The hike up to the summit of Cirque Peak (9,820 ft.) in Banff National Park was recommended by a couple of friendly Canadians that Lupe and SPHP ran into on a different trail a couple days before. Those Canadians really knew what they were talking about! This is a fairly long day hike, but the scenery is absolutely wonderful. From the summit of Cirque Peak are splendid 360° views. The most impressive of all is the view to the SW of Bow Lake, Bow Glacier Falls, and another even higher little lake and falls all fed by the giant Wapta Icefield.
The trailhead for this hike is the Helen Lake Trailhead along the E side of the Icefields Parkway Hwy 93. It is located directly across the highway from the pullout for viewing the Crowfoot Glacier at the S end of Bow Lake.
Lupe got off to an early start on this fabulous hike, leaving from the Helen Lake Trailhead at 6:45 AM. The skies were totally clear, the wind non-existent, and it was a crisp 39 °F out.
The first part of the 14.5 km hike to Cirque Peak is the 6 km trek to Helen Lake, which basically consists of two parts. On the first part, the trail starts out climbing fairly steeply through the forest. Pretty soon the rate of climb slackens and the trail gradually works its way SSE towards the S end of the high ridge to the E. Through occasional breaks in the forest, increasingly impressive views of the Crowfoot Glacier to the SSW, Bow Peak to the S, and Mt. Andromache and Mt. Hector to the SSE are seen as the trail gains elevation.
About 1/2 way to Helen Lake, the trail finally rounds the S end of the ridge to the E and the view changes. A large deep valley heads up towards Cirque Peak now visible to the N. Dolomite Peak, which has somewhat the appearance of the spine of a Stegosaurus with the top of the N end of the spine snapped off, lies to the E of the valley.
The trail is already pretty high up on the W side of the valley, near the tree line. It heads N towards Cirque Peak, now along the E side of the ridge the trail just rounded. The valley below to the E is heavily forested, but the trail ahead goes through stretches of open heather, stunted forests and scattered trees. The trail is now nearly level for a fairly long stretch, and even has a few occasional drops as well. Numerous hoary marmots whistle their alarms as one approaches, which greatly interested Lupe.
Eventually the trail resumes its climb and rises above tree line, crossing open heather while gaining elevation at a comfortable pace. Lupe came to a nice creek flowing through a small ravine where she was able to cool off and get a good drink.
Soon after crossing the creek, the trail comes over a ridge from which Helen Lake can be seen just ahead. A headwall is visible not far to the N and E of Helen Lake. The long rocky S ridge coming down from the summit of Cirque Peak is seen above the headwall. Helen Lake itself seemed more like a pretty green pond than a lake. It just wasn’t terribly big. Something (small fish?) seemed to be hitting the surface of the still waters of Helen Lake while Lupe trotted by heading E on the trail above the S shore.
Lupe met the first other hiker of the day at Helen Lake. A fisherman looking to catch a few cutthroat trout was heading for considerably larger Katherine Lake on the other side of Dolomite Pass. He overtook SPHP, but stopped briefly to chat and pat Lupe before continuing on. Lupe continued on as well and followed the trail up over the headwall to the E of Helen Lake reaching the start of the Dolomite Pass area.
At Dolomite Pass, it was time to leave the trail. The trail continued over the pass to the E, but Cirque Peak was now almost due N. A broad rocky plain with little vegetation stretched off to the N gradually losing elevation until it got close to the S ridge coming down from Cirque Peak. SPHP did not notice any clear trail or cairns suggesting which way to go. So SPHP was uncertain whether to try to go up the toe of the S ridge or up the side of it a bit to the NE of the toe, but decided to head N and try the side of the ridge.
After a pleasant easy stroll across the rocky plain, Lupe and SPHP arrived at a very shallow pond at the base of the S ridge a bit NE of the toe. There was water in the cracks between the rocks around the pond from which clouds of gnats swarmed up. SPHP led Lupe around the E side of the pond and over to the S ridge.
The rocks forming the side of the S ridge looked a lot bigger than they had from a distance. In fact, they were boulders of various sizes. It didn’t look like too hard a climb to get up on the ridge though, so Lupe and SPHP started scrambling up the side of the ridge. The ridge had several little false summits and near the real top there were rock walls. However, after some false starts and various explorations, the top of the ridge was gained.
Once on top of the S ridge, the way up Cirque Peak was obvious – just follow the ridge right on up. The ridge was pretty broad, there were several unmaintained trails, and the rocks on top of the ridge were nearly all small – not boulders – so it was easy to just keep trudging on up the mountain. Lung capacity was the only limiting factor. However, lung capacity quickly came into play, as the long climb up the ridge became progressively steeper.
