Scrambling Photos from Rabbit Ears

September 29, 2007

Rabbit Ears is a short difficult scramble in the Colin Range about 4km South of Mount Colin. The exact coordinates are 52.974385,-118.00415. I found them using Google Earth. When looked at from the highway it resembles rabbit ears. See the last photo of this trip. The trip should take 4-7 hours to complete. The final 30 meters of scrambling is very advanced and I would not recommend attempting it without prior rock climbing experience. Thus I would classify this as a climbers scramble to use a term from the scramble guides.
It is quite an enjoyable scramble with lots of hands on. Which I like. You approach it on the Overlander Trail starting at the 6th bridge over the Maligne River. Hike along the Overlander Trail North for about 3km until you notice rocks and whatnot from a rock outwash. Hike through this to a steep boulder filled gully. This gully is visible in the first picture on this trip. Scramble up this gully to reach the valley above. In some years this gully has been blocked by boulders too huge to bypass apparently due to spring water surges.
Once in the gully you will need to turn left up the ridge. But not too soon. Turning left too soon will lead you up the wrong ridge. Hike for about 15min before turning left. The ridge to the summit goes through a forest and is pretty easy to follow. If you took the right ridge you will find out soon enough. If you took the wrong ridge then you have some backtracking or some miserable bushwacking to look forward too to get back on route. When you reach the final summit block you should be able to recognize it from my photos. Pick your own route up. Following cracks and whatnot up the slab. If your not comfortable with it then turn around

Click on the play button in the top left to start the slideshow or click on any picture to enlarge it. Use the icons on the top left to navigate.

Rabbit Ears to the North as seen from the Overlander Trail on approach. The gully on the right is part of the ascent. The right ridge of Rabbit Ears is the ascent route after the gully.

Rabbit Ears to the North as ...

Hiking up rocky outwash flats to the boulder filled gully.

Hiking up rocky outwash flats ...

The Athabasca River valley in the fall.

The Athabasca River valley in ...

Hoodoos on the side of the gully.

Hoodoos on the side of the ...

Scrambling up boulders in the ascent gully.

Scrambling up boulders in the ...

Lots of action shots of the boulder gully.

Lots of action shots of the ...

Still more to come. I love this stuff.

Still more to come. I love ...

The valley above the boulder gully. Meisner Ridge above. Keep going for about 15 min before turning left into the trees to avoid going up the wrong ridge.

The valley above the boulder ...