Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Joshua Tree

OK, you are in for a long one. Here is the TL;DR in case you are just in it for the photos. We spent 4 amazing days climbing in Joshua Tree. Some of the highlights were the climbs (Overhang Bypass, Right On, Minotaur, Robo Ranger, Fothog, Toe Jam and The Eye), the sunsets and the amazing scenery. If you are heading out there, be warned that there is no water available in the park, so bring lots. Also, the climber campgrounds fill up fast, but we stayed at Jumbo Rocks and it was pretty quiet and still really beautiful. Climber coffee is at 8 am at Hidden Valley on weekends and is a good way to get some beta and meet other climbers. Apparently it gets really windy in J-Tree (our tent almost blew away when we tried to take it down), and it gets cold at night! Finally, the ratings are all over the place so be prepared to get spanked by a 5.5 right after you run up a 5.7. Alright, if you are ready to find out about the trip in more detail, read on and enjoy.

Instead of dreaming of a white Christmas this year, I have been looking forward to heading south for a climbing trip to Joshua Tree. We flew to Phoenix first then drove 450 km to the National Park, arriving in the dark on Friday night. The two campgrounds near the climbing areas (Hidden Valley and Ryan Campground) were both full when we got there so we backtracked to Jumbo Rocks Campground and were able to find a site. We awoke early Saturday morning to an amazing view. Since we had arrived in the dark, we hadn't realized what the landscape was like. The park was full of granite formations and unusual looking plants called Joshua Trees that apparently aren't found many other places. 
Sunrise at Jumbo Rocks Campground

Bozeman Ice Climbing Festival

December has been a crazy month filled with exams and rad road trips. It started off with a trip to Bozeman Montana for the Ice Climbing Festival after Kyle won a facebook contest for a 3 night stay in Bozeman and 2 days of ice climbing clinics for two. I guess people actually do win those things! Despite being up to my ears in school work, I wasn't going to let Kyle take anyone but me. A few emails later, I had switched my schedule around and we were able to leave Friday morning to drive down for the weekend. I wasn't a fun road trip partner as I had to study most of the way, but it meant that we were able to enjoy the festivities together once we arrived. We pulled into the Lewis and Clark Motel (a bit of a crazy place full of strange antique furniture) around 7 and were able to get over to Emerson Lawn to watch the women's and men's World Cup speed climbing finals. It had been really warm that week and into the double digits that day so the event was held on a plywood wall which was interesting, but it didn't seem to phase the athletes who were able to scale it in mere seconds.

We got up early Saturday morning to drive out to Hyalite Canyon, the local ice climbing epicentre. Here we met our guide for the day and the rest of the people in our clinic. There was a big turn-out and groups dispersed all over the valley for the day. We had a bit of a hike to get to the Mummy-Scepter area where we spent the whole day.
Our first look at the Mummy/Scepter climbing area

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Highwood Pass and Rae Glacier Nov 15/16

-20 in the parking lot. Brr
 Hooray for winter! In what is becoming an annual event, Kyle and I returned to Highwood Pass for some November turns (the highway closes for the winter on December 1st). Kyle's friend Dan came out too and we got to show him some new spots. It was cold on Saturday but there was snow from the parking lot and the trail in wasn't too crazy. There were a few icy off-camber sections through the trees but nothing too bad. I was having some issues with my skins so I ended up boot-packing all the way to the bottom of the ridge that we were going to ski. The skin track was firm and I think that boot-packing was actually a bit easier than trying to ski in.

