Having scrambled Mount Shark just the week before, we knew we could cut off some time by biking on a literal highway for the first ~ 6 km before reaching the Bryant Creek Trail junction (at which point bikes are prohibited). We were in high spirits as we peddled up the wide Watridge Lake Trail on this beautiful, smoke-free(!) morning, but that would soon change...Just a few kilometers in, my chain derailed and got tangled up between my cassette and wheel so bad that we thought the only way to free it would be to take the cassette right off! Since we didn't have the tools to do that, I genuinely thought I was screwed. Luckily I'd packed a few smaller tools along for minor adjustments (a good idea if you're ever taking your bike out into the backcountry), and after wasting at least a half hour fighting with it (we were incredibly close to giving up), my dad was finally able to dislodge the chain by prying it out with a small screwdriver, one link at a time! PHEW! Sure, we could have just locked up our bikes right here and continued on foot, but we would've still had to get my bike back to our car on our way out, and with my back wheel not turning, those last ~ 3 km would've sucked BIG TIME!

The next few kilometers were once again smooth sailing (I was very careful when shifting gears...), and we were soon crossing over Bryant Creek at the far southern tip of the Spray Lakes Reservoir. Although the bikes didn't really end up saving us any time on our approach, we knew our tired bodies would be happy to have them in four days time and stashed them near the 🚳 sign before continuing alongside Bryant Creek on foot. We kept a good pace going for the next 6 km to the Marvel Lake junction and both commented on how easy-going this trail was, wishing we could still be cruising along on our bikes. When we arrived at the fork splitting the Assiniboine Pass and Marvel Lake/Wonder Pass routes we had a choice to make. With my plan for the first day being quite modest, just wanting to reach camp, set up, and then head up Sunburst Peak in the evening, the easier Assiniboine Pass route may seem to make more sense rather than gaining unnecessary elevation over Wonder Pass...But I wasn't coming to Assiniboine for a relaxing vacay! With the smoke-free views (who knew how long that would last!) and having heard that the Marvel Lake route was much more scenic, I had no qualms putting in a little bit of extra work to experience it.

Another couple kilometers and we found ourselves emerging from the forest at the far eastern end of Marvel Lake, and what a marvelous sight it was! We had the entire view completely to ourselves on this calm and peaceful morning, and took some time to relax, watching the clouds slowly drift across the sky, eventually uncovering Eon's sharp, scary-looking summit, piercing the sky a whopping 1500 m above the lake.

Once we'd had our fill, we continued up the trail, first having to backtrack slightly before joining the highline trail, paralleling the lake high above its north side. 5 km later (this is one long lake!), we reached the far west side of the lake and started up steep switchbacks to Wonder Pass. The slope soon eased off as we entered the upper valley and made our way through beautiful alpine meadows, bursting with wildflowers.

As we continued up between Wonder Peak and The Towers, the fine weather and sublime views had me questioning my original plans...I was constantly worried that smoke could blow in at any moment, but with there being no sign of that smoke as of yet, I couldn't help but want to complete more than just Sunburst Peak in case the views were gone in the morning. The Cautley Traverse, which combines six different named peaks (The Towers, Wonder Peak, Ely's Dome, Mount Cautley, Gibralter Rock, and Cascade Rock) was on my agenda for the second day of our four day trip, but the more I thought about it, the more I convinced myself that now was the time to go for it. It was already 1 pm as we neared the pass, and although this traverse is quite the undertaking and should ideally be given a full day to complete, I just couldn't stop thinking of reasons to get 'er done now!

1. Being a highline traverse, it promised stunning views throughout. We had those views now, but who knew what the next day would bring...
2. We were already at Wonder Pass anyway, so it made sense to save ourselves the return trip.
3. The forecast predicted rain for the third day of our trip, and by bumping this bigger objective to day 1, we would have more flexibility to switch other things around based on how the weather turned out.

We left the trail at the point where The Towers' large, rubbly east slope reaches the valley floor and started up scree and small boulders, aiming for a grassy bench about halfway up. We soon intercepted an obvious scree trail (traversing from Wonder Pass), and easily followed it, along with cairns, up a few mossy rock steps to the bench.

