Famous Mt. Allan Centennial Ridge Trail , seasonally closed till June 21. Many years ago I did full traverse from Ribbon Creek to Dead Man Flat, and this is the optimal way -- but you need to solve transport logistics. On that day, descending towards Canmore, I remember thinking how nice it would be to actually ascend this ridge. Seeing mostly snow free conditions from Canmore went for afternoon hike, with intention to watch sunset from the ridge. Only issue of course is that boring roadwalk, but once it reverts into trail and you start heading into Collembola -- Allan horseshoe things improve in a hurry. Last 4km is about as good as ridgewalk gets & I can't recommend it enough. Here are some pics that tell the story:



[Ridge start after ~8.8km & 820m vertical. Pic taken on return, waiting for sunset. Nub in middle is only obstacle, Daffern calls it "Black Band". It can be seen from Canmore. Trail goes climber left, then after bit of traverse up class 2 rock to upper ridge]



[Trail marker at start of Black Band side traverse]




[Brief scramble to top of Black Band]



[Upper ridge curling beautifully; ridgewalks don't get much better really. 2820m summit of Mt. Allan just left of center]



[High pressure cloud formations heading further up the ridge]



[Mt. Collembola at east side with view of the Foothills]



[Snowpatch near the summit I was grateful for as I ran out of water]



[2820m summit of Mt. Allan. Strong cold winds made me cut summit time short; it was close to 9pm already anyways]



[Allan - Collembola "Horseshoe"; this pic reveals best why loop is the way to go (heading Collembola first!). I actually started on this loop couple of years ago, but after summiting Collembola decided to trash down for closer inspection of Jubilee Tarns. If you the loop, it is fairly strenuous though - but conditions are good right now and days are long]



[Sunset colors I came for -- beautiful sky over Three Sisters and EEOR -- before plunging into darkness and what seemed like never ending walk with headlamp down to Banff Gate parking]



[One more shot of sunset colors over Pigeon Mth while traversing head of Jubilee tarns valley]


Some stats: GPS said 1480m elev gain, 80m elev loss and 25km return distance. Took 9 hrs but it can be done faster; was sitting down way too much on that beautiful ridge. Elevation Profile and Map:








Highly recommended and even if I explored area to death, I suspect I'll be back. It's simply too good. Full report with many more high-res photos, map and downloadable GPS track here