Haldan Borglum | Peak by Peak

Brewster Traverse
July 26 2023

The Mount Brewster massif has 3 peaks with over 91m or 300 feet of promince that are visible from Canmore so when I found this out late in my Canmore Mountain List completion pursuit I knew I'd have to return for a traverse of all 3! I had already done the southmost main Mount Brewster summit a few months prior so I knew what I was getting into for the approach but in some ways I was dreading this outing cause of the Norquay parking lot start which I never love cause of the elevation gain on the way back as well as wishing I had known about the other peaks when I initially went for Brewster the first time!

The ascent to the top of the main peak was relatively straight forward starting with nice trails that transitioned to a rubble trudge up an old creek / washout followed by a medium-difficult scramble section depending on the line you take. Following the main peak things definitely got more complicated. I stuck to the ridge where I could but after not long descending towards the second peak the ridge abruptly dropped off so I was forced to detour left to find a way around. This section took some routefinding skill but once I was around the cliff band I simply had to regain my lost elevation back to the ridge and follow it to the Brewster 2 summit.

The traverse to Brewster 3 was also not the most straightforward, there were a couple small high points along the way that presented some unique views and challenges but the final section that would eventually lead to the summit of the 3rd peak had a knife edge section that also looked loose so I didn't feel comfortable following it direct. Here I had to detour slightly left again before regaining the ridge but then I was met with another annoying notch in the ridge that I couldn't pass so it would have been better to stay low until after this point. Not long after these difficulties I was back on the ridge and after a bit more ridge than I expected I was on Brewster 3.

I hung out at the summit for a while before descending but once I got going it was fairly easy going. One thing that did stand out was the funneling nature of the descent terrain, not unlike other mountains, but at one point a rock that I must have moved while heading down got dislodged and came quite closing to hitting me, a good reminder why you wear a helmet out there! Before long after that close call I was closing in on treeline and then making my way out to the Norquay parking lot on the Forty Mile Creek trail!

Other related trip reports: Little Sister | Mystic Peak || Cascade Traverse | Lady MacDonald to Princess Margaret Traverse

The Canmore Mountain List