Door Jamb Mountain (~1950 m) an Loder Peak (~2050 m)
Summary
Area: Canmore
Trip Date: 2025 Oct 04
Trip Duration: 3 hrs 45 min (plus a 30 min scenic detour)
Elevation Gain: 880 m
Total Distance: 6.8 km (plus a 0.3 km scenic detour)
Difficulty: Easy to Moderate Scrambling
Accompanied By: Dan
Beta: N/A
Notes: Kananaskis Conservation Pass required.
Trip Report
The route up Door Jamb Mountain and Loder Peak seems to be a popular trip for shoulder season, but isn’t especially well-documented. Many well-worn trails weave their way up to the peak. In winter conditions, a line closely following the ridge is probably the obvious choice, but without snow present an easy trail bypasses most of the narrower ridge sections up to Door Jamb Mountain. The on-trail route to Door Jamb requires one short section of slab scrambling, which some may find closer to moderate difficulty. Beyond Door Jamb, solid route-finding can keep the path to Loder Peak as easy scrambling.
The toe of Door Jamb Mountain abuts a transmission right-of-way with several access points. Jura Creek Trailhead is an obvious place to start, as it has a good sized parking lot with an outhouse. From the transmission right-of-way, we will turn uphill at the rise ahead and begin our trek up Door Jamb Mountain.Even from the turn-off, several trails exist. We simply picked the line we liked best and started on our way.Looking back across Jura Creek (center) and the Bow Valley.The terrain grew more slabby and interesting as we gained elevation. Several trails seemed to braid over themselves, all trending in the same direction. The key piece of navigation for the route will be at the slabs visible in the distance ahead – it is essential to gain the slabs sooner, rather than later.As large slabs begin to emerge above the trail to the right, it is necessary to head up them within the first roughly 50 m. Further than this, the slabs only get taller and steeper. We initially followed an obvious trail below the slab, but about 15 min later, found ourselves looking at bolted sport-climbs (which turned out to be Door Jamb Slabs climbing crag). This was obviously not the scramble route, so we back-tracked to one of the easier lines we had passed to gain the slab. This shot is at the top of the shortest slab section, looking across where the bolted lines lie.After gaining the ridge, we only briefly kept to its spine before hopping up this slab section to the right, and then dropping down onto easy trail again.Approaching the top of Door Jamb mountain, the terrain flattens out and the peak is not obvious. We briefly said hello to another group, and continued on our way.Looking across to Loder Peak from Door Jamb Mountain, the terrain looks pretty gnarly! As is often the case, once up close, an easy line can be found zig-zagging through trickier sections.Typical scrambling between Door Jamb and Loder. Slab walls that looked technical from the distance revealed weaknesses upon closer inspection, offering easy lines up or around.The final push to Loder Peak looked like it might be more of a scramble. But, upon closer inspection, an obvious trail bypassed behind it to climber’s right.Standing at Loder Peak with Mount Yamnuska in the distance (left).Gazing across Ankle-Biter Ridge to the the Bow Valley beyond.We returned the way we came, back down the slab section below Door Jamb Mountain. This is the only section that some might find closer to moderate scrambling, depending on how they feel about slab climbing. The rock is very grippy and felt solid.
Our total trip time was 4 hrs 15 min, but this includes a detour to Door Jamb Slabs, which is not part of the scramble route. Our time on route was 3 hrs 45 min. Door Jamb Mountain and Loder Peak make for a fun, quick little outing!
Peak Bliss 