It turned out to be a great day to do this scramble/ ridgewalk traverse. While the tops of the high peaks on the Great Divide remained in the clouds, we enjoyed nice sun/cloud weather on the East side of the TransCanada. The trip began with the usual trek up the Temple Lodge Road and then on to the Wolverine Valley trail.


Unity Peak

Once we reached the middle of the flat meadow area in Wolverine Valley, we angled up diagonally left towards the ridge between Redoubt Mountain and Unity Peak.


Purple Peak and Lipalian Mountain from the slopes above Wolverine Valley

The footing was good all the way to the ridge, as we were able to use vegetated slopes to avoid any scree.


Damian and Gary heading up the North ridge of Unity Peak

Redoubt Lake from the ridge between Unity and Redoubt

Once on the ridge, it is an short, easy hike up to the small summit block of Unity Peak. We traversed a short distance to the right and then scrambled up the stove/refrigerator size blocks of quartzite to reach the summit of Unity.


Gary and Sim at the summit of Unity Peak

Damian on the summit block of Unity Peak

It took 3 hours to reach the summit from our starting point at Fish Creek parking lot. The summit of Unity only has room for one person, so no group photo on the summit. We descended the South ridge of Unity until we were forced by steep cliffs to descend a series of easy ledges on the East side of Unity. The group traversed the ledges towards the South end of of Unity Peak and after down climbing a couple of cliff bands we found ourselves at the base of Unity.


Down climbing the cliff bands on the East side of Unity Peak

Lunch at the base of Unity Peak with Purple Peak in the background

We then stopped to enjoy a pleasant lunch in the sun and out of the wind. Since the rest if the traverse is a ridge walk with no scrambling, we removed our helmets and headed towards Purple Peak/mound. The soft firm talus provided great traction all the way along the ridge. We did have to make one short detour to the East to get around one large pinnacle on the ridge.


Sim starting the ridge traverse towards Lipalian

Wolverine Valley from Purple Peak

Susan and Sim on the ridge below Purple Peak

We made a brief stop at the top of Purple Peak before continuing on to Lipalian Mountain.


On top of Purple Peak

The group reached the top of Lipalian at 2:30 PM. We took a long break at the summit of Lipalian to enjoy the views.


Unity Peak and Redoubt Mountain from Lipalian

Enjoying the views at the top of Lipalian Mountain

The group had a great scree run down the NorthWest side of Lipalian and we soon found ourselves at the top of the Larch Chair lift. The green Lookout ski run provided easy access back down to the Temple Road. We were back at our vehicles at 4:30 PM. 
Thanks to Damian, Sim, Gary and Susan and Spektor the wonder dog, for joining me Kevin (S/C) on a very pleasant outing in the Lake Louise area. 
Net elevation gain was 1000 m, total elevation gain was 1275 m, total distance covered was 18 km and total time was 7.5 hrs