From Lake Bourgeau you head to the end of the bowl and up here

The upper alpine bowl heading east towards a steep slope to Harvey Lake

View from Harvey Lake of the slopes up to the summit

At last the summit, nice smile Blake, don't fall asleep!

Scramble: Class 1 – Steep Hiking

Altitude: 2,930m (9,610 ft)

Elevation Gain: 1,500m (4,920 ft)

Ascent Time: 3 1/2 – 5 Hours

Best Season to Scramble: July to September

This scramble is a long one! Did I say that it’s a long one? (approx 25-26 km round trip) But if you don’t mind a long hike you have a full day of great alpine scenery. You have to do it once right?

Head west out of Calgary on the TransCanada highway # 1 to Banff 132km (82.5 miles). Continue west on highway # 1 to the Bourgeau Lake parking lot approx 2.9 km past the overpass to the Sunshine Ski area. You will see a sign for the parking lot, it’s a left hand turn, across the east coming lanes. The lot is on the south side of the highway.

From the parking lot take the well maintained trail approx 7.5 km to Bourgeau Lake. While Bourgeau Lake sits below the summit of Mt. Bourgeau you have to circle around the mountain to access easy scramble slopes. Continue right of the lake on an obvious trail which takes you to the back of the cirque. From here you climb out of the Bourgeau Lake cirque to a high alpine basin. Once in the basin you will be basically circling around to your left. You will pass to unnamed tarns, then up a steep little slope to Harvey Pass/Lake. From here the last portion of the route to the summit is obvious, see photo. If you have a clear day Mt. Assiniboine dominates the scenery to the south.