Right off the bat, Eva, Zosia and I made a route-finding error when we walked too far along the deactivated highway past the bridge.  Fortunately, we caught our error early and simply backtracked to the bridge where we found the correct unmarked trail heading into forest.  After a brief hike along the south bank of the river, we crossed a large open flat and picked up an old exploration road in the forest on the far side.  We followed this road past some deadfall and over a low ridge to an open avalanche slope on the north side of Big Bend Peak's east ridge.  Abandoning the road at a cairn, we grinded our way up the very steep avalanche slope along numerous beaten paths.  Once we gained the east ridge, the angle of ascent relaxed a bit, and we followed an intermittent trail through thinning forest.  We eventually broke out of the forest and carried on up the open east ridge.  Other than one rather tedious scree slope below a false summit, the remainder of the ascent was straightforward and enjoyable.  Any technical sections we encountered along the ridge were easily circumvented.  Upon reaching the top, we paused for a quick photo before dropping slightly down the west side of the summit to take a break.

For our descent, Eva, Zosia and I basically retraced our steps down the mountain.  Below the false summit, we were careful to avoid some short cliffs that cut across the aforementioned tedious scree slope, and further down in the forested part of the ridge, we nearly missed the spot where we had to leave the crest and descend the avalanche slope.  The worst aspect about descending the avalanche slope is the looseness of the terrain, but we managed to get down to the exploration road without kicking rocks onto each other.  The rest of the hike back to the trailhead was easy and trouble-free.

A big thank you goes to Eva for driving us safely to the mountains and back.

	Eva and Zosia gear up at the trailhead with "Big Bend Peak" visible in the background.
	Zosia and Eva have already inadvertently missed the normal turnoff for Big Bend Peak and are walking along an old deactivated section of the Icefields Parkway.
	Eva and Zosia get back on track.
	The trail here eventually connects with an old exploration road that goes over the forested ridge ahead.
	Zosia and Eva leave the exploration road at the foot of this avalanche slope.
	Beaten paths and sheep trails alleviate some of the drudgery of ascending the avalanche slope.
	Here is a look back down at the "Big Bend" in the Icefields Parkway.
	Eva and Zosia navigate through a forested section of the ridge.
	Eva and Zosia finally break out of the trees for good.
	The ladies cross a plateau before a false summit.
	A short cliff band halfway up the false summit presents some route-finding challenges.
	Mount Saskatchewan dominates the background as Eva and Zosia grind their way up the slope.
	The true summit finally comes into view.
	Eva and Zosia pause just below the summit ridge.
	Eva and Zosia walk along the easy summit ridge.
	Zosia, Sonny and Eva stand on the summit of Big Bend Peak (2822 metres).
	Once again, Mount Saskatchewan dominates the view to the south.

Here is the view to the northwest.

 

In this view to the north, Nigel Pass is the obvious gap at right while Wilcox Pass is less obvious at far left.

 

The view to the northeast includes the Big Bend in the highway and Big Bend Peak's false summit.

 

	Looking southwest, the glaciated high point at centre is known unofficially as "Mount Saskatchewan Junior".  Also visible on the horizon left of centre is Mount Bryce.
	Over 22 kilometres away to the west, Mount Columbia (centre) finally makes an appearance as the clouds begin to clear up over the Columbia Icefield.
	Eva and Zosia retrace their steps down the mountain.
	Total Distance:  14.0 kilometres Round-Trip Time:  9 hours Cumulative Elevation Gain:  1161 metres GPX Data