Degree of Difficulty:
Easy to Moderate
Time to Complete Round Trip:5 to 7 hours
Where to Park:
The Opal Ridge is on the East side of the Kananaskis Trail (Hwy 40). Park about one kilometre south of the Rocky Creek Bridge in a parking lot on the west side of the highway. This is near the Eau Claire Campground. Find the Rocky Creek Bridge, and it's easy to find the place to park.
The Route (see photo below):
Cross over the highway, and begin your bushwhacking straight up until you're above the treeline. You may come to a sheer wall, but some brief searching will result in an easy ascent to a relatively flat, treelined section (see photo below), which will give you a good vantage point to observe the rest of the route.
Make your way up scree slopes toward a gully. The gully is just beneath an ominous cliff band. Follow the gully up and over a rise (see "T" below), where you will find the remainder of your travels fairly easy.
Toward the top you will find a flat section with a small cairn or two, and a final climb up a wall will plant you on a beautiful flat summit with amazing views of the Kananaskis Trail. The Fortress Mountain ski area is to the immediate west.
Return the same way. (There is a longer scramble, the Ridge Traverse, which continues southward from the main north peak for about 8 km of difficult scrambling, not for the novice. Check out Kane's book before contemplating this strenuous ordeal.)
A warm day lingering at the summit. It doesn't get any better.
