Category: canada

Categories
canada general

the larch

Where we have the Larch Pilgrimage from Moraine Lake (in the Valley of the Ten Peaks), up to the Larch Valley and Sentinel Pass. I found out afterwards that this is some sort of Rocky Mountains tourist mecca – well, more accurately I found out as we were walking, and there were all these other people walking next to us.

“What are you all doing here?” I asked.

“This is a nice hike,” I said, “but I’ve done many others that were also nice, and no-one else was doing them.”

“It’s written up!” they said “in the guide books and on the internet”.

“Aah,” I replied.

I did see a larch. Several in fact.

 

The larch

 

Categories
canada climbing general

summer again!

While the snow continued its attempts to sneak down into town, the sun won out today. The cloud was burnt off by mid-morning, and most of the overnight sprinkling of snow on the surrounding mountains had disappeared by afternoon. Perfect climbing weather. In this case, being lazy and going to the nearest crag to town – surely no-one else will have had the same idea.

 

Warm weekend at Grassi Lakes – climbers, blue skies and snow on the backdrop mountains

 

The top section of the Grassi Lakes climbing area has been opened again for a couple of weeks now, so there are a lot of people coming out to climb on the climbs that have been off limits for the last year or two.

 

Weird temperature differentials developing at Grassi Lakes – James belays Doug on Dark Design (5.10b)

 

Categories
bikes canada

making a crunchy pudding from the bones of americans

Driving to work along the highway this morning: notice leaves are looking increasingly yellow. Combined with snow on surrounding peaks, begin to suspect it isn’t Summer any more. Contemplate purchasing worm farm. Will not help fend off approaching winter months, but will reduce production of bags of rubbish. Also will be able to have pet outside-worms, which is considerable bonus. Resolve to raise the issue at next board meeting.

 

Up at Whiteman’s Gap, feeling the breeze of a surprise chinook as the sun sets

 

Watch WALL-E and Get Smart, and am amused by both. No repeat of the hiding-under-blankets incident which followed viewing of Dark Knight. Ponder whether the Autumn will drive away the swarms of RVs which seem to come to the mountains to breed during the Summer months. Will continue my efforts to monitor the behaviour of this strange species.

Categories
canada general

the three sisters – canmore edition

I was walking past this viewpoint with someone the other day and saw people randomly pointing cameras off into the distance taking photos. We couldn’t work out what on earth they were taking photos of, until we remembered the mountains.

 

 

On another note, car doors are sometimes surprisingly heavy. It was 5.30am and I was sidling into the passenger side of the van, with the door only just open as there was another vehicle parked closely. I’d just dropped my bag into the foot well when the door gently swung closed. On my head. This led to pain and concussion and tenderness. I don’t recommend it. That was over two days ago and my head still feels a bit tingly.

Categories
canada climbing general

lake lousie

The weather’s taken a turn for the unpredictable recently – weather forecasts keep looking promising, then turning to scattered showers the day beforehand, and the day in question ends up being miserable and rainy. And that’s exactly what happened when I tried to finally climb at Lake Louise.

 

Views of Lake Louise (ski resort), Lake Louise (chateau) and Lake Louise (lake – filling up with people in canoes)

 

There was low cloud lurking through the Bow Valley, and all the way along the drive there.

“It’ll be fine!” we said. “At least it’s not raining!” we said. The rock was horribly cold and uninspiring. The longer you spent on the climb, the more warmth was sapped from your fingers and your toes, so instead of warming up you’d just get colder and colder, until you couldn’t really feel your fingers at all, and your big toes were definitely quite numb (possibly your next toes too, and some of the others). You’d have to place your feet and hands visually and hope the hold was good enough to stick to, as it was just impossible to tell by feel.

 

Walking into the crag

 

By the time we finished the second climb (which was actually quite fun climbing on Arapiles-style horizontals) it was a little warmer. Perhaps we would keep going. But then it started to rain. We retired to town for hot chocolate and brownies.