2010

A hike up to Prairie View Lookout with Amelie, Stella and John. It was a beautiful day. At the lookout we were greeted by a flock of whiskey jacks. They were looking to us for food. We fooled them in offering them some pine cones in exchanges for photo opportunities.

A snowshoe trip up the east ridge overlooking Rawson Lake. We started up from the lake and the bushwhacking wasn't too bad. There were a couple of steep sections, but it was pretty gradual along the ridge.

Went to get some sunrise photos at Lower Kananaskis Lake, then joined the Calgary Outdoor Club for a hike to Galatea Lakes

Another sunrise at Policeman's Creek, this time with Amelie. The sunrise was spectacular. It was raining as the sun came out, making for a rainbow along with some nice alpen glow. Afterwards we met up with Justine and Ben and hiked up a lot of snow to the top of Devil's Thumb.

Taking sunrise photos near Canmore, at Policeman's Creek. I missed the really good colours. I wasn't expecting the sun to come up from that direction, but rather closer to the Three Sisters. I waited afterwards for alpen glow, but the clouds built up and the sunlight disappeared entirely.

A halloween hike up King Creek Ridge with the Calgary Outdoor Club. Some folks decided to dress up, some just went for the scenery.

Exploring McGillivray Canyon. We tried earlier in the year but the water level was too high. This time it was pretty dry, but a few places had deep pools of water. These sections had bolted cables to use for assistance.

We were going to hike Junction Creek until we discovered that we'd have to wade the river. To salvage the day we followed a random trail from the Sheep River Falls.

A scramble up to Mount Bogart via the Sparrowhawk Tarns. It was to be a beautiful day, but we found ourselves in the clouds for the most part.

Trip report: http://www.clubtread.com/sforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=37384

A hike/scramble up to the high point of Rawson Lake Ridge. This ridge is also known to some as Sarrail Ridge. The weather was fantastic, as were the views and the company.

Trip Report: http://www.clubtread.com/sforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=37282

Smutwood Peak is an unofficial name given to this peak by Andrew Nugara because it sits between Mount Smuts and Mount Birdwood. We expected rain and snow, but we were treated to blue sky and sun!

Trip Report:
http://www.clubtread.com/sforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=37119

Our objective was an unnamed peak between Mount Smuts and Mount Birdwood. Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate and after hiking for a bit along Commonwealth Creek, we decided to turn around.

A Calgary Outdoor Club hike to Lake O'Hara and the All Soul's Alpine Route

A scramble up Mount Carnarvon with Vern, Greg and Eric. It was a long day, with most of the elevation gained via not-so-exciting Hamilton Lake switchback trail. We had great weather the whole time!
Trip Report: http://www.clubtread.com/sforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=36933
GPS Track: https://www.dropbox.com/s/3sqogngwxm9zioi/2010-09-03%20Mount%20Carnarvon.GPX

With a poor forecast for the weekend, I decided to invite some friends for a fairly easy outing up to Wastach Mountain. Most of this trip follows a well travelled trail. The last bit involves some easy scrambling among loose rubble and lichen covered boulders. It was a bit cloudy and cold and a lot of peaks around us seemed to be getting rain.

Full trip report: http://www.clubtread.com/sforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=36827

It wasn't looking like the best weekend for scrambling, but we actually had a decent day for the most part. The route we took was according to the scrambles book with one exception. On the way down there is an excellent scree slope that will really speed up the descent. This slope will be obvious when looking at the slopes of the subsidiary ridge.

Full trip report: http://www.clubtread.com/sforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=36719

On the way back to Calgary we stopped by Dog Lake, the Paint Pots and Marble Canyon in Kootenay National Park. I had fun taking some macro photos and some shots of the fireweed at Marble Canyon.

A scramble up the Eastpost Spire. We had a beautiful day and ate lunch at the tarns below the Bugaboo Spire. Amelie described these as "the most beautiful tarns ever." The scramble was well marked with cairns and route finding was not too difficult. The crux was exposed, but the rock was solid. The summit didn't have a whole lot of room!

Full Trip report: http://www.clubtread.com/sforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=36498

A scramble up Bastille Mountain. The hardest thing about this scramble was getting to the trailhead. A creek had washed out part of the Jumbo Creek Forest Service Road and it took a little bit of gambling to get through it with my Honda Fit.

Full Trip Report: http://www.clubtread.com/sforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=36524

With a chance of rain, we decided to do something easier and headed up to these Welsh Lakes. We only went up to the first and second lake. Both were quite pretty and well worth the hike.

