's Traverse of Mount Yamnuska - Scramble
Standing at roughly 2240m, Mount Yamnuska is one of the busiest peaks from early on in the season til late fall due to its southern facing wall of stone and easy access to Calgary. It attracts scramblerers, climbers and a range of climbing schools and tourist groups in groves.
'Back in the day', the mountain was known only as Yamnuska (deriving from the Stoney word "Iyamnathka", meaning steep cliffs or "the flat faced mountain.") until 1961. It was then changed to Mt Laurie in honor of John Laurie, the founder of the Indian Association of Alberta by the request of the Stoneys. Due to its populairty, Yamnuska has still remained as the most commonly used name when referring to the peak.
How to get there?
At the highway 1X and highway 1A (Bow Valley Trail) intersection, head east for 2km and turn into the signed parking lot that says 'Yamnuska'. Follow the road and you will end up at a fairly large parking lot.
Traverse of Mount Yamnuska Trip Log
West to east (Clock-wise)
We are going to be covering the 'east to west' direction in greater detail because it is the more popular choice. So in a jist.. The trail starts off at the trailhead west of the parking lot. Follow this trail until you reach a sign showing climbers straight and hikers right. Go straight and follow the trail which takes switchbacks and branches off about every 10 meters it seems. Once you reach the base of the front face you will want head west until you reach the slope heading up to the pass.
The route takes you up the slope to reach the pass, but if you decide you want to fit in some extra scrambling, there are two drainage type cuts just to the right of the trail leading up. They have great foot/hand holds throughout but a helmet is recomended because wandering folks up top might knock rocks down upon you without realizing. Once you reach the pass you will see the trail go to the right up the backside of Mount Yamnuska and the rest is pretty straight forward. For more details follow our trip log below in reverse.
Doing it 'backwards' does pose a couple advantages. If your worried about the crux, going west to east allows you to summit without passing through it. If doing the traverse in the busy season and you are ok with heights you can also bypass the usual line ups at the crux by scrambling up the ledges near the edge at the crux and around them. If doing the entire traverse though it might take a bit longer because you are walking up the scree slope instead of running down and walking down the longer approach in the east.
East to west (Counter clock-wise)
The trailhead starts on the west side of the parking lot.
Follow the wide trail in the forest up until you get to the sign where the trail splits. Take trail to the right in the direction the sign points for the hiking trail.
The trail is a gentle climb up as it switchbacks through the forest.
Along the trail there are a few trails that split off to the side for exceptional viewpoints which make for good excuses to take a short break!
Along the windy trail notice the different types of exiquiste flowers as you gain elevation.
The trail keeps leading up through the forest, first away from the mountain and then heads back west towards Yamnuska, which stands visible as you keep steadily going up.
Once you make it above the treeline, you come up to a small chimney section which is an easy scramble up and a nice change from the mundane hike up no matter how beautiful the views are! This little scramble through the rock chimney takes you to the backside of Yamnuska.
Once on the back, keep an out for the many trails traversing up and across the mountain backside. Follow one of the trails up to the ridge line and continue on the beaten path across the back.
You come across a couple false summits along the way. The true summit lays just past the crux. The crux is a small section where you have to walk on a narrow ledge (roughly 50 feet or so). But there is a cable to guide you along the section which proves especially useful for those who have a bit of a fear of heights!
Depending on your comfort level with heights this can be a simple walk in a park or a rather nerve wrecking experience :)
In the summer time you can usually expect a crowd or line. There is a thick steel cable firmly attached to the rock. If you are afraid of heights just be sure to hold onto the cable and remind yourself that it is not going anywhere. If you start off by pulling on it and taking the slack out you can walk across without the cable swaying on you which makes it alot easier.
Past the crux continue along the path to the true summit. Parts of the trail require a bit of holding onto the rock on some small sections but if you managed to do the chimney and the cruz, these should be no problem and should only add to the adventure!
To return you can take the same way back, meaning you will have to pass the crux once more or what we recommend and did is contiuning to traverse on the back side of Yamnuska. On the west side of the summit there is a beaten in path through the small loose rock and dirt. Follow this trail and continue to head west on the trail.
Once you get down to what looks like a fork, hang a left. This time we took the scree path that continues down the mountain. It looks like a great scree run down... which it is. But you end up quite a bit lower then the pass which involves you hiking back up below the pass to reach it.
Once you reach the pass on the west end, continue to take the beaten trail down which is a bit steep. The path is mainly made up of small, loose rock and dirt making it for a bit of a slipperly, not fun slope down. The trail then turns into a more level path that traverses under the front face of Mount Yamnuska.
From here you have a couple choices. Half way across you start seeing several long scree runs down Yamnuska allowing you to pretty much jog down the mountain. Taking the "express way" down the mountain saves you quite a bit of time. You can also continue on past the scree and follow one of the many trail that lead you down what is normally the climbers approach route. They eventually all converge into one.
Once the scree run is over, you connect back to a trail that the climber's approach route also connects to. This will lead you back to the sign in the beginning where the hiking and the climber's route split off. Continue down the wide trail to the parking lot.
GPS Plotted Route
The random little lines sticking out from the route are some of the viewpoints. If you have the time or just doing the hike they are worth checking out. There are more then the couple shown on the GPS.
As you can see it goes steady upwards. The two loss/gain moments on the decent (right hand side) are from taking the easier looking route down the scree slope and having to hike back up a bit further below.
If there is any change to the route you feel others should know about, shoot us an e-mail from our contact page.
