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Date |
Ascent Time |
Descent Time |
| 1st Time |
20 Aug 04 |
4:35 |
2:45 |
It's really best to use a bike on this trip. The trip starts with a 7.9km trip to Aylmer Pass Junction.
You'll save a lot of time if you bike this portion. There are spots where the roots and rocks present a
challenge, but it's still better than walking. This is a portion of the trail. The lake is through the
trees on the right.
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After you reach the Aylmer Pass Junction (Campground LM8), you have to stash your bike. Bikes are not
allowed on the Aylmer Pass Trail. Here is a picture of this trail. It's at a moderate grade through a
light forest. After 2.3km, you have the choice that Kane talks about. You can go right to ascend via
the Lookout, or you can continue straight toward the pass.
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I choose to go straight and continue following the Aylmer Pass Trail. It's another 3.4km to the pass. Just
before the pass, you will come across a prominent gully coming down from the right (seen here). You'll want to
go up this gully, and at the top of the hill, you'll meet up with the "lookout trail option". If you stay
right in the creek bed, you can stick to slabs going up. Otherwise, you'll be going up some very loose scree/dirt.
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This is taken from where the two trails join back together. This is looking down the ridge toward the lookout.
Lake Minnewanka is in the background. The mountains in the background on the right are Inglismaldie, Girouard,
and Peechee.
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This is taken from the same vantage point as the above picture, and it's looking down the gully I had just ascended.
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Looking forward from the same vantage point, you have two choices. Kane recommends going around the knob in
the center of the picture. By doing this, you avoid some downclimbing, some of which was a bit difficult.
I actually stuck to the ridge, and made it through the downclimbs. On the way back, I went around all of that.
If I had to do it again, I'd go around as Kane suggests. On the right, you can see the summit.
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Here is another picture taken from the ridge, looking toward the summit.
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This is looking up the scree slope toward the summit. The scree here isn't too bad. I stayed out of the obvious
downtrack, which contained a smaller variety of scree. If you stick to the bigger blocky stuff, it's not too bad.
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This picture, looking NW, shows the angle of the slope. Not too bad. It also shows where the storms
would normally be coming from. Again, not too bad.
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Finally, here is the summit.
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From the summit, looking toward the Ghost River, you can see Devil's Thumb.
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From the other side of the summit, looking back down, you can see the ascent route, the fire
lookout ridge, and Lake Minnewanka.
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