Big Sister

27 August 2006
Big Sister Stats, Three Sisters Stats

Climbed this one yesterday as a daytrip from Edmonton with Hank and a sinus/throat infection.
8:30 round trip including at least an hour on the summit with five other scramblers.

All in all found this mountain to be quite enjoyable. The first down-climb was easy and uninteresting, the second one descending to the base of the pinnacles just as easy and a lot of fun.

Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me. Pictures will be added when I get them from Hank.

.......Well, here they are. The pics.


On the trail, Big Sister looms overhead. Summit it out of sight at upper left.


Descending the first downclimb.


Making our way up the sweeping ridge.


Approaching the second downclimb. Here we see a scrambling victim sitting down after he and his girlfriend got slabbed out. The slabs scared them too much and the thought they were off route. The girl is actually out of frame and a bit too far right, she was scared and jettisoned her pack (again, just like when she was halfway down the first downclimb).

Almost immediately above the guy on the slabs is an inside corner to climb, then over the top to the second downclimb. Then we followed the base of the next pinnacles (big wall in photo) up to the summit visible slightly left of centre.


Hank and I at the summit. Pack tosser in the background.

Mount Yukness

Mt. Yukness stats.
5 August 2006

After getting chased away the previous day by sleet/hail/lightning we returned to scramble Yukness from Elizabeth Parker Hut.

Two words on this one. Uberfantastic views.

The scrambling get scrambly below the pinnacles en route to the mountains summit. Otherwise it's pretty easy.
Getting into the right gully helps a lot here. Stay below the pinnacles and pick your route to gain the summit ridge. I think we took the second gully from the climbers left and moved over to the third gully halfway up.

I don't think Yukness (south summit) sees a whole lot of traffic since the register has been there for 14 years (or was it 12, whatever).


Turned back from the Opabin Plateau by this weather. Photo taken from hut.


West flank of Yukness taken from Opabin Plateau less then 24 hours after the above photo.


Trev ascending Yukness.


Hank climbing one of the gully walls below the south summit ridge.


The views abound.

Mount Sparrowhawk

Mt. Sparrowhawk stats.

28 July 2006
Easy scramble with Shawn. We did this one as a daytrip from St. Albert. We hit the road at 04:30 and got back really damn late.
Most of this mountain is a looooong, easy plod. Once you hook around the summit block it is simply a steeper plod on loose scree.
Since it is 10240 feet high, you get some great views. From the summit I could see Assiniboine and Joffre easily. Although Joffre kept slipping behind cloud cover and eluding my camera.



From the ridge. Follow the drainage to get past Reads Tower, then plod plod plod up to the right side of the summit block and curve around the the easily ascended back.


On the summit, Assiniboine in the distance.


The Big Sister stands tall. A layer of stratus cloud kept Canmore socked in all day.


Shawn heading down, Mt. Nestor across the lake.

Return to Indian Ridge

Indian Ridge Stats
2 July 2006

Hank and I returned to Indian ridge on a daytrip from Edmonton for the fantastic ridgewalk offered by the traverse. Visible from Indian Ridge are some of the giants of the Canadian Rockies (Mt. Robson, Mt Edith Cavell, Mt. Fryatt, I think I could even see some of the mountains of the Columbia Icefields).

After catching the first Tram up the cable way, we quickly made it to the summit of the Whistlers. After descending from the Whistler towards Indian Ridge we stashed a litre of water in a convenient snowpatch and continued up the trail.

One bump, two bump, three bump, short scramble, summit bump. At the summit we took some time to eat, take pictures, and seriously considered a nap.

Once underway again, we were determined to find the route as described in the Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies guidebook. That particular route had eluded us the first time we traversed this mountain (and every other party I've seen or met on Indian Ridge).
And find it we did. The trail is faint and steep off the west side, but it is there and is safer than exposed scree ledges on the east side of the mountain. Because we felt it is safer (and no one we met could find it), Hank built a small cairn indicating where the trail drops off the buttress to the south of the notch.


Here I have just spotted the trail a bit further on.


Red dot is where we left the ridge crest.


