Distance: 7.2km (Out and back)

Elevation Gain: 1035 m

Rating: difficult

Remoteness: This is a relatively popular hike, you may run in to other groups.

Opal Ridge is 7.2km with 1035m of elevation gain. What Opal lacks in distance, it makes up for in elevation gain. The incline is no joke, and this hike doesn’t give you much time to warm up to it. We love this hike, because it doesn’t take long to get out of the tree line and start getting views of the surrounding Kananaskis peaks.

If you are a fan of scambles and scree climbing, then this is the perfect hike for you. However, if you don’t feel comfortable in this terrain, we recommend choosing a different hike. The scree offers many routes to the top, without a lot of options for taking breaks. This requires a bit of route finding.

After the first scree climb, you end up on a grassy ridge. Bears love this area, so travel in groups, make lots of noise, and bring your bear spray. We’ve often seen a bear cub or two searching for ground squirrels! This grassy area is a great rest spot, and offers opportunity for some beautiful pictures (as long as bears don’t get in the way!).

After one final scramble, you end up on the ridge proper. The views from the top are spectacular and make you forget about how tired your legs are. The final push to the peak requires a short and steep walk up switch backs. The exposure on this hike is minimal, so can be done by anyone willing to attempt the scree.

The peak of Opal gives a 360˚ view of the surrounding peaks. It’s breathtaking. Pictures don’t do it justice! On a warmer day it’s hard to want to leave the top.

The way down can be as grueling as the way up, as the small cliffs unfortunately make the scree not great for scree running. More route finding is also required. We recommend poles to save your knees, and gloves for the sharper rocks. Sometimes we have to do what we call a shameless butt slide! Overall this is a quick and challenging hike, but 100% worth it for the views.