Wasootch Ridge in Kananaskis, beacuse Ribbon Lake Trail was closed

Our recent trip to Kananaskis (July 17-19, 2026) was undertaken by the members of our Club with the intention to hike to the Ribbon Lake, which is a long and demanding hike of more than 22 km and around 1000 metres elevation gain.

However, we found out at the Visitors Centre that the trail to the Ribbon Lake is closed , due to flooding, therefore we needed to find an alternative. But Beatka quickly cheered us up by showing her new spectacular sunglasses.
 

 

 

We went for a short hike on the day of our arrival to discuss the best available options (so called "Plan B"). After some discussion, we decided to choose the Wasootch Ridge as the objective of our hike, especially since we have not been there before.

 

On Saturday  we woke up early at 6am and started getting ready with breakfast and other preparations.

 

Just before our hike, we were joined by Maya and Ania, who arrived from Banff to spend the day with us.

 Wasootch Ridge Trail is a 14 km long trail, return, with about 950 m elevation gain. It is also called "Seven Peaks and One Summit" on account of several dips in the topography that contribute an additional couple hundred vertical metres. 

After obligatory Yoga in the morning, we were ready to hit the trail.

We were gaining altitude quite rapidly  and pretty soon we reached the top of the first peak.

After the first false peak we decided to split the group into the faster and slower parts, considering the hiking ability of our members. We should mention that for some people it was the first hike ever in their lives!

The time was flying fast and we were advancing rapidly from one false peak to another.
It was a very warm day and everybody took plenty of water, but some people run out of water relatively quickly and suffered consequences, such as cramps.

 

We came to the top just after 1pm and rested for a while, having our lunch and a small picnic.

The girls celebrated by having fun and dancing....

......While other people enjoyed spectacular views on both sides of the valley.

....and while some other people just enjoyed few moments together

Soon it was the time to start our descent.

 

 

On the way down we could enjoy some amazing views of the mountains

 

 

In the meantime the rest of our group had a lot of fun hiking the trail

and admiring the mountain

 

 

 

On the way down we were joined by Voytek, who suffered an injury, but Basia made it right and all his pain was gone right away.

But Voytek's injury could not even come close to the injury of Bo's, especially in such a place!

After we got back to the hostel we had a wonderful celebration together

with a real Blueberry Tort provided by Bo and Jack

But it was not the end of the evening yet, because our friend Gosia had her Birthday Celebration organized by Julian

including tossing Gosia into the air

and including a wish by blowing the candles.

We are all wishing Gosia lots of Health and many other Blessings, including the Polish traditional 100 LAT!!!