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canada general hiking trip reports

Heart Mountain by semaphore

On a day so windy that we thought we’d be blown off the mountain (and I was wondering about the boots from The Blood-and-Thunder Adventure on Hurricane Peak), we decided to hike up Heart Mountain. The trees were whipping around like mad, and as a strong gust of wind came along we had to crouch to avoid being blown over (or off the mountain, you can never be too careful). It was delightfully sunny though, and the track was mostly bare – although some snow patches remained. Lots of trail braiding too, so it was easy enough to choose a trail that didn’t go through the snow in most cases.

 

Walking back down from the summit – lovely and sunny, but too windy to hang out (or to want to keep doing the full loop hike around the rest of the ridge-line)

 

 

Summit views along the Bow Valley towards Canmore (Grotto Mountain on the right, Mt Lawrence Grassi and Mt Rundle off in the distance on the left)

 

 

Out towards the plains of Calgary and the scenic lime factory

 

 

Scree, scree, and more scree. And a cement factory. And Exshaw.

 

 

Heart Mountain – if you use your imagination you can see how it got its name – the limestone does form a sort of heart shape. I’ve heard of a few misguided guys trying to drag their partners up here as a romantic spot for a proposal, only to have their partners kick up a stink at the scrambling sections. Sure, the name has potential, but you could pick a better hike for a proposal.

 

For reference, this is the one tricky part at about half-way that is mentioned in write-ups of the hike. It’s just a couple of scrambley moves to gain a higher bench – not exposed, and not really too bad going either down or up (be careful to look out for the orange diamond marking the spot though, otherwise it’s easy to keep walking straight).

And some people might not like this either (although you can go around to the right instead of going up this cleft, it’s more exposed, but less steep I think).

Overall the trail is easy to find and follow, just make sure you don’t end up following one of the weaker trails that disappear off from it.

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canada general hiking trip reports

Mt Lady Mac – the Equinox hike edition

The trail was really dry and dusty (although with occasional mud) except for the final section up to the teahouse, where there was a little snow. A surprise after how snowy the Ha Ling Peak trail has been, I guess that side of the valley really gets a lot more sun.

 

Looking out south from the Teahouse across Canmore to Mt Lawrence Grassi and the Three Sisters

 

 

The view from the teahouse up to the summit proper – we didn’t go all the way, it was windy and we were lazy

 

 

Views towards Banff from Mt Lady Mac – Tunnel Mountain looks like a wee little hill

 

 

Heading down – we weren’t eaten by a cougar.

 

I did this hike the next Saturday (27th), and then on the Sunday and Monday there were cougar attacks on dogs with hikers. Since then the trail has been closed until further notice (according to the Rocky Mountain Outlook anyway).

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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.

 

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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.

 

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canada general snow trip reports

Cirque Sub-Peak, Icefields Parkway

And another fantastic outing in gorgeous weather and blue skies. The snow wasn’t great, but you can’t have everything (except for those days when you do).

 

Up

 

 

And up

 

 

And up and up

 

 

Across to the summit

 

 

The low sun above the Wapta Icefields

 

 

Sunset sky over the Wapta, and turns as we head back downhill

 

 

The sun setting over the Icefields Parkway