Vermilion Peak to Mount Haffner Route Map (see link in desciption - or click here - for interactive version).

On to Mount Haffner from Vermilion Peak!

A close up of Haffner across the Vermilion-Haffner col. Gotta go down before we can go back up!

Looking back towards Vermilion Peak after passing through the deadfall-ridden burnt forest.

Once out of the trees, it's just a pleasant hike up a gentle scree slope to the summit.

Approaching the summit of Mount Haffner!

Not the most eye-catching mountain itself, but the beautiful larch forest, combined with the fresh snow dusting the peak, really caught my attention! Gotta show the sub-peaks some love too :).

Close-up of Stanley's summit cliffs! I believe the more moderate scramble route goes up the ridge-like terrain center-right.

A pyramidal, unnamed peak reveals itself, just below the clouds.

Tumbling Peak and Mount Gray remain hidden.

Vermilion Peak looks far away now!...But to be honest, we were surprised by how little time it took to reach Haffner! Adding an extra ~3 hours (round trip) to bag Haffner (as Kane suggests) is a safe assumption, even though it looks farther when you're there!!

Rolling "hills" in the spotlight!

Mount Whymper (center), with the long, flat summit of Boom Mountain (characterized by the dark, grey rock) peaking out to the right.

The valley below Mount Ball (currently covered by low cloud). This was one of my favourite views of the day! Fresh snow really makes the mountains pop!

Can't get enough of these trees!! :)

My dad on the summit of Mount Haffner!

Chilling with the glowing trees! (literally...my hands felt pretty chilled taking pictures up here!) Photo Credit: Dad

Summit selfie!!

What a view! Stanley, Beatrice and Ball (still hiding from the camera) from left to right!

Mount Verendrye, Floe Peak (with Numa Mountain in front), Foster Peak, Hewitt Peak, Tumbling Peak and Mount Gray (all in the clouds) from left to right.

Summit register! We were honestly surprised to find one up here...didn't think this small peak would be so popular!

The summit cairn was a little bit sad, and it kinda fell apart when we took out the register (oops)...So we made some upgrades! Just move the "front door", and you should be able to slide the register out without the whole thing collapsing...Or at least we hope!

Looking back up to the summit, as we make our way down.

This was our last overview of the route before entering the forest. We decided we would try to side-hill along the burnt treeline on the other side of the col, rather than having to climb back up the ridge to retrace our ascent route up Vermilion.

A view back towards Haffner from within the forest.

I'm slightly obsessed with the larches!

Lots of deadfall to pass through...no trails around here!

Unusual to still have views while in the middle of a forest!

Make sure you make lots of noise while in the Vermilion-Haffner area! We saw lots of bear signs, including scat and lots of DEEP holes! (note claw marks) Wonder what they are digging for...?

Another view back towards Haffner. We started side-hilling earlier than we had anticipated as the terrain looked pretty easy-going slightly below the treeline.

This went on for a while...Although the ankles were a little annoyed, and we had to climb over lots of fallen trees, all in all our path led us to where we needed it to and eliminated unneeded elevation gains. We continued to holler frequently, as it often seemed as if we were following the path of a bear with all the reoccurring signs...

Eventually we emerged to this gully, recognised that it joined up with the main ascent gully, and followed it down.

Heading down the higher of the two minor cliff-bands in the main gully. Like the lower one, this one is easily passed through on skier's right.

Making our way down the last stretch, along the narrow trail. The fall colours make me happy :), even if my legs weren't too happy at this point!

Looking back up the avalanche path leading to Vermilion Peak. Almost back to the highway after a very rewarding day! Haffner lies to the right (not visible from here).