Where the route drops off to the west side.


This sure is better than the east side.

From here, look at rocks resembling planks of wood and continue down scrambling the entire ridge until you hit grey scree, make a run for the valley bottom and head back over to the Whistlers.


Surveying the scramble down to the grey scree

The water we had stashed in the snow was more than welcome on this near 30 degree day.

The altimeter said this was a total ascent/descent of 1038m from the top tram station and back, and we had a total moving time of 5:08, with some serious lounging and chatting with a Norwegian and a couple from Denver our total round trip time was 8:00.

More Pictures from Indian Ridge

Hank scrambling up to the summit, Mt. Edith Cavell in the distance.


Summit cairn and Terminal Mtn. Tarn.


Mount Robson.


Mount Fryatt and Mount Edith Cavell.


The curled leaves of this small plant high on the mountain resembles a cactus.

Even More Indian Ridge Pictures

Hank descend the scant trail off the ridge and onto the west side of the mountain.


The view of the small trail near the right edge of the frame.


Mystery mountain that I spied from Cinquefoil Mtn last year. I still don't know it's identity.


Incredible rock looks like wood.

Cinquefoil part deux

Cinquefoil Mtn Stats.
22 June 2006

I headed back to this mountain with Taras as a daytrip from Edmonton. It was a nice, hot day - almost the longest day of the year in fact.

We left the car, followed the trail, skirted the lake, gained the ridge and stashed a litre of water for our return. Pretty uninteresting.

Uninteresting, until we came to a bottle neck and encountered 2 dozen Bighorns with 5 lambs on their way down the mountain. For a while we stood our ground, expecting these able bodied climbers to take a detour around us. They, however decided to stand their ground as well. After realizing that Taras and I were the guests in the Bighorn's home we began moving off the ridge to the east - onto increasingly steeper ground.
A wonderful tactic these animals use is to step up the intimidation when they see an opponent back down. For every step we moved off, the males would take two or three towards us. A few more moves and they were getting too close for comfort. This is when the ice ax and the bear spray came out.
It took a while for most of the adults and yearlings to move past us while the males kept the lambs higher on the ridge. About thirty minutes later all of the sheep had gone and the lambs had seemingly vanished with their guardians. We later saw them lower on the ridge.


Taras with the step behind him. The true summit is not visible yet.

Having enough of that business with the sheep, Taras and I continued towards the step before the ridgewalk to the summit.



This time, instead of taking the ramp I took last time, I took the rock rib on the right side of the ramp. Then halfway up the step, switched sides to the rock rib that forms the left side of the ramp.


Last year's route up in green, this year's route in red.

I found this to be fun climbing as opposed to trudging up the loose rubble. This rubble seemed smaller last year, but was just as loose.
A short while later we found ourselves on the summit and enjoyed a perfect, near windless stay.


I'm not really sure why I'm looking so miserable here. It really was nice.



What lies beyond Cinquefoil summit.

Roche Miette

Roche Miette Stats
28 August 2005
Climb for the Alberta Centennial Mountain Expedition (mountain #78) with Erin, Trevor, Marc, Hank. I am just going to poach the text that I sent the ACME for this trip. See their website for more pictures (very big and long to load).


