Two Peaks but no Camera

I don't know why, but I never brought my camera on two trips I did this week.
I did the Indian Ridge, Marmot Pass route with Tracey, Dieter three dogs. The weather was beyond perfect, no clouds, Mount Robson visible and so on. Dieter had a camera so I'll get his and post a few. By the way... fall colours are now at their peak!
Saturday, Neil and I climbed Peveril Peak. This was our second time each climbing this gem of a mountain. As Neil explained: "We climbed this peak, just down the road from our homes". I really wanted to climb this mountain again so that I could lead a few pitches, in fact I lead the entire mountain except for the first pitch. This is a technical peak, our route was off from the standard route following a slightly more difficult crack system. We both agreed the route we chose was a steady 5.6 climb. The weather was gorgeous... 25'C and pure blue skies... I really wish I had a camera for this one. We were fast, reached the summit by 11:15 am (start at 6 am) and off the mountain by 2 pm (we spent an hour at the summit).

Coming up.... Athabasca Pass photos... finally!

Back from the Pass!

I'm back from the Athabasca Pass trip, which I feel, went very well. I know I had a excellent time and was grateful for the participants who allowed me to guide them on this trip.

The participants were: Alan, Nate of California, Cody of Idaho, and John of Alberta. The first three being of the same group. This was a very easy group to guide and at times felt more like fun than actual work. I did my best to thrill their taste buds and know that I at least succeeded with the decadence chocolate pie.

We experience nearly every type weather you could imagine and even witnessed three clear nights. We also experienced quite a bit of rain and grapple. Overall the group hiked over 50km including the Scott Glacier basin day trip.

I hiked 101 km in 7 days and an additional 63 km in 2 days, less than a week earlier; Overall 164 km in 9 days. The more I hiked this area, the more I liked it. Neil accompanied me on the way in to carry the food cache. Neil, Jason and JF flew in to hike out with me. I think that I will return again to the Athabasca Pass, next time with a couple of mountains in mind.

The Athabasca Pass is a very historic route and very scenic for an area with a lot of forest. Furthermore, these were some of the most beautiful forests I have ever seen. A lot of old growth that was surprisingly diverse with various berries, mushrooms, mosses and lichens. I wish that I would have taken more photographs in the forests. Then again you can never take enough photographs and at the time there is no time to take them.
As it is, I hope that you enjoy the photos of the trip. I will try to post them in chronological order, but it may take me a few days to complete.

End of August update

The weather of the end of August has been much like my life lately.
Some beautiful days that have seen me fishing and canoeing. There have been a lot of rainy days, reflecting the stroke that hit my beloved Grandfather 10 days ago. I flew back to Ontario to see him and lent some support to my Grandmother too. The weather stayed rainy all through out the time I left Jasper and reached Ontario and it is still raining now here in Jasper.

I covered my second longest distance in one day and my longest in two days with a pack the other day. Neil assisted me in carrying over 50lb of food into the Scott Camp of Athabasca Pass. Over two days we covered 63 km. On the way in, Yoho found a hornets' nest. Yes, the hornets found me too.
I hope that all of the food is in fine shape for when I lead the group in on Tuesday. I'll have pictures and stories when I get back.

My Article

This article was published in two separate New Zealand adventure magazines. As you can see I wrote this (obviously). This was just sent via email. Great addition to my recent small interview in National Geographic Adventure magazine's September 2007 issue!

What other media work have I done? I have been on Good Morning Australia with Kerry Ann Kennely, Valerie Pringle has left the building (CTV), Hot Spots (Resorts Sports Network - USA), and Andiamo! (USA travel show). I was also on a reality TV show, but that show was so bad that I don't care to mention it.

Middle of August update.

Whew! I've been busy. Work has slowed a tiny bit but is about to pick up real fast! Over the last two and a half weeks I have guided an Indian Ridge Peak Adventue, stayed at the Historic Abbott hut and climbed Mount Victoria, and Backpacked from the Icefield Parkway to the David Thompson Highway via Sunset Pass/Pinto Lake/Cline River.

