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

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

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!

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