Climbing and Catching Up

Since the Bugaboos, Ian and I were able to meet up with Sally and John, two friends from Australia. Sally has done several around-the-world trips, and Ian met her several years back on one of those adventures. Sally and John are now both fire fighters who were in Vancouver to compete in the world firefighter games – John won gold & bronze, and Sally won both a silver & bronze medal. I was quite impressed! (considering these are the second largest international games, behind the Olympics).

We all climbed at back of the lake in Lake Louise, enjoying the view and the fun sport climbs. Ian onsighted (led without falling) Wicked Gravity, 5.11a sport climb considered one of the best climbs in the Rockies. Sally and John also climbed it, and I made it half way! ☺

Sally climbing at Lake Louise

Meghan climbing at Lake Louise

Ian on Wicked Gravity

Meghan having a go at Wicked Gravity

Apparently they don't have squirrels or chipmunks in Australia, so this guy provided a bit of entertainment.

Piton wasn't sure she approved of someone else getting the attention.

We took a rest day and enjoyed some time playing in the pond. Sally and John have a rubber dinghy we borrowed. With two people and the dog we ended up taking on water, but Ian enjoyed floating around with the dog.

On Friday Sally, John, Ian and I met up with another of Sally’s friends, Kevin, and we all climbed at Grassi in Canmore. We’d had aspirations of climbing True Grit (a 6 pitch 5.10a) but with the heat and lack of shade for the dog opted to do some cragging instead. It was a good time.

Ian on a hard one at Grassi.

Ian showing his moves

Kevin showing us how it's done at Grassi

Kevin’s a great guy, he invited us all back to his place for showers and a movie. We spent the night there and headed on to Calgary on Saturday. We ran some errands in town (mostly shopped at Mountain Equipment Co-op!) and met up with a good friend from University, Greg Powell. Greg had us over for dinner – it was delicious. I haven’t ate so much fresh fruit in a long time. He made us smoothies as well… heaven.

Greg Powell, Rebecca, Meghan and Ian enjoying some fruit.

Playing board games in the yard!

Sunday morning we got up and played board games and headed off after lunch to visit Ian’s cousins Wally and Theresa and their adorable children Marissa and Wally. We enjoyed an afternoon at the park with them, a lovely home-cooked meal and even more fresh fruit for dessert! It was hard to say goodbye, but we had made plans to head downtown and meet up with a friend of Ian’s from first year, Sarah. Sarah is now engaged to Scott, congratulations to them! We enjoyed some beverages at the local pub and caught up on all the latest news. It was good to see them, but time was short, so hopefully we will see them in Ontario in the years to come!

We left Calgary Sunday night to make our big trip cross country – which upon looking at the map seems like a lot less of a trip than going north (and these roads are even paved!). We'll be in Elliot Lake next weekend.

The Bugaboos

I am awoken by the sound of snow sloughing off the tent. I checked my watch - 1:18 a.m. I've been asleep for over 3 hours, and that feels like a good rest on the hard, sloping granite that is the Applebee Dome Camping Area. The fact that it's still snowing only a few hours before we planned to set out means that our objective, the West Ridge of Pigeon Spire, will be in poor climbing condition again, and we'll end up scrapping that plan again, opting not to climb the ridge whose cracks will be filled with ice and snow for at least a day or two to come. This is our third night camped up here, and also our third night of snow. It's also snowed every day except the first.

It was obviously warm here within the last month or so - the Bugaboo-Snowpatch Col, a steep snow ramp up to the saddle between the two named spires, is impassable. The bergshrund (the crevasse where the glacier pulls away from the mountains) is huge and scary, and above it looms steep solid ice. The snow has melted out at the sides and above the glacier on the col creating a large amount of dangerous loose rock. There was a big rockfall event two days ago - likely thousands of tons of stone - covering the established path up the col. There was another slide the day before in the same area. One rope team did head up that way early yesterday morning while everything was still quite frozen, but even they admitted it had been a bad idea and they were lucky to have escaped without injury.

