Mount Aeneas & Pedley Pass, Windermere, BC - September 12 2026 -

Trail : Mount Eaneas &. Pedley pass Counterclockwise Location : East Kootenay, BC Trailhead location : At the end of Windermere Creek FSR - you need 4X4 high clearance vehicule to get there Date : September 12th 2026 Distance : 14.8 km Elevation gain : 1233 m Time to complete with extra exploration: 6h54 Difficulty: very hard hike with moderate scrambling (class3) (Mount Aeneas). Pedley pass itself is just a hard hike/no scrambling Trail traffic : no one on Mount Aeneas, moderate on Pedley pass Park pass needed : none Pedley Pass has been on my radar for so long, and the weather looked great in the Kootenays this weekend, so we packed for two nights of camping. We were so eager for that weekend! 🤩 As I was looking at the map for this hike, I noticed a mountain summit nearby. After doing some research, I thought it would be great to add Mount Aeneas to this adventure. Pedley Pass itself was a little too short and didn’t have enough elevation gain for my liking 😂. At 2,675 m, Mount Aeneas is the second-highest summit in the Stanford Range, with Indian Head Mountain being the highest at 2,687 m. After spending the night in Radium, we got up early and made our way to our destination. The road to the trailhead is rough, and 4x4, high-clearance vehicles are definitely recommended to make it up there. Since Mount Aeneas was our first objective, we tackled the route counterclockwise, gaining the tarn first and then heading toward the summit of Mount Aeneas. That first section to the tarn is easy to follow and well indicated. It’s a bit steep, but nothing crazy. At the tarn, we met a guy who said he had already summited Mount Aeneas. He pointed to the big rock cliff towering just above the tarn and told us that was the summit. 🤔 We took his word for it and kept moving south into the basin toward the steep gully. The rocks were covered of a thin and invisible layer of ice, making the adventure a little more spicy, but since there is no dangerous exposure, we just kept going. In the basin, we reached a steep headwall broken by several steep scree gullies. The largest and most left gully, about 150 metres (500 feet) of vertical height, provides the easiest access to the upper scree shelf below the summit. That first gully is no joke, and despite the fact that we didn’t pack our helmets that day, I highly recommend wearing one for this section. We dislodged some pretty big rocks that went straight down. Luckily, we were the only ones up there that day. That gully reminded me a lot of the one at Tower of Babel in Lake Louise. Once above the gully, since we thought our summit was the one above the tarn, we took a left turn and explored along the cliff edge in that direction. But as I looked at my map below that summit, I suddenly realized… we were on the wrong mountain! 🤦🏻‍♀️In fact, we should have headed straight up once above the gully, toward the west ridge, then followed the west ridge to the actual summit. So, once we realized we were hiking up the wrong mountain, we turned around and headed in the right direction! 😂Two tents were set up in this area, and it was such a beautiful sight. They sure had the best views for a night in the mountains! We actually met these people at the end of our day. They were with their beautiful dog and had conquered Indian Head Mountain that day. From the alpine valley above the gully to the actual Mount Aeneas summit, you’ll need your map on hand for navigation. You first go up another, but easier, gully and then head left, where you scramble along the mountain slope on a rocky ridge toward the summit. We were in the clouds a bit during this last stretch, so the views were somewhat obscured, but we still had spectacular views. The Columbia River is visible from up there, with a sea of peaks surrounding us in every direction. We had excellent views of the Columbia Valley to the west and the Kootenay River to the east. A cool fact: this portion of the Rocky Mountain Trench is the source of the Columbia River, which flows from the northern end of Columbia Lake. We took advantage of the perfect, no-wind conditions to launch the drone for a second time. We also launched it during the gully ascent. I’m really looking forward to editing the video of this hike with all the footage we captured that day! 🎥🤩 After taking in the summit views, we explored around a bit more to get an even better view of the Columbia River. The fall colors were starting to burst, and it was absolutely beautiful. 🍂🏔️ Then it was back down the gully and toward Pedley Pass. Pedley Pass is another gorgeous hike, not difficult and absolutely worth doing. That ridge walk is incredible! From the end of the ridge, you descend a set of switchbacks. This side of the loop is less steep and offers a nice, steady descent back to the parking lot. If you get the chance to conquer this hike, it’s definitely a challenging, fun, and incredibly rewarding day in the mountains! 🥾🏔️