Mt McKirdy, Valemount

Today we decided to see if we could climb Mt McKirdy (2586m). A careful 5.5km drive up a forestry road brought us high above the town of Valemount, also the start of three - must be very long mtn bike downhill trails, and the trailhead for McKirdy Meadows and summit, and also an ideal parking spot to spend the night. So we started walking around 10.30am. Another hot sunny day. It was a fairly steady climb up to the meadows which was at about 2000m altitude (500m gain). After that it was alot of bouldering and some quite steep climbing and route finding. Never quite got to the summit due to time and energy, but stopped at the locally known sub peak called Carson's peak (2449m). I've certaintly not got my normal mtn legs or lungs and found it quite an effort. But was it worth it? The photos really don't capture the views, due to the sun and haze, but the feeling of being surround by mountains is just so beautiful, and when walking down and through the meadow part, I felt like Maria Van Trapp in Sound of Music, "the hills were alive". Also spotted a chipmunk, who posed for Doug and skiied and slided down some snow . Just before the meadows on the way up there was a track and sign for a cabin and stream, on the way down we saw that it was only 450m, so decided to check out an canadian hut. Met a friendly local guy and a french girl staying there so had a pleasant 15 mins or so chatting to them before carrying on. Got back to van about 7 pm and had a well deserved can of pepsi. Stats for the walk are: 15.60 km, 5hr55 active time, 1275 elevation gain, and 2 tired bodies.Read more