BOU AVENUE
Gunnery Mountain
After a two-month absence due to a combination of lousy weather, hectic schedules and plain laziness, I was back in the mountains on 24 December 2006 for a short trip up Gunnery Mountain in the Highwood area of Kananaskis Country.  Dan Millar, Kelly Wood and Evalyn Wood joined me for the initial hike up Gunnery Creek before opting to turn around below the notch separating Gunnery Mountain from Holy Cross Mountain.  After continuing alone up to the notch, I turned north and climbed up the connecting ridge to Holy Cross Mountain for a few hundred metres before backtracking and traversing Gunnery Mountain.  I rejoined everyone back at my car after a round-trip time of 5 hours.
This was my descent route. This is Gunnery Mountain as seen from the highway.
The trail up Gunnery Creek was sometimes hard to follow because of numerous snow patches. Dan, Kelly and Evalyn enjoy lunch in the sun.
This was as far as I climbed up the connecting ridge to Holy Cross Mountain. This is the south face of Holy Cross Mountain.  The summit is not visible here.  Note the huge icefall at bottom left.
A fantastic area for hiking all year round. Bull Creek Hills and Grass Pass are readily visible to the east.
Looks almost like a surrealist's painting. The sun continues to shine despite the overcast sky.  At far left on the horizon is Mount Burke.
The reason I climbed partway up the connecting ridge to Holy Cross Mountain was that I wasn't sure this was actually Gunnery Mountain. This is Gunnery Mountain as seen from the north side of the notch.
Not a bad viewpoint for such an insignificant knob. Sonny hikes over the 2088-metre summit of Gunnery Mountain.
Another to add to my "to do" list... Mount McPhail is a real eye-catcher to the west.
Not having done anything in 2 months, my body kinda felt like how this tree looks! There are some gnarly trees on the south slopes of Gunnery Mountain.
About 9.5 years later, I would pay a return visit to Gunnery Mountain.