This is the Bugaboos. A high alpine area of the Purcell Mountains in eastern British Columbia, it's also a coveted rock climbing destination. I'm here with my climbing partner Jon, a great guy Meghan and I met while camping and climbing in Squamish, BC. Meghan is staying down in the Banff area, hiking and camping with Randy, another friend from Ontario. I've been up here once before, when Meghan and I were engaged. On that trip, we had relatively good weather, with snow only at the end of our trip, and mostly warm clear days, but we found that our glacier and alpine experience weren't quite where they needed to be, and chose the safer path by not doing any of the technical climbs. On this trip, I'm more experienced, stronger, and with a partner who is even more experienced than me. We had high hopes of climbing some of the spectacular routes here, but have settled for scrambling up a couple of the lower spires instead.

Sunrise in the Bugaboos

On day 1, we got an early start, made the drive up to the trailhead without incident, and proceeded to wrap Jon's van in chicken wire - a necessary precaution to prevent the area's porcupines from chewing on the vehicle's tires and brake lines. We then hiked in - a grueling 3100 feet of elevation gain in only 5.6 km. It's a steep hike, which feels even worse when you're carrying your food, stove, clothing, and tent; not to mention ropes and technical climbing gear. It is a beautiful hike though, out of the forest and up through alpine meadows lush with summer wildflowers, up to the talus fields and glaciers of "The Bugs". We set up our camp, and feeling energized and excited about being there, hiked up the 4th class southwest ridge of Eastpost Spire, the tower adjacent to camp. It was a fun hike, not too tough, with great views of the area. After hiking back down we made an easy dinner, and headed off to bed at about 8 p.m., before the sun had even set below the horizon. We had high hopes the meteorologist would be wrong, and the great weather would continue through the next day.

Jon on the hike

Wildflowers along the trail

Our campsite at Applebee Dome

The Applebee Dome Camping Area

At the summit of Eastpost Spire

I woke up in the night to hear the sounds of snow hitting the tent, but wrapped up in my down sleeping bag, secure in my 4-season tent, it didn't really concern me and I tried to go back to sleep. My morning, the snow had stopped, and after sleeping in an hour or two past sunrise, little of the snow remained at our elevation for long. Walking up to the food storage box, I ran into an old friend Sally, an adventurous Australian whom I'd met on a climbing trip to Yosemite 5 years ago. I knew she might be heading to the Bugaboos around the same time, and it was great to see her. She introduced me to her partner John, and explained how they'd been benighted on the trail after taking a wrong turn in the dark after heaving the Alpine Club's hut on the way up. Meghan and I had done the same on our way up three years earlier. Sally and John set up camp quickly, while Jon and I ate breakfast and mulled our options for the day. We decided that with the not-so-spectacular forecast we would do something not too committing - a traverse of Crescent Spire up the west ridge and down the southeast gully. Sally and John joined us as well, and we set off. The approach involved crossing the edge of the Crescent Glacier, but in that area there was little risk of falling into a crevasse and we didn't bother strapping on our crampons or roping up. Gaining the col between Crescent Spire and Bugaboo Spire required some low-fifth class climbing, and Jon and I opted to climb it unroped to save time and minimize the potential for rockfall. Sally and John followed us up, simul-climbing the slab with a shortened rope. Upon gaining the col, we climbed the ridge on 4th class terrain to the spire's summit. With the temperature dropping and the clouds rolling in, we didn't stick around there for long, and started making our way down before Sally and John had even made it all the way up. Soon after starting our descent, the snow started. The snow soon changed into sleet, but we were on our way down the 3rd class gully. It was very loose, and we waited for Sally and John to catch up, moving as a group of 4 for greater safety. The precipitation continued, varying in intensity and type, as we made our way back to camp and made some dinner under a seeping rock overhang. We headed to bed early this night as well, mostly for lack of anything better to do, with the storm raging outside and no other shelter than our tent.

