Windy Ridge from Og Lake
Completed when dry using a faint flagged trail leading up from Og Lake. Possible when wet or snowy, but with avalanche slopes and very steep terrain. The entire thing is a scree slog with the option for a bit of fun slab on ascent. A lovely and quick ascent from Og Lake and likely better (but longer distance) from Magog. Yes, the ridge was quite windy when I was up there.
Windy Ridge is a small outlier north west of the larger Og Mountain, both of which lie above Og Lake and provide excellent views of the core area of Assiniboine Provincial Park. Since there is little information available on the peak, I can only guess its name (likely unofficial) stems from it being quite a windy peak. There is an official and signed trail leading from Assiniboine lodge to the summit of Windy Ridge, but it is still considered a scramble.
The Mount Shark parking lot is situated at the very end of the Mount Shark Road, which is essentially at the furthest point on the Spray Lakes Road (Highway 742). From Calgary, both the south option and north are similar in time, although the north section of the road has a slow speed limit and can get quite bumpy. The road is all gravel, but a high clearance vehicle is not required. The total driving time from the Calgary city limits from either direction is just under 2 hours. From the parking lot, you must hike in 25 km or helicopter in to Mount Assiniboine Lodge or Lake Magog Campground. To reach Og Lake, hike another 5 km from the lodge.
For the Assiniboine Lodge route, follow the signs leading to Og Lake, then to Windy Ridge. Hike on a good trail to the summit with the last portion being on scree. From Og Lake Campground (route shown), bushwhack to the obvious avalanche gully just north of the campground. If there is a trail leading up, be sure to use it as you ascend the lower section on to scree. From here, cross over to the left and either ascend the slab or the scree to its right. Continue up until the col. From here, follow the scree ridge to the summit, bypassing the lower section at right if necessary. Descend the same way. Gaia GPS route is approximate.
After arriving to Og Lake, it was time to go all out and test myself on a peak. I looked up at it and set my goal for 1 hour round trip. A bit ambitious, I do admit, but at 1:20 including 5 minutes at the summit, I think I did quite well. Anyways, let's get to it.
The clock has started.
I ran on the trail a bit and then made my way directly up through the bush, surprisingly finding a faint and flagged trail.
Hiking up and slightly left.
On the faint trail now. Note the flagging tape.
Now transitioning to scree. The theme of the majority of this scramble.
I was surprised by how far I had to traverse over to get to the slabs. It was not what I expected from below.
Now on to some fast slab ascent.
I ran into this thick B.S. a couple times while ascending the slabs though, so maybe the scree would've been a better idea.
The slab was nice though and very grippy.
Now on to scree until the summit.
Nearing the "col" now. This is where it got quite steep, but only for a short bit.
Looking at the summit from the "col"/shoulder. It's actually quite a ways.
Mount Assiniboine over some nice meadows. Can't get rid of that view for long in this area!
I chose to just head straight up the scree, but I could've also taken the round about trail up.
The final exposed ridge section with the summit within touching distance. Since it was windy, this felt a bit sketchy, but it's still quite easy terrain.
The view of Mount Assiniboine. I'd say it's underated.
Looking northwest to an unnamed peak, with Nasswald and Golden behind it and to the left.
The quadruple summit of Og Mountain with Mount Bashan poking out slightly to its left.
Impressive summit pano. I would love to visit the area at right at some point. There's a lodge somewhere in there and trails leading from both Shark and Brewster Creek (Highway 1).
Lovely views, now time to speed down. I knew at this point that I wouldn't crack 1 hour, but I could come close ish.
Back to the "col" and scree running down this steep bit. It took me 7 minutes to descend to here, just under half the time it took to summit from this point.
Now on to the massive scree field. I tried to find loose scree where I could, but ended up mostly running down uneven and ankle breaking shifting rocks for most of the way.
Time for a little bit of traversing and then hopefully I'd find the descent trail.
Cannot get rid of this view. I just can't wait to come back and see this again.
After a little bit of messing around, I found the trail and ran down it in like 3 minutes.
Almost back now.
I am so glad that I did this. Firstly, I was really able to test myself, and I really couldn't believe how fit and fast I had gotten by the end of the summer from mostly just hiking and scrambling. I was very happy with my time and glad that I had gotten another perspective of the area, along with bagging another peak. I also did very much enjoy my 5 minutes at the top and soaked in the views as much as I possibly could. It seems like every summit in the area is worth doing!
If you'd like to continue on with the 4 day adventure, be sure to read Cave Mountain for the following morning, it'll be somewhere in the middle of this article.