Little Temple

Elevation: 2653 m
Elevation Gain: 825 m
Little Temple is a prominent outlier of 890-m-taller Mount Temple. Mount Temple was named for Sir Richard Temple, who visited the Rockies in 1884 as leader of the British Association Excursion Party. Temple was the first peak over 11,000 feet that was climbed in the Canadian Rockies and, as the easiest 11,000er, continues to see frequent ascents. Despite its less taxing nature, Little Temple receives fewer visits. While “Little Temple” is unofficially named, it is similar in stature to nearby Mount Fairview and Mount St. Piran.
My Ascents:
October 11 2019
Trailhead: Temple Creek Pullout (Moraine Lake Road)
GPS Track: Little Temple

With fine weather (FINALLY) forecast for a non-workday, I found myself torn. Obviously, part of me wanted to take advantage of sunny skies to bag a peak. My weather luck in 2019 had been awful and I hadn’t enjoyed a significant sunny summit in Canada in the past 6 months (not that anyone’s counting). The other part of me, however, really wanted to spend, what might be, fall’s last nice day outside with my girls. As the weekend approached, I went back and forth over and over again, driving my wife nuts. Sensing her frustration with my dithering, I made my “final” decision. I’d spend the day with my family. Plans were made for my Friday off and everyone began to get excited.

Then the email arrived. It was late Thursday afternoon when I noticed a (1) in my Inbox. Aurore had just decided to play hooky on Friday and wanted to know if I’d join her for a snowy scramble. As though a sunny summit wasn’t tempting enough, I now had a good friend, who I hadn’t seen in over 2 years, asking me to join her. I told Aurore that I already had plans but my dithering resumed with renewed ferocity. Should I stay or should I go now? If I go, there could be trouble…

Luckily, my wife is amazing and was quick to make my decision for me. As soon as she discovered that Aurore had invited me out, she told me to go. It would be disappointing for all of us to miss out on a family day but it would also be a shame if another 2 years passed before I got to catch up with my old French friend.

I called Aurore that night after we got the girls to bed. When she picked up, I simply said: “I’m in!” Pleasantly surprised, Aurore told me that she wanted try Little Temple which suited me just fine. I love the Lake Louise area and I figured that the “Little” part would make for a short day, allowing me to be back in time for that night’s big first place showdown between the Stamps and Riders. Under still-dark skies, Aurore, Crux and I left Calgary at 6:30 am with visions of a sunny summit dancing in our heads.

By 9 am, we’d arrived at the turn-off for Moraine Lake and were surprised to see that the now-customary blockade was absent. I’m sure that the parking lot was still a disaster but this wouldn’t matter to us as we planned to park at an unmarked gravel pull-out 5.7 km from the start of the road near Temple Creek.

LEFT: After crossing the Moraine Lake Road, we easily located tiny Temple Creek and followed faint hints of a trail up its snowy east bank. After crossing an official trail (which ran perpendicular to the creek), we switched to its west bank but travel remained much the same regardless of which side we hiked up.
RIGHT: Although ankle-deep snow made trail-finding difficult, the early winter conditions provided us with a cool mixture of frozen and flowing waterfall scenery.

Sections of the creek suffer from serious deadfall which slowed our progress while simultaneously evoking pained expressions. The deadfall is far from insurmountable but there’s enough of it to be annoying!

LEFT: Continuing up, we eventually reached gentler slopes where the creek had frozen more completely. Rather than continuing through the “Pick up Sticks” mess of deadfall, we opted instead to continue straight up the frozen creek towards Mount Temple’s impressive northeast face.
RIGHT: Spectacular hoar frost on the creek’s solid surface.

After breaking trail alongside and over Temple Creek for a couple of hours, we reached Temple Lake which occupies the impressive cirque between Mount Temple (left) and our day’s objective: Little Temple (right).

LEFT: Mount Temple’s jaw-dropping northeast face rises dramatically above Temple Lake. Despite the fact that we’d nearly covered half of the elevation gain required to get up Little Temple, Mount Temple’s summit was still over 1,300 vertical meters above us at this point!
RIGHT: Crux looks on with apprehension. To Aurore and I, Little Temple looked much more inviting than its larger namesake but I don’t think that Crux was convinced! Indeed, he would have been perfectly happy to lay down lakeside and wait for us.

