Researched route, Kananaskis
Kananaskis
A long, mostly gentle valley tour to a pass on the edge of Banff National Park, with steep slopes and cornices above the second half.
Burstall Pass is the broad saddle below Snow Peak, just north of Burstall Pass Peak, where the Burstall Creek valley ends, in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, Kananaskis, near Canmore. It's a long day: 7.8 km and about 550 m of climbing to the pass, nearly all of it on a summer trail and gentle underfoot. The trail is the common, well documented way to the skiing around the pass and the upper meadow. Where you go and what you ski there is your call. Sources disagree on how serious it is, and the terrain shows why. The upper meadow and the last climb run below Snow Peak's steep east side, and slides from there have reached the usual way up. We built this route from research and haven't skied it ourselves.
We built this route from our own extensive research. All resources are cited on the dashboard. We haven't skied it ourselves, the routes illustrated may not be the best line choice, use your own judgement when planning. Remember you are still responsible for your own tour.
Last checked October 18, 2026.
| Distance | about 15.6 km round trip, 7.8 km to the pass |
| Elevation gain | about 550 m, counting the ups and downs on the old road |
| Slope angles | mostly under 20 degrees on the line; 30 to 40 degrees and steeper in places on the east side of Snow Peak, above the upper meadow and the last climb; terrain data reads low |
| Trailhead | 1,897 m |
| High point | 2,380 m, the published height of the pass; OpenStreetMap and Canada's official place names put the pass within 50 m of each other; terrain data reads 2,340 m |
| Nearest town | Canmore |
| Pass required | Kananaskis Conservation Pass |
| Skied by us | Not yet |
The Burstall Pass day use area is on the west side of Highway 742, the Smith-Dorrien Trail, beside Mud Lake and across from the Chester Lake lot. From the Trans-Canada the usual way is south on Highway 40, then Kananaskis Lakes Trail, then about 20 km north on Highway 742. From Canmore it's about 40 km south on the same road, past the Nordic Centre. Highway 742 is gravel along this stretch and can be icy, rough or closed for a time, so check 511 Alberta before you go. There's no cell service on the road or the route.
You need a Kananaskis Conservation Pass to park here: $15 a day or $90 a year when we checked. It's tied to your licence plate and bought before you arrive, online or at a visitor centre. Plates in the lot are scanned. Some days each year are free.
When we checked Alberta Parks' trail report, advisories and annual closures on 2026-10-29, there was no closure for this trail or for Highway 742. Alberta Parks lists a group size limit of 15 on the trail. The pass is the Banff National Park boundary, and Parks Canada's rules apply past it.
Read the Kananaskis Country avalanche forecast on Avalanche Canada before you go, and leave your plan with someone who isn't coming.
From the lot, cross the Mud Lake dam and take the old logging road west. It rolls for about 3.5 km, climbing about 125 m and dropping about 55 m along the way. That's why the trip out never feels like a descent.
Where the road ends, the valley opens onto the flats: small lakes, willow meadows and the braided gravel of the creek that drains the Robertson Glacier, about 1 km across and nearly level. In winter the track often cuts across the frozen lakes and meadows instead of sticking to the summer trail. Streams on the gravel may not be frozen through in early winter or in spring.
At about 4.5 km, on the far side of the flats, the trail climbs into the forest up a steep headwall, about 1 km and 160 m, facing northeast and east. Burstall Creek runs down a tight gully just north of the trail. The terrain data reads the ground along both at up to the mid 20s, with slopes up to the low 40s a couple of hundred metres to the south. A 30 m grid can't see a tight gully's walls, so the ground has steeper pitches than those numbers.
Above the headwall it eases off into the upper meadow, a hanging valley at about 2,120 to 2,150 m and close to 1 km long. To the west, Snow Peak's east side climbs more than 500 m above it in one long slope, with cornices on the ridge at the top. This is the part of the route where what's above you matters most.
The last climb heads south, then west, for about 1.4 km and 200 m, through larches to treeline and then up open slopes to the pass. The terrain data reads it at 10 to 20 degrees with a few steeper pitches, facing east and northeast. The pass is a broad saddle at about 2,380 m. Reports describe short laps on the open slopes and scattered trees at treeline near it.
Where you go and what you ski around the pass and the meadow is your call. The way out is the trail you came up. From wherever you finish skiing, get back on it and follow it across the upper meadow, down the headwall trail, and over the flats and the old road to the car. It's on skis the whole way, but with little real downhill.
