The access to Kananaskis Peak starts by heading up the Wasootch Peak trail. The group decided to split and try 2 different approaches to the upper creekbed.
Gary under the waterfall
,
Looking through the waterfall
While two dropped down to the creek at the waterfall, the other two chose to follow the trail for another half hour and then traverse across the slopes to the upper creekbed. Both groups reached the meetup point in the upper creekbed within 5 minutes of each other.
Kananaskis Peak from the creekbed
We followed the open second gully up to the col, on firm rock and vegetation. Once on the lower ridge we contoured right to avoid some steep pinnacles and reached the crux section on the ridge.
Clifton below the crux
,
Gary at the top of the crux section on the ridge
This section involves about 10 metres of moderate level scrambling on good rock, with plenty of hand and footholds. Once on the upper ridge we were able to enjoy the great views and traversed about 500 metres along the ridge towards the summit block.
Terry and the gang traversing the upper ridge towards the summit block
After navigating the narrow exposed summit block ridge, we reached the summit cairn and settled in for a long lunch.
Navigating the narrow exposed summit block ridge
The 360 degree views were superb and the warm sun and windless conditions made for a very pleasant rest break.
A sunny warm windless day on the summit of Kananaskis Peak
We descended the 4th gully on the Northwest side of Kananaskis Peak on good scree for about 250 vertical metres, before accessing a long snow gully which took us all the way back down into the creekbed.
Descending the snow couloir with Wasootch Peak in the background
We then followed the creekbed and an intermittent game trail back to the waterfall. We then followed a good game trail along the creek all the way to where it intersected the main Wasootch Peak trail about 110 vertical metres from the start of the trail. We were back at the vehicle just before 4 PM.
Thanks to Clifton, Terry and Gary for joining me Kevin (S/C) on a great day of exploring and scambling in the front range of the Rockies.