Roche Miette, Climbed 28 August 2005 on Behalf of the Alberta Centennial Mountain Expedition.
When I first discovered the Alberta Centennial Mountain Expedition I was quite excited to volunteer for the project. Soon though, I received an email from Angus and Melany that dashed my aspirations. They had already assigned all of the mountains to other climbers. I had been placed on the backup list and resigned myself to the fact that I had missed the boat.
On the 8th of August 2005 I received a phone call from Angus. The original group assigned to Roche Miette was unable to get to the summit, so now I had my opportunity to participate. I put together a group of five that included my younger sister and some good friends. All of which had some scrambling and backcountry experience.
We planned to make our climb on the 28th of August. During the preceding week we carefully watched the weather, willing it to hold long enough so we could climb without worrying about storms.
At 3:30 AM on the 28th we left St. Albert and drove out to Jasper, meeting two of our group members in Edson. We reached the trailhead under clear skies at 7:30 AM and had geared up and started walking at 8:00 AM. As we began I would estimate the temperature was about 10°C. While walking up the cut line we proceeded in and out of some curious pockets of air that were another 10°C warmer, quite an interesting sensation to say the least.
Soon our group was hiking up the ridge and gaining elevation on our way to the saddle. Once at the upper half of the ridge, we were treated to views across the Athabasca Valley. The upper half of the ridge itself sports some very intriguing vertical flakes and striking layers of purple shale. By 10:10 AM we were enjoying the sunny skies and a bite to eat at the saddle.
Departing the saddle, the scramble begins in earnest with movement to the climbers left as elevation is gained. Most of the scrambling is over loose rock and scree, interspersed with the odd down sloping ledge. None of it proved to be particularly challenging, but it is sustained moderate (fun) scrambling.
At 11:45 AM we topped out on the plateau and were greeted with 10 minutes of sleet generously provided by the weather we had watched build over the previous hour. Wasting little time, we walked easily over to the true summit of Roche Miette approximately 600m to the South. We were standing beside the summit cairn by 12:00 PM.
We were treated to views of the Jacques Range, Mts Hawk, Colin, Perdrix, Fryatt, Pyramid, De Smet and numerous others. Photo taking and lunch commenced while we discussed how to remove the existing summit canister secured with a cable by Alan Kane. Replacement proved easy as the cable was frayed and easily released the PVC canister. As we took the requisite 360° photos we knew that we’d need to leave the summit soon. Somewhat ominous looking weather had been closing in on us since we arrived.
At 1:00 PM our group left the summit, scrambled down the mountain, and arrived at the saddle at 2:45 PM where the weather was much nicer. We descended the ridge under partly sunny skies, spotted a whitetail deer watching us from the cut line, and reached our cars at 4:30PM.
After a number of parting glances towards the striking mountain we had just spent the day with, we began our drive home with feelings of accomplishment. Of course making the necessary stop for food at Vic’s Steak, Pizza, and Curry in Hinton.
I would like to thank Angus and the Alberta Centennial Mountain Expedition on behalf of our group for affording us the opportunity to be a part of this project.
Troy Rossmann.

Climbers: Erin Rossmann, Trevor Graham, Hank Kirouac, Marc Boudreau, Troy Rossmann.Trip Stats: 1323m elevation gain, 11.1 km, 8.5 hours round trip.




View of the mountain from the adjacent ridge.


Our group takes a break at the saddle.



Marc negotiating typical terrain on Roche Miette.


Trevor getting within striking distance of the summit plateau. This is such a hero shot.


At the cairn. The true summit of this mountain is a leisurely 600m walk to the south from the point where you get onto the plateau, it is not at the top of the cliffs guarding the north face. The reason why is apparent when the mountain is viewed from the west, it's the highest spot from that vantage.

Ha Ling Peak

Ha Ling Peak Stats
21 August 2005
I convinced Hank and Marc to climb this little one the day after doing Mt Temple, and I had to be back in St. Albert for a family dinner at 5:00. Neither of them were too impressed, but I think they agreed only because I was driving.
We set a quick pace and did this one in 3 hours car to car including 30 minutes on the summit. I was home in St. Albert at 4:30, then showered and at the in-law's house at 4:52.


Hank looking around for the summit register. Mt Rundle (EEoR) behind him.
I think in the distance you can see Mt Temple also.




Troy, Marc, Hank.


Susan likes this one because it "makes you look 12".

Mt Temple Extras

Summit shot.


66km in the distance is Mt Assiniboine. In the foreground is the Consolation Lakes surrounded by Panorama Ridge, Mt Bell, Mt Quadra, Mt Bident, Mt Babel, and the Tower of Babel.

Mount Temple

Mt Temple Stats
20 August 2005, scramble with Hank and Marc.
Even with the hordes of people, I really enjoyed this one. Maybe it's because it's an 11,000'er, the weather was also fantastic, allowing endless views. We could even see Mt Assiniboine, 66km away.
The approach to this mountain takes you through Larch Valley which is subject to bear restrictions for most of the summer. We had no problems teaming up with others at the parking lot to make the minimum group size of six. In fact I think we had a group of nine including one person from Calgary, two from Toronto, and three Dr's from Lacombe.


