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Bertha Peak
Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta
July 9, 2004
Distance: 13.3 km (8.3 mi)
Cumulative Elevation Gain: 1200 m (3937 ft)
The trip to Bertha Peak begins at Waterton townsite, up the trail to Bertha Lake. From the lake, Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies proposes two possible routes: left or right of the waterfall. The easier route is on the left, but Dinah and I took the route on the right, up a series of gullies. By avoiding the scree and sticking to solid rock, we found good scrambling. However, there was more routefinding than I expected. After reaching the ridgetop, we enjoyed the ridgewalk to the summit.
Hiking to Bertha Lake
Purple asters
Bertha Peak from Bertha Lake: we ascended right of the waterfall
Heading to the base of the mountain
Starting up the rocky slope
We started up in a gully to the right of the waterfall
Typical scrambling on the lower slope. You run into scree if you go left
towards the waterfalls.
We found a good diagonal to ascend
Colourful rocks everywhere
We were kept busy looking for a good route up
Routefinding becomes easier near the top
The grade eases near the ridge crest. Bertha Lake below.
We reached the ridge crest
On the ridge, it's a wide-open hike to the top
Looking back
On the summit
82 H/4 Waterton Lakes
