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Mt Baldy North - Kananaskis Highway 40

Mt. Baldy North

G - Gendarme traverse

DC - Downclimb from rock prow, circumvent left or on the North side slab slopes

Mt. Baldy North

Rock prow downclimb with exposure viewed from higher up the ridge

Mt. Baldy North

Gendarme traverse viewed from higher up the mountain, can also see the rock prow lower left of photo

Mt Baldy North - Kananaskis Highway 40

  • Scramble: Class 2 – Steep Hiking, Some Use of Hands, Some exposure
  • Altitude: 2,192m (7,190 ft)
  • Elevation Gain: 800m (2,624 ft)
  • Ascent Time: 2 – 2 1/2 Hours
  • Best Season to Scramble: May to October, Dry Slopes

Highlights

This scramble overlooks Barrier Lake as you enter the Kananaskis and has some real varied terrain to cover, there’s an exposed rock step and a traverse around a gendarme. Both spots are shown in the pictures above.

Getting There

Head west out of Calgary on the TransCanada highway # 1 to the Highway 40 Kananaskis Country turnoff (approx 59.7km from the Canada Olympic Park intersection to the Highway 40 turnoff). Take the turnoff and head south on highway 40 for approx. 12.4 km. You’ll be looking right at the steep north face of Mt. Baldy. The road takes you around the right hand side of Baldy where you will see on your left a rock cut and sign saying watch for falling rock. You can drive further down the road to an open parking area to your right and walk back down to the spot mentioned or you can turn around in the open area, head back the way you came and park in the ditch next to the sign.

Route Description

From here the trail climbs steeply up the rock cut and up the treed ridge. About halfway (??) up the ridge you come to the rock step down climb with exposure (3m). To avoid this you can backtrack down the rock prow and drop to the slopes on the North and scramble your way up the steep slabs avoiding the down climb altogether. From here you move up the ridge to the gendarme which requires a careful traverse on the right hand side. Once these two spots have been safely negotiated there remains steep hiking to the top.