Sulphur Mountain

Sulphur Mountain
Banff Alberta
September 29, 2012




Sulphur Mountain Observatory

Sulphur Mountain.  Its a staple in Banff, just to the west of the townsite it in itself is part of the tourist trap that is the Town of Banff.  Swarming with tourists, the Cave & Basin, The Banff Hotsprings and of course, the Sulphur Mountain Gondola combine to create a triumvirate of tourist attractions.

On a trip to Alberta in 2006, I visited the Observatory and the Cosmic Ray station on the top of Sulphur Mountain.  But of course then I was a tourist and I ascended Sulphur Mountain with my wife using the Gondola.  It is that reason that I have stayed away from Sulphur Mountain since.  I knew there was a hiking path to the lookout (its crosses under the gondola several times) but besides that it never peaked my interest.  Its kind of sad I did as Sulphur Mountain does provide a nice traverse and some fun scrambling opportunities.

Looking for an easy summit to attain, I had narrowed down the trip to Grotto Mountain, Mt. Sparrowhark and Sulphur Mountain.  In the morning I met up with Rajiv, Brian and Kenneth and it was decided (by picking an envelope) that Sulpur Mountain would be the objective.

Sunrise on Mt. Yamnuska

The drive to Banff from Calgary took about 1.5 hours and provided an awesome burning sunrise on the front ranges.  A brief stop on the side of the road to take a photo of Mt. Yamnuska was our only stop.  At the Banff Gondola parking lot we met up with Erin to complete the party.  The hike began fairly easy, the signs to the trailhead were plentiful and easily followed.  Within 5  minutes we were at the trailhead and began the hike up the trail. 

The trail is wide, well marked, well kept, very popular and 100% within trees.  It is also unrelenting in so much as the trail ascends about 700m over a distance of about 2.6km and is made up of 24 never ending switchbacks.  Our early start has us sharing the trail with two other parties who quickly spread out based on hiking speeds.  There isn't really anything to say about the trail, you pass under the gondola about 4 or 5 times so you can wave at those who chose to pay for the quick 8 minute ride - that's about the highlight.  There are no real difficulties and anyone who is fit can make the hike.  I think we counted 3 or 4 dogs on descent that were walking easily up.


Southwest Ridge Trail (Peak 2 in background)

The 700m switchback hike took our group about an hour-twenty with two stops along the way to delayer clothing and regroup session.  Our goal was to get through the switchbacks and to the lookout as fast as we could so we could have more time to traverse to the real summit of Sulphur Mountain, which is not Sanson Peak but actually the furthest peak from Sanson Peak.  To attain this peak, you take the South-West Trail from the observatory and begin a 3.5km traverse that takes you over 3 more sub peaks. This trail is plainly obvious and extremely easy to follow as it cuts along the wide-treed ridge.  I doubt that even a few inches of snow could hide this trail.

We decided to have a quick bite and re-layer once we broke the treeline (which is exactly where the trail ends beside the Gondola Station (which houses a snack bar, restaurant, gift shop and café. Be warned, a domestic beer is $6.75 as of the writing of this and I believe making the decision to buy one was the crux of the trip). After the quick stop we started on the trail away from the Observatory and towards the far peaks, at this point we left the crowds and did not see another person outside our party until we returned, which unfortunately was sooner than we wanted as rain was coming over the Sundance Range to the west.

 

Typical Scrambling on ridge

The trail winds through the trees  hugging the western side of the ride providing good views towards Lake Louise and the Sundance Range.  After being on the Summit Ridge trail for about 15 minutes get to the first "peak" you have to cross.  This is nothing more than a "knobby" rock outcrop but provide some fun light and safe scrambling.  There is opportunity to do some harder scrambling on the east side but we chose not to since we didn't bring helmets and had a novice scrambler.  The trail actually goes around the rock to the right and then switches back onto itself and provides you a safe narrow gully to scramble up.  This "peak" provides you a good view towards the two higher further peaks.  From here they look daunting and difficult however this is very deceiving, there is nothing more difficult than an easy scramble, though I would advise on helmets (as I always do).  One thing you notice, is there is no real need to take lots of photos, both Mt. Rundle (to the east) and the Sundance Range (to the west) are much higher and longer than Sulphur, so the view doesn't really change along the ridge, it just gets better and higher out of the trees.

Unfortunately due to rain, no helmets and a first time scrambler, we opted to head back after this first peak.  The descent was uneventful.  We made a quick sidetrip to Sanson Peak via the boadwalk, this is the first peak of Sulphur Mountain and the 3rd highest.  After that our descent down the switchbacks was leisurely and took about 45 minutes though we easily passed 20 hiking groups that were heading up.

I know now that I will be back to Sulphur Mountain to visit all 4 peaks in one trip and traverse the entire mountain, when I do, I will post an update to this trip.

The summit of Peak 2 with rain clouds coming in

View towards Lake Louise from Summit #2 before the rain