It was a bluebird day for the spectacular ascent of Piper's Creek. On the way in we took the short side trip to Edworthy Falls on the Elbow River.

Edworthy Falls on the upper Elbow River

There was a lot of devastation from the 2013 flood in the Piper's Creek valley, and a new trail was cut, which follows along the slope of Tombstone Mountain to stay above the valley. This caused us some confusion, as the trail seemed to always want to head uphill, and we were afraid we were on a climber's route. Finally, to our relief, it popped out into the valley by the waterfalls just below the treeline. On the return trip, we followed a new trail, marked by a cairn, down to the creek, but it ended there and across the creek was total devastation. Why the cairn and trail exist we can't imagine.


In the subalpine meadows below Piper's Pass

There was considerable traffic for a Friday, with four horseback riders, a hiker with his Husky, and an Outward Bound group. The teenagers in the group were obviously not familiar with the mountains, as they were struggling with the steep scree ascent to the pass. They didn't seem to be getting any instruction on how to cope with the scree. This trail is straight up a very steep and loose slope, and I believe it should be upgraded to TL4.

The upper valley with pass to right of red hill (photo by Cristina)

The views at the pass were, as always, spectacular.

View of Elpoca Mountain, Mount Rae and Rae Glacier from the pass

Summit group at Piper's Pass

Subalpine meadows in Piper's Creek valley

On the hike we saw a ptarmigan with chicks and a herd of about 15 sheep. On the drive home we saw three more sheep, a deer and a coyote.


Sheep cool their feet in residual snowbanks (photo by Cristina)

Ptarmigan (photo by Cristina)

We were back to the cars at 6:20, having walked 20 km and climbed and descended over 800m. We all stopped at the Kananaskis golf course clubhouse for supper.

Participants: Yolande, Cristina (photos), Jim, Krystyna, Peter and Carl, coordinator and scribe.

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