Mount King Edward

3490m, 11450ft
May 27-28 2025

Mount King Edward makes up one of the 4 Canadian Rockies 11000ers typically accessed by driving over 90km out the Bush River Forest Service Road making it one of the more remote objectives on the list, the other 3 being Mount Bryce, Mount Bryce Center, and Mount Alexandra. Athough it isn't quite as far out as the truly wild mountains like Tsar Mountain, Tusk Peak, or Mount Clemenceau, it sits at the far end of the Columbia Icefield in one of the seldom visited corners of the Rockies far away from pretty much all signs of civilization. This and the fact that it's positioned near the center of many of the most remote peaks on the 11000ers of the Canadian Rockies list means that the summit views are truly a who's who of the remote giants of the range.

After an epic Tsar Mountain trip less than a week prior I was still feeling surprisingly good and eager to get out for more difficult objectives so when I noticed a great looking high pressure and low cloud cover window around the Columbia Icefield just a few days later I knew I wanted to go for one of the peaks out the Bush FSR. Mount Bryce and Bryce Center were the top objectives I had in mind but when I was unable to find a partner with short notice for a mid week trip I decided I was more comfortable soloing Mount King Edward and went for it.

I had been wanting to check off King Edward sooner rather than later for a while due to the logistical challenge it presents to get right so I couldn't pass up on what seemed like a perfect opportunity. You have to wait for the road to open around May and then go for it ASAP before the Bush River that you have to cross starts raging with the warming weather. What I failed to realize was that the price of picking a bluebird window for this peak was that the warm weather increased the water levels even more rapidly, making for an interesting crossing.

While the river levels are a major hurdle of this trip, timing the snow conditions right is also key to a successful summit bid. The final section of the ascent bypasses the cliffy summit block onto the exposed SE face and without half-decent snow conditions this section could easily be deadly if something were to go wrong. This peak can also be done dry but the SE face portion looks quite gnarly and I'm not sure how you'd know what the river water levels would look like in the late summer so I knew I wanted to target a spring ascent.

links: STRAVA | GAIA
elapsed time: 18.5hrs
DIFFICULTY: AD-/AD, remote, multiday, glacier travel, steep snow climbing / 5th class, river crossing

Use the following links to jump to:

THE APPROACH
THE CLIMB
THE SUMMIT
THE DESCENT & EXIT

The Bush River FSR had been open for a couple weeks by this point but with weather being a bit mixed this seemed like the earliest reasonable opportunity that I had to go for this peak so I took it. After deciding to go for it solo at 1:30pm on the day of my approach I started throwing my gear together and by 4pm I was on my way to Golden from Canmore. My 2008 Mazda 3 was able to handle the FSR fine and by 8:30pm I was geared up and leaving the car. The nice thing about the river crossing for King Edward is that it's right at the start so you'll know if it'll go or not pretty quickly. The crossing was quite sporty and on the way in I had to fight decently strong current belly button deep. Unfortunately the way out ended up being even worse with the deepest section of the river chest deep, video on the left is the river level I had to cross for my exit. I ended up being pushed 3-5 meters by the current before my feet could touch again and I could walk out so this crossing was more of a swim, yikes.

After the initial crossing the old logging road makes for easy travel aside from some alders you have to deal with around the 2-4km mark. By 4km I was able to don the skis, and once the trail fizzled out due to the snow I followed a couple GPX files I had downloaded until I reached a nice treeline spot to camp. I reached camp 3 hours after I started and was able to see the objective so it seemed like the perfect place, especially since I wanted to be out of the dense trees while solo to avoid the bears. Before my trip Foresty Forest had told me that they camped near the river and a bear destroyed his tent while they were out on the mountain so I definitely wanted to avoid that.

Mount King Edward image 1 — Bryce rises impressively from the valley bottom

Mount King Edward image 2 — The crossing, I crossed 100-150m to the right, it seemed a bit less deep but was flowing faster

THE APPROACH

Mount King Edward image 3 — Headed up the old logging road, a couple familiar peaks that you pass through
for the 3 cols approach to Alexandra on the right

Mount King Edward image 4 — Looking back

Mount King Edward image 5 — Mount Columbia poking out at high right, the alders get worse soon after this

Mount King Edward image 6 — The alders you can expect on route

Mount King Edward image 7 — Put the skis on here, about 4km in

Mount King Edward image 8 — Columbia at dusk

Mount King Edward image 9 — Where I'd be camping for the night, 11:30pm, first view of the objective!

Mount King Edward image 10 — Home sweet home for the next 4 hours

THE CLIMB

After a short sleep I was moving by 3:30am, reached the base of the mountain by 6am, and reached the summit by 9am. I opted for the least crevassed terrain on the glacier since I was on my own so the line I took went around a small rocky high point south of King Edward to the left before gaining it and continuing on to the base of the mountain with a general left trend as the further right you go on the glacier the more serious the crevasses get.

Not long after reaching the base of the mountain, switching to crampons, and starting my ascent I was met with a surprise when I sank thigh deep into a bergshrund beside the first rock band on the mountain. This was a bit tedious to get around but the line I took on the rock to the right was nothing past low 5th so it was quite tame. The overnight freeze hadn't been great so up to this point I had been sinking knee to mid thigh deep but there was a decent amount of exposed scree on the south ridge which was nice to be able to avoid the snow when I was punching through. Not long later I was at the SE face bypass section of the route and with solid kick steps and decent snow conditions it ended up being a simple staircase to the summit!

