Lipalian Peak via Wolverine Ridge Off-Trail hike on 1-Aug-2025

Four of us headed up the road towards Temple Lodge at a brisk pace and reached the top just as the Skoki bus arrived. We quickly left them behind and headed up Purple Bowl (the valley between Wolverine Ridge and Mt Redoubt. The meadows were a bit disappointing since the flowers were well past their best, but there were still some interesting areas with a lovely stream.

Stream in the valley between Wolverine Ridge and Redoubt

We noticed the striking Blue Gentian on the upper meadows and Teresa captured a really nice close-up.

Blue Gentian (closeup by Teresa)

We had a short stop after reaching the top of Wolverine Ridge and then did the long slog up the scree to the summit of Purple Mound for a leisurely lunch.

Carl, Teresa and Nardi at the summit of Purple Mound with Mt Balfour in the far left

The views were great all the way to Assiniboine.

The col between Purple Mound and Mt Lipalian has varying colours of scree making it a lovely section of the trip.

From the summit of Purple Mound looking across the col leading to Mt Lipalian

Doug examining some of the scree types on the col below Purple Mound

Carl, Nardi and Teresa heading up to Mt Lipalian

After a pleasant walk along the Mt Lipalian ridge we reached the summit for views in all directions

Doug at the summit of Mt Lipalian with Lake Louise and it's 5000 visitors in the background

The descent was interesting picking a route through the scree runs and some jumbles of big boulders down to the top of the Larch chair. Then we cut down through the open trees to one of the ski runs which gave more nice views of the mountains around Lake Louise. After we left the Skoki bus we saw no other people.

View towards Mt Victoria from a ski run during our descent

This thoroughly enjoyable trip took 6.5 hours for 16.4 km with 1090 m elevation. The photos were some by Teresa and some by Doug.

Participants: Douglas, Carl, Nardi, Teresa

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