3:35
Descent time:           2:10
Roundtrip distance: 15.4 km

Hiking/snowshoeing with Mark.

For a splendid, front row view of The Three Sisters, Wind Ridge can’t be beat. Also, the perfect conditions (lots of snow and completely clear skies) helped to make this trip wonderfully scenic and eye-catching.

The first hour, along a wide, snow-covered trail, was not terribly exciting, however, the scenery really opened up when we made it to the treeline. There, we had fantastic views of Mount Lougheed, The Windtower, and Rimwall, to the south and Collembola and Mount Allan to the southeast. After ascending a fairly steep slope to the ridge, the summit block came into view. Again, the great weather and snow made the scene breath-taking.

Travel up to the summit block was a little slow and very tiring. At times the snow was very soft and we would sink almost to our knees in it. Other times, the wind had hardened the snow almost to ice and was very slippery. Eventually, we came to the crux – a short rockband that has to be climbed. It was covered in snow, but had good foot and handholds and didn’t pose a problem.

After the crux, the remainder of the hike was straightforward and relatively easy. As we gained elevation, however, we became more exposed to a very strong wind (hence the name of the ridge!) and the temperature suddenly plummeted. The balaclavas and gore-tex gloves came out very quickly! The thing that I really liked about the trip was that the spectacular view of The Three Sisters didn’t come into view until we were almost at the end of the hike. Having waited for that view with great anticipation throughout the hike, it certainly didn’t disappoint and we took maybe a few too many photographs of the beautiful trio. At the summit, the panorama was wonderful in all directions. In addition to The Three Sisters, I especially liked the view down the length of the Bow Valley corridor, towards Mount Rundle and Cascade Mountain. Trying to stay warm (the wind chill was into the minus 30’s), we found a little shelter behind a tree, where we enjoyed a well-deserved cup of coffee and some trail-mix. If the temperature how been about 30 degrees warmer, we would have stayed up there for a good hour, taking in the magnificent, winter scenery. But it wasn’t… and so we didn’t! The descent was fast and easy. Overall, a fantastic day.