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Sunrise Hill aka Rainy Summit Ridge
Kananaskis, Alberta
November 17, 2012
Sunrise Hill – really, the southeast end of Powderface Ridge – provides a pleasant alternative to the often congested Prairie Mountain. Dinah and I attempted the route described in the Kananaskis Country Trail Guide, but briefly lost the trail due to the snow covering. But a bit of bushwhacking had us back on track. Once we regained the trail we had no trouble following it to below the summit. Here the snowy, steep slopes were too slippery to tackle head-on, so we zigzagged up to the top. There we were buffeted by strong winds, and we soon retreated back down the mountain. On our return, we stayed on the trail. Although it wasn't the same trail in the guidebook, it served us well and was easy to follow.
Postscript: We returned in July 2019 to find there was now an easy trail to follow all the way to the summit.
The trailhead
A few minutes after heading west from the trailhead, we found the road
Bushwhacking
On the trail
Hiking up Rainy Summit Ridge
The rocky ridge extends for quite a ways
The trail after leaving the ridge
Behind in the foreground, we can see Mustang Hills
There's the summit
We had to drop down a bit before ascending the summit
After angling right we came across a minor cliff band (mouse over to look back), but we angled
left and went up a treed slope instead
Moose Mountain from the summit
Heading down from the summit
82 J/15 Bragg Creek