Hiking towards Sentinel pass, Mt Temple above.


Above Sentinel Pass enroute to the grey band.
Behind Hank and Marc is Paradise Valley. Just out of view on the left is Mt Hungabee, to it's right is Ringrose Peak, Glacier Peak, and Mt Lefroy. A glimpse of Mt Victoria is on the right.


My ass.
This is the grey band, here is am checking out a chimney that we would use to descend. For the ascent we used an easy (well, not easy, but not hard either) upclimb to the right of this feature. This is all to the right of the gully recommended by some.


The Yellow Band. There are plenty of options for getting through here.


Hank eyes up the final slog to the 11,625' summit.

Tower of Babel Follow-up

The Bear of Moraine Lake.


The Old Bear of Moraine Lake.

Tower of Babel

Towel of Babel Stats
24 June 2005, scramble with Jim, Erin, and Linda B (from the RMB group).
Went with my Dad and Sister. We met up with Linda at the moraine lake parking lot and hit the Consolation Lakes trail. We got some concerned looks from the bus loads of gawkers when we breezed right on by the bear restriction sign. However, the Consolation Lakes trail marks the boundary of the restricted area, and the Tower of Babel lies outside of it.
After a few minutes, we headed up the scree gully. I found the right hand wall of the gully offered small pockets of scrambling that avoided some of the scree. Near the top, the amount of scree decreases and the rock turns orange.
After you top out, it's an easy walk to the summit plateau to enjoy the view on some ancient furniture.
At the top of the gully, we met Bill, another scrambler from the RMB group. Who, on his way down rescued my sunglasses that I had watched skid down the gully and decided to look for on descent.


Grovelling up the scree.


Heading to the summit plateau. Mt Temple dominates the background.


This is the only picture I took with the furniture in it.
There's a sofa, chair, coffee table, and a TV.
Above my Dad's head is Eiffel Peak, on the leftern (I reserve the right to invent words) edge of the photo is Deltaform and Neptuak Mtns.


Linda, Erin, Jim, Troy and the Valley of the Ten Peaks.


Beginning the descent, this shows the orange rock at the top of the gully.

Indian Ridge Traverse

Indian Ridge Stats
31 July 2005, scrambling with Hank.
After catching the bus out of Lake O'Hara Hank and I said goodbye to the others as we all went our separate ways. Hank and my separate way took us up the icefields parkway to Jasper for a night in one of the the huge car-camping grounds.
The next morning we took the 2nd flight of the day up the Whistlers cableway. From the top station we hiked the easy, maintained trail up to the Whistlers Summit. Then we ditched the sidewalk and headed SE through the alpine meadow towards the eastern tip of Indian Ridge.


Indian Ridge, summit at left. The notch is just visible near the high-point on the right of the ridge (click on picture to open).


Sometime before the summit. The top of Marmot Mtn right by the tip of my ice ax, Mt Edith Cavell at centre in the distance.


At the summit register. One of the booklets was full so I grabbed it and sent it to the Whyte Museum.
I believe that the orange mountain in the background is unnamed. Regardless, it has spectacular coloration was not uncommon in the valley south of Indian Ridge.


Ok, this is the tricky part of the traverse.
This is the buttress that makes up the left hand side of the notch when looking at the ridge from the Whistlers. The notch itself is at the right of this picture and is insurmountable to a scrambler. The left hand side of this buttress is readily accessible from the summit.
The route description indicated that we should drop down onto the other side (west) of the mountain to get around the notch, then regain the ridge and complete the traverse.
What happened was: We first crossed a wiggly chockstone to examine the drop off at the notch, we realized there indeed was no way we'd get down that in once piece so we turned around and explored the W side of the mountain for half an hour or more looking for the route mentioned in our guidebook. We did not find one. Reluctant to turn around we explored the east side of the buttress and found that it could be bypassed on this side on wide, considerably sloped, loose scree ledges.
So that's the way we went. After you get back onto the ridge, just follow it down, cross the meadow, hike up to the Whistlers, and jam your sweaty-been-living-in-the-mountains-for-five-days self into one of the cable cars with 30 other people and go home. Easy.


