Mount Baldy Traverse Route Map (see link in desciption - or click here - for interactive version).

Beautiful alpenglow on Mount Lorette!

...and on Mary Barclay's Mountain!

From a large, gravel pull-off on the west side of Highway 40 (there's also a small "parking lot" right at the trailhead...if you've got the clearance!), we crossed the highway and started up an obvious trail alongside the drainage that leads to the center of Baldy's three summits. The cliffs early on are popular for climbers and as a result, the trail is easy to follow.

The wildflowers are out!

The narrow trail winds its way through dense forest for about 1.5km, before the drainage widens, now surrounded by Baldy's three summits. The West of which is pictured here.

A foreshortened view of the route ahead. From here, we would basically head straight up to the col, just to the right of the snow gully furthest on the left.

The terrain steepens significantly as we near the col.

The final ~30m to the col added some excitement, as we encountered some steep, frozen snow! We had to carefully ascend, methodically hammering steps in (a slip would result in some nasty "mountain road rash", as some like to call it...), and were soon ascending into the sunlight, on the col between Baldy's West and South Peaks.

Looking towards our first objective, Baldy West. Looks a bit more complicated than Kane's description led me to believe...(The approximate route we would take is shown.)

Beautiful lighting back across the valley, with Skogan creeping in on the left side of the frame, and the summit of Mount McGillivray visible distant right.

Looking over the col, to Old Baldy, lit up in contrast to a dark stormy background.

Time to get our hands dirty!

The first part wasn't actually as bad as it looked, and involved scrambling up a series of moderate ledges. Photo credit: Dad

But there's definitely some exposure to the left!

My dad follows me up.

The final section looks a bit more involved...

Scrambling up the slabs.

Once up the slabs, we were blocked by a wall of rock. The only option here was to press our bodies against it and traverse to climber's left. A recipe for disaster if wet!!

My dad takes the final steps to the summit of Baldy West, with Baldy's official summit rising in the background. Once across the slab traverse, we found a gully leading up to climber's right, which took us to the summit without difficulty.

My dad, standing on the summit of Baldy West!

Skogan Peak is illuminated, overlooking Mary Barclay's Mountain in the shadows below. Twin Towers also lie in the shadows, to the right.

Mount Baldy's south face is quite impressive.

Photographer at work. Photo credit: Dad

I love the colours down in the Kananaskis River!

Zooming-in to the dramatic lighting on Skogan!

Comprehensive view to the south includes, Boundary Peak, Midnight Peak, Wasootch Ridge, Old Baldy, Kananaskis Peak, Wasootch Peak, and some dark cloud down the valley.

More incredible lighting! This time on Wasootch Peak!

A rare moment where Wasootch Ridge doesn't completely blend in with its surroundings!

Boundary Peak (left) and Midnight Peak (right), are two other early season objectives we knocked off this year.

Mount Allan stands out to the right of Nakiska Ski Resort. There's another traverse (Collembola, Allan, Olympic Summit) I've been eyeing for quite some time. Just gotta find a ride...

One down, two to go!

Carefully descending the upper section. The hidden gully angles to the right, just below my dad in this picture.

The slab traverse.

Looking back to the impressive terrain on the upper half of Baldy West. Note the exposure below the slab traverse.

A vertical wall stretches out to the south.

The upper section once again.

Downclimbing the moderate ledges on the lower half.

Even though it was only around 9:30am, something told us it was heating up...We carefully negotiated the "minefield", unexpectantly plunging through the snowpack on multiple occasions...

The ascent of Baldy South is significantly less exciting, and simply involves a short jaunt up scree slopes from the col to the summit.

Arriving at Baldy South's summit.

Looking back to the much more daunting Baldy West...

...and ahead to the equally daunting Mount Baldy itself!

Always gotta put at least one picture of the flat, uninspiring prairies in ;). Moose Mountain rises distant right.

Lougheed's four summits try their best to show off over Mount Lorette.

Put a 2200m mountain up against the prairies, and it actually looks pretty big! Even from this angle, Baldy True definitely looks higher than us...But for some reason my GPS track determined our current position as the highest point...Oh well, it's not military grade afterall ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Continuing down the ridge towards the final (and most difficult) peak of the traverse! Photo credit: Dad

The ridge between Baldy West and True is basically just a hike, with the excitement lying just before the summits at both ends!