What we should have done when we arrived at the bench, was to continue following it to climber's left, traversing across a scree bowl and gaining our objective's southeast ridge. What we did instead, was head straight up the steep slopes in front of us, taking a direct line to the summit cliffs, still almost 300 vertical meters above. We didn't realize our mistake until it was too late, and had no choice but to continue grinding our way up the hard-packed, concrete-like slopes until we reached traverse-able terrain directly below the summit cliffs. To our relief the rock underfoot eventually transitioned to bigger blocks of rubble, and we eventually found ourselves easily traversing towards the southeast ridge, accompanied by incredible views back to Wonder Peak and the rest of the Cautley Traverse rising on the opposite side of the pass.

Although the cliffs look daunting from afar, they turn out to be nothing to worry about. An obvious weakness starts up on the far left side (climber's) from which a collection of cairns lead the way up what feels much more like a broken ridge than any sort of cliff band. Other than a couple short moderate steps that provide an opportunity to get your hands dirty, you can practically stroll right through the summit cliffs as if they don't even exist, and we surprised ourselves by how quickly we were standing atop our first summit of the trip, rewarded with absolutely stunning views in every direction!

Assiniboine's lofty summit was hidden high in the clouds, but sitting 300 m below, its neighbors Eon and Aye were low enough to evade those clouds and made for quite the sight towering high above the perfectly turquoise Lake Gloria. We still had a long ways to go and not a lot of time before the sun began to set, but that was a later problem, and we spent almost an hour on the summit before finally pulling ourselves away and starting back down.

Having learnt from our mistake on ascent, once we passed through the upper cliff band we simply continued down the tame southeast ridge (much more enjoyable than the nasty slopes we climbed!), and dropped down into the scree bowl when the ridge leveled out, angling back to the grassy bench and easily continuing down to Wonder Pass.

It was at this point that my dad's knee started giving him trouble AND we both ran out of water! We had only packed a litre each when we set out from Mount Shark in the morning, and while this would have easily lasted us to camp and it's surrounding fresh water sources, we were no longer going down to the valley as early as we originally planned, and there was no running water near the pass...It looked like we were in some real trouble, and my dad considered forgoing the rest of the traverse, and already wanted to make his way down to Lake Magog. After a little bit of convincing, however, he agreed to try at least for Wonder Peak and see how he felt from there.

As we headed up Wonder's northwest ridge from the pass, my concern started to grow as my dad's pace slowed and he fell further and further behind. There was no way we were finishing before dark if something didn't change...Nevertheless, the false summit was eventually reached without difficulty (other than being incredibly thirsty!) and we continued along the connecting ridge towards the not-so-easy-lookin' true summit, now only about 100 m above.

A scree trail continues to lead the way, and traverses around the next highpoint in the ridge before rejoining the crest for the final climb to the summit. At first glance, the ridge looks like it might present some serious challenges, but once we stuck our noses in it was surprisingly easy with the only obstacle coming right at the final summit block. Here, a direct route up to the summit is complicated by some exposed cliffs, where the only option appears to be a narrow chimney breaking through. Even this didn't look the most straightforward though, and since I didn't think Wonder was supposed to be a difficult scramble, I started traversing around the summit block on its right (south) side, looking for alternatives.

I soon found one in the form of solid, blocky steps leading up to the ridge on the backside of the summit block, from which a much easier "chimney" led to the summit cairn. While the majority of this scramble ascends simple class 2 terrain, these final couple steps bump it up to a moderate grade, and from what I could tell, this is the easiest route to the summit.

We were starting to feel the pressure of time as we snapped way too many pictures and signed the register atop Wonder Peak. It was now 6 pm and we could tell! Evening light broke through a thickening cloud cover, highlighting peaks to the east, and although this was absolutely stunning to witness, we knew this light wouldn't be sticking around much longer! After a brief 20 minutes up top, we heaved our heavy packs back over our tired shoulders and retraced our steps down from the summit block to hit the final four peaks of the traverse. (Oh. Yeah, that's another thing I forgot to mention. Since we still hadn't been to camp, we were lugging our full backpacking loads along for the entirety of this traverse...At least we didn't have any water to weigh us down 😂)

For some reason, I was convinced that the remainder of the traverse was going to be a simple hike, and my dad decided he might as well slowly make his way along the ridge, at least tagging Ely's Dome and Mount Cautley, while I rushed to bag the extra out-of-the-way outcroppings (Gibralter and Cascade Rock). Shortly after leaving Wonder Peak's summit, however, we found ourselves peering down a significant cliff to a once again tame ridge below...Partly because I didn't see any obviously better options and partly because I knew we were running out of time, I didn't waste time looking for an easier route and led the way down the first couple exposed steps on crumbly rock. This led me down to a loose, narrow chimney which I was then able to carefully stem my way down. Personaly I would give this step a difficult rating, and since I don't recall reading anything about difficult scrambling on Wonder Peak, I would have to guess that an easier route bypasses this section by traversing below the ridge on the south side. (I didn't really have time to prove this theory, however, so don't take my word for it!)

