Stanley Glacier

Dist: 10.4km    Elev: 550m    Time: 4h    Difficulty: 3/5

After listening to the rave reviews from Ken, Melinda and I headed to Kootenay National Park to celebrate our anniversary and our fifth "Mountain Adventure" of the year. This trail is Ken's favorite spot to hike, and we quickly learned why. The hike to Stanley Glacier begins with a gentle yet steady climb though a young post-wildfire pine forest while offering views of the numerous surrounding peaks. After about a half-hour the trail begins to wind through a deep glacier basin with massive cliffs on both sides showcasing numerous glacier-fed waterfalls. The scenery is spectacular throughout. After about an hour the maintained trail ended and were detoured up a steep scree slope along the side of the basin in order to earn a direct view of the glacier. After some serious "grinding" and a couple refreshing waterfall showers along the way, we finally reached a lush and level forested bench right below the glacier. We stopped here for lunch and to enjoy the hard-earned view of Stanley Glacier clinging to the towering rocks. After a generous rest we descended down the scree slope on the opposite side of the canyon, which offered a unique perspective of the glacier and its surroundings. This hike would be a great option for anyone wanting a unique trip with a high reward-to-energy ratio, but the best views are definitely had from the bench and require a higher degree of physical exertion so we were grateful for having made the decision to push to the end.

One of many waterfalls draining from the glacier

Mt Whymper appeared from behind a curtain of fog after about thirty minutes on the trail

Stanley Peak comes into view as we approach the glacier basin

This creek becomes the waterfall we passed earlier

Mt. Stanley towers above us as we enter the canyon. Mt. Whymper seen in the background.

Numerous waterfalls toppled over the cliffs beside us as we traversed the scree slopes

Looking back from the final stretch of scree

Looking up

Glacier basin from the forested bench

Stanley Glacier

This was our lunch spot

Looking back at Stanley Glacier as we began our descent on the opposite side of the basin

Melinda makes her way down the rocky ledge

This trip was picturesque from start to finish