Mount Remus
Completed when dry, possible with some snow. Our route goes up and down the Kane “descent” route. This is 99% a grade III hike with a couple small YDS II sections and around an 8m YDS III cliff band. There is barely any exposure, the most being from a fall off the crux. Something to note is that the crux we completed is actually not the Class IV chimney mentioned in Alan Kane’s Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies, instead, it is significantly easier, and only requires looking slightly to the left and perhaps walking a few steps. A mountain bike is highly recommended for the approach to complete this trip in a reasonable timeframe and I’d definitely wear a helmet when biking on this trail. There is also a crossing of the Little Elbow River, so it is best to complete this trip in late summer or fall.
Mount Remus is a seldom visited peak situated just off the Elbow Loop trail. It lies directly next to its big brother, Mount Romulus. Both brothers are scrambles, sporting magnificent cliff bands that somewhat guard their summits (although they don’t do a great job). The views from this ascent are surprisingly scenic, with Mount Glasgow rising impressively at south, Fisher Peak at northwest, and the magnificent cliffs of Mount Romulus to the west. Unsurprisingly, most trip reports from this peak are very positive. The exact reason why theses peaks were named as they are is unclear, but Remus and Romulus were twins, and were the mythological founders of Ancient Rome, so potentially the cliff band similarity, along with their proximity (2.0km), makes them fitting “twin peaks”, although they are not that close in height.
The parking lot is essentially situated right where Highway 66 turns to gravel. Instead of continuing on the gravel, take a left and continue past the Forgetmenot Pond parking, then, the parking should be on the left (before the campground). The parking lot doesn’t really have an official name on google maps and apple maps, so the easiest thing would be to use our handy directions feature above. The parking lot is about a 25 minute drive from Bragg Creek and a 1:00 hour drive from the Calgary city limits (Highway 1 limits).
From the parking lot, head southwest on the Little Elbow Campground Access Road by bike. Continue for 1.5km, before reaching the end of the road, where the trail begins directly ahead. Continue straight, biking over small hills, with plenty of slab, gravel, and dirt. This part is very straightforward, and once again would ideally be done by bike. However, some of the hills on the Little Elbow Trail are quite steep, so some walking your bike may be required if you don’t have the correct gears. After 6.5 km of biking on the trail (8 km total), pay attention to a right turn that is fairly obvious and leads down to the river. Stash your bike in the trees, ensuring to lock it up. This is where the walking begins. Find the most shallow spot of the river (widest spot) to cross, paying no attention to the flagging tape that you may see scattered around. The river can easily be thigh deep, but is not a difficult ford. After crossing, pull out your GPS map on your phone and use it. This part requires some route finding with no trail, although by wandering closer to Remus, you should find a big cairn and a stick point in the direction that you want to ascend. Hike up a significant and steep bump, and trend to the climber's left until you can see a small drainage below you. Don’t go down to the drainage, but instead, continue on its right until you find some nice scree trails. Follow these trails while keeping your GPS map handy, and continue in the middle when the drainage splits into two. Continue up to the scree bowl and aim directly up towards the very visible brown shale. Slog up the scree until the “gates” (you will know what these are), and immediately begin trending to the climber’s left after passing them. Hike up gray scree (more solid since it steepens after the gates) until reaching the ridge. Follow the ridge crest, detouring obstacles as needed, up to the scree slope leading to the summit. Ascend directly up the slope on an obvious scree trail, aiming for a pinnacle jutting out of the slope. Detour the pinnacle to the right and reach the base of the cliff band. From there, there are two obvious options, the narrow chimney at right, or the wider one at left. Choose either, the left option being easier at Class III and the right being Class IV. From the top of the cliff band, it is a short stroll to the summit. Descend the same way that you came up, taking advantage of the brown shale to scree run/ski.
My dad and I were wanting to get out for a little scramble on this random weekend in August (as one should), and for some reason we were wanting to do it early on a Friday so that he could go to work for a couple hours after. I don’t know why we didn’t just go on Saturday, but oh well. We were originally looking at Mount Lorette and Mount Skogan, but as soon as I mentioned that we needed a bike for them, my dad suggested the elbow loop. I guess we were set on a bike hike then. We found Mount Remus (the only somewhat short objective) and read up on it in Kane’s book. I wondered a bit about the crux, but I was wanting to try something difficult, so I thought we’d give it a shot. We planned a 4:00 am wake up to give ourselves plenty of time.
I can’t say that the early wake up was very early to be quite honest, since as soon as my alarm went off I was ready to bag a summit. I’d also read that the trip was very enjoyable and had good scenery (from Explor8ion mainly). It had also been a while since I’d visited the Elbow area, so I was double excited. And then on top of that we would be doing a sunrise hike. It was going to be perfect.
We started off a bit later than anticipated at 5:45 am and didn’t even need our headlamps. Sadly it would be a bit too late to get the sunrise/alpenglow views from up high, but we’d still have some from the valley for sure.
