On March 5, 2022, I hiked the West Wind Pass trail with a childhood friend, Lee. He and I grew up together and spent many hours hiking in the Rockies during our time together in Scouts. It had been many years since we’d hiked together, and so it was a nice treat to be able to do this hike on a beautiful Saturday.
The trailhead was on a parking lot across the road from the Spray Lakes reservoir, located ‘behind’ Canmore (looking at the town from the TransCanada). The trail was a mostly steep climb, and there was still a lot of snow around. Thankfully Lee had borrowed two pairs of crampons from his Dad, which we put on shortly after leaving the parking lot. These helped give our hiking boots enough grip to walk confidently on the narrow trail. The hike was mostly in the trees until we reached the ‘saddle’ between the Three Sisters and Mt. Lougheed, where it opened up into a scree-covered slope.
At the top of the pass there are clear views both back towards the Spray Lakes, as well as across the valley towards Dead Man’s Flats. We stopped for a snack break at the top, and got to take in the beautiful views. After we made our way down to the trail, we walked out onto the frozen surface of the Spray Lakes and saw some ice fishing huts.