Wouldn't have guessed it, but this is the approximate route we would end up taking up this thing!

A short, easy bit of scrambling takes you to the impassible-looking summit block.

This one...

Upon reaching the base of the summit block, we turned right, and traversed a narrow ledge to gain access to a gully.

A steep dirt trail easily leads up the initial gully, but I knew it wouldn't be that easy...Sure enough, as we reached the top of the gully, the rest of the route revealed itself, and would definitely be more of a challenge. At this point, we heard voices above us, and saw two heads pop out above the cliffs, peering down at us. It was two fellas who were doing the traverse in the opposite direction, and informed us that they would wait for us to ascend, so as not to knock rocks down on us (much appreciated!). It also came out that they were letting us be the "guinea pigs" to navigate the crux, so that they knew where to go after! Nice strategy ;). My initial thought was to ascend a series of mossy ledges, directly above us, to the left. However, as I started up, I got lured up a steep gully straight ahead instead...The gully steepened the higher we got, and eventually required a bit of an awkward move, pushing up a small chimney-like feature (pictured), before reaching the top. The other fellas commented that there was no chance they'd be coming down what we just scrambled up, and looked for an alternative...So much for that "guinea pig" plan! LOL.

The other party starts down the "ledge route" that I initially considered.

Another look.

Looking down our route.

I walked down the ridge a short ways to get a better view of what we just came up...

A close up of the "chimney" feature.

After safely making it down the crux, the other scramblers contemplate the remainder of the descent.

Easily following the summit ridge to the top of Mount Baldy! Note the scree trail (left), providing an optional by-pass route.

Summit selfie! Yeah, I know it's flipped...new phone...still learning ;).

Baldy South and West join the frame, with a background of peaks we've seen a few times now!

Our entry in the summit register.

The Kananaskis Range is finally able to shake the low clouds for our final peak of the day! Newly revealed peaks on the distant skyline include: Inflexible, James Walker, Fortress, Kidd, Tower, Bogart, and finally Sparrowhawk!

Mount Fable's unique form steals the show to the northwest.

Yates Mountain sits on the opposite side of beautifully blue Barrier Lake.

Looking down the front range mountains of Yam, Orient Point, and Black Rock.

This is the biggest Grotto has ever looked to me (center)...Its height really stands out from its surroundings from this angle! Rundle rises to the left, and Grant MacEwan Peak sits below in the foreground.

A fun stitch of Barrier Lake, stretching out directly below us.

My Dad on Mount Baldy's official summit!

Me, with the other two summits illuminated in the background. Photo credit: Dad

Starting down Baldy's easier west ridge, to complete the loop.

The upper section can be easily descended via a winding scree trail, but we opted to tackle some of the slabs head on.

Baldy West is impressive from all angles!

Options continue to present themselves on Baldy's west ridge: easier options exist by traversing below the crest on skier's left (yellow), while some hands-on scrambling can be found directly along the ridge (red).

All three Baldys in one picture!

Cool colours.

Having chosen the "red" route, we were soon faced with a moderate downclimb. Photo credit: Dad

My dad descends the first step.

There were lots of solid holds, and I was loving the extra bit of hands-on scrambling :)!

Sweet setup ;)! The downclimb rises in the background, while the easier route traverses below, to climber's right.

The next obstacle we were faced with was this daunting-looking "up climb"...

...which actually turned out to be really easy (in my opinion), with plenty of solid hand and footholds at our disposal. Photo credit: Dad

It should be noted however, that there is definitely some exposure, and this step could feel more intimidating if you're downclimbing it, rather than upclimbing it.

Done with the scrambling. Now just a steep trail down to the highway. I kinda just ran down the final stretch, and completely forgot about taking any pictures...There are basically just a variety of scree/dirt trails that all eventually join lower down and easily lead back to the highway, where we started our day. Not much else to say. But what I do have to say, is that the Baldy Traverse definitely lived up to my expectations! Our winter adventures have been an absolute hoot, but being the activity that originally developed my love for the mountains, scrambling will always hold a special place in my heart. I thoroughly enjoyed the hands-on sections on either end of this traverse and am absolutely stoked for scrambling season! Photo credit: Dad