South Totem and Spreading Peaks (Scramble)
As much as I hate the smoke from forest fires I can't deny they helped make this view special
South Totem and Spreading Peaks (Scramble)
Notable Visited Landmarks
Introduction
South Totem and Spreading Peaks is a 16.5km, 1700m elevation gain loop partial loop trip into the Murchison Group of Banff National Park. Although the Waterfowl lakes campground is only a couple kilometers from the start of the trip there are no maintained trails you follow to get to South Totem and Spreading and as a consequence these peaks are not climbed often. Michael and I were the 9th group to sign the summit register of South Totem Peak which I believe was placed in 1990 and has the peak as unnamed.
Technically this is not a difficult trip, there is possibly some bushwhacking to the base of South Totem Peak, the peak itself is class 2 and mainly just scree, some of it being loose. There is a class 2/3 gully taking you off the summit ridge of South Totem towards the South Totem and Spreading col and Spreading peak is also class 2 and mainly scree.
The views from these peaks are very interesting as the colouring is different from many areas of the Rockies. We did it on August 14, 2018 where the skies were getting smoky from the BC forest fires which actually didn’t make the views worse. I would highly recommend this trip as a technically easy expedition into a less touched area of the Canadian Rockies.
Approach
There isn’t really a trailhead for this trip. You will have to park off the side of the 93 at the intersection of the first large creek North of Waterfowl Lakes with the highway. From here start in the left side of the creek and you will hopefully find a weak trail that may be marked with pink ribbons and removed bark from trees. It is important that you find this trail and follow it, it is not great, and it is easy to lose but it is much faster than bushwhacking in for a couple kilometers. The creek will canyon off and if you stay to the left above the canyon you should find the trail.
On the trail, looking back towards the 93
Pink ribbon marking the trail
We followed this trail as it gained and lost elevation until we arrived at an open section of rock, we crossed the rock but we were unable to find the trail on the other side so we started bushwhacking towards the creek where we popped out near a 3.5m high boulder. We crossed the creek there and cut North-East across the forest to a second creek running mainly East.
Open section of rock
Beautiful sun during the short bushwhack back to the creek
Michael about to cross the main creek
This new creek had large sections with a flat bottom and not much water flow, if we had brought our bathing suits it would’ve been an excellent place to cool off on our descent. We followed it East for a ways and the hill to its North started to grow so we decided to head up. The ground was stiff with a loose top layer, so we tried to grab onto plants to assist our ascent.
Heading East along the second creek
The North slope we went up
Once the slope mellowed we bushwhacked North and slightly East towards the base of South Totem Peak and eventually the trees began to clear to our left and we saw a large outcrop of rock which gave a good vantage point looking back to the 93. From this rock we went East for about a minute through a patch of trees and arrived at a beautiful grassy flat spot.
Outcrop of rock which gives a good view back to the 93
The nice grassy spot
South Totem Peak
From this flat spot we tried to take the route of least grade up. Eventually we hit scree and we realized as we gained elevation that it was loose, and it was going to be a long haul up. As we gained elevation, we saw that there was solid rock to climber’s right, and we got on it as soon as possible. We took it East until we hit a drop where we got a great view of Spreading Peak. We followed this drop up to the false summit.
Initial route up from the grassy spot
Heading towards firmer rock on climber’s right
Michael following the drop up to the false summit
From the false summit there is a notch where you must descend about 10m and work around the summit ridge a short distance before gaining the ridge and taking it to the summit. The rock on this mountain is loose so be careful while descending the notch. Views from the summit of South Totem and from the false summit are amazing.
Notch between the false summit and the summit
Michael descending the notch
Unreal view of Michael looking at Spreading Peak from the false summit
Totem Tower at left and Spreading Peak at right from the summit of South Totem Peak
Looking along the summit ridge of South Totem towards the false summit
Spreading Peak
When you are done on South Totem go to the North end of the summit ridge and descend a gully towards Spreading Peak. Michael and I took different gullies, they were both about class 3, and the rock is loose. After you are out of the gully it is all scree to the col between South Totem and Spreading and you will have a very fast scree run down.
From the col head East towards Spreading Peak. The initial grade is very nice, as you get closer to the summit ridge the scree gets incredibly loose which was a bit of a pain. We initially avoided the summit ridge to the right but gained it as soon as we saw a weakness. The summit ridge of spreading peak is beautiful and wide, and the views from the top of Spreading are beautiful as well.
Looking back up my descent gully with blue line showing my approximate route
Easy grade towards Spreading Peak
Michael on the summit ridge of Spreading Peak, almost at the top
View South from the summit of Spreading Peak
Looking back along the summit ridge of Spreading to South Totem Peak
Descent
After a nice break we went back West along the summit ridge and descended to the col between South Totem and Spreading. We contoured around South Totem back to the ascent face, we were careful not to lose elevation during the contour as it would increase our distance side hilling.
Our descent from there followed our ascent and approach path back to the 93. An excellent 10h day for us and if you stay at Waterfowl lakes I am sure it would make the trip even more enjoyable.
Sped up footage walking back along the summit ridge of Spreading Peak
Contour path along South Totem from the col between South Totem and Spreading
Michael loosing footing on the descent back to the creek running East
Almost back to the highway, we see the canyon section
GPS stats from the trip