Mt. Baldy Scramble

"Close to Calgary, close to the road, close to the ground"

- Alan Kane

 Distance: ~5 km
Elevation: 800 m
Time: 2 hrs 40 mins

Down climbing the crux of the scramble

Mt. Baldy is the peak across highway 40 from Barrier Lake which made it an easy half day escape from the city at the end of October. Not to be confused with Baldy Pass hike, Mt. Baldy is an actual scramble, much to the dismay of people commenting on trailpeak about how difficult this hike is. As far as scrambling goes, there are a few fun ridge sections with a bit of exposure and I feel that the moderate rating is appropriate. The majority of the scrambling is easy with a few short moderate sections.

Take Highway 40 from Highway 1 past the casino for ~13 km. Pass the turn off for Barrier Lake then park on the left side of the road (opposite side from the lake) in a small gravel pullout beside a stream drainage. The trail starts right from the pullout and starts climbing right away. Follow the obvious trail through the forest, gaining elevation quickly. 

Soon, you gain a ridge and you can follow braided trails up the rock. Follow the ridge up and over a short section of steeper scrambing with a bit of exposure (the crux), then continue along the obvious trail.

Taking in the views from the ridge

  There is the option of continuing along the ridge top or contouring climbers right along a rocky band. We went right, which was an easy traverse and saved us some elevation. We passed a small stone bench in the trees before starting up the scree to the summit. There were lots of trail braids and it was chose your own adventure to the top. The wind was howling so we just put our heads down and plodded.

Up the scree slope above Barrier Lake

 We encountered snow as we crested the summit ridge and gained the North Peak. There is an option to traverse the ridge around to the West Peak, but we chose not to continue due to snowy conditions and time commitments. We had great views from the top over the prairies and mountains!

Mountain top view of the prairies

Looking from the North Peak to the West Peak (connected by a snowy ridge)

Kananaskis Highway and Nakiska

Snowy ridgetop

It was a quick jaunt back down to the car and we were back in Calgary by noon (we left town at 7:30). A perfect half day out!