Bow Hut - Remembrance Day Weekend

Four day weekend! We had to make the most of all our free time. Lots of ideas were thrown around but nothing seemed like it was going to be as amazing as we wanted it to be. A few days before the weekend, we saw a post on facebook about the skiing up at the Bow Hut. We immediately made reservations for the hut and started getting stoked! Saturday morning we got up bright and early to pick up Alex (and meet him for the first time).
Early morning light on the way to the Ice Fields Parkway

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Heart Mountain Scramble

 It's hard to figure out what to do during the off-season without subjecting yourself to some serious discomfort. It is too cold to climb, too wet to bike, and not snowy enough to ski. To get our mountain fix this week, we settled for some good old-fashioned hiking near Canmore. The forecast was bleak, so we slept in a bit longer than we had planned before loading up the car and heading out. The theme of the day (for me at least) was disorganization. I realized at the trail-head that my mountaineering boot insoles were still in my hiking boots from the summer, and I had forgotten a few pieces of gear (like my ice ax). It would have been easy to just get back in the car and head home, but we were there already and the mountains were calling!
Sign at the bottom of the trail for Heart Mountain

Monday, October 6, 2014

Unnamed (Pumpkin Route) - Yamnuska

I don't want this fall to end! We have been having the most amazing weather for the last few week, allowing me to get out more than I was expecting. I hadn't been climbing in a while so took advantage of the good forecast to head back to Yamnuska for the second time this year, this time to climb "Unnamed", a 5.7 on the west end of Yam.
Lots of vertical to get up to the base of the climb!

Monday, September 29, 2014

Larch Valley Trail and Sentinel Pass

Valley of the Ten Peaks with the Larches in their prime
 Winter is coming...but its not here yet! Mom and Dad came out to Calgary to visit for the weekend and I wanted to show them the best Alberta has to offer. We drove out to Lake Louise for a hike at Moraine Lake (which was my first ever hike in the Rockies, back on my first real visit to Calgary two years ago). The timing was perfect because all the larch trees were changing colour and the valley was beautiful. We also arrived at the parking lot just in time to grab one of the last spots, everyone else seemed to have the same idea as us.

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Autumn Equinox Climb - Aftonroe (5.7)

I have heard good things about Aftonroe and wanted to climb it last weekend. Liam agreed. At this point neither of us actually knew where the route was or anything about it, thank god for the internet! We left Calgary at 7:30 with a vague idea of where we were going and way more gear than we needed and pulled into the parking lot on highway 1A at 8:30. There were already some other cars there and climbers just starting up the trail. We didn't have a back up plan so just decided to follow them up. We were expecting things to be relatively busy as it was the last weekend of summer and it was supposed to be a warm day.
Guides rock from the parking lot (Aftonroe follows the corner on the right bulge)

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Berg Lake Trail and Snowbird Pass - Mt. Robson Provincial Park

Long weekends are awesome! That extra day is just enough to allow you to get away to destinations that are too ambitious for a regular weekend. This labour day, I was able to weasel my way onto Kyle's "boys" trip, since lots of the boys ended up backing out at the last minute (I seem to be getting good at that). The trip was a backpacking trip to Berg Lake in the shadow of Mt. Robson, near Jasper, AB. Kyle, Nick and I drove up to Jasper Friday afternoon and we met Geoff who was coming in from Edmonton. We spent a rainy night at the Provincial Campground near the visitors centre, and awoke to grey skies and chilly temperatures. As per tradition (Geoff has done this hike a few times previously), we went for breakfast at Cafe Mt. Robson before disembarking. Unfortunately, we arrived a few minutes before a big tour group so we were denied anything off the hot breakfast menu. Undeterred, we grabbed muffins and fruit before we registered at the visitors centre where we were subjected to an informational video about the hike that was made in the 90's. No boom boxes allowed apparently.
Grabbing breakfast before the 21 km hike to Berg Lake Campground

