The Fortress - Sept 15 2013

The Fortress
Trip Date: September 15, 2013
Classification: Scramble
Difficulty Level: Easy
Elevation Gain/Summit Elevation: 1100m (3,608ft)/3000m (9,843 ft)
Distance: 17.2km round trip
Location: 50.82°N, 115.23°W

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The Fortress is a mountain located in the central Kananaskis Range in Kananaskis Country.  It is one of three mountains that can be accessed and summited via Chester Lakes Trail, the other two mountains being Gusty Peak and Chester Peak, which is the most popular scramble in the area.  The Fortress can be approached from either Headwall Lakes or Chester Lakes and can combine the two into a loop.  This trail report describes the route from the Chester Lakes trailhead which is the most popular.  The Chester Lakes trail can be extremely busy especially during larch season.  It is also prudent to be aware of bears as this area is frequented in the late summer by a resident female grizzly.  Keep track of trail conditions and group size minimums.

The trail to the Fortress-Chester Col is fairly straight forward with little if anything in the way of difficulties.  The trail starts at the Chester Lake parking lot located about 40km down the Smith Dorrian/Spray Lakes road from the Canmore Nordic Centre.

Since the June 2013 flood, the first couple of hundreds of metres of the trails has been washed out.  The new trail is flagged and now meanders through the trees alongside the washout.  Once past the first few hundred metres, the new trail meets back up with the old logging road and the trail becomes free of debris and gullys.  At the 2km mark there are bike racks where you could bike to if you want, though with the washout, it may be very difficult now. 

The day we chose to go was warm and sunny with barely a cloud in the sky.  The temperature peaked in the high 20s, even though it started in the low single digits. After the group hiked to Chester Lake, we passed around the lake one the left side, sticking to the shoreline.  Ensure you do not take any trails that veer to the left, they go elsewhere.  At the far side of the lake, we worked our way up a small trail leading above the lake and through a small thicket of trees.  You may feel you are off trail however you are likely where you need you be and route finding is easy, and The Fortress stands like a sentinel at the back of the valley, all we had to do was work our way through the trees toward the mountain across the undulating terrain towards the col.

As you walk down the valley, the towering cliffs of Mt. Chester will dominate the right hand side of the valley.  This will block the afternoon sun on return.  As you continue hiking to the Fortress you will quickly leave the trees behind and the landscape becomes a grass/shrub dominated land.  The Fortress-Chester Col will be on your right as you reach the base of Fortress Mountain and a small alpine like.  Hike up this col, it is recommended that you keep to the left of rock spine unless you want to add some extra down scrambling on a rock face with moderate exposure (see image to left).  Watch for rockfall in this area if you go to the right. Staying left of the rock spine will prove eventless and straight forward.

After ascending the col, the path to the summit block is apparent.  Traverse the scree and follow the trail up towards to the summit block.  The trail will wrap around to the left of the summit block and a short, safe and easy scramble will allow you to ascend to the summit plateau.

The summit provides great views of the three jewels of Kananaskis: Mt. Joffre, Mt. Sir Douglas and Mt. Assiniboine as well as a great panorama of literally hundreds of other mountains.

Mt. Chester from the Col

Summit Shot

Gusty Peak, Mt. Galatea and The Tower

Looking at Mt. Chester (centre) from summit

Full summit panorama