Date: Wed, 7 Jul 2004 16:14:53 -0500
From: matthew@matthewhollingworth.net
Subject: Some more Canadian climbs
Hi again. Another brief update of the adventures of two gumbies in Canada...
After Ha Ling, Patrick and I moved to Banff and decided to try the Kain Route on Mt Louis. Alas, it was not to be completed. The mountain involved a somewhat arduous approach, during which we spoke to some competent-looking climbers coming the other way (at 6am in the morning). They'd been benighted on the descent, of course. Gulp, that was not particularly inspiring for us! When we got there, the peak was spectacular and steep. We climbed about five pitches of scrambling, but there were a bit of anxiety and bad vibes going on which lead to us backing off at the start of the real technical climbing (i.e. the first bit which I wouldn't happily downclimb.) Kind of a pity, because when we ended up back on the trail and could see where we'd gotten to, it was about a third of the way up the mountain. However the route looked more difficult high up and we could well have had a very long day... We spent thirteen hours all up as it was. So the score: Kain 1, Hollingworth 0.
Next up was a trip in to Lake O'hara - a distillation of all the elements of the Rockies in one spot - beautiful alpine lakes, rocky ridges, glaciated peaks and endless pine forests. Rather pretty. We bused in one afternoon (The area is restricted by quota and you have to catch a bus.) Next day we were up early in freezing temperatures and headed off to climb a long rock ridge on Wiwaxy Peak. This proved to be another highlight of our trip so far, involving seemingly endless climbing up a quartzite ridge. I lost count of the pitches we did; suffice it to say it was in the double digits. We were caught ought by at least
two false summits, since the ridge involved a number of steep buttresses interspersed with large ledges. We finished the climb at about 7pm - luckily the descent was a walk-off. Another long day (though this climb was supposedly an "easy outing!").
Our last trip from O'hara was to be a trip up to an alpine hut for a go at snowy Mt Victoria (of "backdrop to Lake Louise" fame), but the forecast crapped out so we opted for a scramble up to Mount Yukness (well, the col next to it anyway). This was a fun day too with pretty amazing views for a steep hike. And a fine alternative by my standards - I'm trying to climb as little snow as possible, because its bloody hard work!
After that we hung out in Radium Hot Springs for a few days. Yes, we had a good soak in some hot springs, which was pretty nice. Going from the snowmelt river to the hottest pool just about made us pass out.
We headed up to the Bugaboos next. We slogged uphill for a couple of hours to Kain Hut, in order to try the Kain Route (another Kain Route) on Bugaboo Spire the next day. We hiked across moraine and climbed a steep snow slope to gain the saddle between Bugaboo and Snowpatch Spires. From there we scrambled up broken rocks for a couple of hours. The end of the climb involves several pitches of roped climbing, but just as I started the first lead, the weather crapped out and it started pelting snow on us! So, down we go. Bugger :( Score,
Kain 2, Hollingworth 0 - this Kain dude was pretty good. Next day's weather was much better of course, but we weren't going up again, being a bit tired and all...
And that's that. Now it's raining again, bloody weather, but tomorrow we're going up to another mountain hut on Castle Mountain to try some more rock climbs, including Brewer Buttress, supposedly the best 5.6 in the Rockies or something like that. (And on limestone, too!)
Hope you enjoyed my email. Some photos are attached - Patrick's little digicam is pretty cool. Hope everything is going well back in Oz. Enjoying Canada but looking forward to going home too - mountains aren't everything, I have come to realise!
c ya
Matthew
