Rimwall Hike

Where:

• Rimwall

 

When:

• November 5, 2022

 

Who:

• Ed, Craig, Oak

 

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
• this is the same trailhead as West Wind Pass and Windtower
• a few minutes up the trail, it crosses the High Rockies biking trail, so be sure to look for the sign that points to the trail up West Wind Pass
• the turn off the West Wind Pass trail onto Rimwall is about a km up the trail and is not well marked, so it’s best to use your GPS
• we meandered virtually straight up, following faint depressions in the snow and constantly checking out GPS to stay close to the trail

 

 

Degree of difficulty:

• we grunted our way through what went from ankle-deep to waist-deep snow and stopped just before the tree line

• 900 meters of elevation gain (we did 400 meters)
• 7.5 km out and back (we did 3.5 km)
• the hike took us two and a half hours
• the trail starts out as a gentle but steady climb until you turn off the West Wind Pass up Rimwall, where it becomes much steeper
• we put our grippers on at the start, which turned out to be a smart move

 

 

Interesting notes:

• it was a last-minute decision to test out part of this trail that we’ve been pondering for a while

• there are great views through some breaks in the trees looking south to Spray Lakes and the surrounding peaks such as Windtower, Mount Lougheed, and Little Lougheed
• we plan to head back in the spring after the snow melts to get to the summit
• we only encountered three other people who were wending their way up the main trail en route to Windtower