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Bertha Peak
Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta
July 9, 2004

Distance: 13.3 km
Cumulative Elevation Gain: 1200 m

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.

KML and GPX Tracks


Hiking to Bertha Lake


Purple fleabane


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

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