It was quite cool, maybe 5°C, when we all got together around 9:00 am to set off up the Larch valley trail. At Sentinel pass there were quite a few folks enjoying the view and curious about the route up Temple and us donning helmets.


Transition from Hiking to Scrambling

View on Mt Fay from sentinel pass

We grunted up the slope and through the cliff bands on the, mostly, well pounded in trail with a group of Russians for company on much of the route. With Gary and Susan along, who have done Temple 10 times, I did n't get lost this week and made it to the summit just after 1:00 pm I think.

After putting on some extra layers in the cool breeze at 11625 feet we spent a fairly long time at the summit eating lunch and picking out mountains from the Bugaboos,Assiniboine, Forbes, Sir Donald and, maybe a big snowy Selkirk to the north was Sir Sandford? We could see alot of mountains!

Paradise Valley form the summit

Summit group Mount Temple

A few other groups on the mountain - maybe 30-40 people in total - with about half a dozen others while we were on the summit. I thought there might be more on a perfect day. Returned down the scree with a stop at one of the Minnestima lakes.

Ramblers getting ready for the return - Mt Hungabee in the back

After a nice lunch at summit.....time to get down!

Short scramble rock band on Mount Temple "tourist route",

After the lake we set off down the trail finding, just below treeline, some fairly fresh, though not steaming, bear scat. Back at the busy Moraine lake trail head parking around 5:30 pm where we were taking our boots off when there was a car collision near by. Though a fairly minor collision one of the cars did suffer radiator damage so was not drivable. After a brief stop in Lake Louise for refreshments we headed home after a great day in the mountains.

Thanks all for good company and being OK with a fairly steady pace (though, hopefully, we did enjoy the wonderful summit view sufficiently ...). Special thanks to Gary for excellent route advice and Celine for the photos. Participants: Gary, Susan, Celine, Chau, Alda, John and Susan's guest the volleyball guy and great scrambler Phil! Thanks also to Carl and the Calgary Scrambling and Mountaineering Club info on conditions so we did n't haul axes and crampons up.