Cory Pass

July 22, 2022

A weather system was predicted to be moving in to the Banff region in the early afternoon, so we got an early start, hitting the trail just after 07:00. The trail starts with an easy river crossing and then winds through the forest for about a kilometer before climbing steeply up onto a ridge of Mount Edith. Dramatic views abound along here, and then the trail cuts sidehill along a very steep slope for a couple of kilometers to the high point of Cory Pass. We scrambled a little higher onto a bump that overlooked the pass, but decided not to attempt any of the three dramatic peaks around us. Mount Louis in particular looks very spectacular with towering stone butresses guarding the summit. We had an early lunch on this small summit taking in the views, before continuing the loop around Mount Edith.

Cory pass as viewed while walking along Edith ridge

Looking back south into the Bow Valley

Cory pass summit

The next hour was spent walking through the alpine on scree slopes between the peaks surrounded by small gargoyles. I was glad the north face of Mount Edith was in the shade, because this section of trail was very exposed to potential rockfall. Fortunately we did not witness any, as Katharina had forgotten her helmet. A bit of confusion of where to go as we entered the next valley as the 1:100k map we had does not show too much detail, but finally Kat spied a trail marker in the trees across another steep side slope of scree.

Bunny rabbit gargoyle

Window to Mount Louis

From here it was a forest walk again down to Edith Pass, which was unremarkable, except for the dramatic views of the huge face of Mount Edith which lasted until we were too buried in the trees to see it anymore. A quick mosquito swarmed second lunch on the banks of a stream, and then a final four kilometer walk down the gently sloped trail brought us back to the parking area, finishing the hike in just over six hours. Here we met quite a few people yelling "hey bear", and apparently there was a bear maurauding around the area, however we had seen no sign of it. We had felt a few sprinkles of rain as we descended, but it never amounted to much.

Spectacular east face of Mount Edith

Return journey through the forest

Crossing the final creek

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