"Princess Anne"

 June 2007

 

Elevation: 2750m Gain: 1450m Difficulty level: Easy
Ascent time: 5 hours  Total trip time: 8 hrs Conditions: Dry

Parking area: Palliser Trail (2km from TransCanada turn-off)

 

     

After being turned back by snow in 2006, we finally reached the summit with dry conditions and clear blue skies. "Princess Anne" has the distinction of being my last scramble of 2006 and first scramble of 2007. As one of the highest peaks in the area, it offers beautiful views with a virtually pristine summit register as testament to the paucity of visitors.

 

 

NAME CHANGE WARNING (Sep 2011): Alex Thom (he who placed the summit register) was kind enough to point out that what I thought was Charles Stewart is actually an outlier commonly known as "Princess Anne". The true Charles Stewart cannot be accessed from Stoneworks Canyon. Embarrassment aside (this is being from the pre-GPS era), it still has pretty nice views.

 

 

ROUTE
The traditional entrance to Stoneworks Canyon is by taking the Benchlands exit from the TransCanada. Rather than turning right onto Benchlands Trail (road to Canmore and Lady MacDonald); turn left onto Palliser Trail. Approximately 2km from the Trans-Canada turn-off, on the right, there is a gated entrance to Stoneworks Canyon (Johnny's Trail).

Unfortunately, at the original entrance, we encountered unfriendly signage; which blocked access to the Benchlands Trail system (500m to the north).

While scramblers need to behave responsibility, Alberta definitely needs the Freedom to Roam 

 
The only alternatives to bypassing the sign are to access the Benchland trail system at the official access points and walk to Stoneworks Canyon trailhead, or drive a little ways along Palliser Trail and bushwhack your way into the trail system; both of which add unnecessary inconvenience.
Even if you aren't a scrambler,  Stoneworks Canyon is a beautiful hike and worthy of a trip on its own merit.
Once you reach the end of Stoneworks Canyon, you will be forced into a wide gulley to the left. This opens up into a large bowl. Thus begins the scree slog from hell. In my haste, I left my trekking poles at home. While gear made from renewable resources might make Al Gore happy, I'll take my usual  poles and pay my carbon offsets, thank you very much. Hand blisters aside, I was surprised at how well dead wood worked.

The bowl looks deceptively easy, but make no mistake the scree is steep and deep

 

Once you pass the rock face to the right, ascend up the 'gently pitched' scree slope. The ridge itself is an easy walk to the summit; with minimal exposure. 

"Princess Anne" isn't technically difficult, but the lengthy approach (15 km), the large elevation gain (1500m), and above all... the scree; makes for an 'interesting' experience. Your ability to enjoy this hike depends on your willingness to delay gratification. Regardless of masochistic tendencies, it is not humanly possible to enjoy the ascent. However, when a 2 hour ascent takes 15 minutes to descend, you get an idea of the scree quality. Hours of cursing are temporarily forgotten during the few minutes of the finest scree skiing in the Canadian Rockies. Having said that, opinions were definitely mixed amongst our group; ranging from 'never again' to 'maybe in another 2 years'.

The mountain connects to both Squaw's Tit and Lady MacDonald via a ridge system. The ST ridge looks plain nasty, but I'd be tempted to try the Lady Mac-Mt CS ridge at some point.

+20C with blue skies!

 Regardless, "Princess Anne" provides amazing views of all the mountains in the Bow Valley Corridor. 

The lack of people was also unique in this area.
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