Distance: 7.7km
Elevation Gain: 600m Physical Difficulty: 3/5 Technical Difficulty: 3/5 Avalanche Terrain Rating: Complex Map: 82 J/11 |
To Get Here: From Canmore, take the Smith Dorrien/ Spray Lakes Road 49.3km to the Sawmill Parking lot on your left.
Route Description: From the parking lot, cross the road to the South West Side. Continue down the road, away from canmore, for about half a kilometer until you see a break in the trees. Follow this break down to the creek. Continue trending on a Southbound heading to pick up an old road heading through the forest. Follow the road as it climbs up into the meadow between Hero Knob and Purple Knob. There are large slide paths that run full length off of Hero Knob into this area and are sometimes ski-able. Always beware of overhead hazard. Continue through the valley and work your way up the steep and committing headwall, until you reach the back bowl. The headwall provides a great run on it's own. There is significant overhead hazard on the west side of this bowl that can be somewhat minimized by climbing the east ridge. As the ridge nears the end of the bowl traverse across into the saddle between Hero Knob and the cliffs behind. Rip your skins and enjoy a 500m run to the valley floor. From here follow the Murray Creek drainage back across the Smith Dorrien Creek and into the Sawmill Parking Lot
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