Cline River Anniversary Trip

Our anniversary was on the 12th. We celebrated our 7th year married by Backpacking for four days over Sunset Pass through the Cline River area. Our hope was to avoid the horrid weather that has plagued us nearly every other year when we go to Maligne Lake. Well, the weather followed and we experienced three days of pretty hard rain out of the four. Not many pictures were taken. We still had a fabulous time and definately made the best of it.

Indian Ridge July 31

The two on the left were my clients from Scotland. Very able hikers who thoroughly enjoyed the trip. The two on the left are Jasper residents who managed quite well. The one in the middle... well she's the first person to ever cry on one of my trips because she found it too taxing. If you plan to join one of my trips for free... you are not allowed to cry and make everyone else feel uncomfortable. If you paid, well... I won't put you in a situation to cry.

Abbott Hut/Mount Victoria/Neil's Birthday

Wow... the highlight of my summer so far.

For Neil's birthday we decided to stay at the historic Abbott Pass hut, located on a narrow col between Mounts Victoria and Lefroy and just below 3000m. Awesome trip that rquired us to access the hut via Lake O'hara in Yoho National Park... my new favourite place. We then ascended an aweful 700 m scree slope with a lot of falling rock hazard. The plan was to climb Victoria and then Lefroy on our day out. Lefroy was not in any shape to be climbed... gross, dangerous and unpleasant. Victoria though, well she was beautiful. Below are pictures from the trip.

more photos from above

Big Horn Sheep

I photographed this guy when i was looking for my old wolf friend.

Wolf

I returned on the 23rd from a Backpack trip to Whirlpool Campground with Great Lakes Travel of the Netherlands. We had a great time despite the mosquitoes, and they loved everything... except my coffee... ooops.

We stumbled upon a dying wolf at the end of the trip. After dropping my guests off I tracked the wolf down, who had moved to a more secluded spot. I sat with it for an hour. It was an amazing yet somber experience that I'll never forget. It let me approach as close as I wanted and even wagged its tail when I first approached. This wolf is just plain old, and I think it really wanted the company. It's eyes had lost the golden glow, it was a sad old wolf. When I left, the wolf just laid there, only breathing. I doubt it lasted the night. I returned the next day but it was gone. I wonder if it is still alive.

Indian Ridge Manx Tarn

Greg Barnhouse was in town so he and Ryan Titchener joined Tracey and I on a recon trip to Indian Ridge and beyond. Rained a lot but a great trip... one of my favourites.

Last Week

Summit of Old Man Mountain

Last week I guided a couple from Kitchener up Old Man Mountain. This is one of my least favourite mountains to climb because it is extremely steep and relentless the entire 1300m up... and has been since I climbed it four years ago. Unfortunate for me, the people I was guiding were top athletes who were super competitive. Never before have I had clients rush ahead and wait for me to catch up. Even worse was that they asked to carry my pack for me... humiliating. When the got to the rocky sections they were completely lost, and I made a point of kicking their butts on the way down (I never do that sort of thing).

Geraldine Lakes -- Just Tracey, Me & Yoho July 12-14

Top Photo: Tracey with first lake in the background. Next: 50 m waterfall from second lake. Next: Tracey ascending the steep slope beside the 50m waterfall. Next: Reflection off the second lake. Next: Quick swim in the fourth glacial lake (our camp).

There are a lot of photos to post for this trip as it was a beautiful time. We were originally going to spend three nights there but decided to leave Thursday morning instead as Tracey got off work late Wednesday afternoon, and we had Arun visiting for a few days. It is a good thing that we did leave on Thursday as it took us a lot longer to get to our camping area than we expected.

The trail to second Geraldine Lake was in much better shape than the trail reports suggested. There was a lot of flooding (including the campground) but that is how we've always experienced this trail. The route back to the fourth lake was nasty. Bare;y a trail and flooded in many places. The river crossing was fast and upper shin deep... felt good though in the +30'C weather. Geraldine Valley should be known as the Valley of Glacial Lakes and Waterfalls. This is definitely one of my top three favourite destinations ever! We spent a lot of our time around the fourth lake and a whole day exploring Divergence Pass and an unnamed pas that leads down into the Whirlpool Valley. We swam in glacial lakes and cooled off in alpine tarns. The bugs we pretty horrid at times but it didn't spoil our time there. Check out the pictures... there's lot... but never enough to truly capture this place. Oh... if your interested in having me bring you here, it will take a lot of arm twisting as this is a special spot that we want to save for ourselves! more picture below!