It was surprisingly cold this morning, so we needed gloves and even then my hands were absolutely frozen. It must’ve been below 5° at least. My first thought was that it probably would’ve made a great day for some glacier ascents, since they’d have likely gotten a nice overnight freeze. Anyways, we biked down the campground road and I may have woken up a few campers with my talking. Oops. We then took the pedal to the metal and cruised up the Little Elbow Trail. There are some steep hills with plenty of annoying slab and big rocks, so be prepared with your mountain bike and helmet, unlike my dad, who decided it would be a good idea to take out his gravel/road bike.
The trailhead (picture from later). Absolutely do not try to park here as you will likely be ticketed or towed.
Fantastic alpenglow on Romulus (right) while riding down the Little Elbow Trail.
The turnoff trail for Mount Remus. Make sure you catch it.
I think this is the best alpenglow I’ve ever experienced, which means I’ve definitely gotta get up for more sunrise hikes. After Joffre, I think it’s going to become a lot more common with me.
Our crossing point for the Little Elbow.
And I soaked my pants. Great. The river was a little over knee deep (for long legged 6 foot individuals). This photo was great though and made it to the insta.
Here’s a flag, but don’t follow it. Head over to the left and to a cairn pointing up the mountain. We pulled out the Alltrails for this one as we had definitely expected a bit more of a trail. There was none.
Sunrise! We had just topped out on the first small bench after a bit of a grueling but short ascent from the river.
We followed some flags, then crossed the drainage to the left side. I recommend you stay on the right side.
We ended up sidehilling to get back to the drainage from the left side. Ill planned route. Shoulda just stuck with the map.
Back on the right side of the drainage. Well, actually we were in the middle of two drainages at this point. This is the place that you want to be.
Found a trail!
We aimed straight for the brown shale since we didn’t want to mess around with the Kane ascent route.
Starting up endless scree.
It really wasn’t that loose. We were almost worried that it wouldn’t make a good scree run on descent.
Once we passed through the “gates”, we got on to even more solid terrain to the left of the gully.
I took a little break here to wait for my dad. So lovely. The gully really didn’t take long, and wasn’t unpleasant at all, so I’d recommend it instead of the Kane ascent route.
Great scenery.
We then reached the easy ridge and followed it for a bit.
Even better views from farther up.
Approaching the summit block. The scree trails are very obvious.
My dad looks awesome in this pic. The east summit of Remus poked out behind.
Getting closer to the fun part!
Little photo spot.
We dropped everything except a snack and headed up.
I went over to have a look at the Kane chimney.
Attempting the chimney. I didn’t go all the way up it because there was one weird move and I didn’t really feel like falling.
Our route on the left was much easier.
Looking down the crux.
Summit! Looking over at Remus’s twin, Mount Romulus.
Summit pano looking toward the prairies.
Looking the other way. The summit plateau looks funny in this.
We also went on a little side quest to this sub peak on the plateau and it is definitely worth a little visit. Fisher Peak looks great from this side, occupying the left of the image.
Looking back at the summit. What a cool shot showing the sheer drop on this side of Remus. The cliff went down a ways.
Looking over at Glasgow, Cornwall, Outlaw, and Banded. We bagged all them on our Elbow loop 4-peak traverse back in 2021. That’s probably still my biggest day to date. I’d definitely recommend it, it’s not even just an epic day, it’s more like a heroic day, but you definitely won’t be feeling very heroic by the time you stumble back to the car.
Back at the top of the crux, looking down at the eastern outlier of Mount Remus. I wanted to go up and do it, but we didn’t really have much time to mess around. We’ll probably be back up here anyways, so we can bag it when we come back.
The crux was very straightforward to descend. No proper downclimbing required.
An interesting fossil.
I found another good photo opportunity. Mount Glasgow dominates the horizon. Banded Peak pokes out to its right.
Heading back to the brown shale. We went over to the little bump and then traversed below it. Then, we dropped straight into the gully for one of the best and longest scree runs I’ve had the pleasure of doing.
We found the trail on the way back and headed down to the river.
Just over 30 minutes from ridge to creekbed, it’s that fast. Here’s that cairn pointing up to where the ascent route goes.
From here, we crossed the river and biked back. The bike went way faster on the way back since it was mostly downhill. Before we knew it we were at the parking lot. No long walk out, no sore feet, no waiting for when you’re going to be done. I kind of like this to be honest. The sunrise bike/hike was great this morning. I’ll be doing more of both for sure.
Anyways, what a great little adventure, and we were back to the car right around 11:15. We still had the whole day!?
Overall, I think this peak is really underrated. Hear me out. The bike approach is a life saver, the river crossing deters people, so you will likely have the peak to yourself, the views are outstanding for a front range peak, the scree running is pristine, and the summit crux is an enjoyable scramble. I don’t see much not to like. I mean there is a river crossing, a bit of route finding and bushwalking in the trees, plus it is a slog, but it’s getting top marks in our book for sure because the good stuff completely outweighed anything bad. And honestly, the “bad” stuff is just what going on adventures is all about.