Many people have been asking me about scrambling, and in fact, many people—even in Alberta—don’t know what scrambling is. For those reasons, I decided to make this post.
I first discovered scrambling before I lived in Alberta. It was on one of our summer trips to Waterton Lakes National Park. My wife and I were hiking the Triple Crown and if memory serves me right, I asked an employee at an outdoor store in the Park why Akamina Ridge wasn’t on any of the Parks Canada lists of hikes. He informed me that that was because “it is a scramble.”
I’m not sure what my response was, but I think based on his info I bought a Gem Trek map of Waterton Lakes National Park (I’m assuming this is accurate, as that map is the only map and/or brochure I have that shows Akamina Ridge on it) and we proceeded to hike the first two and did Akamina Ridge last that week. Then a few days later, in the Prince of Wales gift shop, we found a copy of Alan Kane’s Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies, and sure enough, Akamina Ridge was in there.
Below you will find a list of the scrambles I’ve completed or attempted, and resources that I’ve self-educated from. Of course, before getting into scrambling, one should already be healthy and in shape, and a proficient hiker and/or backpacker with many trips completed. I’ve yet to take a course, so everything I do has been from gaining experience by reading, and from actually being in nature, applying what I’ve read in conjunction with critical thinking and route finding.
Scrambles
6 August 2017 – Akamina Ridge
29 July 2019 – Vimy Peak
13 August 2022 – Mount Yamnuska
5 September 2022 – Grotto Mountain
23 September 2022 – Heart Mountain
5 May 2023 – Wasootch Peak
9 June 2023 – Ha Ling Peak and Miner’s Peak
16 June 2023 – East End of Rundle
24 June 2023 – Big Sister (attempt, stopped around 200 m from summit due to snow)
30 July 2023 – Vermilion Peak
18 August 2023 – Mount Lawrence Grassi (attempt, stopped after ~250 m due to crazy lightning storm)
7 September 2023 – Mount Lawrence Grassi (summited on 2nd attempt)
22 September 2023 – Bald Eagle Peak
13 October 2023 – Mount Baldy (plan was full traverse, but fog)
18 October 2023 – Turtle Mountain (attempted, stopped due to crazy wind)
27 October 2023 – Sulphur Mountain (just hiked up and down rather than take the gondola. Scoped out route to get to the actual summit at a later date)
Resources
Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies, 3rd Edition, by Alan Kane
More Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies, 3rd Edition, by Andrew Nugara
An Altar in the Wilderness by Fr. John (Kaleeg) Hainsworth
The Weekender Effect: Hyperdevelopment in Mountain Towns by Robert William Sanford
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
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