Category: general

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general

The wildlife tour of K-Country

This was supposed to be a day of skiing in K-Country, but ended up being a wildlife safari instead.

 

Coyote looks at us dubiously as we pull alongside – the tamest coyote I’ve ever seen, someone must have been feeding him

 

 

Ponders whether we’re going to give him any food

 

 

No food is forthcoming it seems

 

 

Well I’ll just keep moving along then

 

 

Rocky Mountain Bighorn sheep furiously licking the road and nibbling on stones. They’re pretty persistent at this, and will happily ignore oncoming traffic, even when they’re standing in the middle of the road. It seems to pay off for them, I don’t think they often end up as roadkill.

 

 

Bald eagle – sits in a distant tree and studiously ignores the raucous ravens sitting in the tree alongside

 

Categories
general

SNOW!

Following the infamous drought of 09/10, we finally got some new snowfall! Look, there’s at least a few millimetres there.

 

(Alright, there may have been a few more centimetres on top of that, but overall the warm dry Winter is still holding. Henceforth is shall be known as Spring)

 

To give the Canadian snow some encouragement, I’m going to show it a picture taken in the snow in Australia:

 

Actual photo taken on a ski trip in Australia, at Mt St. Gwinear in 2003

 

And we all know it doesn’t even snow in Australia.

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bikes canada general trip reports

Ha Ling Peak again

No-one else wanted to come and play, so I did a solo bike-hike up Ha Ling (aka Chinaman’s) Peak. The trail was still pretty snowy – though down low there were some bare/mud/killer ice patches, then it was back to packed snow of varying slush levels.

The Yaktrax worked great for it (underneath the shoe they’re a diamond pattern of wire spiralled over rubber – grippy enough unless you’re on ice, then something spiky would be better – apparently some people don’t like the Yaktrax as they fall apart? Maybe if you’re running in them).

 

Ze goggles

 

 

Snowy trail

 

 

Yaktrax, and my 5-10 shoes which are coming apart at the front and letting snow, water and mud in. Toes nice and wet by the end of the day.

 

 

Summit shot from Ha Ling Peak, looking out over Canmore, and Grotto Mountain, and towards Calgary

 

 

Steep drop-off, there’s a few rock routes up the cliff below me.

 

 

Back down the hill to rescue the bike from the tree it was tied to, then down the road to home.

 

Categories
canada general snow trip reports

Dolomite Circuit, Icefields Parkway

 

Dolomite Peak. We started from the road, down in the trees on the right. Now heading round to the left, behind the Peak. The full loop is 19km.

 

 

The skin track is a highway after weeks without snow

 

 

Up and up and out of the trees

 

 

Now if only it had snowed recently

 

 

Skiing down to Katharine Lake, the slope is covered in tracks. Covered!

 

 

Along the flat around the back of Dolomite Peak, before climbing up to the col

 

 

Atop the col, about to descend. The memory of the trip from here back to the car doesn’t seem so bad, but I know when you’re skiing it, it seems like a terrible torment that lasts forever. And I lost my sunglasses.

 

Categories
general hiking

The first Winter Ha Ling Peak hike

Early February – it’d been warm for weeks, so the decision was made to hike up Ha Ling Peak (aka Chinaman’s). The trail was mostly covered in packed snow – some icy patches before the first switchback, but otherwise, largely snow all the way, and easy walking with Yaktrax on. A few other people were out there with mountaineering boots, even crampons – and on the other end of the scale, a stubborn couple was managing with just sneakers.

 

From the summit – looking out over Canmore and the Bow Valley towards Banff

 

A gorgeous warm day, it was warmer than some Summer days I’ve hiked up there. And once you broke free of the trees, it was pretty easy to pick your way along snow-free scree (or stay on the snowy path).

 

From the summit – looking out over Canmore and the Bow Valley towards Calgary – and long mountain shadows, as it’s getting late (we got down to the car just on sunset I think)

 

Not the winteriest Winter.

 

Hiking down again, looking across from the saddle below Ha Ling towards the peak of Lawrence Grassi proper