Snowpatch Spire reflected in a tarn

Hiking across the Crescent Glacier towards the Bugaboo-Crescent Col

Traversing Crescent Spire with the clouds rolling in

Sally on the summit of Crescent Spire as Jon and I descended

Sally and Jon on the descent with sleet raining down hard

The morning of day three was clear, but the weather report received by satellite phone and disseminated to the rest of camp, including us, was for more poor weather today but clearing by the following day. Sally and John had set up a tarp shelter, with room for 4 to cook and socialize. We decided to take a rest day, hide from the rain and snow and save our energy for a big day tomorrow. We played euchre, relayed stories, and sat around eating for most of the day. In the late afternoon the skies cleared, and we packed our bags for the next day's attempt on Pigeon Spire, which we would have a go at as a team of 4.

More snow at camp

Playing euchre under Sally and John's tarp shelter

That night, as you know from reading above, it snowed again. Waking up to our alarms, we decided that even with good weather today, the route would be too snow-packed for us to make a quick and safe ascent. Today would not be the day, and Jon and I would instead pack up and head out a day early, while Sally and John would maybe have a chance later in the week, as the weather was only set to improve, and they had a few more days to stay up there. After a few more hours of sleep, we got up, dried everything out, packed up, and headed down the trail. We made good time, met Meghan in Radium, and Jon headed on his way, hoping to cross the border before it closed for the night and to make it to Seattle in time to see his fiancé at the finish line of her triathalon. Meghan and I headed back into Kootenay National Park and up to the Radium Hot Springs to melt away the sore muscles.

Despite the poor weather and the fact that we didn't get up any of our main objectives, I had a great time, and look forward to another trip there some time in the future. The spires aren't going anywhere, so we can come back another time and try again when conditions are more favourable.

Safely back at the parking lot, enjoying a well-deserved beer

Jasper and Banff National Parks

Since we left "the North", we've replaced all four tires on the van, placed Ian's photography in a gallery in Dawson Creek, and met up with our friend Randy in Banff National Park. Highlights of our travel from the Dempster to Banff included seeing about 40 buffalo along the highway in northern British Columbia, and going to the natural hot springs in Leard Hot Springs Provincial Park.

Skinny caribou we saw along the highway in BC.

The forest fires in the news are real and very big! Apparently British Columbia is having a really rough summer in that regard and there were many fire bans.

We were also fortunate to meet up with some friends we'd met in Squamish in Whitehorse, and made some new friends as well! We met two Germans (blog) who are on the road for 1001 days and are travelling all over. They have a fantastic RV (sponsored by Hobby).

Ian and I spent several days climbing at 'back of the lake' in Lake Louise. We were able to get on a bit of trad, but mostly sport climbing - which was nice since we haven't really climbed sport for months. Lake Louise is of course beautiful, but interesting too - look at all the canoes in the photo. We counted upwards of 28 canoes at one point on the lake. Now, think about how much you would be willing to pay for an hour canoe rental....

...Rentals were $50/ hour or $40/half hour!!

Banff was gorgeous. Here are some of Ian's shots...

We saw wildlife, more bears and coyotes as well as some big horn sheep.

Ian went swimming in Horseshoe lake, the water was quite chilly. I have video of Ian, but will need to look into how to load those to the website.

Randy and I were able to do several nice hikes. I was lucky to have his company for the days while Ian was up in the Bugaboos with Jon (a friend we met in Squamish).

In a blog post coming soon will be Ian's snowy adventures in the Bugaboos! :)

The Dempster "Take Two Spare Tires" Highway

So, after much contemplation, we decided that since we were in Dawson City already and would likely never be back here again (at least for a long time), we ought to go all the way up to Inuvik. This requires driving about 1400 km (roundtrip) on the Dempster Highway. The Dempster is not paved, and it is not known to be a nice road. A lot of people will tell you that if you drive it, to take two spare tires. We thought this was a little exaggerated, so only had our one spare, but we did need it. Actually, we made it all the way to Inuvik, then almost all the way back - 27 km from the south end of the highway - when we got a flat.

