Mt Allan Centennial Ridge Traverse: Ribbon Cr. to Dead Man Flats Tra

Our group set off from Ribbon Creek parking lot a little before 9.30am on a beautiful clear sunny Sunday, steadily climbing the steep switchbacked Centennial Ridge trail. After a brief snack break at around 11am we climbed to the ridge plateau for our first views of the summit of Mt Allan way in the distance.

The above treeline start of the long ridge traverse to the summit of Mt Allan
The above treeline start of the long ridge traverse to the summit of Mt Allan

From this point on we enjoyed fabulous ridge walking, via unique rock formations, the Ramblers plaque and final push up to the summit of Mt Allan for a late lunch at 1.30pm.

the plaque commemorating that this trail was built by the Ramblers
the plaque commemorating that this trail was built by the Ramblers

One of the interesting rock steps on the route up to the summit
One of the interesting rock steps on the route up to the summit

Late lunch on summit of Mt Allan 2,819m
Late lunch on summit of Mt Allan 2,819m

. The summit was warm and clear with a mild smoke haze. We started our descent at 2pm, stopping periodically to regroup and to take in the views of nearby Collembola, Pigeon, Wind Mountain and the Lougheeds. Kudos to those Ramblers who built this trail for Canada's 1967 Centennial. The route follows the entire ridgeline apart from a few workaround sections to avoid cliffs.

Descending Centennial ridge from summit of Mt Allan
Descending Centennial ridge from summit of Mt Allan

One of several exposed traverses to
One of several exposed traverses to "workaround" the descent ridge

. The final 6km, which follows an old logging road through the trees is a bit tedious. It was on this section that we met the only other hikers on our descent route, who had overshot the Wind Ridge turnoff by about 4km. We arrived at the Pigeon Mountain car park at 5.30pm.

I think that we all felt that this was a very worthwile trip to do. Particularly if you like ridge walking and point to point hiking. The last reported Ramblers hike on this traverse was in 2011!

Special thanks to John Glasswick for being my mentor on this my second trip as a provisional coordinator, to Jane for leading the group on the descent and to Gary and Fiona for the pre-placing of shuttle vehicles at the end point.

Stats (per John): 8hrs, 19.6km, 1,443m

Many thanks to a really keen group of participants: Gary, Alda, Susan, Jane, John, Deborah, Kate, Tina, Jenny, Mechtild for joining me for a memorable traverse Evan Jones c/s

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