Lady MacDonald 

Difficulty: Challenging 
Distance: 7.9 km 
Elevation Gain: 920 m 
Parking: Cougar Creek Trailhead
Trail Report: Lady MacDonald
Combine With: Montane, Horseshoe
Download GPX File

Extend your Run

Local Tips

  • Mount Lady MacDonald is a popular trail among local runners looking to put vert on their legs all year round. The trail will be typically well packed down within three days or so of major snowfall events. Microspikes are advisable through the winter and into the spring.

  • There are several places along the route where the trail splits, particularly in the upper third and through the boulder field. While there is one main marked trail, all of these trail deviations tend to come back together at some point. Make sure to look up every so often to ensure that you are on the correct route, and take a look back down so that you are familiar for the descent.

  • The route described here goes as far as the site of the former, now defunct teahouse. There is an impossible to miss bench here to mark this point.

  • Beyond the bench, the trail to the ridge becomes less clearly defined and braided. There are a number of ways to gain the summit ridge, but all of them involved scree and loose footing. Be aware of people above and below you if continuing on, and make sure that you are comfortable descending anything you go up as you’ll be coming down the same way. From the summit ridge, the scramble route to the true summit of Mount Lady MacDonald involves serious, knife-edge, scrambling. In winter, large cornices can form along this ridge. Use caution if attempting.