Pika Peak

"Met two groups of two traversing from Richardson. I ascended from Hidden Lake. The first group were going to give Ptarmigan a try. The second group met Alan Kane in the parking lot they said he was heading up Ptarmigan. " — Randy • Sep 22, 2023

"Bert kindly accompanied me on my last of the Kane 2nd edition Skoki peaks. I did a bit of hands-on for the ascent from the col, but mostly took scree down, so it went quickly. I got stung by a wasp on the hike out and the bike ride down was awesome as always! It was nice and hot! I love this weather, although it was a bit smokey." — leigh-annewebster • Sep 3, 2022

"Pika & Ptarmigan are perfectly positioned to see the amazing collection of lakes in the Skoki area. From the Fish creek trailhead, we biked 4km up the ski hill road and then hiked into Hidden Lake. A scree ascent followed by a long scree ledge traverse took us to the Richardson-Pika col. From there there was great scrambling on solid rock up to the summit. The descent to the col and traverse back around was reasonably quick, followed by a longer ascent up and over to the Ptarmigan summit - I think we were getting tired by this point! After summitting, the scree run down from Pika was delightfully quick." — geoffhardy • Sep 26, 2021

"Supposed to be the best weather of the long weekend but Lake Louise enshrouded in cloud all day. Smoky in Canmore on the way in. Smoky up the icefields. Biked and then ascended Pika along lower bench of scree which was frozen and exposed (not fun). Turned at the col up Pika in the clouds with snow falling. Snow enroute and false summits the higher we went in clouds. Some very sketchy sections and summit ridge was terrifying with snow and one foot either side cliff drop off and slippery. Wind and clouds and snow along the ridge made for some adrenaline both over to the register and back. Descended along trail on upper bench which had thawed and was much better. Biked out for 7h 45m. Great day Rob! Scramblers (2): Rob Maiman, Alex" — alexjoseph • Sep 2, 2018

"Great Class 3 climbing ("easier difficult" scrambling) from Pika-Richardson col on the solid rock. Scrambling never gets challenging but the route is deadly exposed in a few spots including the very top. We had some snow, which added extra excitement and prompted us to take not the easiest line in a couple of spots. Still, it wasn't too difficult. Fabulous views from the top. Highly recommended scramble. Pika was a second summit of Richardson-Pika-Ptarmigan Traverse" — Taras • Sep 29, 2017

"The drive in had us wondering with the scattered showers. After we biked up Temple Lodge Road the weather was pretty good and side of the mountain facing us was dry so we gave it a shot. Snow had already slid down from up high making the traverse safe. Up high we gradually encoutnred more snow and the summit ridge was cover with a good foot of snow. Biked down Temple Lodge Road in 6 minutes." — BertB • Sep 27, 2016