August 15th 2026. Skoki, AB.
Round Trip: 8.5 hours, 24km. Elevation Gain: 1400m
Easy Scramble; Mostly Hiking
Bri had selected this one and had invited our friend Em to join. Despite my late return from Mount McArthur the night before, I was keen to get back out and take advantage of the weather window. It had been a very stormy summer so far in Golden, and on this particular day weather forecasts were predicting unstable weather in the alpine pretty much everywhere except for Skoki. Skies were meant to stay clear until later in the evening, so long as we were back in the trees before inclement weather rolled in then all would be good. I was also tempted to traverse over and include Ptarmigan and Pika peaks, assuming the weather held and assuming we had the energy to do so.
I had previously done Mt Richardson in 2016 after a very rainy first-time-camping experience at Hidden Lake. It rained both days non-stop and we reluctantly still went for it in hopes that the weather would break at the summit. The rain eased off but the clouds lingered and we only saw a minor fraction of the vistas. The only positive from that trip was being introduced to my friend Ben for the first time, who has joined on many fine scrambles since. Otherwise my memories of that trip are of being wet, swarmed by mossies, and the trails being a sloppy mix of mud and horse sh*t. This revisit trip, was far more pleasant!
We picked Em up around 7:15am and made our way east driving through Yoho towards Lake Louise. Definitely a few dark clouds along the way but thankfully as forecasted, skies were clearer towards Skoki. Better yet, despite a slightly late start, we still managed to get a parking spot in the main lot near the Fish Creek trailhead. Boots laced and packs readied we started our approach hike at 8:30am. We kept a modest continuous rhythm up the fire road (ugh.. again) and I was feeling pretty good still from the previous day. Once off the fire road and on to the actual hiking trail, we were greeted by a very stoked father-son combo from Toronto that had just completed a 4 day trek in the remote east corner of the valley. Soon after, we were passing under the Larch Chair runs under Lipalian Mountain, the lower meadows bursting with colour.
We made good timing and reached Hidden Lake campground within 2 hours, where we took an extended snack break. A couple friendly campers were chatting with us and asking for an update on the weather forecasts, having also seen the risk of wet stormy weather later in the day. They mentioned interest in hiking up Mt Richardson that day but were enjoying a slow start, so said maybe they’d run into us later. After parting ways with the campground we strolled over to Hidden Lake at a relaxed pace. This was intentional, I wanted to study the routes for Ptarmigan and Pika and assess how feasible the traverse would be. If not that day, then certainly for a return trip. Unanimously, we agreed that Mount Richardson was the main objective and anything beyond that would be extra.
Hiking past Hidden Lake the main trail veers to the climber’s left and the elevation gain begins with a steep meadowed slope. Being a classic Kane scramble, and an easy one at that, there was a well defined trail weaving through the meadow and up to the lower shoulder of Richardson’s south ridge. In my opinion, this was the hardest part of the route, being a steep aspect comprised of hard-packed debris and slippery grass. We aimed for an interesting rock pinnacle in gaining the shoulder, and once on the ridge the trail leading towards the summit remained well defined. An abundance of cairns dotted the way up along this trail too. The only real challenge from here was setting a steady pace up the remaining 500m of vertical.
Skies remained blue overhead as we enjoyed a short break. Already the views were so much more impressive versus my 2016 trip and I was glad to have joined that day. However, Yoho was looking dark to the west so it was becoming apparent that the weather window was shortening earlier than expected. It was unlikely that we would be doing any extra peaks at this point, though I remained optimistic that if the weather held we could maybe still do Pika Peak.
The remaining ridge ascent up Richardson was most pleasant, the remaining 500m of vertical gain well distributed. From where we initially gained the ridge it took roughly an hour and twenty minutes to reach the broad summit of Mount Richardson. No technical sections encountered along the way, scrambling was minimal and it was mostly a hike. A very scenic hike, I can understand why this one is so popular. Surprisingly we didn’t encounter anyone on the mountain during our ascent but did observe a couple scramblers coming down off of Pika’s summit. It looked like they were struggling to find their way back onto the route as we watched them for a good long while. It was a relief to see them reappear later on in the Pika-Ptarmigan col.
We enjoyed a lengthy summit visit on Richardson, having reached the top around 1pm. After watching the other two on Pika seemingly struggle with the descent, we ruled out the traverse for ourselves. The nail in the coffin ended up being a bitter cold blast of wind and a low rumble of thunder. The dark clouds that hovered over Yoho most of the day were slowly edging towards us. No need for panic at this point but we agreed that is was time to go. On our way back down the ridge we ran into the same group from the campground and cautioned them that the weather window might be ending soon.
As we dropped off the ridge back down towards the meadow it started spitting rain, though thankfully didn’t downpour. We noticed some movement off to our right further east across the bowl. A couple of bighorn sheep were prancing down the shaley terrain and we realized it was a couple lambs with a mother in tow. Then a few more joined them, accompanied by a large male who took the lead and was seemingly walking towards us. Despite the shift in weather we were off the ridge at that point and felt safe watching the herd from the slope. Nearly two-dozen bighorn sheep total made their way down from the ski resort into the meadow towards Hidden Lake. Most stayed south of the trail we needed for our return hike and the few that lingered near the trail seemed unbothered by our presence. Meanwhile the clouds had rolled in but the weather remained relativelystable for the hike back to the car. One last surprise awaited us on the trail, shortly before the fire road section we ran into a whitetail deer with two fawns!
All-in-all a very pleasant outing. Thankfully the weather mostly held off and having two wildlife sightings was an awesome bonus. I think that was the largest bighorn sheep herd that I personally have ever seen. 8.5 hours including breaks with a happy crew and scenic summit off the list!