Lower Bugaboo Falls. This is the worst mosquito hole I've ever been in so I didn't stick around for too long. The falls are kind of neat. Would be a nice place to picnic if there weren't so many bugs

Our plan was to go up the Eastpost Spire but an injury changed our plans. We made it a little past the Conrad Kain Hut and turned back. Though we didn't make our objective, it was still a day way spent!

On the way back to Calgary we stopped by Athabasca Falls

This scramble was surprisingly scenic and quite easy. A lot of the elevation can be gained by taking the gondola. There is a bit of elevation loss from Whistlers Peak, but it's well worth it as the scenery in the meadow below is fantastic. The views of the Trident Range really make this scramble worth while.

Trip Report: http://www.clubtread.com/sforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=36313

A scramble up Mount Utopia. It was a pretty nice approach, following an obvious trail all the way to the tree line. From the tree line a moderate scramble route goes up the ridge. The ridge continues through a difficult crest, which can be avoided via scree. The summit comes into view shortly after. Fun scrambling, but not much in terms of views.

Trip Report: http://www.clubtread.com/sforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=36312

A grueling hike up Tangle Ridge with Amelie. This is just a hike up a long and wide slope of shale and scree that never seems to end. It's mentally challenging to get up this peak. The reward is nice. Views are fantastic. It's much better on the way down, when one at least has something to look at.

Full Trip Report: http://www.clubtread.com/sforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=36311

A beautiful day, a great scramble, good company. This is how every day in the summer should be like.

Full Trip Report: http://www.clubtread.com/sforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=36201

A scramble up Little Hector, a peak just off the Icefields Parkway. It was pretty straight forward and mostly an easy scramble. Only one section required hands on and it could have been avoided.

Full Trip Report: http://www.clubtread.com/sforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=36081

A scramble up The Turret, a high point in the Kananaskis Lakes area. We followed the Blueberry Hill trail until it started to gain elevation then turned into the forrest and went straight for the peak. Once we broke out of the tree line, we circled the cliff bands on the left and ascended the shoulder

After hiking up to Cape Split in the fog, I had to come back and see it on a clear day. I was on my own and started late in the day, so I didn't take many photos. I tried to do the trail as quick as possible and got it done in two hours.

This was an adventure filled day! I walked around Halifax and Citadel Hill in the morning, enjoying the historical reenactments in the citadel and the older buildings around the Halifax streets. After that Amelie took me on a walk around Herring Cove and Crystal Crescent beach. For the sunset I went on my own to Peggys Cove, but not before stopping by Polly's Cove to check out the neat boulder decorated landscape.

We started the day with a walk along Fergusons Cove and exploring the York Redoubt tunnels. We then drove out and walked around the streets of Mahone Bay and Lunenburg. We also went over to The Ovens, taking photos of the cliff side and caves.

Hiking Cape Split with Amelie. The fog came in before we reached the look out point

We left Ingonish early, hiked Middle Head and stopped at look offs along the way. We ended the Cape Breton tour by hiking up to Uisge Ban Falls, which as definitely the best waterfall we saw along the way.

From Cheticamp to Ingonish we stopped at four waterfalls; Corney, MacIntosh, Beulach and Mary Ann. We also stopped at several look out points, my favorite being Green Cove.

Driving from the airport to Cheticamp. Along the Cabot Trail we stopped at some lookouts, the Port Hood beach and the Skyline Trail.

This was a fun trip. It didn't take us long to gain the ridge and follow up to a cairn. It looked like we could go further, but we decided to leave that for another time and descended down near Helen Lake. Hiked out using the regular trail.

Scrambling up Sentry Mountain with the Calgary Outdoor Club. The biggest challenge was crossing a high and fast early season stream right at the trailhead.

A scramble up Fairview and Saddle Mountain. We had excellent weather for a good part of the day. It snowed lightly when we got to the summit and rained just when we reached the bottom. Watched an avalanche come down Haddo Peak.

Exploring the McGillivray Canyon. A beautiful canyon with high walls. We didn't go too far in, as we weren't properly equipped to go through some of the trickier water sections. Will definitely have to come back another time.

A scramble that had a little bit of everything. We got a bit lost, had lots of bushwhacking, glissading, avalanches and just a long day overall. Great weather though!

A scramble up to the summit of Belmore Browne with a bit of an extension to three minor summits.

