Home»All Photographs»2018 Hikes»Healy Pass Peaks 09-15-18

The drive to the trailhead this morning was probably the worst one I can remember. The fog was thick as pea soup the whole way to Banff. Usually, there are a few fog banks especially on a zero degree fall morning like this, but I am talking about full-on unrelenting thick fog combined with the blackest of nights. The few cars that were on the TCH were doing about 90 km/hr. A truck merged ahead of me and I was grateful to have their taillights to follow. Daybreak came soon after I got to the Banff Park Gate, and things improved from there. I parked at Sunshine Village Ski Resort and was stoked to leave that draining drive as a fading memory.
I was the first one up the Healy Creek Trail, and made good time through the thin skiff of snow that had come a day earlier.
At the backcountry campground, I chatted for a bit with two nice young men who had just emerged from their tents. They were from Montana and North Dakota so they were used to chilly mornings like this and were reveling in the scenery that Banff National Park had to offer.
Another 3.5 km up the trail, and I was at Healy Pass on a somewhat sunny morning in larch season ALONE! Not for long though. I heard distant voices approaching and finished my snack. It was time to ascend Healy Pass Peak.
Parks Canada has erected new signs at Healy Pass indicating closed areas due to sensitive vegetation. I adhered to the rules and traversed the west slopes of the peak, although it could be argued that the existing trail along the ridgecrest would cause less damage than me finding a new route in big boots!
As I ascended I was treated to a spectacular thermal inversion which pushed the cloud cover down to the ground. I snapped many photos and thought about how lucky I was to be here on this day - inversion or not.
The summit came soon enough (only about 200 vertical meters of gain from Healy Pass). At the top, I noticed a slightly lower summit on the connecting ridge to the north, about 1 km away. The ridge dipped about 100 meters between the two summits. It was still only 10:40 am, so I gave it a wander on over. Sure enough, this summit was a bit lower, but the ridgewalk was very scenic and only took 20 minutes each way at a brisk pace. Speaking of brisk, the breeze was exactly that and this was clearly no place for second lunch-sies. I walked back to the first summit again, and carefully retraced my steps past the Parks Canada camera guarding the forbidden area.
I encountered a proper gaggle of hikers on my way down, some in groups as big as ten. Those who were on their way up were being treated to their first view of the inversion, since it just looks like fog and mist when you are lower down. I continued down into the chilly fog below, enjoying every step of the way.