Oxo Puzzle Peak

OXO Puzzle Peak
Icefields Parkway, Banff National Park, Alberta
July 29, 2023
Distance: 12.7 km
Cumulative Elevation Gain: 922 m

OXO Puzzle Peak is best known as a ski tour rather than a climb. I found no instance of anyone doing it in the summer, although Vern Dewit's climb up OXO Peak was helpful for the approach. Vern calls OXO Peak a “dangerous loose mountain” and doesn't recommend it. Fortunately, OXO Puzzle Peak, a high point on the east end of the OXO massif, is more benign, little more than a steep hike. But routefinding would be another matter. Aiding me in my effort to reach the summit were Dinah, Zora, Christine, Jonathan and Bernadette.

From the Mosquito Creek trailhead, we started up the trail. After 2.5 km, we left the trail earlier than Vern suggests to take a gentler angle. The bushwhacking wasn't difficult, and we kept to a fairly straight line.

Our first objective was a creek crossing at the end of the valley headed by Dolomite Peak on the left and OXO Peak on the right. We arrived at the creek 100 m short of our objective, not realizing it made a huge difference. We gazed down at the water in a deep gorge before hiking a short distance and crossing the creek effortlessly.

After crossing, we searched for a trail that Vern mentions. We got on a path heading right, but it soon ended. After meandering, we found the correct trail. The trail, we learned on our return, disappears abruptly well before the creek. It's best to use our descent route.

We followed the trail until it disappeared in a glade. You can continue straight, up a pleasant, narrow corridor, but to study our next move, we climbed the slope on our right. From a vantage point, we viewed the broad, rubbly slope leading to the summit of OXO Puzzle 500 m above us. A couple of routes looked feasible, but we were too far to assess the stability of the rocks on the slope. But to reach the base of the slope for a closer look, we had to stumble across extensive rock fields.

After drawing nearer to the slope, we settled on ascending the middle where the talus appeared stable. Halfway up, we realized the stony slope on our right was smoother and headed there. We welcomed the reprieve from the talus, but we would later hit rocks below the summit.

As we neared the summit, the grade increased along with the size of the rocks, and we gratefully stopped at the top. There was a flurry of activity as people took out their smartphones and photographed others standing with a background of distant peaks. Then we settled down to relax. After spending nearly an hour on top, we started down.

Although the stable talus slope worked well on our ascent, we wished to avoid it going down. We kept left, quickly descending a slope covered in vegetation and scattered stones. Lower down, though, we encountered loose rock, but eventually we joined our ascent route. After reaching the trees, the route was remarkably easy. We followed the grassy corridor to the trail and the trail almost to the creek. Sticking to our track, we returned to Mosquito Creek Trail.

It's puzzling that scramblers have overlooked this peak. It's in full view from Mosquito Creek Trail, yet scramblers, myself included, have passed it for bigger peaks like Mosquito Mountain and Quartzite Peak. Like those peaks, we enjoyed climbing OXO Puzzle Peak and think it's worth a summer ascent.

KML and GPX Tracks

Hiking up Mosquito Creek Trail