Oh what fun, changing a tire in 30 degree head on a dirt road

But I'm getting ahead of myself. It was a beautiful drive. The first evening, we drove only about 60 km up the highway to Tombstone Territorial Park and camped at a trailhead. We did a half-day hike on the Grizzly Lake Trail, only going just past the viewpoint. This park is beautiful. Amazing mountain scenery, and very pristine. We met a few people on the trail, all very friendly, including a park ranger and a student intern ranger. Another time, perhaps years from now, I'd love to go back and hike deeper into the park. The photos of the area around Divide Lake look spectacular, and you know that the photos never really do justice to a place like this. There are no park fees for day use or backcountry camping, and they will even provide you with a free loan of a bearproof food canister. The park interpretive centre is small, but the people working there more than made up for their lack of space. They were a wealth of information - very helpful. They also provided us with a loaner copy of an information book about the Dempster Highway, which pointed out a lot of cool stuff to see along the way to and from Inuvik.

The garbage container at the trailhead - we're really in bear country here!

Inukshuk along the trail

Amazing views from the trail

After our hike, we drove a while further up the highway, driving late into the night, passing the arctic circle, and stopping at the Northwest Territories border only at about 1am. It's amazing how late it can get without getting tired when the sun doesn't go down. Yes, the land of the midnight sun. In Inuvik, the sun rose one day in May and didn't set again until late July. Even then, it was only really below the horizon for a few minutes, not really getting dark. We passed some other things unique to this highway compared to any other on which I've driven, such as the fact that in sections, it doubles as an airstrip. There isn't an airstrip beside the highway, the airstrip is the highway. Watch out for landing aircraft. Ok then.

Crossing the arctic circle - the sun was low in the sky - it was after 11pm

No stopping or parking - this section of highway is also an airstrip!

The following day we drove the rest of the way to Inuvik and celebrated our two-year wedding anniversary with some ice cream (it was over 30 degrees C!). Canada's northernmost permanent road-accessible settlement is not too exciting. It's interesting from an engineering point of view - built on the permafrost, everything is built up on pilings above the ground, and all services (water, sewer, gas, electricity, phone, tv cable, etc) are all routed through large raised conduits. We toured around for a few hours, then headed back south again, stopping partway down the highway at a pullout to sleep. The third day we continued onwards, stopping again at the Tombstone Interpretive Centre to return our highway guide and identify the piece of antler Meghan spotted at the side of the highway (it will make a nice addition to the decor of our van). The antler would have come from a caribou from the Porcupine Herd, and of the few animals we didn't see along this highway (They are all in their calving grounds right now, far from the highway they cross in their annual migration).

Inuvik

Yes, we saw a lot of wildlife - a porcupine, a black bear with cubs, a red fox, a short-eared owl, tundra swans with their cygnets, a unidentified raptor (I think either a peregrine falcon or a gryfalcon), a dall sheep ram, sandhill cranes, common loons, another black bear wandering the open tundra, and even a wolverine! We didn't get photos of everything - a lot of them were too quick for the camera - but there area a few included below. We also saw a ton of cool and interesting ecosystems. There was boreal forsest, mountains, plains, and most interestingly (to me at least) arctic tundra. This is an ecosystem that only exists in the far reaches of the world, and is unlike any other.

Short-Eared Owl hunting in the late evening

Black Bear prowling the arctic tundra

Red Fox on a sideroad

The same red fox, posing for photographs

Mountains, Lakes, and Tundra

Cool rock formations

The Eagle Plains, the Peel River, and the Richardson (I think?) Mountains

It was a cool trip, more about the journey then the destination. We're on our way back south now. Heading for Edmonton where we'll replace our tires and get an oil change before heading to Jasper, Yoho, and Banff National Parks. Should be fun!