I don't know why university decides to give us exams on Saturdays. I have physics final on Saturday and Chemistry final on Monday. Sunday was forecasted to be a sunny day. Because I'm confident on the exams, I decided to do a hike on Sunday. It's better to tick off two summits together if you decide to go to the Rockies for only one day, so Rummel Ridge + Little Galatea jumps into my mind. Well, the standard route up Little Galatea is from Chester Lake, described in Nugara's Snowshoeing in the Rockies book, but I found out it's also doable via Rummel Lake side, according to Marko's trip report. At this time of the year, the snowpack is very hard and literally there is no boot penetration. The crampon system grips on the surface perfectly.
To get there, park at roadside at Mt. Engadine turnoff, which sits right at the center of Smith-Dorrien Road between Canmore and Kananaskis Lakes Junction. The trail is well described in Nugara's book. Basically you want to go uphill to a open area, from which you can see Rummel Ridge appears as a treed bump on your SE direction. Then you have to work your way southward into the trees, skirting around the bump while staying on the SW side of Rummel Creek. The trail then turns sharply left (east), and crosses Rummel Creek. From there, leave the trail (which goes to Rummel Lake) and head directly towards the summit. While you are in the trees so you cannot see the summit, the main goal is to go uphill. If you don't need to post-hole, you will be topping out of the trees about 40min later. The last tens of meters is avalanche prone depends on condition. From the summit, Sir Douglas, Birdwood, Smuts, and Assiniboine are the mostly eye-catching peaks towards North and West. Mt. Galatea dominates the view to South. Towards NE is Mt. Engadine, and The Tower sits directly East. If Rummel Ridge is the only objective of the day, it's also possible to scramble up the west ridge of The Tower to elevation of 3000m, but you won't reach the summit though. The scenery won't change much as the view towards East is still blocked by The Tower. Since I still have Little Galatea to do, I didn't give this ridge a go.
