On the second day of our Hidden Lake trip, we decided to go for the summit of Ptarmigan Peak. We had summitted Mount Richardson the day before and we got caught in a rain storm on the descent. As a result, much of our clothing and gear was soaking wet.
The rain stopped in the night and the skies cleared causing temperatures to plummet. I woke up in the night freezing and put on toque, buff and big puffy jacket inside my sleeping bag to try to warm up enough to sleep.
In the morning, a hard frost and ice on the tent were evidence of the chilly night. But blue skies were encouraging. As we ate breakfast, we felt the warmth of the sun as it rose above the mountains. Soon we had spread out pants, jackets, shirts, boots and backpacks to dry.
By the time we were ready to get going, the straightforward Ptarmigan Peak seemed like a better choice than the more challenging Pika Peak.
Beta:
- This route is out and back the same way.
- We started at the Hidden Lake campground. I created a post with information about permits, reservations and getting to the campground. Read about it here: Hidden Lake Campground: Planning, Permits, and Hike In
- Elevation gain: about 780 meters from Hidden Lake
- Difficulty: Steep hiking on rock, scree and talus. A few scramble moves are needed on the summit ridge to get down a step and across a low point near the summit.
- Gear: I had gaiters to keep scree out of my boots. We brought helmets but we didn’t use them. There wasn’t any overhead hazard.
Permit Required
A National Park Pass is needed to park at the trailhead. A permit is needed to camp. See the link to my post about obtaining a camping permit in the bullet point above.
Helpful Apps
- AllTrails: “Ptarmigan Peak from Hidden Lake Campground”
- FATMAP
Websites
- Bob Spirko – Ptarmigan Peak – He hiked in from the road and used a more direct approach than us, through the trees instead of by Hidden Lake.
- Steven Song – Ptarmigan Peak – He climbed all three peaks – PIka, Richardson and Ptarmigan – in one long day from the road!
Books
- Scrambles In the Canadian Rockies by Alan Kane
Trip Report
From the campground, we hiked to Hidden Lake. On our scramble up Mount Richardson the day before, we had spotted a clear route across the meadows to the base of the scree slope at the bottom of the Ptarmigan Peak.
The black arrows on the photo below show roughly the route to the summit. We picked up a trail at the bottom of the scree slope and followed it most of the way to the top of the ridge.
The only scrambling moves on this route are where the arrow points down in the photo below. It is a short step down and then across the dip onto the final slope to the summit.
We hiked the trail to Hidden Lake. It is necessary to get around a steep hill between the trail and the mountain which is barely visible in the background.
Almost at the lake, the weather is looking perfect. We were grateful for sunshine after so much rain the day before.
We crossed the outlet stream where it leaves the lake and headed across open meadows. Ptarmigan Peak is on the right.
We crossed the meadows heading toward the base of the slope. We will start our ascent on the gentle slopes in the middle-right of the photo.
A pretty creek cuts through the meadow.
The scree slope looks less steep as we get closer.
Starting up the scree slope, we went up from right-to-left toward a gap between the cliff bands.
We hiked up past this little guy who seemed determined to pose for us.
A faint trail shows the easiest way up.
We are nearing the cliff bands. On the left, the cliffs are the top of a rocky rib that runs up the side of the mountain. On the right, the cliffs are part of the upper block of the mountain. The space between them is easily passed through on the way up.
We will hike past the left side little snow patch above.
Looking back we see Hidden Lake below with Mount Richardson behind.
If you zoom in to the ridge behind Richardson, you can see the tops of chairlifts at Lake Louise Ski Resort. In the very back, the glaciated peaks behind Lake Louise are visible between clouds.
Above the little snow patch, the route heads to the top of the ridge.
The bigger rocks and slab on the right are more solid than the scree on the left. We stayed right on the way up and rode the scree on the way down.
We worked our way through the bigger rocks, looking for the most solid footing.
Near the top of the ridge, the slope is less steep.
From the top of the ridge, we looked down into the next valley. An interesting snow formation was slowly melting.
Here was our first look at the scramble part of the route.
We will step down on the right and then hike around the big rock outcropping to get to the darker scree ridge and hike to the summit.
Dan took this photo looking back at me as I came through the crux section.
I climbed down the slope behind me and am making my way around the big rocks.
Here is Dan heading around the big rocks. He is looking down at the top of a steep gully.
Dan took this photo looking back at me as I started up the final slope.
This photo better captures the steepness of the final slope.
On the summit the familiar looking pink summit register box is nestled in a cairn.
We signed our usual “Dangela”.
Summit selfie!
We hiked back down past the lake to our camp. As we settled in for our last night in the tent, we considered our plans for the next day.
We decided that instead of climbing Redoubt Mountain on the way out, we should climb Pika Peak. It would be easier to hike in from the road another time and climb Redoubt without spending the night. Since we were already out there, we decided that Pika should be our objective for the next day.
If we made it to the top, it would complete our scrambles of the three summits around the lake. I liked that idea!
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Reach the peak!
Read about our other summits: