Loder Peak
July 11, 2014
2097m
Kananaskis – Exshaw / Bow Valley, AB
Together with Door Jamb Mountain, Loder Peak is one of the minor “bumps” on the long ridge extending from Goat Mountain to Highway 1A. It’s a “peak” only because of the official status. Earlier in this year I’d done Door Jamb Mountain in January. On that day it was very snowy and the summit was in a white-out so I didn’t continue to Loder Peak. I didn’t really care at that time since I knew I’d do Goat Mountain Traverse at some point anyway. And yes, Loder Peak was done as part of the Goat Mountain Traverse in this past week, on the last day of our 3-day intense climbing trip. All the highlights of this trip was illustrated in my Goat Mountain’s trip report, and this trip report only focuses on the part from Loder Peak to Highway 1A (in other words, the scramble route of Loder Peak).
Goat Mountain Traverse route
From Loder/Unnamed col it’s obvious that we couldn’t tackle Loder directly, so we traversed on a good trail/path to the right side before veering left aiming for the summit. The view was less interesting given what we’d just done in this day, so after a quick break we decided to keep descending. It’s been a hot day so we wanted to be off the sun baked ridge as quickly as possible.
Looking back up the Goat Traverse ridge from the summit of Loder Peak
Mt. Fable pokes behind the long Exshaw Ridge
A zoomed-in view of Mt. Yamuska
Looking down at Door Jamb Mountain
The Three Sisters
Me on the summit of Loder Peak
The traverse to Door Jamb Mountain went uneventful but the descent from Door Jamb Mountain was a bit tougher than expected. After successfully reaching its summit in winter I thought it’s gonna be a walk in dry condition, but apparently I forgot the route-finding factor. At a couple spots we didn’t pick the easiest line so had to scramble down some slabs, but other than that it’s mostly a hike, though a very steep hike… It felt like a long way to eventually get down.
Traversing to Door Jamb Mountain
Looking back from the summit of Door Jamb Mountain
Mt. Yamuska and the prairie
Looking down some scrambling terrain on Door Jamb Mtn.
Ken hiking down the typical terrain
A view of Exshaw Plant
Off-route scrambling
Ben and Ken hiking down some slabs
For those of you interested in Door Jamb Mountain and Loder Peak, I’d suggest doing them in shoulder season, or winter if you’re experienced in winter scrambling. In a hot summer day it’s not gonna be very pleasant, and for experienced scramblers this is a boring route that lacks technical challenge and views.
Steven's Peak-bagging Journey 
Hello, my name is Marilyn and I have been looking for hikers that climbed to the summit of Loder Peak. I ask this because in August of 2012, my sister, her husband, and me went to the summit of Loder and placed a memorial of my nephew Matthew Goodine. He was a heli pilot and crashed on the mountain directly across from the Loder Peak. I have photos I could send of the area and what the memorial looks like. My question is did you see it and was it in the same condition. Please let me know and I will send the photos.
Thanking you in advance.
Hey Marilyn,
I didn’t remember seeing any memorial thing but that might because we didn’t pay enough attention. We signed the register but after that it was a very hot afternoon so we just wanted to get going.
Hey Marilyn,
I was up hiking this route on May long weekend, 2017 and saw the memorial. It looks to be in good shape – the eagle had fallen off the top and was a little cracked, but I replaced it atop the memorial.
Hope all is well, and sorry for your loss.
Brandon