A superb day for an easy scramble in the mountains. After navigating around a couple of moose on the Smith Dorien road, we headed up the Chester Lake trail a few minutes before 9AM. We left the trail at the meadow just before the lake and headed South to the basin below the Mt. Chester - Little Chester Col.


Mount Chester with the Little Chester col to the right

A relaxed pace saw the group at the top of the col 2 hours after leaving the Chester Lake parking lot. A long rest break at the top of the col in the warm sun allowed the group to enjoy the great scenery which included a bachelor herd of Big Horn Sheep grazing just below us. We then took an obvious diagonal ascent line up the Southwest slope of Mount Chester towards the South ridge line.


Sue heading up the SW slopes of Mt Chester from the col

Near the ridge line we followed an easy and well beaten route along very low angle slabs to the summit. The "Kane Effect" was very evident on Mount Chester. The summit of Mount Chester provided spectacular 360 degree views of the peaks in the vicinity, including views of 50 plus kilometres to the West.


Looking West from the summit of Mt Chester

Summit of Mount Chester

The combination of great scenery, warm sun and zero wind resulted in a 2 hour summit stay - as everybody in the group seemed very content to maximize the experience.


Headwall Lakes from the summit Mt Chester

Reluctantly we finally headed back down from the summit to the col.


John descending the upper slopes with Mt Assiniboine in the background

Nancy descending the upper slopes of Mt Chester

From the col we were able to enjoy some pretty good screeing, which took us back down to the lower basin.


The gang screeing down from the col

The group then decided to extend the day by taking in the larches at Chester Lake, which were in full colour display.


Larches at Chester Lake

A trail at the base of Mt. Chester quickly took us to the Lake where we wandered among the larches taking pictures and enjoying the scenery.


Larches at Chester Lake

The easy hike back down the trail from the lake saw us back at the vehicles by 4:45PM. Cold beverages and further discussions on the amazing day in the mountains were the order of the day. Thanks to Nancy, Arnold, John, Susan, and Gary for their company and for joining me on a great day in the mountains Kevin(S/C)