Sat, Jun 25 2011 - Mount Indefatigable South Peak (View Original Event Details)
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Gillean Daffern calls Mount Inedfatigable the one to hike if you can only do one hike in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. Surely a published comment like that has to attract many visitors, but this trail has been decommissioned since 2005. The Gemtrek map notes that use of the former trail is discouraged due to grizzly habitat, so we thought we'd keep the group small to minimize our impact. Much to our surprise though, the 'decommissioned trail' was much more of a trail highway than most of the hikes many of us do. Three logs at the beginning of the trail (perhaps strategically placed) were the only sign of this trail being decommissioned.
A mere hundred metres up in elevation one is already rewarded with fantastic views of the Upper and Lower Kananaskis Lakes. The view was enough to quickly get us to the former trail's end. We passed by a couple of parties already making their way down and telling us there is too much snow. We wanted to see for ourselves, and while we did encounter snow, first in the trees, we simply put on our gaiters and made our way up. Very helpful to us, too, was the fact that a group of 12 hikers passed - we just let them break trail for they had the same destination in mind.
The outlier would have been a back-up choice for us, but was not doable yet due to snow and crossing avalanche paths. Instead we decided to head up Indefatigable as far as possible, but still mindful of a cornice along a large stretch of it. Much to our amazement, the large group ahead of us pressed on further, walked right below the cornice, stopping there for their summit shots. Thankfully it did not give way and they made it back safely. None of that party seemed to understand much English, but I could not resist asking where they are from. Calgary!
Half of our group chose to have lunch overlooking the little tarn, which three of us went on a little further, but stopping about 50m shy of the summit. And while we didn't get a chance to peek over the other side of that mountain, we were very glad to have made it that far.
Our descent started much quicker, but we soon got sidetracked by all the wildflowers in the meadowy gully. There was posing, another lunch, moss, and waterfalls - all offering us an unexpected treat.