Hero Knob

BOU AVENUE
Hero Knob

Asieh Ghodratabadi, Ali Shariat, Zosia Zgolak and I climbed Hero Knob in Alberta's Peter Lougheed Provincial Park on 1 October 2023. This unofficially-named eastern outlier of Mount Smith-Dorrien is most often associated with a popular backcountry ski tour known as Sweet Sixteen, but as far as I know, surprisingly few skiers bother to tag the actual summit of Hero Knob. Zosia and I discovered the reason for this when we skied up there earlier in the year and found the summit ridge to be uncomfortably narrow and tricky to negotiate because of cornices. We wisely backed off but vowed to return on foot under drier conditions. Unfortunately, we perhaps left our return a little bit late as the mountains recently received a significant dump of snow, but I hoped that the route would still be reasonably safe to hike. For reference, the hiking route is described in Gillean Daffern's Kananaskis Country Trail Guide, and Willski's blog is also a helpful resource.

The unsigned trailhead is located on the west side of Highway 742 (Smith-Dorrien/Spray Lakes Trail), 14.0 kilometres north of the junction with Kananaskis Lakes Trail or 49.0 kilometres south of the junction with Three Sisters Drive.

From where we parked, Asieh, Ali, Zosia and I dropped down the embankment entering an obvious corridor through the trees. We soon crossed a marshy flat and then forded Smith-Dorrien Creek. Although I was the only one who brought hip-waders, the crossing was short enough to only necessitate putting on one hip-wader. As such, we all got across fairly quickly, and nobody had to get their feet wet. On the far side of the creek, we followed an old road climbing into the valley just east of Hero Knob. The road was a bit of a mixed bag--sometimes it was wide and easy to follow while other times it was overgrown or choked with annoying deadfall. We lost the road when we entered a clearing at the bottom of an avalanche slope but picked it up again after a brief bushwhack. We eventually reached road's end at some ponds and had to muddle our way through another short stretch of bush before entering the upper valley. At this point, we tried to follow a faint path through a sea of low shrubs, but we were soon just bashing through them to get to the headwall at the back of the valley. I recalled that this was much easier in the spring when we could simply ski over all the snow-covered shrubs. To get up the headwall, we climbed up an obvious rocky drainage and then made a single switchback and rising traverse to reach the upper bowl. Here, we turned northward to cross a short dip before ultimately gaining the south ridge of Hero Knob and climbing to the same spot where Zosia and I had previously stopped short. Instead of attempting to stay on the crest like I did last time, we traversed below it to climber's right until we had bypassed all difficulties. When it looked feasible, we climbed back onto the crest and reached the narrow summit after scrambling up a short but mildly exposed step.

Since the summit is a bit exposed, Asieh, Ali and Zosia retreated down the ridge until they found a safer spot to stop for a break. I stayed behind on the summit hoping for a break in the clouds to snap some photos of distant peaks, but I eventually gave up and descended to join the others. When we resumed our descent, we pretty much retraced our footprints down the ridge and headwall and out the valley. Not surprisingly, the footing was slippery especially on steeper sections such as the headwall, but fortunately, no one went for an involuntary tumble. Upon returning to Smith-Dorrien Creek, we all successfully hopped across without having to don my hip-waders although I think our boots were already wet to varying degrees anyway from hiking in the snow. The subsequent short walk to the highway brought our heroic adventure to an end.

Hmmm...maybe we should have brought snowshoes or skis...

Hero Knob (right) looks brilliant in the morning sun.

	Zosia and Ali help guide Asieh as she fords Smith-Dorrien Creek with only a single hip-wader.
	The group has to contend with snowy deadfall on some parts of the approach. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	The group stops for a short break in a clearing partway up the valley.
	Zosia climbs up a rocky drainage below a headwall.
	Zosia strokes a small larch tree near the top of the headwall.
	Sonny, Asieh and Ali enjoy the warm sunshine beside another golden larch tree. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	Zosia, Ali and Asieh continue their ascent in the upper bowl.
	The top of Hero Knob is obscured by mist.
	The group traverses below the ridge crest, but the terrain here is both loose and slippery.
	The slope alarmingly drops away on both sides of the ridge near the top.
	Zosia waits for Asieh and Ali to scramble up the last tricky step.
	Ali, Sonny, Asieh and Zosia crowd the summit of Hero Knob (2513 metres).
	To the west are Mount Smith-Dorrien (centre), Prairie Lookout (right of centre) and Mount Murray (right).
	After taking a break, the group heads back down the same way.
	Asieh carefully follows Ali and Zosia down the snowy slope above the headwall.
	The group drops down the same rocky drainage they ascended earlier. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	Ali forgoes using hip-waders to re-cross Smith-Dorrien Creek.
	Total Distance: 9.1 kilometres Round-Trip Time: 6 hours 59 minutes Cumulative Elevation Gain: 718 metres GPX Data