With snowfall starting to linger on limestone peaks, we were thrilled to be able to climb up to the Olympic Summit of Mount Allan this past week. The grassy slopes are notoriously windswept – a fact that worked in our favour, clearing the route for the stiff ascent along one of Kananaskis Country’s most spectacular hikes.

Kananaskis Country is a 4000+ square kilometre, multi-use recreation area lying immediately east of Banff National Park and an easy hour’s drive west of Calgary, Alberta.

Nakiska at Mount Allan is a ski hill made famous by the downhill races held during the 1988 Winter Olympics. The mountain on which the ski hill is situated rises to a lofty summit of 2819 m (9249 ft).

From the Ribbon Creek Parking Lot (off Highway 40), the trail climbs 11 km up to the summit and drop another 8 km off the other side to end up in Dead Man’s Flats on the Trans-Canada Highway near the town of Canmore. With only a half-day of hiking allotted, we chose to hike just from Ribbon Creek up to what is known as the Olympic Summit (above the top ski runs). We’d miss the stunning rock gardens (pinnacles of conglomerate rock), but with time a factor, we enjoyed the views we did have of Mt. Bogart, Mt. Kidd, The Wedge, Mt. Evan-Thomas and beyond.

The Centennial Trail is unique in that it was built by members of the Rocky Mountain Ramblers in celebration of Canada’s 1967 centennial. It was at the time (and may still be, I’m not sure) the highest trail ever to be built in the Canadian Rockies.

Heading out from the Ribbon Creek Parking lot (once a small mining town called Kovach), the trail climbs slightly through an aspen forest before reaching scar left behind from the late 1940’s, early 1950’s-era coal mine.

From here, it’s a quad-burner all the way up to the Olympic Summit. The saving grace is that the aspens quickly give way to stunted spruce and then to grassy slopes with expansive views of the Kananaskis Valley and its peaks. In the summer, the slopes are covered in wildflowers. In the springtime, Bighorn sheep raise their young on the hillside, which is why the trail is closed from April 1 to June 15.

A word to the wise: bring a hiking pole for the walk down! Although the trail is not technical, there are a few rock bands to work through and portions of the trail that have eroded. A pole always comes in handy.