Mt. Temple

  • Description

    This is a strikingly beautiful peak with absolutely stunning 360° views of the surrounding mountains. Mt. Temple draws climbers and hikers from all over the world, who want to see it, hike near/around it, and stand on its summit. It is the largest peak in the Lake Louise area and the easiest of the 11,000ers group, but don’t be fooled because this is a big peak and packs a punch even via the easiest scramblers route. (The 11,000er’s are a group of 58 Canadian Rocky Mountains above 11,000 feet.) There are many routes to the summit and we’ll talk about a some of them starting with the most popular route:

    • Southwest Ridge (II 4th 35m). This is the ‘scramblers’ route’ and the easiest and most popular route up the mountain. There is usually a faint trail to the summit but route finding and a short climbing section is required to summit.
    • East Ridge (IV 5.7 1050m). If you’re an alpine climber and want a big taste of the Canadian Rockies then this route may be for you. It’s amazing and involves a lot of climbing over 3rd, 4th, & 5th class terrain and finished with a snow and ice ridge to the summit. Expect 1 BIG day to 2 full days to climb it.
    • Squashed Bones (IV 5.8 1100m). Word has it that this route is a classic and great alpine route that climbs a NE buttress between the Aemmer Couloir and the Sphinx Face, with most technical pitches being on amazing and well protected rock.
    • Northeast Buttress (IV 5.10a 1300m). This is a big and very challenging alpine climbers’ route that climbs a vertical rock pillar that leads to the summit glacier. This route is also frequently called the, “Greenwood-Jones” as it was first climbed in 1969 by Brian Greenwood and Jim Jones.
    • There are many more challenging and impressive routes up Mt. Temple but for guiding reasons we’ll leave it there.
  • Grade

    IV
  • Duration

    8-12hrs
  • Aspect

    E, NE, SW
  • Length

    11'614 / 3540m

  • Max Guiding Ratio

    Depends on route
  • Directions

    Drive north from Canmore on Hwy. 1 to Lake Louise and park up at Moraine Lake (1 hr.).
  • Approach

    The scrambler's SW ridge route takes 2-2.5 hrs on a well-maintained trail to get to Sentinel Pass. The East Ridge takes roughly 1hr on a steep and loose slope.

  • Descent

    Down the SW scrambler's ridge

  • Routes Nearby

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