Windtower Mountain

Where:

• Windtower

 

When:

• June 29, 2024

 

Who:

• Ed, Dave, Craig, Roger, Oak, Peter

 

Trailhead:

• 18 km from Canmore heading south on the Spray Lakes Road
• park on the right-hand side of the road, then cross the road
• a few minutes up the trail, it crosses the High Rockies biking trail, where you turn left and then take a quick right up a steep incline
• at the pass, there is a trail to the right that crosses several rock cliffs through the treeline until you turn left for the grunt straight to the summit

 

 

Degree of difficulty:

• 975 meters of elevation gain
• 10 km
• the trail starts as a steady but not severe uphill for 3 km to West Wind Pass, which takes about an hour
• from West Wind Pass to the scree slope on Windtower, can be quite challenging as it involves some scrambling
• the stretch from the treeline to the summit is a steady incline on a very open slope
• the hike took us just over five hours

 

 

Interesting notes

• the hike offers amazing views of Rimwall, Wind Pass, Mount Lougheed, Pigeon Mountain, Mount Nestor, Centennial Ridge and many other mountains in the Spray and Bow Valleys

• this was our first time doing Windtower despite looking at the ominous climb on our many hikes up West Wind Pass
• the name Windtower comes from the typically excessive wind at the top