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.

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)

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

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

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

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

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