Date:                                                    July 7, 2006

Participants:                                          Solo

Distance:                                              Approximately 9.3 km

Elevation Gain:                                     Approximately 1006 m

Maximum Elevation:                              2744 m (9,000 ft.)

Elapsed Time:                                       3:40 approx.

Published Routes:                                 Kane

Published Rating:                                  Easy, “largely a hike”

Difficulty - Endurance:                          3.5

Difficulty - Technical:                            2.5

I got a late start on Friday (Stampede Parade Day), originally planning on going out to do a scramble near the Icefields, I had to settle on a quick hike in the Lake Louise area instead.  About a month and a half before I had been at the Chateau on a conference and had planned on climbing both Fairview and Piran.  I had made it about 60% up Piran before turning back due to poor snow conditions.  So I thought I would give these peaks another shot and this time picked Fairview.

Kane refers to Fairview as “largely a hike” and that description is bang on.  In fact the trail that has been carved out of the mountainside makes this peak really just a hike and not a very difficult one at that.

The mountain was fairly busy but less than I thought it would be.  The wind was really blasting so maybe that turned some tourists back.  Near the summit the wind was acting quite oddly, it would become relatively calm then all of a sudden a gale force blast would send me stumbling a couple paces. This amount of wind made me glad that this mountain is really just a hike, if there had been any substantial exposure the windy conditions would have sent me packing.  The views are very nice, particularly of Temple to the south and the lake and glacier below to the west.