Kane Ratting: Easy (Note, this peak is not rated in a book but I call it easy)
After leaving the Little Elbow parking lot, we cross the famous Harold Chapman bridge and the objectives for the day come into view. I’ve drawn our approximate route onto the picture with green for the ascent and red for the way down. On the right is North Glasgow which will be the first objective and then Garriochmill Peak on the left. Onward!After following the Little Elbow river for a short while, we started the ascent up Glasgow North. The ridge quickly rises above tree line and rewards you with a great vista. You can see in the background the smoke from wild fires pushed up against the mountains. It was very smokey in Calgary but almost clear in the hills. That was a pleasant surprise. Looking up toward North Glasgow Peak.Phil has just made his way down a small scrambly bit and JD is about to do the same.This trip was JD and Phil’s idea as I didn’t even know this peak existed. I was just along for the ride. Phil told me it would be an easy day out. 16Km and 1200m of gain is an “easy” day for Phil, he is not human. First summit of the day on North Glasgow means time for the traditional summit selfie. Phil collects the bright pink summit register and puts our names in it. We don’t spend much time on the summit as it is not the main objective for today, onward!A look at what still lies ahead. The very approximate route to Garriochmill with the true summit of Glasgow in the background. To learn more about the summit of Glasgow click here:https://www.tripbagger.com/2014/09/07/shawn-bags-mount-glasgow-kananaskis/When crossing over to Garriochmill, the ridge narrows a bit in one spot. Some reports describe this as very exposed. Phil is holding his hat so it doesn’t blow away in the wind that funnels through the gap. We also had to circumvent the small cliff band visible in the background. You could probably scramble down it, but we didn’t’ want to find out the hard way you couldn’t. After the narrow exposed bit, the route is wide, easy and obvious. You can see the summit of Glasgow North in the background and the ascent ridge we followed heading up the right side of the photo. Phil and JD navigate a couple of scramble sections on the way to the summit. And on the summit! The two closest peaks are Mount Romulus and Remus. Named after the Roman mythology I assume. You can read about Remus and Romulus here: https://www.tripbagger.com/2015/08/12/shawn-bags-mount-remus-kananaskis/ https://www.tripbagger.com/2021/10/03/shawn-bags-mount-romulus-kananaskis/The views to the West are spectacular. Well worth the effort. Of course, this calls for the traditional summit selfie. The summit register was guarded by this particularly large spider. I assume if you are bitten by this spider it would give you some kind of hiking super power.But Phil wasn’t going to let a gigantic spider stop him from proving to the world he had been on the summit. You can see the ascent route on the left and what will hopefully be our descent route on the right. Phil found a local celebrity in the register. Andre Nugara, the author of local guide books made his 1000th summit here. While Phil and I were messing around JD was busy deploying a high accuracy GPS receiver to accurately measure the height of this summit. Turns out it is 2712m. One last look at the impressive mount Glasgow and then it is time to head back down. A view of the terrain after descending the ridge. We had to look around a little bit to find the best route through these cliffs but it wasn’t overly complicated. From there, animal trails through the forest led back to the Glasgow trails and eventually back to the Little Elbow River.
No approach, not too long with great views. Quick Stats Distance: 9.12Km round trip Height Gain: 1093m Round Trip Time: 4h Kane Rating: Moderate Resources: Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies
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