Here is another picture I took of Hawk Mtn on the drive back to Edmonton.

Yukness Ledge Alpine Route

30 July 2005
Hank, Trevor, Roland, and I detoured along the Yukness Ledges on our way back to Lake O'Hara from Abbot pass.
It's an easy hike skirting Mt Yukness that could seem airy to the casual tourist.


Lake O'Hara and Mt Odaray.


Paul and Heather far below on the trail back to Lake O'Hara.

Abbot Pass

Abbot Pass Story
29, 30 July 2005. Hut trip with Paul, Hank, Heather and Trevor.
This is a hike/scree party up a gully for 600m of elevation gain.
Listen to the warnings. Wear a helmet, stick to the trail/middle. We had a close call with a dinner plate (more like a serving tray) rock spinning on edge at about mach 3.
In 2004 there was fatality due to rockfall near the top of this gully.
We had spent the previous night at the Elizabeth Parker Huts. We hit the trail in the morning and hiked to Lake Oesa, from there you turn up the gully and proceed to pull the mountain of loose scree around you. There is nothing really challenging about it, but the treadmill scree does get old.
Once at the top you find Abbot Pass hut where we spent the night. It is as cool as it looks in the pictures. Since the objectives from here, Mt Victoria and Mt Lefroy, are both technical objectives it was the end of the line for us.


One of the trail-building marvels left behind by Lawrence Grassi.


Paul approaches Lake Oesa.


The typical view, and the typical slogging.


The hut at the pass, Mt Victoria behind.

Hawk Mountain

Hawk Mountain Stats.
3 July 2005
Scrambling with Hank, another daytrip from Edmonton. This one wasn't so easy. It's long - about 16km round trip, and a total ascent of over 1600m.
To budget for time, think 10 hours return, the guidebook is a bit misguided in this respect.


At the chimney. We chose to ascend the slabs to the right on 5' or 6' ledges.
When you go to inspect the chimney, wear your helmet. When I went to look at the possibility of using the chimney I got a shower of rocks from above (wind moves tree, tree sways, rocks at base of tree start to roll - that's my theory anyway), luckily I had donned the helmet right before.


Climbing the slabs that bypass the chimney.


Typical scrambling on sloping slabs covered in small debris above the chimney and below the ridge. Watch your footing in this entire section. I can't imagine having to run from a bear here, see Sonny Bou's website.
On descent Hank lost his helmet in at the top of this section. It rolled and rolled, then silence as it leapt out over the cliff. That was a bit of a reality check, some ass-scooting and slow, deliberate moves followed. I think he's still offering beer for the return of the helmet. It was last seen falling through space at 11 U 429275 5875711 from 1622m.


Surveying the slabs that lead to the summit. Nothing very challenging ahead but it is a scramble.

Adding my autograph to the register. Mt. Colin in the background.

Fairview Mountain

Fairview Mtn. Stats.
21 June 2005
Scramble with Hank. This is an easy one from Lake Louise, I don't recall any actual scrambling, only hiking.


Yep, this view sure is fair. They got that right.
From left to right is Mt Aberdeen, Mt Lefroy, and Mt Victoria.


Me with Mt Temple as a backdrop.


The scene on Aberdeen. These two skiers almost bought it after triggering an avalanche.


Same as above with digital zoom. Looks like hazards were high, but they both made it out.
It took them awhile but they set up a belay, got themselves out of trouble and then skied like hell to get out of there.

The Onion

After getting to Bow Hut, Erin, Trevor, Hank, and I headed up to the top of the Onion.
It's a short, easy scramble from Bow Hut. Basically it's the only thing to climb from the hut which does not require technical mountaineering or glacier travel.


On the slopes of the Onion, The Wapta Icefield and Mount St. Nicholas in the background.