Friday, August 29, 2014

Joy, Mt Indefatigable

Joy has been on my radar since last summer, but there was something else to climb, or it was too far away, or the weather was bad. Finally I got it in my head that it had to be done and I was going to make it happen. As the weekend approached, Kyle made some other suggestions about things to do, but my mind was made up. We were doing Joy! We didn't leave town crazy early (7am) but it was cold! As we drove through Kananaskis, the temperature was 6 degrees, not what you would expect in early August! Due to the late start, were concerned that there were going to be others on the route as many trip reports caution about the serious rockfall hazard. When we reached the parking area at Interlakes, it was packed! Where did all these people come from and how many were going to be climb?! As we were getting ready to leave the car, another group of climbers drove in, but after asking about where we were climbing they left, and avoided a race to the start of the route. 
Looking up the slab to the route. Joy follows the obvious corner and utilizes the slab on the right side

Monday, July 28, 2014

Pigeon Spire and Lions Way - Bugaboo 2014 Trip Report

I have been dreaming about the Bugaboo's ever since our trip last year and was itching to return. It just so happened that we returned on the exact same weekend as last year (annual trip perhaps?). This time we took the Monday off to give ourselves a bit more time in hopes of climbing more than one route. We were also coming back much more knowledge, experience, confidence, far lighter packs and in better shape. The hike in wasn't nearly as bad, although the bugs were just as awful as last time.
The super-moon rises behind the Cain Hut

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Mt. Rainier - Disappointment Cleaver Route with the Three Musketeers plus Juan

About a month ago, I came down with a serious case of FOMO (fear of missing out). Kyle and Liam had signed up to go to Mt. Rainier with a few other ACC members and although I was trying not to let it get to me, I was definitely jealous. I asked a few questions about switching shifts at work and managed to weasel my way onto the trip with less than 2 weeks to go! It was a bit of a mad scramble to get the necessary permits (I was able to just add myself onto the camping permit but had to get my own climbing permit). I had to learn how to send a fax and wait for the permit to arrive by snail mail but luckily it all arrived with days to spare and I was incredibly excited to be going along! At the last minute, our trip leader Juan had to pull out from the trip, causing his friend to also bail. Suddenly it was down the the three musketeers: Liam, Kyle and Jenny (the three amigos as Juan would say). Some trip planning and beer drinking sessions occurred and we were feeling ready to tackle the mountain on our own. At the final hour however, Juan was able to come on the trip again. A few recalculations of gear ensued and the pre-trip faff was complete. Onwards to adventure! We met in Fernie BC on the morning of Saturday June 14th loaded up with Tim Horton's donuts to make our way Mt. Rainier National Park. 
Welcome to America! It smells like freedom down here

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Valleyview (5.9 Sport)

As part of the ACC Calgary Section annual rock review, I got a chance to get out climbing with Ken, Allen and Orvel for the first time! The original plan was to climb Dan's Delight on Bankhead Buttress of Cascade but after talking to others and checking the weather it sounded like a recipe for an epic so we settled on the much shorter Valleyview, a 6 or 7 pitch (depends on which topo you use) 5.9 sport route also on Cascade. We got off to a leisurely start of 10am and struggled up the steep scree approach. Once at the bottom of the climb, we were able to scramble up to an anchor station and Ken started us off by leading the first five pitches.
Ken leading us to victory

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Easy Street (5.6), Yamnuska

For my second and Liam's first climb on Yam, we decided to try out Easy Street, a 6 pitch 5.6 route that makes its way up the west end of the iconic wall. From the parking lot, our route looked much shorter than the ones that travel up any other part of Yamnuska, but according to the guide book, it was still over 200m of vertical climbing, and that doesn't include the hike up to the base! We left Calgary at 5am and it was already bright. The sun was up shortly after and it was amazingly warm when we left the car at 6:10 to head up the steep switchbacks to our climb.
Beautiful morning (6:30 am) for the hike up to Yamnuska

Monday, May 19, 2014

May Long Weekend - Stone Hill Climbing

For the long weekend, we escaped the rainy weather in Calgary by heading south to Montana for a weekend of climbing. We arrived late Friday night and set up camp in the dark after picking up some cheap beer at the gas station. We spent Saturday at Hold Up Bluffs North, a crag with lots of good trad and top rope options. The ratings down at Stone Hill are pretty difficult, and it can be a bit demoralizing to have trouble with 5.7 routes, so we let Liam lead and set up some top-ropes for us on some of the harder climbs.
Elizabeth flossing the crack on dental floss