Mount King Edward image 11 — My line cut through the rocky outcrops on the left

Mount King Edward image 12 — I gained the high point on the right after reaching the col ahead

Mount King Edward image 13 — The final glaciated section before reaching the mountain

Mount King Edward image 14 — Looking back part way across

Mount King Edward image 16 — Some unpleasant terrain at the bottom of the slope for those that ski the SE face

Mount King Edward image 17 — The alpenglow arrives

Mount King Edward image 18 — The spot I punched through thigh deep

Mount King Edward image 19 — The bergshrund

Mount King Edward image 20 — The rock I used to bypass the shrund

Mount King Edward image 21 — 500 vertical meters off the summit now, looking up

Mount King Edward image 22 — Looking down

Mount King Edward image 23 — Some fun hands on terrain through this rock band, easier options exist to the left

Mount King Edward image 24 — Tsar, Tusk, and Clemenceau on the horizon

Mount King Edward image 25 — Nearing the summit block

Mount King Edward image 26 — Looking down from just below the summit block

Mount King Edward image 27 — The summit block, the route cuts right underneathe

Mount King Edward image 28 — The stairway to heaven! Decent snow conditions made this section easy

THE SUMMIT

Mount King Edward image 29 — Summit! My 31st 11000er

Mount King Edward image 30 — Quite the ridge, and a sweet ski line down the east face from the summit if you've
got the guts for it! Might come back for that line one day...

Mount King Edward image 31 — 11000ers from left to right, Alberta, Brazeau, Woolley, and The Twins

Mount King Edward image 32 — Andromeda, Mount Columbia, The Lyells, Forbes, and Bryce

Mount King Edward image 33 — The Lyells, Forbes, Byrce, and waaay back Temple, Victoria, and The Goodsirs

Mount King Edward image 34 — Tsar Mountain, up there 6 days ago!

Mount King Edward image 35 — Tusk & Clemenceau, the most remote of the 11000ers

Mount King Edward image 36 — Mount Robson on the distant horizon, high on the to do list!

Mount King Edward image 37 — Summit pano, some of the most dramatic views I've had of the rockies

Mount King Edward image 38 — A feel for the grade of that east face

THE DESCENT & EXIT

I had been thinking about skiing down the south face if conditions were good so I put my skis on at the summit and skied the upper ridge, but once I reached the more sun exposed south face the snow conditions significantly worsened and I decided to downclimb it. Once below the summit block I put the skis back on for the SW face and cconditions were pretty solid on the upper section so this was the best skiing of the trip. Things softened up lower down and then I had to deal with downclimbing the rocky step to get over the bergshrund which was annoying but from there it was pretty easy going.

I was a bit concerned about the snow bridges softerning up with the temperatures rising quite quickly but I got back across the glacier without issue and after getting through the rolling alpine terrain I was back at camp and backing up before heading out. The ski out from camp ended up being quite enjoyable and I was definitely glad I chose to go for King Edward when I did as skiing the treed section saved me a ton of time instead of having to hoof it. Once I reached the old road at 4km again it was back to the approach shoes I had ditched the night before and then a simmple hike out to the river before one last spike of adrenaline to cap off a sweet trip.

Mount King Edward image 39 — It's getting warm!

Mount King Edward image 40 — Looking back at the traverse, nothing too technical but you wouldn't want to be
here in high risk avy conditions

Mount King Edward image 41 — Good skiing, the SW face took a bit longer to heat up

Mount King Edward image 42 — The shrund on my way down

Mount King Edward image 43 — Some new slides off of this face, good time to be off the mountain

Mount King Edward image 45 — Some rarely ascended peaks in these places, these are in The Chess Group

Mount King Edward image 46 — Some cool exposed slab under the glacier

Mount King Edward image 47 — Skirted below the high point on the way down to avoid extra gain

Mount King Edward image 49 — A neat supraglacial lake with Bryce towering behind

Mount King Edward image 50 — Mount Columbia's impressive west face and the gatorade lake

Mount King Edward image 51 — King Edward, my tracks visible between the two rocky outcrops on the left

Mount King Edward image 52 — A close-up of the west face, I wonder if it's been skied

Mount King Edward image 53 — One last look back, one of the better 11000er camps spots I've been

Mount King Edward image 54 — Fresh bear tracks, yikes!

Mount King Edward image 55 — And the ski out

Mount King Edward image 56 — Easy travel, this would be a tedious exit without snow

Mount King Edward image 57 — Nearly back at the river

Mount King Edward image 58 — Crossing time, oh boy...

Mount King Edward image 59 — Lots of evidence of the fires that happened out here last year

Mount King Edward image 60 — Mount Sir Sandford from the Bush FSR, definitely high on my list after the
Canadian Rockies 11kers!

Aside from the river crossing I found Mount King Edward quite enjoyable and definitely up there with my favorite 11000er ski descents to date. It's one of the objectives that doesn't get much attention because of how remote it is but the area to the west of Mount Columbia is one of the more scenic places out there and I could definitely see myself going back to visit some day!

Just a week later another clear weather window showed up near the Columbia Icefield and Devan and I were in communication again with plans to check off the last 11000 foot peaks we had left out the Bush FSR.