After making our way around Temple Lake’s northern shore, we reached open ascent slopes above its northwest corner and began up, feeling the sun’s warm kiss for the first time all day. We also found the only golden larch left in the Lake Louise area! Last year, the larch trees held their needles late into the winter but this year couldn’t be more different. Indeed, 99.9% of the many larches that we passed were completely barren.

Feeling the sun for the first time, we suddenly realized how cold we’d been in the shade of the valley! Aurore complained that she couldn’t feel her feet so we stopped in the sun until, at last, feeling began to return to her extremities. As I waited for her feet to thaw, I felt a sudden, intense burning sensation in my own. I hadn’t even realized that my feet were frozen until I was overtaken by the “screaming barfies.” After 20 minutes in the sun, the discomfort subsided and we were both ready to continue upwards.

LEFT: The ascent slopes provided great views towards Temple’s famous Aemmer Couloir (a classic Rockies extreme ski line).
RIGHT: Crux and I tackle the steep, snow-covered grass slopes that lead to the Temple-Little Temple col. As we grunted our way up, Aurore frequently asked “whose idea was this?!” For once, I was pleased that it wasn’t mine! Sorry Aurore, this one is on you! Photo courtesy Aurore.

Looking back towards the headwall above Temple Lake, we spotted a crazy track in the snow. Goats obviously know no fear! Mouse over for a better look at the gnarly line that one took!

LEFT: Eventually, the goat’s track merged with our own. Based on the many prints all about, this area was obviously someone’s favorite spot. Sadly, this was the most we saw of him or her.
RIGHT: Aurore and Crux persevere up the steep, slippery slope. As we ascended, Aurore experimented with various traction options. Her boots alone left her sliding with every step while snow balled up under her feet when she switched to microspikes and made matters even worse. I, on the other hand, had opted for full-on crampons which were unaffected by the ankle-deep snow and bit deeply into the soft ground beneath. After watching her (literally) fall on her face a few times, I decided to be nice and offered her one of my crampons. Sharing is caring, after all. With one crampon each, we awkwardly ascended the steep slope (only slipping on every other step now)!

This shot provides a pretty good indication as to how steep the ascent slope was! Good thing it wasn’t covered in wet, slippery snow…oh wait.

After a tremendous huff-and-puff, Aurore tops out at the Temple-Little Temple col 320 m above frozen Temple Lake.

A spectacular view towards Paradise Valley greeted us at the col!

After a steep ascent from Temple Lake, we were relieved to see that the final 150 vertical m looked to be gentler. Unfortunately, looks can be deceiving and, in this case, they were. Despite appearances, this final boulder-strewn slope was just as steep as the grassy one which preceded it!

Near the summit, I detoured off of the ridge to avoid some large boulders. When dry, these would likely present no problem though.

LEFT: Crux follows eagerly in my footsteps, sensing that the summit (and, therefore, lunch) were near-at-hand!
RIGHT: Aurore follows in Crux's pawprints and takes the final few steps to Little Temple’s summit while its larger namesake absolutely dwarfs everything else.

A closer look at the real deal: 890-m-taller Mount Temple.

Little Temple’s littler summit. 😜

Little Temple might sport a littler summit but that summit provides a grand panorama over the nearby Bow Valley! Click to see larger.

Mount Hector towers above Highway 93 to the north.

Looking east over Little Temple’s more challenging false summit (which our route avoided) towards the Pipestone Valley (left) and Skoki (center).

Looking over Whitehorn and the Lake Louise Ski Resort towards (from left to right): Cataract Peak, Mount Richardson, Pika Peak and Ptarmigan Peak.

Massive Mounts Douglas and St. Bride rise up beyond Lipalian Mountain. Redoubt Mountain can also be seen to their left while Lychnis Mountain appears to their right.

Crux enjoys his customary (and well-earned) summit snooze.

To the east, the Bow River fills the panorama as it winds its way down-valley towards Banff. Immediately below, Temple Lake broods in the cirque between MAASZ Ridge, Mount Temple and Little Temple. Click to see larger.

