Replica Peak (+ Endless Chain Ridge Shenanigans)

A 2800m peak located between Mount Mary Vaux and Coronet Mountain was originally named Replica because, viewed from the north, it is a smaller scale replica of Coronet Mountain. The name has been shifted over time to an adjacent, unassuming peak that sits over Maligne Pass while the original “Replica” now has the dubious dubbing of “False” as its prefix. Who knows who shifted it or why? These things just happen. 🤷 I remember years ago reading several trip reports from the Maligne Pass area including Mike Mitchell’s report on Mount Mary Vaux and an easy peak rising over the pass which of course was Replica Peak.

“Maligne” is a sinister connotation for such a lovely area but comes from the Maligne River. Father Pierre-Jean De Smet, a Belgian Jesuit missionary passed through the area around 1845–46. He gave the Maligne River its name — French for “malignant” or “wicked” — after a rough crossing near its confluence with the Athabasca. The name cascaded to several landscape features nearby including the pass. Working from a map hand-drawn by her Stoney guide Samson Beaver, Mary Schäffer set out from Lake Louise on June 8, 1908 with Mollie Adams and guides Billy Warren and Sid Unwin, crossed what her own account calls Maligne Pass, and descended into the valley to reach the lake — which locals already knew as Chaba Imne (“Beaver Lake”). She applied the existing river-name “Maligne” to the lake, and her 1911 book Old Indian Trails of the Canadian Rockies is what put the whole naming cluster — pass included — into the historical record and popular use.

Schäffer returned in 1911 on a formal survey (partly funded by Grand Trunk Pacific’s Harry Ready Charlton) and named several surrounding peaks — Charlton, Unwin, Warren, and Maligne Mountain — though the mountain’s name wasn’t officially adopted until 1946. (For the record, I think “Maligne Lake” should be changed back to its original Chaba Imne - a much more appropriate moniker.)

Now that we have all that history and naming business out of the way, let’s get into my experience in the area which devolves into aligning much more with the “maligne” theme than some peaceful beavers, I assure you!

As the weekend of September 12-13 approached I was disappointed to see nothing but clouds, rain and snow in the forecast for any areas I normally look at. Then, as I worked my way north in SpotWX I noticed the weather improving until there was nothing but clear skies over Jasper National Park. Sweet! When Mike Mitchell texted me that he was interested in getting after something I mentioned that I was potentially going for a peak I’d noticed already years ago on Bivouac.com - Windrip Peak. He was interested and we agreed to meet at the Poboktan campground on Saturday evening to accommodate the long-ass drive from either of our home bases.

This arrangement allowed me to make plans in the area for Saturday, which was why I was biking up the Poboktan Creek Trail at 0900 after a 4-hour drive from YYC. It was a glorious sunny day but the vegetation and trail was absolutely soaked from the previous days’ heavy rains. I was quickly reminded why most folks don’t bother biking this trail. I’d biked all the way to Waterfall CG in 2025 on a long day trip up Quartal Peak above Poboktan Pass and it was a rough ride. In a surprise to nobody, another year had not improved things. Slick roots and rocks threatened to throw me off my bike but thankfully I was on my old Rocky Mountain Element 950 this time - a full suspension mountain bike. Also thankfully, that bike has an enormous granny gear as there were a ton of steep elevation gains along the way.

Mist rose from the warming forest floor as I sweated and swore my way slowly up to the Maligne Pass / Poboktan trail junction. Just as I thought I had to be getting close I arrived at a sign and junction indicating the end of my approach ride. I locked the bike to a tree, stashed my overnight gear nearby and started up the trail to Maligne Pass.

It was a lovely late summer morning. The forest was still deep green and shimmering with moisture as sunbeams forced their way through the thick branches. Birds chirped happily and squirrels chirped less happily as I strode past. A brand new bridge over Poligne Creek (strange name) made my morning. Was I going to retain dry(ish) feet today? (Spoiler alert - don’t get too invested in that idea. 😮) A second brand new bridge over the creek made me smile even wider. This was fantastic! All that was left now was for all the wonderful new bridge building efforts to end. And so they did. Dammit.

