I headed to Crowsnest Pass for an easy scramble to Mount Ward after deciding to chase the sunshine as opposed to dodging rain clouds. I had other mountain plans but there was rain the forecast everywhere. I have only been to Croswsnest for brief periods for specific training so I haven’t explored the area.
I had seen a Mount Ward post on a group, calling it an easy/short scramble. The pictures were great so I quickly did some research the night before I took off in the morning. Several comments about the questionable conditions of the road to the trailhead stood out but in my mind I didn’t I reached it.
The trailhead begins at Window Mountain Lake. To get to the lake you must drive on rough, rutted and pot-hole infested Atlas Road for about 14 kilometres, and another kilometre and a half on another reach to the parking area. This was one of the worst roads I’ve driven on in Alberta. Thankfully the agreed upon speed was between 25 to 30 kilometres/hour. I parked right before a turn in the road, and ran up to the last kilometre and bit to a parking area.
Window Mountain Lake
I met a local couple who were headed up Mount Ward too on the hike to the lake I gave them their space and took off climbing up to the lake. They said the trail was straightforward – go around the lake and hike up the mountain. From the signage it was about 4 kilometres to the lake. At one pedestrian traffic-jam section, I mistakenly went off trail so I had to do a little backtracking. I was hoping to catch up with the couple but they were no where to be seen.
I hiked up and around the lake to the base of Mount Ward. There were a bunch of young adults camping. What an amazing view to wake up to. Window Mountain Lake is part of the Livingstone Public Land Use Zone (PLUZ) so technically you can camp there for up to 14 days. There’s also hunting and fishing regulations. I didn’t see anyone fishing but there were many people swimming.
The trail up the mountain was easily found. I was really surprised that I could not see the couple ahead of me. I had heard voices at one point but no dice.
The initial part of the trail was straightforward. I reached a rocky area, and I thought I could see a nice trail up through the middle to the ridge. I didn’t want to deal with the scree so I went off trail quite a bit to climb up through a treed area. This proved not to be my finest decision making. I was slow moving over some gross sliding rock until I finally reached the ridge.
Reaching the ridge was hard fought after my stupid decision. The ridge boasted amazing views of Crowsnest Mountain, Window Mountain and Seven Sisters. I could have finished at the ridge and called it a day but I still had about 600 metres to reach the summit. Still no sign of the couple until I glanced back to see their outline on a ridge.
Another 10 minutes later, I had the summit to myself. I could see the couple start making their way to the ridge. I hurriedly headed in their direction. I wanted to chat and ask about their superpowers. Also I wanted to see if they knew of a better way down then the one I came up.
After some cheerful hellos, they explained they had went up another way in the hopes of traversing to another peak (Allison Peak?) then Mount Ward.
Anyway they showed me their route by the lake and I was impressed. I wanted to do that traverse, which is on the Continental Divide. They said there was one section was very sketchy but the rest of the ridge was amazing. They only had to carry their dog once. I wish I hadn’t got fumbled up at the start because they mentioned they should have invited me to come with them.
We decided to head down from the ridge together. It didn’t take long because the trail was decent. The highlight was watching five goats hanging out on a ridge.