Excelsior Mountain (2744 m), Centre Mountain (2700 m), and Amber Mountain (2555 m)

Summary

Area: Skyline, Jasper
Trip Date: 2023 Sept 10
Trip Duration: 8 hrs 30 min from Tekarra Campsite (Allow 15 hrs 30 min from Signal Trailhead)
Elevation Gain: 1240 m from Tekarra Campsite (Allow 2280 m from Signal Trailhead)
Total Distance: 13.4 km from Tekarra Campsite (Allow 42 km from Signal Trailhead)
Difficulty: Easy to Difficult (But Avoidable) Scrambling
Accompanied By: Solo
Beta: A Peakbagger’s Guide To The Canadian Rockies – North
Notes: It probably doesn’t make sense to include Amber in this loop as it requires either extremely difficult scrambling or elevation loss and gain to bypass. In contrast, an ascent of Amber is trivial while backpacking Skyline Trail. The fire road up to Signal campsite was impacted by the Jasper Wildfire in 2024.

Trip Report

If you loved the endless boulder hopping of Pyramid Mountain and are looking for more, a loop over Excelsior and Centre Mountains is the trip for you! Center Mountain has some of the best views of Skyline Trail, being situated in the middle of the bowl. I would probably leave Amber Mountain out of the trip. If backpacking Skyline Trail, it is a detour of a few minutes. But, the ridge joining it to Centre Peak is some of the loosest, most exposed scrambling I’ve done. To keep the grade at easy scrambling, this ridge could be bypassed, but would require additional elevation loss and gain – both options seem like more effort than the peak is worth.

My day started out from Tekarra Campsite. I had backpacked in from the Signal trailhead the previous day and stashed my bike at Signal Campsite on the way. I also summitted Mount Tekarra the previous day. I left my camping gear at Tekarra Campsite this morning and set out with just a daypack. Heading east from any point in the campsite seems to be about the same: Around 200m of bushwhacking until a rocky clearing opens up.

About 200 m east of Tekarra Campsite a rocky clearing opens up. Excelsior is at the left of this photo, with a thick band of trees blocking the way. I spotted a thin line in the trees and, as I got closer, heard running water. I followed this small stream up until above treeline. It was fairly easy.

Standing along the small stream, looking down the thin clear (ish) path.

Above treeline the stream broadens a bit. After crossing this meadow the boulder-hopping extravaganza begins. The rocky summit section ahead gets steep in places, with precariously balanced boulders, which I didn’t feel trusting of. From far back I picked a line more to the left to stay away from slopes I didn’t like. Maybe it was just the morning light.

Approaching the summit of Excelsior Mountain.

Looking down Excelsior’s steep Northeast face. The Watchtower is in the background.

Reaching the peak of Excelsior. The familiar shape of Mount Edith Cavell (Just right of center) dominates the horizon. Throne Mountain (To the right of Edith Cavell) looks remarkably like its namesake from this angle.

Beginning along the ridge towards Centre Mountain.

Coming up on Centre Mountain. The route is obvious with no real troubles.

Nearing the summit of Centre, ever boulder-hopping.

The summit has a register, but I couldn’t get it open. Note to self: Pack Leatherman.

Am I getting worse with the timer…. Or better?

Looking along the next portion of ridge connecting Centre to Amber. Amber Mountain is the small hill above the snow patch.

A bit of interesting rock along the ridge. The descent of Centre is in the background.

Coming up on the final portion of the ridge connecting Centre and Amber. The edges of the ridge are loose, steep, and more effort than sticking to the ridgeline. Most of the ridgeline isn’t as steep as it looks, but the final few meters are probably low fifth class climbing, exactly as steep as it looks in this picture. A better plan would probably have been to lose additional elevation and bypass to the left.

Most of the ridgeline isn’t too bad. The sides of the ridge are loose and unpleasant. The last few meters of the ridgeline get a lot worse, but I was too preoccupied to snap a photo.

After tackling the final, terrible section of the ridge, and then pausing to say hello to some bewildered looking backpackers, I finally reached the summit of Amber Mountain.

At the left is the high point in the ridge between Centre and Amber. A lot of elevation is lost on the way to Amber. The faint horizontal line in the foreground of this photo is Skyline Trail. If backpacking Skyline Trail, one could almost summit this peak without noticing.

The final portion of the loop was easy hiking back to Tekarra Campsite on Skyline Trail.

The marmots are so habituated to humans that this one didn’t even run away from me. Marmot-butt selfie!

After picking up my camping gear from Tekarra Campsite, I backpacked 6km out to Signal Campsite where I had stashed my bike the previous day. I made sure my brakes were still working and then flew down the fire road.

I had backpacked in the previous day in 4 hrs 20 min. The full loop over Excelsior, Centre, and Amber was 8 hrs 30 min and then the backpack out was 2 hrs 40 min (With the help of a bike). I’m grateful for this second experience of Skyline Trail. I backpacked the full trail in two days in July 2020 with Dan and a friend. We passed someone on the trail complaining that they could have just set their treadmill up in the shower and had the same experience – this succinctly captured what it was like. The clouds were so thick and the rain so heavy on that trip that we couldn’t even see Amber Mountain from the trail despite almost walking right over it. This September 2023 trip changed my mind. I now agree that Skyline Trail in Jasper is one of the most beautiful hikes any person can do.

It is often true that the less impressive peak tends to have the best views. That is certainly true for Centre Mountain. Centre also had the easiest scrambling and looks to have no bushwhacking if done alone. The bushwhacking to Excelsior was quite easy and worthy of inclusion in a loop. Just skip Amber Mountain.