It was depressing to come to another crossing of the energetic brook only to realize that there were no more bridges. I’m sure I made some bird parents cover their babies ears as I waded across the ice cold waters to the other side. 🤬 In a giant coincidence (NOT), my earlier positive vibes re: the Maligne Pass Trail took a nosedive. As classic as Jasper trails get, the track became rooty, rocky and swampy. I don’t know why I still get surprised by it, but HTF does a mountain trail become swampy as it crosses a scree slope?! It doesn’t make any sense, but here I was wading through muck and tripping over roots. Any thoughts of dry (or warm) feet were ancient history by the time I crossed Poligne Creek for at least the 3rd time just under Avalanche campground. (There was a log to assist on one crossing and an old structure at another.) There was a solo tent sitting in the trees as I made my way higher into the alpine.

It wasn’t all bad, of course. I deviated off trail at a lovely cascading waterfall in Poligne Creek. Surprisingly there was no side trail here, implying most folks must not bother with the short detour. It was certainly worth the 10 minute mood booster.

As usual with Rockies passes, trees stuck it out much higher than expected. Finally, as I hiked under the open, broad SW slopes of Replica Peak, the trees stopped and the pass appeared just ahead. There was a small lake at the pass and as I started hiking along it I turned to my right, heading up grassy slopes on an easy angle.

There’s an argument to be made that gaining the SW end of Replica Peak from near Avalanche CG would make for a nice ridge walk. The track I had didn’t do that and (ironically as you’ll read soon) I wasn’t in the mood to complicate an easy day so I went up from the pass. As I ascended I was surprised to see another figure descending the ridge high above me. As we passed each other she expressed surprise too - at seeing me. We were the only two humans in the valley, she was camped at Avalanche for a few days. We chatted for a few minutes before going our separate ways.

There isn’t much to say about the rest of the route. There was a short easy step to gain the upper south ridge but nothing dramatic. Views over the many ponds and lakes in the area were stunning. I haven’t had views like this all summer. No smoke, fresh snow, sparkling lakes and clear blue skies made me happy to be exactly where I was. The long drive was certainly worth it today!

When I arrived at the summit I was gobsmacked by the incredible views of some giant snow covered peaks to the NE. It took me longer than it should have to realize these were 11000ers. Ones that I’ve stood on! Mount Warren and Brazeau were remarkably close and the impressive bulk of Coronet Mountain was my next door neighbor. Mount Mary Vaux was huge to the north. Unwin, Charlton and Endless Chain Ridge also featured prominently nearby. The giants of the Columbia Icefield also showed up, as did the always impressive north face of Sunwapta Peak.

As I took in the surrounding peaks an idea percolated in my underdeveloped brain. Originally I was planning to spend the rest of my day on a high traverse of the many lakes and tarns dotting the alpine valley SW of the Maligne Pass Trail, above treeline. I planned a route that made a loop from the pass towards Endless Chain Ridge before contouring back towards the Avalanche CG and the trail. It was a lovely day for this plan, perfect in every way. The cold nights meant there were zero bugs and the warm sunshine meant many hours of happy sitting, wandering and pondering. But of course I had to throw a huge f’ing wrench into that idyllic afternoon dreamscape…

Already as I approached the pass I’d been giving the Endless Chain a few side glances to my left. I didn’t know which peak was the official high point, but I wondered if I could tack on one of the easier looking options at the far SE end of it. This made some sense since I might have an hour or two to spare after my lake wanderings and I’d be positioned almost right under some easy looking slopes. Upon gazing at the topo on my GPS, I got greedy. The true summit of Endless Chain Ridge was right across from me and might be accessible via another summit just SE of it. None of that traverse looked easy, but who knows? I’d never heard of anyone doing Endless Chain before and that carrot was too tasty and too close to ignore. Dammit Vern!

Down I went. The descent of Replica was perfect. Soft scree slopes led all the way down to the trail. From there I crossed lovely alpine meadows towards the biggest, most aquiline lake in the area, sitting right under Endless Chain Ridge.

Now at this point already, I was pushing up against the much shorter daylight hours of mid-September than a few months earlier. I knew that a complicating factor in my stupid plan was going to be darkness. I’d packed ultralight, as usual, and my only headlamp was my Garmin Tactix LED flashlight. I’d never used it hiking before and didn’t know how or even if that would work. How much battery would it deplete? How quickly? Put it this way. I was NOT considering exiting in the dark as a viable option. I had to get back down to the Poboktan CG to meet Mike before dark. No ifs, ands or butts. 🍑

I knew “Endless Possibilities Peak” would be fairly quick - assuming my last-minute route planning worked out as efficiently as it looked from across the valley. After snapping some photos of the gorgeous lake I started up boulder and talus slopes SE of my objectives.

