Yoho, September 19, 2026
An objective you can see from the moment you step onto the lake.
Mount Ogden sits above Sherbrooke Lake in Yoho National Park, about two hours and ten minutes from Calgary. I logged a 12.7 km day with 832 m of climbing, most of it on low angle terrain, with an objective you can see from the moment you step onto the lake.
| Distance | 12.7 km |
| Elevation gain | 832 m |
| Trailhead | 1,609 m |
| High point | 2,418 m |
| Time on the day | 5 hr 41 min, including rests and transitions |
| Drive from Calgary | about 2 hr 10 min |
| Pass required | Parks Canada |
| Skied | February 16, 2026 |
The trailhead is the Great Divide Lodge parking lot on the Trans Canada, roughly 20 to 25 minutes past Lake Louise and just over the divide into BC. The trail starts at the back of the lot. You need a Parks Canada pass.
The lot is small and it fills. We left Calgary around 5am and were the first vehicle there, which is earlier than you need to be but not by much if you want a parking spot and the best shot at fresh tracks.
As best I remember there are no bathrooms at the trailhead, so plan accordingly.
Skins go on at the car and stay on until the top.
The first hour to hour and a half is the Sherbrooke Lake trail, climbing through trees on a clear, well defined path. It puts you out at the lake, and you cross over the frozen lake staying to the left. There will likely be established tracks already. When in doubt, check your route.
From the far side you can see the entire objective in front of you. This is one of the things that makes Ogden a good beginner tour in my opinion. There is no guessing. You look across the lake, you see the line, you go and climb it.
From the lake it is about two hours and roughly 600 m up the far side. Mostly a simple skin, with a couple of steeper moments where the heel risers earn their keep. This is a popular tour, so unless it has just dumped there is usually a track in across the lake and up the climb. If there is no track, check your route regularly on the way up rather than committing to a line and correcting for it later.
Coming down took us about 45 minutes taking our time from the top back to the lake. Skins back on to cross the lake, and a bit further. Then it is skiing all the way to the parking lot, another 45 minutes or so. Our total for the day was 5 hours 41 minutes with rests and transitions included.
The forecast that day was moderate to low and low, so stable, with wind slab as the one problem worth watching for. We did not find any evidence of it.
You are in low angle terrain for the bulk of the climb. It does steepen near the top, and there are some convexities up there. The answer is simply to stay off them. We also spread out through the upper part of the climb.
On the descent there is plenty of room to move around and make turns. Any competent skier will be comfortable on it.
One thing worth knowing before you drop in: from the very top, if you go too far skier's right, you end up in a bowl that you then have to climb out of. Watch for this when picking your line.
Signs of wind slab as the climb steepened toward the top would have been the main hazard that would make us turn around.
The useful property of this tour is that it is an out and back on one line. Turning around costs you the summit and nothing else. There is no committing traverse, no descent you have to complete to get home. That is a good quality in a tour you are still learning on, and it is worth deciding in advance what would make you turn around.
Conditions on any given day are your own call. This face is capable of very large avalanches. Later in the season that we skied this, during a period of high/extreme conditions, a large avalanche was triggered rendering it virtually unskiable the rest of the season. Go and read the current forecast and make decisions for yourself based on the conditions you are working with.
You ski the hiking trail back down to the car. It is narrow, it has several blind corners, and there is a real chance of meeting someone walking up around one of them. Call out on the corners so people know you are coming.
Watch your speed. The trail is tight enough that turning to scrub speed is awkward, which is exactly how I ended up in a tree. I was carrying a little too much speed, tried to slow down, caught my skis on some branches, and went over backwards off the track. It is in the video. Nothing hurt except the footage.
Why it is on the list. The route finding is about as simple as backcountry route finding gets, the angles are mellow, and the way out is the way you came in.
What it asks of you. 12.7 km and 832 m is not a small day. Be fit enough for that, and leave enough in the tank to ski your way out.
Our researched route from here: Sherbrooke Lake