Mount Birdwood
September 16 2025
Rising steeply on all sides Mount Birdwood is one of the most photographed peaks in all of Kanaskis particularly from the hike up Smutwood Peak but also from Burstall Pass. Birdwood's steep triangular shape makes it quite the prize to summit and as a result sees a few ascents a year typically up the easier north ridge route.
That being said the north ridge is by no means easy, going at a grade of 5.5 and once on the exposed upper mountain the rock quality fails to improve making for some tricky choss wrangling on this severely exposed climb! Additionally, given the long ridge traversing nature of the route those that tackle it need to be comfortable soloing a large portion of the terrain as pitching the entirety of the technical or exposed sections out on this mountain would likely have you running out of daylight and there isn't much room for an overnight bivy on the steep upper slopes of this sharp peak.
With a good day in the forecast I was keen on getting out on one last technical objective before heading to the States for some fall biathlon training and while a few options came to mind Mount Birdwood was at the top of the list. Devan Peterson and I had been thinking about going for it together for the past couple years but had never found the opportunity, but after hitting Devan up when he had just finished up a multiday hiking trip he was still interested and didn't wanna pass up on the opportunity so we started preparing for an epic day out!
Thanks to the large number of 11000er trips I got out on in 2025 I was quite used to long approaches with a heavy pack on but Mount Birdwood was a nice change in pace. The drive to the Smuts Pass / Smutwood Peak trailhead from Canmore is nice and short and although there are a few muddy sections the trail system all the way to the base of the long Mount Birdwood ridge is quite nice. We didn't feel the need to start too crazy early with the technical sections of ridge being the only time consuming parts of our day so we were started by around 8am and about 7km and an hour and a half later we were at the Birdwood-Smuts col and it was time to start some proper elevation gain!
The ascent of Birdwood starts off quite tame as you gain the initial bump to get onto the ridge but things slowly ramp up as you continue upwards with some exposure that starts to open up on either side and before long we ditched our poles and any other unnecessary gear before heading into hands on terrain higher up. Not long after we had reached the notch where the views are quite spectacular and this is where the real climbing begins.
links:
STRAVA
|
GAIA
elapsed time: 10hrs
DIFFICULTY: 5th class up to 5.5, loose technical terrain, severe exposure
From the notch the view is spectacular but also quite intimidating. It feels hard to believe that the route only goes at 5.5 from this vantage point but as you move upwards the route begins to look more manageable albeit exposed. The technical terrain begins with a descent into the notch which involves some elevation gain and loss and then an awkward downclimb beside a flake that previous parties didn't trust. This section would be quite awkward if you avoid the flake entirely and after testing it Devan and I post trusted it but to each their own!
Following this downclimb the ascending of the upper mountain begins with the easiest line bearing right slightly before heading up a chimney feature. Then the route continues on proper exposed ridge before reaching a wall and passing it to the right and continuing on easier terrain from there. After a bit of routefinding through this section to get up and left slightly you reach the iconic slanted squeeze chimney feature which is just as awkward to get through as they say.
Once through some easier terrain follows but is short lived as the next section was the crux for Devan and I and was the only section we roped up for on the way up. This section was short but from there the route gets progressively more airy and forces you onto the ridge direct with one section that felt especially committing. After the worst of the ridge the route eases with a ledge system that leads right and from there the options are to ascend a corner with not great holds or continue onto an uber exposed ledge to the right before the final portion of the ascent which can be ascended either on the ridge proper or on the face for the easier line.
Devan and I were pretty stoked to reach the summit of Mount Birdwood but descending the technical terrain was definitely heavy on our minds so we didn't hang out for too long before starting our descent. By the time we were descending we were both pretty mentally warmed up to hands on terrain so it didn't feel quite as difficult as I had been expecting but when we noticed a trad anchor set up above the sharpest section of ridge we were more than happy to rappel to avoid downclimbing it. Our crux section on the way up also had an anchor set up above it so we weren't worried about getting down that section at all but there was some quite airy ridge just before it where we couldn't find any set up anchors and it would've been tedious to get one set up so we ended up downclimbing that step which was probably the crux of our descent. Once we were back at the awkwards squeeze chimney the downclimbing felt quite secure and safe compared to the upper mountain so we got through this section quickly and it wasn't long before we were reversing the notch and back at the viewpoint of the upper portion of the mountain.
It was a good feeling to get out of technical terrain and by the time you're at the upper mountain viewpoint just before the notch you're largely in the clear. We took a solid break here getting photos and taking in the fact that we had just climbed that wild looking ridge and finally checked Mount Birdwood off our list! The rest of the descent was childs play in comparison and we made short work of descending Birdwood's long ridge and wrapping up our day on some nice trail.
Just a few years ago I wasn't sure if I'd ever be bold enough to check off a peak like Mount Birdwood but with lots of mountain days under my belt the comfort zone slowly got more and more extreme and it's quite a feeling to have climbed such a badass peak! It was also sweet to check it off with Devan given that we had been planning to go for it for a couple years, a pretty sweet day out on short notice! This trip marks my final technical mountain objective of 2025 but I'm already looking forward to some big sends in 2026!
Other related trip reports: || Sundance Peak | Mount Robertson | Wetterspitze | Cima del Tempo | Chancellor Peak
© 2025 Haldan Borglum | Peak by Peak. All rights reserved.