It was 1500 hours and the terrain was NOT as smooth as I’d first hoped. Unlike its neighbor across the valley, Endless Chain Ridge is made up of either endless slabs and ribs (SW side) or shifting blocks of rubble and boulders (NE side).

I was moving as quickly as I could and within 45 minutes of the lake I was high on a SE ridge leading easily to the first summit. Excellent. Views continued to be stunning as I made a rapid ascent to “Endless Possibilities”.

Topping out on “Endless Possibilities”, I took in more of the incredible views before making a very, very silly decision. For some reason I looked at the now obviously horribly complex NW and SE ridges of the false summit and true summit and decided to go for it. In hindsight I have no idea why I made that decision.

It was 1615 hours and almost immediately as I started down the NW ridge to the col I realized that I was “in the shit” as the kids say. Again, why didn’t I turn around here? I found myself descending smooth flakes of quartzite with horrid exposure on both sides of my feet. A slip to my right would be instant death and a slip to my left would be cheesegrating and cartwheeling - also ending with certain death. 🧀🤸☠️ There was no way this was still a straightforward scramble - arguably this wasn’t scrambling anymore at all.

Originally I debated sharing this part of my day at all with the wider world. If I’m honest, it’s more than a little embarrassing. I’ve done hundreds of peaks and to get myself into the shit sandwich that I quickly found myself was the height of stupid. 💩🥪 But if I can’t share my less bright moments with the world, why share anything? There is more to be learned from these shenanigans than successful trips IMHO. So here ya go. 🍽️

Eventually I reached what I assumed was the crux of the traverse. A horribly exposed, dirt and embedded rock, 50 foot cliff blocked further descent to the col. This obstacle was visible already from Replica but I was hoping I’d find an escape once my nose was in it. As I exited the slab under the cliff I realized things weren’t going to be quite as straightforward as I’d hoped. Sure! There was a potential escape through the cliff down the SW side of the mountain but what awaited me after that? Instead of making smart decisions and returning to the false summit, I doubled down and descended the SW face along the cliff. This was very steep and convoluted terrain. If you’ve ever driven the Banff - Jasper highway, you’ve gazed up at the horrifying slabs coming off Endless Chain Ridge and thought to yourself how lucky you were that you weren’t dumb enough to be stuck somewhere up there. Well, here I was on that very f’ing face! Being very, very dumb indeed my friends. 😭

I found a way down and then around the first set of diagonal cliffs, ascending a tight corner while traversing slabs and cracks and slowly working my way along the convoluted face. Despite looking like a smooth slab, there are plenty of cracks and ledges within. The problem is that there’s also plenty of cliff bands that run diagonally down the face and they interrupt any kind of direct line. Mostly going on instinct I kept finding ways up and along these cliffs, feeling more and more like an idiot as I kept at it. In a funny, completely unintentional twist, I had my action camera recording for almost 25 continuous minutes as I worked my way back up to the ridge. In it I can hear myself getting more and more frustrated by the terrain and questioning my sanity as I push on rather than turn around.

I popped back out on the NW ridge of the false summit, still descending to the col at this point. Looking at my watch I knew that even with no more difficulties I’d be returning in the dark at some point - hopefully on trail by that time or I wasn’t returning tonight at all. Slowly I stumbled over loose rubble and rock to the col, finally starting up the SE ridge of the summit, only a few hundred meters above me now. From a distance this ridge looked dead easy and it was until it wasn’t. Fuck. My. Life. Almost immediately I ran into an impossible little cliff blocking any direct access upward from here! I don’t even know where it came from but it was overhanging and could not be scrambled. Again, I should have turned back but I was so committed at this point that I once again dropped down the SW face before finally realizing that this was getting beyond stupid now. It was dangerous - and had been the entire time already.

I gazed up at endless slabs and cliffs rising impossibly steep above me to the still unseen summit and almost started sobbing. This was complete BS. I wasn’t getting lucky this time. This time the mountain won, and won handily. Burny was officially good and properly fucking screwed, sitting high on a complex slabby face with daylight burning fast and many miles to go. At this point I was the very furthest thing from home free. And guess what? Instead of making good choices and returning meticulously the way I’d come, I decided there had to be a quicker / safer way back and deviated off my approach line. And that is a prime example of poor decision making in the hills. Very poor.

