Mt.Niblock

Saturday found us making our way to Lake Louise for some hiking with our friends Catherine and Sean. Mt. Niblock is approached via the very busy trail past the lake and up to the Lake Agnes tea house, contouring the lake brings you into the alpine and soon after, the summit of Niblock. We had a great day enjoying the view and splitter weather.

Mt.Temple, East Ridge

Was going through the photos today and stumbled across these babies. Zac Robinson, Shane Jensen and I did the route in perfect conditions in late July of 2004.The rock is superb and the position fantastic, a must do route.

Mt.Colin Hut

On friday and saturday of last week, Michelle and I headed into the Colin range near Jasper. We really enjoy heading to Jasper every once and while for a little old schooly mountain town good times. It was my second time into the colin area after Mike and I had our rain fest 2001. It seems Colin is wise to its old ways and for the second time it foiled our plans, this time with thunder and lighting....oh vell, a good time at the hut.

Mt.Assiniboine

After our trip into Mt.King George we headed up Assiniboine creek on the southern approach to Mt.Assiniboine. About 7 hours of walking takes you from valley bottom, past a picturesque lake, through an alpine scree slog, onto a glacier and soon after, the R.C Hind hut. Our second day was spent watching the weather change about twice an hour from the hut and our third day we awoke to perfect weather conditions, it was time to climb. At about 6 am we donned our stripped down packs and stepped outside into the alpin-glow. Our friends from the hut had left an hour before as they were the first to arrive and we could see their headlamps bobbing in the scree across from us. We made quick progress and were at the summit by 10 am, the climbing was secure when the angle was steeper and the rock quality was above average. Later that day we lay around at the base and took it all in, a great 7 day trip topped off with an ascent of a classic peak. We drank some coffee and ate some food before heading back towards the car. Arriving in canmore at 12 am, we had just made last call at Boston pizza, we sat and talked about the trip while we gourged ourselves on pizza, reveling in absolute contentment.

Mt. King George

On an annual trip connecting the "Edmonton contigent" we made plans for a 7 day trip into the Rockies for some classic mountaineering. Mike Pollard and Guirellmo Barron are great friends and solid, safe climbers. Together we made plans to try Mt.Robson but that was stymied by poor snow conditions and a gloomy weather forecast. In return, we decided to spend a week on the logging roads east of highway 93 south, climbing in an area that sees few people and fewer climbers. Mt. King George is positioned in the middle of the royal group in south eastern kananaskis and is said to have nice climbing with an attractive position. We drove about 65km up gravel roads where we continued with a full days hike through the bush to a lovely campsite in position for the climbing. After an early start we discovered the couloir mentioned in Bill Corbetts book leading to the climbing on the SE ridge had meleted out (SUVs, coal factories) to uncover loose, crumbling terrain. After trying to rock climb through another gulley, we headed back down to camp and decided to head into assiniboine the following day. We spent the balance of the day walking through alpine meadows, drinking coffee and enjoying great company.

Mt.Lougheed Traverse

On Friday Scott Parent and I had the chance to try the Lougheed Traverse in Peter Lougheed park. It consists of 4 peaks of mostly scrambling but a bit of easy fifth class here and there. It was the first time Scott and I were out climbing together and we had a great time giv'n'er from peak to peak. Took us 18 hrs car to car and probably twice that for our legs to recover once home.

Mt.Cline "the lost 11000'er"

Last weel Michelle and I headed into Mt.Cline with our friend from Edmonton, Mike Short. A nice walk through the timber delivers you quickly into the alpine and soon after, a lovely campsite in a meadow overlooking the David Thompson valley. Having not done much climbing so far this year, Mike opted to rest up for the hike out while Michelle and I set off for a closer look at our route. Strong headwinds and dark northerly clouds made our sphincters tighten up so much that we quickly headed down to our camp where we drank coffee and ate for a few more hours before strating the hike back to the highway. Even though we didnt even see the peak it was still a nice time out with good company in the mountians.

Mt.Athabasca-North Ridge Bypass

On Friday, Mike trehearne and I got the chance to drive to the Icefields Parkway to atempt Mt.Athabasca. The North ridge offers a nice position between the Boundry and Athabasca glaciers and is well worth doing. It has been a while since Mike and I last climbed together (in fact, the last time we were off to the alpine to go climbing was our spankfest in the Alaska ranges) and we had a good time hooting and hollering all the way up the ridge, good times.

Geriatric

After our trip into the cave, we headed onto Jasper where much fun was had sport climbing at the crag "lost boys", having got pumped out of our gourds on the steep climbing of the area, Marc-Andre Cousineau and I teamed up for more of a rest day on a nice 7 pich 5.8 on EEOR, Geriatric. the route provided a nice position over "whitemans pond" (why did they re-name chinamans peak but not whitemans pond, maybe they should call it caucasion lake?) and a great view into the kananaskis ranges.

The nest of rats

On account of the gloomy weather forecast we made our way again into "rats nest cave" again. We made it past a section that was flooded on our last trip about 2 km in. After that day the weather cleared up for a day of sport climbing in Jasper as well as a day climbing a nice 7 pitch trad line on EEOR.

The fat lady sang

Well thats it for the Oilers, good game tonight though. The team couldnt get it going until the third period....oh well. On a good note, we get our evenings back. Here are some shots of life and climbing over the last few weeks...

Se ya Selane

Well the Oilers had a pretty sensational game shuting Anaheim out of the playoffs once and for all tonight. A shot wired into the net from Pronger and tipped in by torres sealed the deal early in the second period. Nice to see them come back from being on there heels in game 4 to putting the puck in the zone and being more aggresive in the forecheck during game 5. Good fast paced hockey. Carolina or buffalo?, thats the million dollar question.

sporting

Had a pretty good time sport climbing at Lake Louise yesterday. The fire is burning again for bolts and I find myself content with just trying to get strong at the crag and having a good time with friends and enjoying my surroundings. For the last few years it seems I have pushed sport climbing away, or at least at arms reach, dabbling in here and there just for "completness" sake. Trying at least to pursue climbing on mountains and on longer traditional climbs. From 99-02 I was sport climbing a lot and having a fine time out there, not yet living in the hills but getting out from Edmonton every weekend, the sport climbing worked its way into my confidence and those yeasr I was able to do some of the best climbs of my ability both on yam (dreambed, jimmy and the cruisers, etc) and at the crag (lots of 12s done in an afternoon)..... I think that great well rounded climbers are not chained to any one discipline but are accepting of all techniques and types of climbing and that the style in which these things are done in carries the most importance.....

Cholkstone Corner

Jeff Macpherson and I climbed one of the classics on Yamnuska this past Thursday, Cholkstone corner. The rock is quite nice and at times the situtation is really good. We hiked up with Marc-Andre and Natalie as they were on their way to "grey goose". Later we had great pizza and beer at the rocky mountain flatbread company in town. The pictures are a bit blurry and the lighting was like wlking around with a shoe box on your head so bear with the photos please.