Two readings of one route. The published descriptions don't agree. One summer hiking guide calls the winter tour easy and low in avalanche risk. Trip reports and Avalanche Canada reports describe a big slide path off Snow Peak above the upper meadow, big cornices on that ridge, and slides on the east slopes near the pass. The terrain explains how both get said: the ground you travel on is mostly gentle, and the slopes above part of it are not. We go with the terrain and the reports.
The east side of Snow Peak. The upper meadow and the last climb sit below the east slopes of Snow Peak and of the ridge leading up to it. Much of it is 30 to 40 degrees in the terrain data, steeper in places, and slopes are steeper than they appear. It starts about 200 m to 1 km from the trail and rises more than 500 m above it, with cornices on top. A 2016 trip report describes a big runout from Snow Peak that the normal route crosses. In March 2023 a cornice off Snow Peak set off a size 3 slab on an east slope at about 2,500 m, and it ran over the usual skin track below the pass (Avalanche Canada MIN report, 2023-03-08). In January 2011 two skiers died near Burstall Pass in a size 3 avalanche that started at treeline, around 2,400 m, on a slope facing east, about 7 km from the highway (Rocky Mountain Outlook, 2011-01-16). The danger was rated High that day, after about 50 cm of new snow in three days (First Tracks Online, 2011-01-18), and the 2016 report places those burials in the Snow Peak runout. In our runout model, the trail we drew is exposed at the start of the meadow and near its end. The 2023 slide shows that big ones run farther than the model, over the usual skin track below the pass.
The slopes near the pass. The east and northeast slopes around the pass, and on Burstall Pass Peak to the south, have slid in the reports, often set off from a distance. In May 2023 a size 2.5 more than 1 m deep was triggered from about 200 m away. In November 2023 a chain of size 2 slides was set off from 50 to 75 m away. The gentle slopes people lap here join steeper ones.
Weak snow near the ground. Reports from the trailhead to the pass describe weak, sugary snow at the base of the snowpack in many winters, with whumpfs and cracking even beside Mud Lake at 1,900 m. Big slides in the reports have broken on those layers.
The headwall. Short, steep and in the trees, with Burstall Creek's gully just north of the trail. The gully is a terrain trap and can hold open water. The trail is the way up and the way back down.
The flats. Wide open and exposed to the wind, with streams in the gravel. In a storm or flat light the track is easy to lose, and reports describe parties turning around in wind and whiteout.
The road below Mount Burstall. The old road runs a few hundred metres below the steep north side of Mount Burstall, and from about 2 km to 3.4 km it's in that slope's runout in our model. After rain in March 2026, one report saw fresh slide debris on that flank and all along the valley, on Snow Peak, Burstall Pass Peak, Birdwood and Commonwealth (Avalanche Canada MIN report, 2026-03-21).
What the reports show. Most slides in the Avalanche Canada reports near this line were on east and northeast slopes at treeline and above, below Snow Peak and around the pass. They were cornice falls, wind slabs, and deep slabs on the weak snow near the ground, and many came down on their own or were set off from a distance. Some of the reports of cracking and fresh slides came on days rated Moderate, and the remote trigger of May 2023 came after the season's forecasts had stopped. Reports follow where people go, and this valley is busy, so a quiet record elsewhere wouldn't mean quiet slopes.
On the way in, it's the snowpack and the slopes above the road. Whumpfs or cracking on the flats or the headwall, fresh slides on the slopes above the road or the meadow, or a forecast of deep or persistent slab problems with new snow, wind or warming.
In the upper meadow, look up at Snow Peak. Cornices on its ridge that are loaded or warming in the sun, fresh slides off its east side, wind moving snow onto those slopes, or flat light that hides them. The meadow is level and that whole side is in view above it.
Near the pass, shooting cracks, fresh wind slabs, or a cornice above the slope you meant to lap.
It's out and back, so turning around anywhere costs you the pass and nothing else. The exit is long and slow, though, and a late turnaround can mean a dark finish on the flats, so leave time for it. Whether to go is your call on the day. Read the forecast and decide from what you find.
A long day on mostly easy ground, with avalanche terrain above the old road and most of the second half. About 15.6 km and 550 m of climbing. One recent report took five and a half hours for the round trip, and summer hikers allow four to seven. The flats and the road make a long exit with little downhill, and some people carry kicker skins for it. You'll want to recognise the slide paths above the old road, the upper meadow and the last climb, and to read cornices. We'd want avalanche training, a transceiver, probe and shovel, and a group that knows how to use them. Ski crampons help on spring crusts.
What we can't tell you yet. How it skis on the day, where the skin track runs this winter, and how long it really takes you. The dashboard's estimate uses your own pace.