Sunday, May 11, 2014

West Coast Road Trip

At the beginning of May, Kyle and I headed west to escape the lingering snow. We spent 10 days riding and climbing all over the "best coast". The first three days were spent on the Sunshine Coast for the Coaster XC and DH races (for me) and camping, shuttling and beers (for Kyle, and me a bit). I raced both the Marathon XC (4th) and the DH (3rd) on the same bike - my awesome Specialized Enduro Carbon Expert, and won first in the Overall category. It was wet and muddy out there, and boy was it a blast! A highlight was going to the "codfather" for a codfather poutine at the end of the weekend. Fries drenched in seafood chowder and we of course had to get some fish on the side.
Sunshine Coaster DH race - I raced the Works Category (XC marathon and DH on the same bike)

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Mt. Joffre Attempt (Kananaskis) - Easter Weekend

After reading lots of trip reports, we decided to give ourselves 3 days to do Mt. Joffre in Kananaskis (Peter Lougheed Provincial Park). David and Kyle got into town Thursday night and packing chaos ensued.
Route planning on the Thursday night

Monday, March 24, 2014

"Mini" Chickaboom Traverse

I hadn't been out ski touring in months so it was great to get the call from Liam that they were heading out on Sunday to go check out the Chickaboom Traverse. I was worried about the avalanche conditions but it seemed like everyone else was in the same boat so I agreed to go for a bit of a walk and check out a new area.
Chickadee Valley

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Coire Dubh/Integral WI3/5.7

 Kyle, Liam and I took advantage of the Chinook that we were having  (6 degrees in Canmore!) to go out and climb one of the easier mixed multi-pitch routes in the area, Coire-Dubh/Integral. The Coire-Dubh part is 3 pitches of ice and snow and the Integral is two pitches of rock with lots of snow in between. The whole route was about 700m of elevation gain. We were told to get an early start, unfortunately for us it was also the night of the time change. 5am came too quickly (since it was actually 4am), but we were the only ones in the parking lot when we arrived.
Alpine start (which felt way worse with the time change)

Monday, February 3, 2014

Rogan's Gully (Groundhog Day) Trip Report

We got up at 5am to meet Liam at the Cascade Falls parking lot for 7. It was -19 when we got there... By the time we had finished faffing at the cars, the sky was beginning to brighten and headlamps were not necessary for the rest of the day.
Gearing up in the dark

Monday, January 27, 2014

Ice Climbing - ACC Ice Review Jan 11/12

With less than optimal snow conditions in the Rockies, what better activity to take up than ice climbing?? We managed to secure a spot on the ACC Ice Review in a beginner group where we met up with some experienced ice climbers who were willing to literally "show us the ropes". We started the day nice and early in the Grassi Lakes parking lot and walked in to the Junkyards climbing area to get our first taste of ice. The approach was amazingly short and within minutes we were strapping on our crampons and gearing up. The guides set up some top ropes for us newbies and basically gave us free reign to try out the tools on a variety of pitches ranging from really easy to getting vertical!
Kyle practicing his technique

Friday, January 3, 2014

Thunder Meadows Trip Report (Dec 29-31)

The original plan for a hut trip at the end of the year was to return to Tunnel Creek, but the hut was already booked. We managed to snag Thunder Meadows Hut instead and planned on going in with a big group of 7 or 8. In the end, there were 6 of us who were going in, 4 from the top of Fernie Resort and 2 from Island Lake Lodge which requires much more touring and route finding. Since we were taking the easy way, we decided to bring in some extra goodies, including steaks for dinner, whiskey, fireball and some fireworks.
Joel with the 4 L of wine and box of fireworks