Protection Mountain’s impressive northern ramparts (Bulwark Peak on the left and Armor Peak on the right) rise up directly across the Bow Valley while larger Mount Avens rises above them.

Aptly named Castle Mountain.

Mount Rundle (distant left), Pilot Mountain (center) and Panorama Ridge (right) highlight the view to the southeast.

Consolation Lakes nestled between the feet of (from left to right): Panorama Ridge, Mount Bell, Bident Mountain, Mount Quadra, Mount Fay, Mount Babel and the lowly Tower of Babel. Kootenay giants Mount Ball and Stanley Peak are also visible beyond the Bell-Bident col.

Of course, the panorama towards nearby Mount Temple and Paradise Valley was the highlight of our visit to Little Temple’s snowy summit. Click to see larger.

LEFT: Moraines dam the Horeshoe Lakes at the base of massive Mount Hungabee.
RIGHT: Enjoying the spectacular view with another old hiking buddy – Crux!

This valley really is Paradise!!! 😍

Ringrose Peak (left), Glacier Peak (center left) and Mount Lefroy tower high above Paradise Valley.

Canadian Rockies icon Mount Victoria (right) makes an appearance beyond equally impressive Mount Lefroy.

Mount Victoria’s true and north summits beyond nearby Mount Aberdeen (right).

Soaking up the summit sun that I’ve so missed this year.

A wide-angle shot capturing all of Paradise Valley, which stretches from Mount Hungabee down towards Fairview Mountain and Saddle Peak.

A host of familiar Lake Louise peaks! From left to right: Mount Aberdeen, Haddo Peak, Sheol Mountain, Mount Whyte, Mount Niblock, Mount Daly, Fairview Mountain and Saddle Mountain.

After enjoying a scenic 30 minutes on top of Little Temple, Aurore and I set up for a quick self-timer summit shot before starting our snowy descent. Little Temple took us about 4 hours to ascend and I was supposed to be back in Calgary in only 4 hours to spend the evening with my wonderful wife at the Stamps game. In the absence of a well-placed zip line, we’d obviously have to make better time on the way down!

Crux and Aurore start their way down over a jumble of snow-covered boulders. While Crux’s enthusiasm had been suspect on ascent, he was clearly much happier to point his snout downhill. Indeed, his forward progress required much less prompting/all-out bribery on descent!

LEFT: Crux enjoys a voluntary seat in the snow while my French colleague takes an involuntary load off (it was slippery!).
RIGHT: Aurore carefully starts down the steepest slopes just below the Temple-Little Temple Col.

Further down, as the slope angle eased, Aurore enjoyed an early season glissade despite frozen unmentionables.

Mount Temple casts its long shadow over its namesake lake.

LEFT: Rather than side-hill on snowy slopes or hop our way along slippery shoreline boulders, we opted for the quick-travel that the lake’s frozen surface offered. Weary of early-season conditions, however, we stayed quite close to the shore hoping to avoid an unwanted (and dangerously cold) bath.
RIGHT: Looking back as the afternoon sun begins to set behind massive Mount Temple. From this point forward, we would spend the rest of the day in the chill of Temple’s impressive shadow.

Retracing our ascent alongside Temple Creek and renegotiating our way amidst the mess of wintry deadfall that chokes its course.

Aurore makes her way over a fallen tree.

LEFT: Crux does likewise (with a little help!). 😂
RIGHT: Back at the car, Aurore and I show off the winning combination of traction aids (1 crampon each, 1 bare boot and 1 microspike) that successfully got us up and down Little Temple! Miraculously, our descent only took 2 hours which meant that I might still get home in time to pick up Brianne for the evening’s football game!

Finishing the night off in style AND in first place thanks to a clutch Stamps win over those awful Roughriders!

Thanks to Aurore for suggesting a snowy scramble under sunny skies and thanks to my wife for giving me the (admittedly small) push that I needed to get out and catch up with an old friend! While I missed my family on this beautiful fall day, I’m sure that they’re happy that I (finally!) enjoyed a bluebird outing in the Rockies. At the very least, they won’t have to deal with me sulking about moody mountain weather for a while!