Emerald Peak

July 5th 2018. Emerald Lake – Yoho National Park

Round Trip 8 hours, Elevation Gain 1255m

Easy to Moderate Scramble via Hamilton Lake

Emerald Peak 2555m is pretty straight forward. Jules had organized a large group for this one – there were 12 of us in grand total. For smaller parties 5-6 hours round trip would be reasonable. We approached from Hamilton Lake then returned via the Avi Path to Emerald Lake to complete the trip as a loop. Returning via Hamilton Lake would have been more pleasant.

Follow the well established trail leading up from the Emerald Lake parking lot past Hamilton Falls up to Hamilton Lake – roughly 2 hours. Lots of switch backs! Hamilton Lake offers a scenic spot for a breather before tackling Emerald Peak.

From the eastern shoreline of Hamilton Lake continue along a faint trail that leads up the slope. The trail tapers out in an alpine meadow – from here you begin to wrap around towards the southern slope. It’s mostly a scree slog up these slopes, with typical Yoho shale.

Once on the ridge continue north. At the top of the slopes, the rock becomes increasingly more blocky. The route wraps back to the west, through this section there are a few side-ledge moves that are a bit exposed.

There was enough snow leftover from winter to provide some protection but in dry conditions this would be considerably more exposed! After the ledge section comes the “crux” of the scramble: a large downward angled cube-shaped boulder.

For confident scramblers this can be tackled head on. For those in our group that were less confident, we worked our way across & under the boulder first before ascending the north side. We gained a few handholds in doing so. After surpassing the boulder, you land in an interesting arrangement of rock and are faced with a small tunnel.

The tunnel is narrow at first but wide enough to keep your pack on and well protected compared to the area you just came through. The summit lies a few short minutes away on the other side.

After some time enjoying some of the finest views in Yoho, we opted to drop down the Avi Path leading directly back to Emerald Lake. This same path can also be used to ascend Emerald Peak…

…I wouldn’t advise it though – stick to the Hamilton Lake approach! The rock under the summit on the Emerald Lake side is very loose, and the path itself offers poor footing.

The Avi path quickly changes from loose shale to scree which is nice but makes for a short lived boot-ski. The majority of the slide path is composed of hard compacted sediment on a relentless downgrade angle – scrambling up would be brutal on a hot day!

If taking the Avi Path be sure to bring bear spray and keep the group together in a tight formation – later that same summer there were several black bear sightings along the base of this Avi Path.

In the time it took our group to descend this way (+2 hours), we could have likely returned via Hamilton Lake in the same time or less. Having said that, the crux would be interesting to down climb… no one in the group of 11 fancied the Hamilton Lake descent. The choice is yours.