Not long after completing the difficult step, we arrived at another obstacle. This time it was a large outcropping with options to bypass it by descending narrow gullies on either side of the ridge. We chose the left (north) gully and were soon traversing below the outcropping's impressive vertical cliffs on easy scree, rejoining the ridge just a few moments later.

Now the ridge chilled out and we easily followed gentle slopes to the top of Ely's Dome. As others have noted, the naming here is a little confusing. What's marked on maps as Ely's Dome doesn't really have any peak-like properties to it and is more of a broad, raised section in the ridge. Just up the ridge to the east, however, lie two noticeably higher peaks neither of which appear to be named.

Not wanting to risk missing out on the true summit, we continued on to the higher peak to the east. Whether you're a peakbagger or not, I would strongly recommend you do the same! This brief sidetrip takes minimal effort and grants a unique overview of the small, dying glacier on the eastern slopes of Ely's Dome.

This is where my dad and I parted ways. I still wanted to check out the slightly higher peak directly to the east, as well as the ridge extending northeast from that peak, while my dad continued down the connecting ridge to Mount Cautley, hoping to fill up some water from the dying glacier along the way.

A short, easy downclimb leads down from the first peak, from which the second peak is just a couple minutes hike away. After taking a few pictures, I quickly continued on my way down the ridge to "Subpeak 2" as labelled on my map...Although this is hardly a name (official or unofficial), the slabby nature of this "peak" made it look pretty darn cool and while I don't plan on adding it to my summit count, I knew I'd regret if I didn't go tag it quick. The route here is pretty obvious. Other than a couple sections where I bypassed difficulties on loose rock to the left of the crest, I simply stuck to the ridge, navigating challenges as they presented themselves. The crux was a short, exposed downclimb right on the crest, but luckily the rock was pretty solid, so it didn't seem too bad. A few other sections required careful footing on slabby, exposed terrain, but I soon topped out at the highpoint at the end of the ridge, enjoying unique views down the long valley that we followed on our approach earlier that morning, with distant Kananaskis peaks emphasized by the soft evening light.

Time was ticking and after only 10 minutes on this "summit", I quickly rushed back up the ridge to try and catch up with my dad.

The connecting ridge between Ely's Dome and Mount Cautley is definitely the easiest stretch of the traverse and simply requires hiking ~ 2 km along a broad scree ridge. The only hard part is the fact that you have to lose almost 150 m of elevation before regaining it all (plus extra!), which was an absolute GRIND at this point in the day! I was incredibly parched by now - my mouth and throat so dry that I wasn't even producing any saliva. As much as my achy, dehydrated body resisted, I continued dragging it up the ridge desperately hoping my dad was successful in his hunt for water and had some extra he'd be willing to share.

To my relief, my dad was waiting for me on Cautley's summit and graciously shared the ice cold water he'd collected. I instantly felt a little bit of a boost after getting some fluids in me and after chatting briefly, I headed off to bag the next outcropping - Gibralter Rock - while my dad continued down the ridge.

The traverse over to Gibralter Rock starts out very innocent. I ran down easy scree towards the low point in the ridge, but just before reaching said low point, I was brought to a halt, finding myself above a steep, crumbly rock step that required some delicate downclimbing. Due to how short this downclimb was, I think a moderate rating will suffice, but there was some exposure, and if it went on for much longer, I might change my mind (ie. rate it difficult). Once past this obstacle, all that remained was an easy hike up to the highpoint, from which I noticed another (lower) outcropping complete with a cairn (something that this higher point was lacking) slightly further down the ridge! Determined not to miss out on hitting any of the true summits after all the effort I'd put in to getting this far, I immediately continued on, soon encountering another downclimb almost identical to the first, before finishing off a short trudge up to its summit.

