Akamina Ridge and Forum Peak

Akamina Ridge and Forum Peak - September 24, 2005

Mountain height:       2,565 m (8,413 ft)
Elevation gain:           900 m
Round-trip time:         9:25

Scrambling with Mark and Keri.

The weekend of another RMB scramble up Buchanan Peak, but unfortunately we were unable to make it. Surprisingly, however, we did end up in Waterton to give Akamina Ridge a go. This was Keri’s first trip in Waterton and we were hoping for a clear and colourful day – we were fortunate to receive both.

Instead of following Kane’s instructions, we decided to follow the hiking trail to Forum Lake and continue up from there. I erroneously thought that the different routes joined up somewhere long before the ridge and was somewhat puzzled when Kane’s instructions described looking at Cameron Lake to your left and Forum Lake to your right – we had Forum Lake to our left and Wall Lake to our right. We soon realized that Kane’s route ascended the ridge to our left, directly to Forum Peak, whereas the hiking trail gained a plateau in between Forum Peak and Akamina Ridge. Nevertheless, both routes are quite similar, combining hiking with some easy hand-on scrambling and great views on both sides of their respective ridges – the yellow larches were particularly stunning throughout the day.

Upon reaching the first plateau, Mark and Keri took a short rest, while I hiked down to Forum Peak – a very pleasant diversion and it was nice to get a look at Cameron Lake with Alderson, Carthew, and Buchanan above. Catching up to Mark and Keri, the three of us continued on to the first highpoint (not the true summit), and then on to the summit. The scenery throughout was terrific, though as not visually arresting as the year’s earlier trip around the Blakiston Horseshoe. Although lacking the colourful hues of many Waterton peaks, the craggy and distinctively shaped mountains south of the border (Custer, Cleveland, Kintla, Kinnerly, etc.) definitely asserted themselves as the dominant mountains in the area.

After reaching the true summit, Mark and I headed down, to see if we could summit a southerly outlier of Akamina. Unfortunately, the extension turned out to be too long, too loose, and too exposed for an attempt and once down to the lowpoint, we bailed on the plan and started back, to meet up with Keri again. Completing the loop via Bennett Pass was easy and scenic throughout. We encountered trouble only when a bull moose refused to let us pass. He made several aggressive moves towards us, that sent everybody running in all directions. After about 20 minutes of failed attempts to get passed the animal, we finally just started walking by him, very slowly and carefully. He stared us down the whole way, but stayed put – thank God!

A long, but wonderfully scenic, relaxing, and enjoyable day out.