Degree of Difficulty:
Easy or Difficult, depending on the route
Time to Complete Round Trip: 5 hours
Originally, I found that the most difficult part of this journey was figuring out where exactly to park. Mount Baldy is a great early-season opener. The mountain is located far enough east and the scramble-route faces the sun most of the day, so that the route is frequently "bald" of snow in good weather or a Chinook.
Where to Park:
From the TransCanada Highway #1, follow the Kananaskis trail (highway 40) south. Go past the information centre and the Widow Maker day-use area, go past the Barrier Dam exit, and continue driving beyond the Barrier Lake Day-use area. The southern basin of Lake Barrier should be to your right. You will see a falling rock sign on the west side of the highway, and a trail nearby (see photo). You'll know you've gone too far south if you see the O'Shaughnessy Falls wishing well on the side of the highway.
The Route (see photos below):
Scramble up the steep embankment by the side of the highway and you will find a trail which heads up into the trees. Follow this trail up for about an hour or so, and eventually the trees will thin. You can keep heading up the obvious trail to one of the routes (the yellow route in the photo below). If you find the crux route too exposed to your liking, you can always head back to circle around the cliff band (the red easy route). The crux requires some exposed down-climbing.
According to Kane, you could also get around the crux by returning down and heading around the northwest (basically turning left in my alternative 2 photo instead of right, the red route, and joining up to the Gendarme via the northwest). I've never done it this way, but I'll give it a shot next time (I've been on Baldy many times since it's so often free of snow, even in the winter. You might catch me up there yodeling; if you do, run RUN away.)
Whatever route you choose will eventually bring you to the infamous Gendarme rock formation. This picture below, as usual, does not do justice to the Gendarme. It is very steep with exposure all around, including the easy route (if you stand at the end of the red line below, you'll know what I mean). A fall would injure, and possibly kill you.
The more difficult route is the yellow trail, the easier route is the red trail. Either trail could be dangerous in bad weather conditions.
Once you sneak past the Gendarme, the route to the summit is straightforward.
The summit gives you nice views of the Kananaskis trail, the Nakiska ski area, and to the East you should be able to make out the skyline of Calgary (sure looks small from here).
Return the same way.
