CODY SHIMIZU
A look into my life, a journal to look back on, a blog for others to see.
Mount Burstall – Scramble (Kananaskis)
Aug 11 2019
Date: Aug 11 2019
Type: Scramble
Difficulty: Mostly 3rd class, maybe one 4th class section
Distance: 10km
Elevation: 865m
Car to Car: ~3-5hrs
Where: Burstall Pass, Kananaskis
Gear: Scrambling Kit
This is what the trail looks like when you turn off from the Burstall Pass trail.
What you'll see right before you turn off the main trail. The overgrown trail that goes to Mt Burstall is to the left of this photo.
Since I had a weekend to myself decided to go for a bit of an solo adventure. Unfortunately the weather forecast for the afternoon wasn’t looking too great so had to find a short objective to do in the morning. In all honesty Mt. Burstall wasn’t really on my radar of to do scrambles but after flipping through the Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies book by Alan Kane (Amazing resource by the way) the night before looking for cool shit it definitely caught my eye. Also the 3 km approach along the Burstall Pass trail is doable on a mountain bike, which I happened to bring along with me.
Once you pop out into the open aim for the black scree towards the left of this photo.
The clouds rolling through made for a pretty moody day. The ridge is supposed to be right in front of me but couldn't see much of it.
I got to the Burstall Pass Trail head not too early in the morning and got my bag packed and my bike assembled. Having the bike was really nice to cut down the time on the approach. It’s a bit of a boring trail with tall tress surrounding you there isn’t much for views either. To find the trail that goes up Mt Burstall follow the Burstall Pass trail for close to 3km, once you pass a large boulder (don’t worry you wont miss it) keep a sharp eye to the left where you’ll see an overgrown trail.
Following along the ridge was a lot of fun. lots of good scrambling to be had.
From there I ditched my bike in the bushes and made my way along the overgrown trail. It takes you up through a valley with beautiful flowers that were coming in, once you see the ridge to gain aim for the strip of black scree. It’s a bit loose but not too terrible to make your way up.
The famous crack section near the top.
From there route finding was surprisingly simple with the very little visibility I had with some thick clouds rolling through. You pretty much follow the ridgeline along the easiest terrain. You initially stay on climbers left of the ridge, then near the top you will eventually pop out to the climbers right of the mountain to the base of the famous “crack”. From there it’s a pretty quick trot to the summit. Just as an FYI there was a set of bolts at the top of the “crack” section but a bit unnecessary in my opinion.
Looking back from the summit.
Unfortunately with all the clouds rolling through I couldn’t quite get all the views. With the pending weather rolling in for the afternoon I didn’t stay long on the summit. This was one of the best time : scrambling ratio scrambles I’ve ever done! It was an awesome short adventure definitely worth it for a short day.
Here are some other great trip reports/beta!
http://www.soistheman.com/diary/page.php?id=mt-burstall
http://bobspirko.ca/SmithDorrien/MtBurstall/Burstall.html
https://stevensong.com/canadian-rockies/kananaskis/mount-burstall/
The pair of bolts at the top of the crack section.
