Hummingbird Plume Lookout

Hummingbird Plume Lookout – February 9, 2008

Lookout height:    1865 m
Elevation gain:      395 m
Ascent time:          2:50
Descent time:        1:30

Hiking with Mark.

With a terrible weather forecast, including very cold temperatures, the plan was to drive to the mountains and then pick an objective when we got there. That turned out to be Hummingbird Plume Lookout, as described in Daffern’s Kananaskis Country Trail Guide. We brought along snowshoes, but little else – in retrospect, not the best outdoor paraphernalia to be armed with on this specific trip.

On the way to the Lookout, we stopped by Trolls Falls to check it out. Though the 10 odd metres of waterfall ice won’t be giving The Weeping Wall a run for its money, the setting for Trolls Falls was very pleasant – a small semi circle of overhanging rock. The remainder of the trip, up a wide ski-trail on forested slopes, was straightforward. Snowshoes were never required, however, it quickly became obvious that skis would have been a much better mode of travel for this ascent – the run down would have been fantastic.

The temperature throughout was bitterly cold, but we didn’t get the snow we were expecting and there were even a few moments of blue sky. The one view of the trip, just beyond the lookout could have been better with clearer skies, but could have been much worse. The descent was very easy. A good day of exercise and a pretty descent objective when the weather isn’t great.