And there we are.


Oops, wrong picture. Since it's here though, Bow Hut is visible up on the cliff from the moraines.


The Onion is front and centre as viewed from Bow Lake. To the left of it is Mount St. Nick, and Mt. Olive. To the right is the Bow Glacier with Bow Falls below it.

Bow Hut 2005

19, 20 June 2005
Another fantastic trip to Bow Hut.
This time with Jim, Erin, Heather, Trevor, and Hank.


Crossing the boulder bridge at the beginning of the first canyon.


One of the stream crossings near the beginning of the moraine.


In the moraine with the Wapta Icefield overhanging the headwall.


At the hut.


Beginning the hike down.

EEoR, again.

EEoR Stats.
18 May 2005
Scramble with Hank. This one was a originally scheduled as a daytrip from Edmonton to climb Rimwall. Unfortunately when we cruised by Rimwall on the highway we saw this.

Sure enough, we drove down Spray Lakes Rd to the trailhead and found it had been snowing, and continued to snow on this mountain. This localized bit of weather hung around for at least a few hours.

So we decided to go have coffee at the EEoR summit.


On the way, Ha Ling Peak, Mt. Lawrence Grassi in the background.


Hank's ass.


Fresh roasted Zimbabwe AAA coffee made with snow from a lingering cornice.


At the top of the chute leading to the scree run.

Cinquefoil Mountain

Cinquefoil Mtn Stats.
24 April 2005
Scrambling with Paul and Hank as a daytrip from Edmonton. This is an easy one between the town of Jasper and the Jasper Park Gate.
Beware of ticks!!! There are loads of Bighorn Sheep and some Mountain Goats in this area and in the spring, the ticks are ravenous. They could care less whether they eat you or a sheep.
Make sure you know how to deal with a feasting tick properly to avoid Lyme Disease. Lyme Disease Foundation
The mountain itself is fairly easy to climb, IIRC it's about 12km round trip with an elevation gain of approx 1200m.
Hiking through the hillside meadows before we gained the ridge there were about two dozen sheep. You pass the sheep and gain the ridge via a weakness. Once on the ridge there are a couple of trails to follow. I think as long as you're going up there is no getting lost.
Interestingly there is a wide cut line along this ridge to treeline. It's ugly, but I gather it's there for fire control. You know, you have to protect the forestry industry's inventory east of the park in case a wildfire breaks out inside the National Park.
Anyway, once you break free of the treeline you'll see a foreshortened and imposing view of what lies ahead of you. In reality it's not as imposing as it looks from head on, and actually pretty easy of you use the correct route. Once above this step it's an easy (30 minutes) 1.1km further and 170 more vertical meters to the true summit of Cinquefoil Mtn.
Check for ticks then return the same way and check for ticks, then drive to a restaurant and check for ticks, once home leave all your clothes in the garage and check for ticks.


Close to tree line, the false summit ahead. From the false summit to the true summit it is an easy ridgewalk.


Here is a better view of the step up to the false summit.
The route we used was easy. Looking at this picture, count three big slabs over from the left, then you'll see the two small ramps near the centre of the picture. We used the small ramp on the right. It is plenty wide to easily ascend.


Hank and Paul climbing the aforementioned ramp.


Once at the false summit, this is what you see. A simple walk along the ridge 1.1km away and up 170m to the true summit.


Hank signs the register. It is absolutely possible to go farther along this mountain range, just how far I do not know. Next time.

Bald Hills

3 April 2005
Snowshoeing with Hank.
Bald Hills is a moderate hiking trail near Maligne Lake. We did it as a daytrip from Edmonton on a perfect spring day. There was about 4' of consolidated snow on the trail. Stepping off the trail would put you into thigh deep powder even with snowshoes. Next time I'd ski it to facilitate a quicker descent.


Breaking trail up to the lookout.


Hank's turn to break trail.


My trekking pole set at 48" buried to the hilt.


At the Bald Hills Lookout. Guess how hard it is to set your camera's self timer and run out in front with snowshoes on.
As you can see by the tracks we had to move closer after a couple of failed attempts.

