Cirque Scramble

Park at the Helen Lake trail head (east side of road) on the Icefields Parkway 33 km north of the Trans-Canada Highway. Proceed on a trail for 6 km to Helen Lake. Now you have two options, either continue on the trail to Dolomite Pass or, as I did, just head straight for the peak via the left side of the lake. This route takes you to pristine high alpine meadows and eventually to shale and rubble. As I proceeded to the base of Cirque, I bypassed some short cliff bands to the left and dove straight up snow and ice angling back right, aiming for the summit ridge. This was a steep hump, but once I gained the ridge, I traversed with ice axe over to the first, lower summit and then carefully descended and made for the real summit slightly south, which has a register. I made the summit in under 3 hours. This was a cold, blustery and cloudy day, but still offered good views of the Crowfoot and Bow Glaciers to the West. I returned the same way. Helen Lake is a great place to have your lunch.