sir?

mt sir douglas, as seen from the summit of mt burstall. the east ridge is on the left side.


mt sir douglas, east ridge


climbing mt sir douglas' east ridge

mt sir douglas in kananaskis was the most enjoyable adventure yet, even though the rock was horribly rotten and unprotectable for the entire lower part of the route. in that case, the solidity and elegance of mt edith cavell probably sets her above general douglas' peak; for a knighted fellow you'd think he'd be more congenial. i was very thankful for all but the sketchiest of twenty or so rappels to return us onto the glacier, followed by a nine kilometre run back to the car after sixteen and one half hours of climbing.

masochistic?

in this post, two adventures.
adventure number one. at three in the morning, mark and i discerned that the weather had still not decided its plans for the day, so we closed the doors of the car and pretended to sleep for another hour. at four, some stars could be seen through scant partings in the cloudcover, so we opted to take our chances and make a break for it. for mt edith cavell, that is; she's the highest peak in the immediate vicinity of jasper, at 3363 metres (11 033 feet). climbing on the east ridge was solid and everything was fantastic until we reached the ice cloud that remained to guard the last two hundred vertical metres to the summit. then it became especially excellent, with a thin veneer of ice and spindrift encrusting the rock. white- out blizzard conditions, high winds and temperatures below minus ten degrees celcius dictated brevity in our summit celebrations, followed by a heinous descent of the easier west ridge, which, though less vertical, presented thin scree atop downhill-slanted rock ledges. for those unaware, scree is like gravel, and in stiff-soled boots, a thin layer of scree on sloped rock above cliff bands several hundred metres high, you've got a precarious situation. at four in the afternoon we made it back to the car, and after a quick dip in frigid cavell lake, we were off for a brew in jasper townsite.

adventure number two. a bit of a weekend off led me on a hike in banff with some new friends. across the highway from banff townsite you've got mt norquay (with the ski hill), mt edith and mt cory; our group had plans to hike the cory pass trail to the edith-cory col, where some of us would continue on up to one or more of the three summits of mt edith, rejoin the others, and continue down the seven kilometres of edith pass trail back to the vehicle. and this was more or less what transpired, though with a slight twist. the cory pass trail is evidently one of the steepest maintained trails in the rocky mountains. i guess they were going for economy, of sorts; though not of our efforts, that's for sure. two waited at the saddle between the two peaks (col) while four of us scrambled up the south summit (2554 metres), but didn't quite wait until we returned from our fun. not a problem, and all in the plans, but we underestimated their speediness on the downhill and were unable to see them in the distance. this, of course, led to second-guessing our instructions, and their whereabouts, and so we hurried down the trail in hopeful hot pursuit. after the goats got out of my way. and then after almost an hour without overtaking the renegades, i elected to run, and, if i hadn't encountered them before the seven kilometres was up and i was back at the vehicle, it would mean that they were either still waiting for us at the col or had returned the way we came. that would mean that i'd then turn around and run back up the pass and down the other side. i was entirely resigned to the upcoming off-road marathon when, lo and behold, there they were! yay! safe and sound and speedy. but interestingly, i was quite disappointed to abandon my upcoming test of endurance, since i had already planned it out from beginning to end in my mind and was already feeling a second wind coming on to fuel the exercise. oh well; i'll bank that energy for next weekend. the day was nicely capped by a dip in canmore's quarry lake, followed by food and drink at julio's barrio in cowtown.

photographs on my flickr and pdf slideshows downloadable here.

insomnolence

sleepless. but now that the tree plant is over and done, i'm only without sleep by choice. in the first case, so as to not simmer myself within my fine, metallic skillet and companion clifford, i elected to heed the meteorologist's warnings of the upcoming heatwave in southern saskatchewan and alberta by continuing on driving through the night to my destination. and, with the aid of chocolate-covered espresso beans and sunflower seeds (not chocolate-covered), twenty-three and a half hours after departure, i arrived here in cowtown. in the second case, mark and i had ventured to the foot of our weekend pursuit, mt. joffre. joffre is a pleasant monster of ice and snow rising to 3450 m (11 316 ft) in kananaskis provincial park, just east of banff. to get an early start, we woke at 0250 h and were on our way before 0330 h. for whatever reason, perhaps because of the diminutive half-section of half-centimetre yellow foam padding i was sleeping on, or the roaring glacial waterfall thirty feet from our tent, or the anticipation of the morning adventure; regardless of the reason, i didn't sleep a wink. but i laid there anyways, willing recovery and new energy into my barely initiated leg muscles, already nearly expended from the day's intense approach. sure, intense because we made it that way, but really, is there any other way? the climb itself was also made to be exhausting, but it was very necessary that we maintain our position far in advance of the eleven member alpine club group following in our hard-won kick-steps up joffre's snow-encrusted face. so, depending on how you look at it, not only was it our first mountain of the season, it was also our first time leading an alpine club of canada trip. but i don't know if they'll see it that way.

so, two sleepless nights in one week; one by choice, the other from insomnia (though it wouldn't have been much of a sleep anyways). the first was immediately followed by a respectable five hour nap; the second, by an intense thirteen-hour climb and return hike to the parking lot. before the painkillers and alcohol, i wished all mountains would crumble into the heart of the sea. but, we're already now working on plans for tomorrow and for next weekend. this is going to be a good summer.