Feeling lazy, we decided to do something quick and settled on the first summit of Mount Baldy. We were alone on the way up, but saw many people on the way down. Even saw folks scrambling up the third summit.

A scramble with the Calgary Outdoor Club. We decided to head up to the Twin Towers extension, two unofficially named peaks south of Heart Mountain. On the way back we discovered it's faster to do the Heart Mountain loop than return the same way

This was our lazy day, we hiked along the lake to Bertha Bay, a little backcountry campground. There we relaxed on the beach and soaked in the sun.

We had planned to do Mount Anderson, but there was still a lot of snow on it so we decided to go up Bellevue Hill. It was a good decision, hardly any snow and some nice views along the ridge. We stayed on the second (true) summit for about half an hour, having lunch and building snow animals.

After driving to Waterton, we decided to go up Bear's Hump, a viewpoint on Crandell Mountain. We shared the view with a few other people, some ticks and some sheep before heading back down. Once we settled in at the hotel, we drove to a snowed in Cameron lake and in the evening we enjoyed the sunset at the Prince of Wales

Another weekend where we were both sick and decided to just get out to Mount Lady MacDonald for some exercise

We didn't go too far along the trail. The highlight of the day was building a snowmen just before we turned around.

Badaling is the most popular and perhaps the most restored section of The Great Wall. Really this day was a bit of a write off for me, as it didn't compare to my first experience on The Great Wall, hiking from Jinshanling to Simatai. There are handrails all over the place and tons of tourists. I wasn't even there during the busy season. I would advise travellers to avoid this section of the wall. I did feel lucky to see it snow the same time the cherry blossoms were out.

I took a bus from Lijiang to Qiaotou, where my first task was to find Jane's Guest House. Qiaotou is so tiny, that you wouldn't think it would be a problem, but it was harder than I thought. I would advise others who play to stay here to learn the Chinese name. Note the name in one of my map photos.

The next day I left Jane's Guest House and hiked the upper path to Tina's Guest house. Here I called Jane to send a car to pick me up. You can hire a car from Tina's for twice the price.

On my second day at Emei Shan, I decided to hike from the bottom to the top. This is usually done over a period of two days, but I had a lot of China to see so I thought I would do it over one. It was the most steps I've ever walked in my life. I ran out of water a number of times, but there were many little shops along the trail that were glad to sell me a bottle for eight times the regular price.

First day on Mount Emei. The book said it takes two to three days to climb to the top. Having arrived there late, I wasn't sure if I would make the summit the following day, so I decided to take a bus to the top.

This was my first experience on The Great Wall. It was a ten kilometer hike from Jinshanling to Simatai. It's a very popular route, though not as popular as some other parts of The Great Wall. Once I got ahead of my group, I had the wall pretty much to myself. I could have easily hiked alone for the rest of the day, but I stopped to take photos and enjoy the company of some friends I made along the way.

Most of us were barely aware of this ridge, even though we've driven past it hundreds of times. It made a nice little winter objective, with lots of little sections offering fun scrambling.

An outing to the east end of Mount Rundle with Amelie, Renee, Heather and Dave. Overall a pretty nice day. A great way to celebrate the last day of winter. Though something tells me we haven't seen the last of snow.

While parts of Banff National Park got some new snow, a good portion of Kananaskis was still in good hiking condition. With a nice group of people, we took advantage of a fairly sunny Sunday and went up to the summit of Wasootch Peak. It was a little windy at the top, and we didn't stay long enough for a group photo, but did have are lunch up there before heading back down.

Taking advantage of the beautiful weather, we decided to scramble up Yamnuska. It got pretty windy as we neared the summit and we didn't stay there at all. But we had a beautiful place for lunch when we got back down to the trees.

A beautiful day out with Aarmaan, Allana, Amelie, Chester, Taya and Thomas

Hiking up to Barrier Lake Fire Lookout with Amelie on a very warm February day

A snowshoe/hike with Justine, Ben, Chester and Phil up to the north outliner of Mount Kent

A snowshoe with some friends up to the top of Narao Bump and Ross Lake.

Hanging out at the Chateau Lake Louise

Skiing from Field to Emerald Lake followed by a little hike across Lake Louise

Snowshoeing with the Calgary Outdoor Club

Some photos from a downtown fire that's been going since early this morning. It caused a closure of Centre Street and evacuation of nearby residential buildings.

A hike/scramble up Opal Ridge. Most of the group turned around because of the wind, but a couple reached the summit.

Chasing sunrises with Amelie

Welcoming the new year with a scramble up Mount Baldy with Justine and Ben