The small loose rocks and mud forming the ridge started to give way beneath every step. Even Lupe was sending showers of small rocks sliding as she climbed. SPHP felt guilty about greatly increasing the erosion rate just by struggling up the mountain. The slope of the mountain near the top seemed to be the maximum slope that the laws of physics would allow for such a loose pile of dirt and rock to even support itself.
Near the very top of Cirque Peak, the loose rock finally met up with a 30 to 50 foot layer of dark gray solid rock. Fortunately, the solid rock was not just a wall, and was climbable without any great difficulty. When Lupe reached the summit, there were two people there ahead of her. They had passed Lupe and SPHP on the steepest part of the loose rock not far from the summit a short time before, and were the first to arrive at the summit of Cirque Peak this day. They said they were originally from Hungary, but were now living in Canada.
The Hungarians quickly pointed out that technically Lupe and SPHP were still only at a false summit. The true summit of Cirque Peak was a slightly higher rocky crag just a short distance to the E. The Hungarians had already been there. Lupe and SPHP rested and had some water at the false summit while the Hungarians were still there.
The false summit area wasn’t terribly big and was almost completely surrounded by cliffs or very long steep slopes. Fortunately, there were some good solid rocks providing relatively comfortable and secure perches. It felt like being up in a small plane with so much air around in every direction.
The views from Cirque Peak were spectacular in every direction. To the S were Dolomite Peak, Mt. Andromache, Mt. Hector, and way off in the distance was a glimpse of Mt. Assiniboine (11,864 ft.). Far below was “Gnat Pond” at the base of the S ridge of Cirque Peak, and even farther below was Helen Lake. Portions of Katherine Lake were visible beyond Dolomite Pass.
To the E was a broad expanse of air before reaching jagged mountains beyond a deep valley. To the N, a snowfield or small glacier lay far, far below Lupe and SPHP at the base of the towering N cliffs of Cirque Peak. A thin, treacherous ridge extended NW from Cirque Peak just to the W of the snowfield. Beyond were more mountains and Peyto Lake in the distance.
The most magnificent view of all though lay to the SW. Most of Bow Lake was in sight and beyond it Bow Glacier Falls. A lake Lupe and SPHP had never seen before was above Bow Glacier Falls, and another waterfall plunged into it from the Bow Glacier extending out from the vast expanse of the Wapta Icefield.
Once the Hungarians started down, Lupe and SPHP worked their way over to the true summit of Cirque Peak. This involved a climb down of maybe 20 to 30 feet, traversing a fairly narrow saddle with dizzying drops on either side, and an easy climb up a craggy knob slightly higher than the false summit to the W.
Incredibly, after reaching the true summit, Lupe found a squirrel way up here and about gave SPHP a heart attack by chasing it around the rocks oblivious to the cliffs all around her. Lupe was quickly brought under control again and taken back to the false summit for a more secure vantage point from which to appreciate the stupendous scenery.
Conditions on Cirque Peak were near perfect. The sky was now partly cloudy, but mostly sunny and non-threatening. Amazingly, there was no wind at all most of the time, just a gentle breeze that came up now and then. Temperatures were in the upper 50’s or low 60’s. Visibility was wonderful. Lupe remained on top of Cirque Peak as long as she and SPHP were the only ones up there, which was quite some time.
Visible below, however, were lots of hikers strung out all along the SW ridge making their way steadily up. When the next hikers finally got close, Lupe started down Cirque Peak just in time to get off the layer of solid rock before meeting up with the next party and their dog, Ella, at the very top of the steep slope of loose rocks.
Even more loose rocks showered down the steep upper slopes of Cirque Peak on the way down than on the way up. Lupe had to lose a lot of elevation before reaching firm footing again. On the way back down, SPHP learned that the proper route onto the S ridge was NOT the climb over the boulders above the shallow pond, but via an unmaintained trail heading N along the top of the headwall E of Helen Lake.
This trail eventually winds its way up onto the rocky toe of the S ridge. There were cairns along the headwall marking the path, but SPHP had gone too far E to have noticed them on the way up. Lupe and SPHP followed other hikers down off the S ridge via this route and saw that it was much superior to the way they’d come up in the morning.
The rest of the hike back to the Helen Lake Trailhead was just retracing the hike up earlier in the day. There were lots of people around on the way back, compared to virtually none on the way up. Lupe arrived back at the trailhead at 4:54 PM. It was 68 °F, partly cloudy and calm. Lupe and SPHP headed to the picnic ground near the S end of Bow Lake for a shared evening meal of sardines. Then it was time for a bit of relaxation soaking tired paws and feet in the cold lake while watching sunlight sparkle brilliantly on the waves.
Lupe and SPHP strongly recommend the hike up Cirque Peak if conditions are good. The fantastic views are well worth the effort. However, under wet conditions, the hike up the S ridge of Cirque Peak is probably a horrible muddy slog to be avoided, even if visibility is acceptable.
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Mount Jimmy Simpson, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada (8-6-18)
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