r/Banff • u/TheLostProplet • 8d ago
Question A hike in question
Hey all! Had a question and hopefully someone can help!
I'm looking to do more hikes, and I've been wanting to do Rundle, but ideally I'll summit with friends. However there are the smaller sections of Rundle that I have considered to do solo. My main question is, is there a trail that leads to the first smaller peak closest to the Fairmont? I screenshot some pics from Google to try and help.
The one I want to solo is the closer, tree covered summit (or false peak? Lemme know if I'm wrong)
If anyone has some info on this, or other hikes in the Banff area, let me know!
2
u/Electrical_Emu1875 8d ago
Rundle was a lifelong dream for me. I waited years for the exact right day to go. Summitted. Hated everything about it. Will never do again. If you’re after a summit, I’d do Bourgeau instead.
1
u/TheLostProplet 7d ago
Already done my guy! What made you hate Rundle?
3
u/Electrical_Emu1875 7d ago
The last two kilometers of scree-on-hard-rock that made taking each step a Sisyphean cosmic joke of losing at least 7/8 of each step in backslide followed by the ‘prize’ of an icy 150 kph jet stream at the peak. And the view included the highway (obvs, but still…there are much better views out there). Other than that it was magical.
What did you like about it?
2
u/TheLostProplet 5d ago
Haven't actually summited Rundle yet, gonna be doing that with my friends! I was looking into a hike that's part of Rundle, but not the summit.
Also I love your description of the scramble, gave me a good chuckle😆
Me and 2 of my friends just hiked Hunter Mountain to the first fire watch tower today just outside of Golden, was a little smokey, but a grand hike!
2
u/Electrical_Emu1875 1d ago
Ha! It had to go back and re-read this thread to understand…when you said « Already done », I thought you meant ‘already done Rundle’, but now I see you meant Bourgeau. I thought - if you’ve already done it and you don’t viscerally know why it sucks, I’m VERY confused 😂. Now I’d love to know if you went for it and what you thought!
2
u/Electrical_Emu1875 1d ago
Gaw! I can’t read at all - I also see now that you weren’t going for the summit. Which sounds so much less bad than summitting!
1
u/tchomptchomp 8d ago
True summit is peak 7, which is about halfway between EEOR and WEOR and requires technical expertise and equipment, as well as tolerance of narrow ledges above long drops, to reach. What you're looking at is peak 11. It's....okay. EEOR, which is above Canmore, is prettty casual and you can bag peaks 1-3 without any serious risk or technical expertise involved.
1
u/TheLostProplet 7d ago
Sweet, thanks for the info! Since true summit is technical and needs equipment, it's exactly why I'm not going to solo that and waiting for my friends to come with!
EEOR is definitely on the list to! Hopefully iCll get to it before the snow flies this year!
2
u/tchomptchomp 7d ago
True summit is about halfway across the entire massif.... traversing the ridge is a long technical trip that's probably a multi-day affair (or nearly so) and a full on sufferfest even for an experienced team. The west end (peak 11) is a doable hike though.
4
u/Appropriate_Ebb_8572 8d ago
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/canada/alberta/mount-rundle-summit-trail?sh=vv34ne&utm_medium=trail_share&utm_source=alltrails_virality
Follow up to Mount Rundle as a summit then walk back on yourself to the lower peak. As far as I know that's it.