North Storelk Cirque

North Storelk Cirque
Kananaskis, Alberta
October 5, 2024
Distance: 7.5 km (4.7 mi)
Cumulative Elevation Gain: 295 m (968 ft)

North Storelk Cirque offers a chance to see larches in autumn without the crowds. We used the route described in Kananaskis Country Trail Guide. We had trouble routefinding, but we reached the cirque where the four of us – Zora, Tomiji, Mikako and I – were rewarded with fine scenery. The larches were past their prime, appearing dull orange instead of bright yellow, but we still enjoyed seeing them.

The trip began on Storelk Mountain trail. Our encountered our first problem after hiking a few hundred metres. At a creek crossing, a mudslide had swept away the trail on the opposite bank. We encountered it last year going to Storelk East Ridge, but I was hoping there was a new trail. There wasn't and the bank was too steep to ascend. We bushwhacked a hundred metres downstream where there is a trail on the other side. We crossed the creek, took the trail and were back on track.

A few hundred metres later, we left the Storelk Mountain trail and caught a trail heading northwest. I should explain there are two northwest trails. Running parallel, they are only a few dozen metres apart. We went up the lower trail but returned on the upper trail. (The upper trail isn't mentioned in the guidebook, but we used it to reach Storelk East Ridge.) According to the guidebook, we were to follow the lower trail to a trail going west but we didn't find it. It was not surprising as paths were vague and hard to discern under a layer of snow. So we began bushwhacking.

Eventually, we found the trail. When we reached a fork next to a deep gully, we kept right. We crossed a creek with small waterfalls and continued to the cirque. We followed the path but eventually lost it because of the snow cover. We bushwhacked 700 m before finding a trail at the edge of the cirque. At the far end of the cirque, a larch-covered ridge caught our eye. Above it, rose a huge mound of rocks. Over 100 metres long and 20 metres high, I assumed it was a moraine.

We crossed the cirque and hiked up the ridge to the base of the imposing moraine. It was too steep to climb directly, but after exploring, we found a way up at the west end. The rocks were extremely loose and slippery with snow, but we reached the top for a terrific view of the cirque and snow-covered peaks.

Since it was cold and windy on the moraine, we didn't linger. We followed our tracks in the snow back to the west trail. It merged with the upper trail, and we didn't see a trail going to the lower trail. We continued down the upper trail but eventually left it, bushwhacked 50 m to the lower trail and made our way back to our cars.

When I checked my tracks at home, I realized the upper trail must connect to Storelk Mountain trail; we had stopped 80 m short of where we left it when we did Storelk East Ridge. Since we didn't find the west trail from the lower trail, perhaps the upper trail is easier to follow to the cirque. But in a pinch, one could switch trails; at two places, they appear only 20 m apart! I included both trails in my track files.

KML and GPX Tracks

A small cairn marks the trailhead