Hiking Mount Temple | Banff National Park, AB
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- Distance (out & back): 18 km • Elevation gain (total): 1740 m • Max elevation: 3500 m
We summited Mount Temple during the Labour Day long weekend, 2 September 2023. We camped the night before at the Lake Louise soft-sided campground, and were excited to tackle this iconic hike on a clear-ish day amidst the worst wildfire season in Canada's recorded history.
One of the biggest challenges we encountered was catching an early shuttle to Moraine Lake and making it back before 7:30 pm to catch the last bus. Making a small error with the ride going there set us back by an hour and we started the hike at 8 AM, almost an hour later than planned. At the end we made it back to the bus stop with less than an hour spare.
The views throughout the trail were mind-blowing. The path was also straightforward up to Sentinel Pass. However, from there it became less obvious and some path finding was required. We initially followed the route given by AllTrails, then decided to follow a group of people who had the Canada Parks map but still went up the wrong scramble (a massive gully). One of them caused a rockfall and we're thankful that everyone around was wearing a helmet, as that would have undoubtedly caused some serious injury otherwise. The correct path was to the right of where we scrambled (see video at • Hiking Mount Temple | ... ), but it’s not visible until you turn the corner. Our suggestion would be to look out for the orange markers or cairns so you don’t end up doing a difficult/dangerous scramble like we did. And just as importantly, WEAR A HELMET.
We felt out of breath and light headed as we neared the summit. Even though we’ve been doing alpine hikes every week and completed Cascade Mountain - roughly 3000m elevation - the weekend before (see • Cascade Mountain | Ban... ), the extra 500m ascent to the summit of Mount Temple felt exponentially more difficult. Every few steps up the steep scree slope were followed by a few seconds of pause to take deeper breaths.
Take your time, while being mindful of your plan and leaving enough buffer for your return back. If you're an experienced adventurer this is an epic hike that is worth every ounce of effort and is sure to give you a great sense of accomplishment.
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GEAR
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Fantastically edited video, these hots are just stunning! Hats off my friend!
Glad you like our video! Coming from someone which such a lovely channel, it means a lot.
One of the best hikes I have ever done. We’re 19 hikers at top when we arrived. Did in Sept. long weekend.
We did it around the same time. Couldn’t agree more!
Thank you so much for the fantastic video !
Climbed temple and get a photo of Mt Hungabee then Hungabee with a photo of Temple and Paradice Valley in between. Which I hiked years earlier. Some of the best hiking and climbing in the world right here in our back yard in ALBERTA.
Epic video!
Came here from your alltrails review. Hopefully i can do this hike sometime soon lol
Enjoy the hike when you get the chance. Hope our video gave you a good preview!
Very well edited and great camera. I always use GoPro so its not as nice and natural. Loved it....even the wrong route.
Thanks Harlan! We've only used our iPhones to film so it's great to hear your positive feedback. We had an older version of GoPro and found that the stabilization was practically non-existent and the shots were very difficult to colour correct. So we ditched the GoPro and have since only used the cameras on our phones. 😄
Were you able to make it back to the shuttle ride in time to catch the last ride? Awesome vid!!!
We did with 30 minutes to spare. It took a lot of huffing and puffing 😮💨
The rock scrambling... I don't see a clear path. Is this well defined?
The best path is the one recommended by Parks Canada - link here: parks.canada.ca/pn-np/ab/banff/activ/escalade-scrambling/temple.
Unfortunately we don’t have a footage of the correct path. At 4:05, you can see us scrambling up a potentially dangerous gully (in the Parks Canada Guide, it’s Gully 2 of Section 5). The correct path is to the right of that, although it may not be obvious. Look for yellow and blue painted squares and make sure to follow the markers along the trail.
Happy hiking! 🥾✌️
Is it possible to get to the starting point with an RV?
Moraine Lake, the starting point, is closed to personal vehicles. You’d have to take a bus. More info here: parks.canada.ca/pn-np/ab/banff/visit/parkbus/louise
no golden larches?
Right at the end you can see the Goodsirs in the distance. One of them is higher. That's the only downside to this climb.