Shunga la she 583052 Scramble on 29-Sep-2023

We started from the parking lot at Junction Creek day use area near the Bluerock Campground at 8:30 am. We had decided to climb Shunga-la-she via the north ridge, which avoids having to ford the Sheep River. This route starts out with a hike along the Sheep River trail to the bridge across the Sheep River at the 3 km point. Immediately after crossing the bridge there is a very distinct trail that climbs up through the forest on the south side of the Sheep River. Even though there was some snow on the peaks to the west of us, our route was snow-free today, which was great because there is some very lovely scrambling to be had on this route up Shunga-la-she. We arrived at the summit at about 12:00 noon, and although the air temperature was quite cool, it was absolutely calm, so we stayed on the summit for about an hour or so. Based on previous trip reports, we decided we would descend the same way we had come i.e. using the north ridge, and the scrambling on the way down proved to be almost as much fun as on the ascent. We arrived back at the parking lot at 3:30 pm.

Thanks very much to Sim and Pam for joining me Jack on another beautiful day in the mountains.

Total time: 7 hours
Total distance: 13.7 km
Total elevation gain: 1060 m

Lower down on the ridge, with East Burns in the background.

Part way up Shunga-le-she, with Gibraltar Rock and Gibraltar Mountain in the background.

Looking east down the Sheep River Valley, Calgary in the background.

A window in the northeast ridge of Shunga-la-she.

The interesting scrambling begins.

Looking west toward Mist Ridge and Mist Mountain.

Looking south into the Junction Creek valley from the summit, Mount Pyriform in the background.

On the summit of Shunga-la-she.