It was a perfect day to scramble Mount Rae. The snow from Saturday had melted and with blue skies and only a slight breeze, who could ask for more. The group left Highwood Pass parking lot at 8:40 am and headed up to Ptarmigan Cirque. We followed the trail past the cairn to the end of the cirque below the slopes leading to the col. After a rest break, we donned our helmuts and headed up the shooting gallery leading to the col. In some ways this slope is the most dangerous part of the scramble as it is very loose and prone to releasing rocks. Four of the group in tight formation went up to the left, while two of us kept to the right side of the slope.

Scrambling up to the col from the cirque

Once at the col we could see the summit of Mount Rae and that the ridge was free of snow. The group followed the well established "Kane Effect" trail up to the ridge, where the exposed hands on scrambling on the ridge began.

The summit of Mount Rae from the col

Beginning the traverse from the col to the ridge

New member Sebastiaan, who was on his first scramble did very well negotiating the ridge.

The group starting to scramble the upper ridge

Looking towards the summit from the upper section of the ridge

New member Sebastiaan on one of the exposed sections of the ridge

Everyone was on the summit of Mount Rae by noon. The 360 degree views were amazing and given the warm sunny conditions, the group settled in for a long and very enjoyable one hour lunch break on the summit.

Looking West from the summit towards Upper Kananaskis Lake and the Royal Group

Happy Ramblers on the summit of Mount Rae

The Rae Glacier in the foreground with Mount Joffre left of centre

The group scrambled back down the ridge without incident, and quickly retraced our route back to the col. At the col we carefully and in tight formation worked our way back down into the cirque.

Down climbing the summit ridge

Crossing the snow back to the col

We took a short break at the cairn before following the trail back to the parking lot. In the meadow in the cirque was a sizable herd of ewes with lambs and a small bachelor herd of rams. We were back at our vehicles by 4 PM.

Part of the bachelor herd in Ptarmigan Cirque

My thanks to Brian,Bruce,Jane,Sebastiaan and KF for their great company and for sharing this superb day scrambling in the Rockies with me Kevin (S/C)

total distance 11 km

elevation gain 1050 m

total time 7.5 hrs