BOU AVENUE
Mount James Walker
For Canada Day 2016, I hooked up with Amelie Doucet and Marko Stavric
to scramble up Mount James Walker in Alberta's Peter Lougheed Provincial
Park. Following the directions in Andrew Nugara's More Scrambles
in the Canadian Rockies, we started from Sawmill trailhead and had no
issues hiking into the James Walker Creek valley. Beyond a
picturesque tarn in the lower valley, we had to go off-trail for a bit to
avoid a short section of trail that was flooded, but we were soon back on
track and climbing up the headwall guarding the upper valley. Going
up the treadmill rubble on the south slopes of Mount James Walker was the
most tedious part of the trip, and as Nugara suggests, we made better
progress once we veered over to climber's right to gain the ridge crest.
With most of the hard work behind us, we scrambled along the crest of the
undulating south ridge all the way to the summit without too much
trouble. The ridge was completely dry on this day, and any serious
obstacles could be circumvented to climber's right if necessary.
After enjoying lunch on the summit, we dropped down the big scree bowl as
suggested by Nugara. A large snow patch here could have been
glissaded, but it was a little bit too steep for our comfort level
especially since none of us had brought ice axes. Instead, we
simply plunge-stepped down the snow and continued on a beaten path in the
rubble below. Hiking out this scenic upper valley was easy, but the
terrain is so wide open that we almost missed regaining our trail down
the headwall. The remainder of our hike back to the trailhead was
quick and uneventful.
Although it is overshadowed by more popular peaks in the same area, Mount
James Walker turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable scramble with
pleasant weather, amazing scenery, no bugs, no bushwhacking, and best of
all, great company.