This spectacular day in the mountains started with a special treat: two grizzly bears were spotted eating berries on the side of the road into the Lake Louise ski resort just before the turn-off to Fish Creek parking lot. A nervous looking cyclist was looking on, as were two wardens.
I wondered if we might have trouble getting all our vehicles parked at Fish Creek parking lot in this era of Covid, but when we arrived at 9:00 am there was still lots of room. Our group of nine began walking up the road to Temple Lodge at 9:15, and regrouped at the Larch ski runs above Temple Lodge about an hour later. After a short hike along the trail into Skoki Lodge we turned east on a well-defined trail leading into the Wolverine Valley.
A Wolverine Valley local enjoying the sun.
The climb from Wolverine Valley up to the ridge connecting Redoubt Mountain and Unity Peak is steep but by staying on the grassy sections most of the scree can be avoided.
Ascending to the Redoubt/Unity col from Wolverine Valley.
We arrived on the summit of Unity just after noon, and just in time for lunch.
Lunch on the summit of Unity Peak.
The traverse of this spectacular ridge requires dropping down to the east twice to avoid cliff bands; once just after leaving the summit of Unity, and once again on the way to Purple.
Descending to east side of ridge between Unity and Purple to avoid cliff bands.
The visibility was superb on this day, so many opportunities were taken to stop and identify the amazing number of mountains that can be seen from this ridge walk.
The views along this long ridge are spectacular.
After descending from Lipalian Peak we took one last break to enjoy the sun at the top of Larch chairlift.
Sim having a snooze at the top of Larch chair.
Our descent route back to Temple Road followed the Larch ski runs furthest to skiers left.
Descending a ski run back to Temple road.
We arrived back at the cars at about 5:30 pm. Thanks to Manfred, Sim, John, Bill, Ulrike, Toshiko, Peter, and Arnold, for joining me Jack (C/S) on a fantastic day in the mountains! Thanks also to Sim, Bill, and Ulrike for the great photos. And special thanks to Arnold for volunteering to be my mentor on this my first of three mentored trips as a probationary coordinator.
Total Elevation Gain: 1275 m
Total Distance: 17.3 km
Total Time: 8.25 hours