Steven's Peak-bagging Journey

November 17, 2012

2225m

Kananaskis – Elbow/Jumpingpound Area, AB

With only about 400 m elevation gain on a well defined trail, Jumpingpound Mountain is one of the easiest “forested bumps” in the front range of Kananaskis. There’s little to expect from this summit even in good weather days. Neil and I decided to check it off after an ascent of the nearby Mt. Bryant, as it’s right there, so why not…

Jumpingpound Mountain hiking route

However, it was longer than expected. Note that the elevation gain of 400 m is almost half of Mt. Bryant’s elevation gain… We dumped most of our gears including one of our backpacks in the car and 1 hour later we made to the summit. The evening sky made for some good photos. I especially like the view of Moose Mountain.

Summit Panorama

Mount Bryant

Moose Mountain

Evening colour on the eastern horizon

The distant Bow Valley peaks. Note that Jumpingpound is actually higher than Yamuska.

Looking south from the summit.

There’s no reason to linger on the summit so we quickly made our way down and then drove back to Canmore. Overall there’s little to recommend although it’d be a good family hiking and “shoulder season” objective though. The next day I’d come back to the same parking lot to attempt another winter scramble nearby.