Roche Miette

Roche Miette stats.
29 Sept 2004, failed attempt with Dan.
1 Oct 2004, successful scramble with Hank.
On our first attempt Dan and I started on the wrong trail, as many do. Make sure you take the correct trail along the ridge, keep a lookout for the indicative logs, surveying tape, cairn on the proper trail, you'll be happier. Dan made it as far as the saddle, I went a bit further, but not much. For SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed) had explained to me that I would not be scrambling alone.
A week later I went back with Hank, we used the correct trail along the ridge to the saddle. On this ridge are some cool vertical flakes that look like the scaly protrusions on a lizards back.
After the saddle the scrambling begins in earnest, arcing around to the climbers left. Follow the little fluorescent tape markers. This is sustained moderate scrambling and a cool climb.
For our descent we dropped down from the saddle directly into the drainage. It looked like nice scree for a fast and furious descent. It wasn't, the small scree is consolidated and the big stuff is too big and awkward to run down. Once down into the drainage we picked up the trail that cuts across the central spur (this trail is the incorrect ascent trail many people take from the cut line) and hiked back to the car.


Flakes (and Hank) on the ridge before the saddle.


The view of Roche Miette from the saddle. Veer left, cross over the gully and go up.


On top.


Hank on descent, I think that's one of the "rotten" peaks behind Hank that Alan Kane refers to in his guidebook.


Fun times. This is me coming down a sloping ledge coated in verglas.

East End of Rundle

EEoR Stats.
9 Sept 2004
Scramble with Hank. An easy one we did as a daytrip from Edmonton.
When we got to Canmore the weather was looking bleak. Low cloud and seemingly imminent rain. But we headed up the mountain anyway and soon broke out of the clouds and were treated to some especially nice views of cloud filled valleys with islands of mountains protruding from below.
A short section of fun, easy hands-on scramblng near the top if you stick to the ridge. Definitely is more fun than that scree gully would be for ascending.


Breaking through the cloud layer, Ha Ling Peak and Mt Lawrence Grassi in the background.


The fun stuff.


More fun stuff.


View from the top.


Entering the scree gully on descent.

Geraldine Lakes

22-26 July 2004
Backcountry camping with Hank.
Staying out at Geraldine Lakes is a fantastic excursion. I really love this place. The hike in takes you past Lk. 1, past a small tarn (Lk. 1.5), over talus fields (and talus fields that hide the river that flows between Lk.2 and Lk. 1 - listen carefully as you cross and you can hear the water far below). Before getting to Lk. 2 there is a 90m waterfall that makes a great lunch spot. To the left of the waterfall is a steep slog up to Lk. 2, at the other end is the four site campground.
There is a small trail leading from the footbridge at Lk. 2 to Lakes 3 and 4. These are easier to get to than Lk. 2 and far more spectacular.

On this trip Hank and I decided to go explore the pass leading to the Divergence Creek area. On previous trips we had explored the ridges of Whirlpool Mountain and it's outliers to the South.

The description of Whirlpool Mtn and Mt Geraldine at Peakfinder.com have recently changed. They were previously both described as the same mountain with two separate unofficial names. Now it indicates that Whirlpool Mtn is the one on the west side of the valley and Mt Geraldine is the one on the east side of the valley and is an outlier of Mt Fryatt.
I had also previously understood that they were the same mountain as well, but this new revelation does makes sense I guess.


Hank starting the slog beside the waterfall.


Mt Fryatt and Geraldine Lake 4 from the NW.


Enjoying the views, watching approaching weather. Right after this we bailed and rushed back to camp. We were caught by a thunderstorm about 20 minutes from camp.


View from the pass into the Divergence Creek area.


A crude 360 degree pano from the pass.

Mount Lawrence Grassi

Mt. Lawrence Grassi Stats.
26 June 2004
Scramble up with Hank, scramble down with Hank and another group's straggler who was outside her comfort zone.
This was a foggy one. No views all of the way up, limited views once at the summit. And of course it started clearing about 30 minutes after we started our decent.


