Scramble Eiffel Peak For Incredible Views

When a friend suggested a scramble up Eiffel Peak on one of the hottest days of the year, I can’t say I jumped at the idea. Don’t get me wrong, the views from the summit of Eiffel Peak are incredible, but hauling up a mountain in plus 30 degree weather isn’t usually for me, I’m English after all, I burn and overheat very, very easily! Tie into this the fact that an ascent up Eiffel Peak involves parking at the notoriously busy Moraine Lake parking lot and I was somewhat out off.

However I hadn’t scrambled anything big all summer and had ended up having an otherwise incredibly lazy weekend so it was agreed, to avoid the parking issues we’d get up and meet at the parking lot at 5:30am for an early ascent up Eiffel Peak.

The Trail Head

The fastest way to gain the Eiffel Peak trail is via Moraine Lake. As I mentioned, it’s a busy place and you’ll often arrive and be turned away due to the parking lot being full. With the pandemic currently gripping the world, Parks Canada are also not running shuttles to the lake this year either. Get up early to avoid disappointment if Eiffel Peak is on your to do list! The parking lot is often filled by 6:30am with people wanting to catch the sunrise on Moraine Lake and its surrounding peaks.

To get to the Moraine Lake parking lot, exit Highway One at the Lake Louise junction, head towards the town and go straight through the first and second four way crossings. Head up the hill towards Lake Louise and the turn off for Moraine Lake is on the left hand side part way up the hill. Follow the road until the end and park in the main parking lot by the lake.

Scrambling Eiffel Peak

Distance: Approximately 6km one way.

Elevation gain: 1300m 

The start of the Eiffel Peak scramble is nothing more than a hike and a somewhat popular hike at that! Following the trail beside the lake, past the front of the Moraine Lake Lodge and the canoe docks, a trail then heads up to the right off the lake trail. Be prepared for this section of the trail to be busy as it is the start of many many hikes and scrambles in the Moraine Lake area. The trail winds up through the forest, starting somewhat steeply before levelling out into big long switchbacks. They feel like they go on forever but it’s easy elevation gain. 

At the top of the switchbacks a bench greets you for a quick sit down to catch your breath before moving on. At the bench there is also a junction with a trail sign, the left hand trail heads out towards Eiffel Lake…. don’t be fooled, this isn’t the route you’ll want to take to scramble Eiffel Peak! The right hand trail to Larch Valley and Sentinel Pass is the trail needed.

Heading up the trail, it’s very obvious why this trail is called Larch Valley and come mid September the valley is packed with hikers out to enjoy the incredible changing colours of Larch Valley. The trail through the valley is fairly flat. Shortly after a wooden bridge crossing a small path cuts through the forest to the left, quickly getting you to a creek where you’ll have to rock hop across. This is the start of the Eiffel Peak scrambling route. 

Once across the creek the skinny trail cuts steeply up through the forest as you head up to gain the ridge. This trail is unofficial and therefore I maintained, plus Eiffel Peak isn’t a super popular scramble so the trail is skinny and almost looks like it leads nowhere as it winds and whips through the forest while you have to climb over called trees. 

The trees very quickly give way to grass as you emerge on to the ridge below Eiffel Peak. The views look out across Larch Valley and the trail to Sentinel Pass can be seen switchbacking up the pass at the far end of the valley. On the other side the valley of 10 peaks runs parallel and the trail to Eiffel Lake can be seen running through the bottom. Take some time on the ridge, it’s the flattest ground you’ll be on for a while, it makes a perfect spot to refuel before the grind really begins!

As the trail leaves the grassy ridge, look for cairns to guide you through the rocky landscape. The trail to start with is fairly clear, well worn into the mountain and easy to follow. As you gain elevation however the trail gets faint at times and braided, although all these trails seem to come back to one trail fairly quickly. There is a small section of hands on scrambling about a third of the way up. Its short and fairly easy on mostly solid rock before you are back on loose rocky scree following the trail steeply up again.

The last third to a quarter of the ascent up Eiffel Peak are a much more solid scramble as you ascend a number of rock bands. Nothing incredibly hard but some seriously loose rock can be found in one gully….it’s here you’ll want to out your helmet on if you haven’t already. If there is more than one group trying to ascend or descend at once rocks will start flying! At the top of the gully you’ll look up at a solid and straight up rock face, skirt the base of this to the left before picking up the trail through the gully to the summit.

When we ascended a large snow patch covered the whole gully up from here making a tradition ascent impossible. Instead we kept close to the rock face and scrambled up some pretty steep but solid rock before gaining the ridge and finding the obvious trail to the summit. Never forget….it’s much easier to ascend than descend. If you aren’t sure, always play it safe, there is no shame in turning around and calling it a day!

Once at the summit you are greeted by a giant cairn, don’t forget to find the registry and sign your name! There was lots of space left as well as a pen when we were up there in August 2020. We were super lucky to have the summit to ourselves in almost perfect summit weather, warm and sunny with very little wind! We spent almost an hour at the summit enjoying the views and eating some much deserved snacks. Temple Mountain, Eiffel Peaks considerably larger closest neighbour dominates the views to one side while over in the distance Moraine Lake glows bright blue far down in the valley.

It took up approximately 4 hours to scramble up Eiffel Peak and around 3 hours down. Coming down was hard work, it was steep and we often had to wait for people ascending to come out of the gullys to avoid throwing rocks down on anyone. Good hiking boots and poles are a must as well as a climbing helmet for this trip. 

For me the effort to reward ratio of the Eiffel Peak scramble is well in favour of the reward end of the scale. Yes it’s steep ascending and you knees won’t like you on the way down but the scramble up seemed to go, at least for me, very quickly. It felt like no time at all before we were sat, enjoying the sun and taking in the incredible views. Eiffel Peak really does deliver on insane views, glaciers, bright blue lakes and mountains as far as you can see in every single direction you look, there are many summit views this expansive! 

I can’t recommend this scramble enough, however don’t forget this is a scramble and not a hike. There is some hands on scrambling which is unavoidable, a lot of the trail is on loose rock and this shouldn’t be attempted as a first scramble. It’s also key to have the right gear, not only for your safety but your enjoyment!