The last thing you should do in the situation I was in, is to double down for the 4th time and veer onwards into the unknown. The reason I did, of course, was that my approach line was anything but straightforward. It was terrifying! I’d come up some very steep slab with very small holds and while I knew I could likely make it back alive via that route, I wasn’t exactly looking forward to it. You already know what happened. Everything went swimmingly until I started drowning - getting myself completely off route in the complex terrain and totally unable to link up with my approach route back up the NW ridge of the false peak.

I think the last time I felt close to the levels of uncertainty and fear that I felt up on Endless Chain’s unforgiving slab face was way back on Mount Northover 20 years ago when I froze on the crux. As I scrambled up and down the SW face, trying to link back up with my approach line (I had it on my watch, thank goodness), I slowly grew more and more desperate. There was a point where I sat down for a few moments, forcing myself to drink some water and reflect on my situation. My conclusion was that I might have to descend to the highway (unsure if that would even be possible) and hike through the night to prevent Mike from calling me a rescue! I decided to give it a few more tries and I can’t describe my immense relief at finally seeing my current track merge with the thin red line on my watch in somewhat familiar terrain.

I wasn’t quite homefree at this point, but I knew I could probably survive this now. I had time to at the very least get myself over to the trail before dark. It was 1830 as I scrambled up the exposed NW ridge back to what I’m calling “Endless Possibilities” as a tongue-in-cheek reference to how easy one can get oneself into trouble up there. A huge sigh of relief as I stepped back onto the cairned summit and looked back at the summit in disgust. Fuck that peak. I started down more rubble in a large SE bowl, hoping against hope that I could simply follow the terrain back down to the Maligne Meadows below. No more complications please!

At least I’d had the foresight while ascending “Endless Possibilities” to scout the alternate descent route. I knew there were cliffs but was reasonably confident there was a way through them. You’d think I’d be done with basing routes on “reasonably” but here we were and there I was. I didn’t like the loose boulders and rubble on my ascent route and only wanted something relatively easy and direct. Naturally, I didn’t get either of those two things. 😐

The SE bowl descent route worked but was no quicker or easier than my direct ascent line from the large lake. This route bypassed two huge cliffs and spent just as much time (if not more) on annoying boulders and slow terrain.

Finally I exited to the Maligne meadows and two beautiful tarns reflecting the setting sun on Replica Peak. I almost started sobbing for the 2nd time that evening but once again resisted the pull of emotion. I didn’t have time to cry about my life - I had to find the trail and get down to camp before poor Mike started crying. Then we’d have real problems! 😀 I crossed the meadows as quickly as I could and finally at 2000 hours I was back on the main trail.

The next hour and 45 minutes was character building. I managed to get past the Avalanche CG before it was too dark to continue unaided by extra lighting. I tried the iPhone flashlight but that sucked balls so I turned to my Garmin Tactix 8 watch. At first it didn’t work either. The LEDs are on top of the watch so they didn’t light the trail while I was using my hiking poles. Finally I got the bright (pun intended) idea to loop the watch on my action camera strap (which sits around my neck) and that worked perfectly. 🔦 Rather than try biking the 1.2 kms from the junction to Poboktan CG, I simply kept walking, leaving my bike at the junction.

I think Mike was glad to see me but I felt pretty bad that I’d made him wait so long. I was too tired and worn from the difficult day to eat a proper supper. My feet were freezing cold from the last creek crossing and I was way past the point of hunger. It was nearing 2200 hours as I choked down some granola bars and set up my tent in pitch darkness with only my awkward watch light for help. Of course I didn’t put enough warm layers on either - feeling rushed to get set up at camp. I assure you, I didn’t feel AT ALL like even THINKING about another peak in 10 hours but I kept those thoughts to myself. No point disappointing Mike twice in the same night. I would tell him the bad news in the morning.

Just before turning in I felt a couple of massive tremors move through my body as the first signs of hypothermia set in. I forced myself to stay calm as I threw on all my layers, took off my wet socks and got my feet into down booties. Thank goodness I got into the bag quick enough that the tremors calmed down. I have never looked forward to a down sleeping bag more than this one! We agreed we didn’t need an alarm for the following day and I drifted off to a listless sleep. But at least I was alive. And even warm. Both of which were absolutely NOT guaranteed a few hours earlier.