The sun had nearly set, but thin strips of beautiful, pink sunlight put on one final show, illuminating some distant peaks and causing me to spend more time than I probably should have hurriedly trying to capture these final serene moments.

My dad was already long gone at this point and I still had one more peak to bag! As much as my exhausted body wanted to just sit here in the peaceful solitude and watch as the final bits of sunlight faded away, I knew this wasn't an option and quickly hiked/jogged back up the ridge to Mount Cautley.

After collecting my backpack (I was always dropping it on the ridge before heading off on these "side trips"), I immediately continued along the ridge to the next high point. Cascade Rock is the point at the end of the ridge extending northeast of this rounded high point, and while this seems a little silly considering that this ridge is almost entirely downhill (this means that you're loosing elevation on "ascent" and gaining elevation on "descent" 😂), I wasn't in any position to question the naming of peaks and dropped my backpack one last time before starting down towards the sixth and final summit of the traverse!

Cascade Rock had one little surprise in store for me in the form of another moderate downclimb, similar to those on Gibralter. I found this one to be shorter and easier, however, and was just a minor speed bump on my run down the otherwise uncomplicated ridge.

I took a few blue hour shots as darkness fell and it was already 10 pm as I started my "ascending descent" under a bright half-moon.

The climb back up the ridge from Cascade Rock was absolutely gruelling. I was dying for water once again and was feeling extremely weak and completely exhausted. Due to the rushed nature of the afternoon, I hadn't eaten anything for the entirety of the traverse and my body was letting me know that it had had enough! Upon reaching my backpack, I collapsed beside it and just sat there in darkness for a few minutes. I wasn't able to get much down (especially without any water), but after at least eating a little bit of trail mix, I reluctantly put my backpack on one last time and started down the west scree slopes by headlamp.

The plan had been for my dad to start down the mountain until he found a sheltered spot, at which point he would wait for me, shining his headlamp up the slope so that I could locate him. As I made my way down the mountain, I did see a flickering light, but it was waaaay down in the forested slopes far below and seemed to be moving further and further away...I was genuinely confused and started picking up my pace to try and catch up to him. After descending directly down the steep, upper scree slopes, I intersected a solid trail and followed it down the alpine meadows for a short distance before it randomly ceased to exist at a stream. With only the light from my 150 lumin headlamp to see by, I was at a complete loss and decided that my best bet would be to follow the trail marked on my phone's topo map (even through there was no actual "trail" there in real life) and hope that my dad was doing the same.

At one point, I noticed a flickering light on the opposite side of a creek I was following, far across the slope to my right. I called out, wondering what on earth my dad was doing over there, but got no response, and the light eventually faded away. (After talking to my dad about it, he says he took a route with my same idea in mind, so either there was some other random person wandering around in the dark, or I was hallucinating...I guess I'll never know.)

Eventually, I hit the main trail leading down from Wonder Pass, and started to worry, still not having intercepted my dad. Did he get into trouble? Did I miss him on my way down? Was he still up on the mountain waiting for me to come down? There were so many possibilities, but the more I thought about it, the more I came to the conclusion that all I could do was go to the campground and hope he was waiting there. To my relief, a few hundred meters down the trail, there he was, sitting on the boardwalk at the major junction near the Wonder Lodge Cook Shelter! Apparently, by the time he found a good sheltered spot, he was already so far down the mountain that he was worried I'd take a different route and we'd miss each other in the dark. He therefore continued down, following the "trail" on our map, and hoping I would do the same. Luckily I did.

We made a quick stop at the shores of Lake Magog on our way to the campground. (It was so late already anyway, what were a few extra minutes?) The thick cloud-cover from the evening had parted and we stood there in complete awe as we got our first look at The Mighty A's pointy summit rising majestically under a star-lit sky.

While I don't know if I'd recommend doing the Cautley Traverse on the same day you hike in to the park, it's definitely a must-do during some point of your stay! Whether you do the whole traverse or just parts of it, you're bound to be blown away by the views of Assiniboine and its surrounding glaciers, lakes, and valleys. Although a little rushed, I'm really happy I was able to complete this traverse on day 1 and absolutely loved being able to watch the sun set from on top of a mountain, which isn't something I usually get a chance to do when all goes as planned...😉

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