Highwood Pass

With less than two weeks before the Jasper-Banff ride I was feeling a bit under-prepared. Sure, I'd ridden 110 km (the length of the longest stage) through the foothills a fortnight ago, but I'd yet to stare over my bars at a proper Rockies mountain pass, and was concerned that my current combination of legs and cogs might be insufficient to get over the dreaded Sunwapta Pass on the Icefields Parkway. So I teamed up with Neil Campbell, a fellow Jasper-Banff rider, and we hit the Highwood Pass in K Country. Neil made a loop of the ride, from Barrier Lake to the first winter gate, but I had the advantage of a lift home waiting for me on the far side of the pass, and continued over the summit and down to Cat Creek, near the second winter gate, beyond. I'm glad of that - traversing the pass seemed far more satisfying than just reaching the summit.

The first 40 km climbed and swooped continually, gaining overall height slowly to the winter gate. There is a decent hard shoulder on Highway 40, and we were able to stay out of the stream of trucks and RVs headed to the campgrounds of Kananaskis. The views on this side of the pass were familiar, but great, as ever. Here's Neil near Evan Thomas, heading towards the Fortress.

We parted company at the first winter gate, and I checked in with the radio to make sure my lift home was still on, then dropped a few gears and started up the pass.

The climbing wasn't too bad really, although my legs were sore at the top. I didn't put a foot down between Fortress Junction (about 38 km) and the summit (62 km). I stopped at the summit for a quick photo - this was my first ever mountain pass I think, certainly in Canada - and then tucked in my elbows and headed down the road deeper into the quiet country that lies beyond.
My average speed on the 20 km after the summit was over 50 kmph. I was too tired to try pushing it very high, but it was comfortably close to 70 on the steeper stretches. There are no hairpins on this pass, so it's a joy to coast down and I had a big wind-stretched grin on my face for many minutes.

Eventually I reached Cat Creek at 97 km, in just under 4 hours of riding. After a lie in the sun and no sign of my lift home yet, I decided to ride a bit more, so I headed back up the pass, eventually meeting Lou at about 104 km. Now I feel much more prepared for the horrors of the Sunwapta - unless it snows that day!

More pictures from this ride are posted here.