The obligatory stupid self portrait.


Me on one summit. Getting pelted with ice here.


Hank on the other summit.


We're leaving, so here comes the sun.


Emily and Hank. When we were hiking out on the approach along the canal we could see Emily's group reaching the summit.

Grotto Mountain

Grotto Mtn Stats.
22 June 2004
Scramble with Paul.
This one was by far one of my least favorite failures. We had to turn around before getting too late for dinner with my parents and some guests in Canmore. We should have had enough time, however we wasted a lot of it searching for the correct trail at the base of the mountain. It was also stinking hot and the noise from Canmore's booming condo-constructing industry, tourist helicopters, trains, and the trans Canada highway was ever present.
Eventually we did find the correct trail and made it to the ridge, but were still a click or two from the summit.


An interesting rock on one of the cairns.


Paul makes his way to the top of the ridge.


Me on the ridge with Mt. Lady Macdonald and Mt. Charles Stewart in the background.


Paul and a better view of Mts. Lady Mac and Charles Stewart.


End of the line for us today, true summit of Grotto in the distance.

Bow Hut

20-21 June 2004
Moderate hike to the ACC hut and some easy scrambling on the Onion with Hank, Erin and Paul.
As we were having coffee at NumTiJah Lodge before starting our hike the weather was tentative. There was drizzle on and off until we were halfway up the second canyon. Luckily it didn't get any heavier and then dissipated for the remainder of out trip. After unpacking at the hut Hank, Erin and I decided to go scramble up the Onion while Paul stayed at the hut and rested. We told Paul we'd be back for dinner at 6:00. We hadn't reached the top of the Onion by 6:30 so we decided to turn around and head back to the hut. Paul was maaaaaaaaaad. He had believed us when we said 6:00 and cooked the chicken. I think we were forgiven by the next day. Maybe.
I love going up to Bow Hut. The feeling you get when you turn the corner into that second canyon and the view headwall with the Wapta overhanging opens up is fantastic. Also, Bow Hut has the best deck location I've ever had the pleasure of seeing.


Erin, Hank, Paul, Myself on the steps of the hut.


Headwall in the distance.


Into the moraine.


The Bow Hut deck.


Erin and I scrambling on the Onion.

Sulphur Skyline

12 June 2004
Moderate Dayhike with Hank, Heather, Trevor.
This is a relatively easy hike near Miette Hotsprings. A maintained trail takes you to the crest of a ridge above treeline. Be careful the gangs of bold Richardson's Ground Squirrels will mug you for food.

Alpine plateau below the ridge summit.


This quick glimpse of Utopia Mountain that you can see between Trev and Hank was the best view we had all day.

Mount Lawrence Grassi

Mt Lawrence Grassi Stats.
6 May 2004
Scramble with Hank.
While driving down to Canmore from Edmonton the night before, we ran into a bad snowstorm. That little snowstorm dropped about 8" to 10" of snow in the town of Canmore by morning. We decided to go for Grassi anyway. Little did we know we were beaten from the beginning. Also, it may have been a bad idea to stay up until 4am the previous night.
The view of Ship's Prow, Mt L. Grassi, and Ha Ling Peak from the house we stayed at in the morning.


The Goat Range reflected in the canal.


This was as close as we got to the summit before fatigue and conditions turned us back.


Dejected.

Heart Mountain

Heart Mtn Stats.
25 April 2004
Scramble with Hank and Paul
Simple, straightforward scramble near Canmore that we did as a daytrip from Edmonton


Paul and I near the bottom of Heart Mtn.


On the trail up.


Paul climbing the upper gully. This feature is about 3/4 of the way up the mountain. It and an upclimb at 1/2 way up are the only two actual scrambling bits on this mountain. Otherwise it's just a steep hike.


View from the 1st summit (and Hank).

OK. Where to start Since the blog is a new format for me I think I'll start with my oldest trip (2004 to present) first.
Instead of having numerous pictures and a bit of text for each photo like the old site, I think I'll try a few photos from each excursion and a short summary to go along with it.

More mountain stuff to follow shortly.