July 31st 2025. Skoki Valley (Banff), AB.
Round Trip: 9 Hours, 25.8km, Elevation Gain: 1335m
Easy Scramble; Mostly Hiking
Further Reading: Alan Kane’s (2016) Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies 3rd Edition
This was my first outing since dislocating my shoulder on Mt Kerr two weeks earlier. I was making a fast recovery and already feeling the itch to get back out hiking. We chose this easy straight-forward objective straight out of Kane’s (2016) Scrambles with the mindset that if I couldn’t make the peak then at least it would be a scenic hike to Deception Pass. From the pass it is a linear ascent up Fossil’s western slope. Not much of a scramble per-se but a very worthwhile hike. If day tripping this like we did, you will cover +25km car-to-car. With Fossil Mountain’s central position in the Skoki Valley the summit views are well worth the effort and this definitely should be done on a clear day.
With talk of an “easy” objective on our radar that week, we attracted a lot of interest amongst our colleagues at work and ended up as another large group, nine in total. Everyone arrived at the carpark on time and we managed to start the hike by 6:23am. Even in those early hours we could feel it was going to be a hot muggy day with clear skies, and A LOT of bugs. The route is super straight forward following Parks Canada trails the whole way through Skoki to Deception Pass. From Deception Pass an unofficial but defined trail branches off eastward up Fossil’s western slope. It does get quite rubbly and steep in places making for some great photography along the way up, but isn’t really a scramble, more of a strenuous hike.
Skoki Valley was busier than ever before, granted it was the start of a long weekend. Despite the bustling trails our group had the peak all to ourselves and enjoyed the majestic vistas of the surrounding valleys in warm blue-bird conditions. The only negative of our day was the relentless mosquitoes that followed us all the way to the summit, later replaced by aggressive horse flies on the return journey. As a result, we took very few (and brief) breaks along the way and instead took a well-deserved hour-plus long break at the summit. A great outing with a great group of people! And my shoulder stayed in tact, so it was great getting-back-into-it peak.
My advice would be to save this one for late summer or larch season, as I have experienced far worse bugs in Skoki prior to this trip and wouldn’t want that to ruin the experience of this otherwise stunning viewpoint.
Steep Sheep 