31/07/2023 - Banded Peak

 Banded Peak

IT IS FINALLY DONE. I don't know how long I have been talking about this hike but I am sure it has been almost two years that we have been talking about it. One of the four major peaks in Elbow, Banded is something that my family and I have wanted to do for quite some time. The crew for today consisted of my brother Ben, Dad and Mom. The plan was set - we were going to use E-Bikes from Ben's work for the approach, stash and lock them and then do the actual hike. Anyone who hikes Banded from the Big Elbow parking lot has my full respect; just to the trailhead of Banded is 14.5 km. We ended up leaving the car around ten, after picking up the bikes and getting everything ready. For anyone not familiar with E-Bikes, they have 3 modes: eco, trail and boost. Given that we would only be doing 28 km total of biking we could use them in the boost mode the whole time (and thank god we could). It makes a big difference to be able to do this. The bike in itself is not hard, but after 1000m of vertical elevation gain I don't think anyone was complaining that we had them. To gain access to the impressive peak, you use the Big Elbow Loop which consists of rocky double track. If our sights weren't set on Banded the road would have probably been nice to look at, but we only had the summit on our mind. 

On our way

After 14 km or so you arrive to what appears to be a very unimpressive trail that exits Big Elbow Loop to the right. We stashed our bikes in the forest close by and after locking them we were ready to start our hiking portion of the day. Since you have already gone 14km into the mountains you exit the trees fairly quickly after starting and are introduced to the impressive views that follow you all the way to the summit. The trail consists of pretty technical walking, not due to exposure, but because you can barely ever get your foot to land straight. Scree becomes your worst enemy as it makes up 90% of the trail. It wasn't bad going up but your feet start to plead with you on the descent. The views alleviate some of the strain because of their raw beauty. Looking south you are greeted by Cougar mountain, North you're greeted by Outlaw peak, and the backside of Banded to the east. 

Cougar Mountain in the upper middle of the frame

The whole way there is not a lack of scenery to look at. After about an hour or so the landscape changes from loose scree to big boulders and cliff bands (ed peak) that you make your way through before arriving to the col between Banded and Outlaw. We found a beautiful place to have lunch slightly off trail beside a waterfall in a rock bowl. 

Close to our lunch spot

It is moments like these where life begins to feel surreal for me. I let it sink in that I'm sitting on a mountain somewhere in Alberta enjoying my PB and J sandwich and it helps make me realize how lucky I am to be in a position that enables me to do things like this. After some refueling and Ben enjoying the water the mountain has to provide for us we continued our slog to the summit. I call it a slog because that's what it is - 4.7 km and 1000m of elevation is not something to cough at. The trail goes up all the way from the start to the summit. After about another hour and we had arrived at the col. The col is definitely a gut check time, the hardest part of the hike has yet to come. After another quick water break behind an embankment we continued our push, from the col the summit doesn't actually look that far (we were wrong). 

Mount Glasgow (grey) and Mount Cornwall (Redish)

We buried our heads for this section for two reasons; so as to not look up and accidently see how much we had left and because a healthy dose of wind was making it's presence known. From the col to the summit the trail condition decreases and increases in grade creating one last test before cresting the summit. Finally after two years, 14km of biking, 5km of hiking and 1000m of elevation I finished the last uphill and found myself on the summit of Banded Peak.

Windy Summit Pick

I think we spent a total of about 5 minutes on the summit before retreating back to the embankment where we stopped for water earlier. The view from the summit was nothing short of spectacular: to the east the plains of the Alberta prairies were visible, to the northwest the peaks of Mount Glasgow, Mount Cornwall and Outlaw Peak were visible, to the southwest Cougar Mountain was still making it's presence known. Overall it was a beautiful view but we did not even stay long enough to take pictures because of the wind and the fact the actual summit is very small and slightly exposed. After retreating back to the embankment we refueled ourselves in the form of oatmeal cookies (homemade) and some hard boiled eggs. A short time after we retreated down the mountain and found ourselves back at the bikes. A (semi) quick bike out and we were back in the parking lot - 7 hours after starting. Definitely an accomplishment for me and everyone that has done it and I'm glad I got to share it with my family. I noticed that when I summited Glasgow I felt happy but it isn't the same if you have no one to share it with. I think that is a good lesson for all of life - you need someone to share it with. I think it's cool that when I'm driving out to Elbow from Calgary and Banded lays on the horizon I can look up at it and know I shared a special moment with some special people on top. On to the next adventure the Rockies hold...