Top Photo: Our morning neighbour... the Marmot. Next: Western Pasqueflower with Mount Fryatt in background. Next: Tracey and Yoho with waterfall far away. Next Tracey in Divergence pass looking SW. Next: Tracey looking into Whirlpool valley with Edith Cavell in Background.

more photos below

Top Photo: Geraldine Lakes from the pass. Next: Another waterfall. Next: Food is on! Next: Yoho and his miserable friends. Next: Our camp... nice eh?

one more photo below...

Tracey and I on our way home. No more photos below.

Skyline Trip

I recently guided a 3 day trip along the Skyline Trail. Participants included Clive and Nicola Backler of Glasglow Scotland and Jeanette Morrison of Edmonton. A great trip with great people... enjoy the pictures.

Ultra Maligne Lake -- July 4-5 2007

Top: Ultra Maligne with Llysifran Peak in background. Middle: Me standing on the edge of the 'balcony' overlooking the 'hall of the gods'. Bottom, Neil and his quick swim in Ultra-Malinge... doubt many have ever done that before.

Neil and I embarked on a journey to a place that many people have talked about, but few have ever seen... Ultra Maligne Lake. When we both worked at Maligne Lake, it was common knowledge that there was a lake high above Maligne Lake that had the deepest blue colour that would make even Maligne look drab in comparison. The only people who had been there was a long term resident, Floyd and the warden Mike Westbrook. Other people had tried to get there, but they were stopped by the technical nature of the trip. We planned this trip the night before we left.

Wednesday we departed Jasper at 14:30 and reached the lake by 15:15. We took out Neil's Jasper Canoe... the Sunwapta which had a questionable haul. Although the water tightness of the canoe was questionable, it did cut through the water unlike any canoe I've paddled before. We reached Spirit Island by 6pm and our pull-out 17.5 km down the lake at a day use area by 19:00. We stashed our canoe and set off up the creek leading from the Ultra-Maligne area. Progress was slow due to excessively heavy packs... climbing gear, tent, too much food, etc.

We had to climb a small rock feature (about 50 m) and then ascend a steep snow slope, climbing about 250m. All of this took time, and it wasn't until 23:00 that we reached the plateau and set up camp about 100m from Ultra Maligne Lake. We were quite surprised to find that Ultra Maligne was still mostly frozen. That evening we cooked up some food, drank some Johnny Walker Green label, and turned in by 01:30.

The sun was batting in the tent by 06:00. We got up, ate breakfast, and explored the area. Neil went for a swim in Ultra Maligne's 0.5'C water... but not for long. We descended down the snow slope at roughly 11:00 and were back to the canoe for roughly 14:00. Tired and really sun burned we paddled back to Home Bay, pushing the tour boats off line, and getting more and more burned along the way. We had a great tail wind most of the way and made it back for 17:00, and into town 18:30. Unloading our stuff was a real chore as we were a: exhausted, and b: the weather was so hot that it felt like our skin would peal off.

All the same, a very nice super trip in a super short amount of time.

Failed Attempt at Mount Kerkeslin June 23

Where goats go after they die and go to heaven... we saw over 30 goats in here

Neil and I joined the ACC trip to climb the south peak of Mount Kerkeslin. I've wanted to climb this peak for a very long time. Unfortunately, the leader did not scope out the starting point properly, and lead us up the wrong gully. Neil and I knew we were not starting at the right spot but when we saw him pull out his GPS we thought we must be wrong, so said nothing. All the same we had a great day and saw where mountain goats go to heaven after they die.

This is as far as we got. We were not equipped to scale the rock walls above... nor would we have had enough time with the group we were with.