Mt. Lipsett - Exploring Opportunities In Highwood Pass

After two weeks without being in the mountains, I was anxious to get back into them. This is however mid-November and conditions can change quite a bit in that time, as such I decided to choose a mountain that is relatively easy and quick, this would also serve two other purposes (aside from becoming summit 27). I used this opportunity to check out the mountain conditions along the Highway 40 corridor as well as scout some new prospects for next summer.

The day started with a 3:55AM wake-up to meet-up with the rest of the crew. I met up with Siva at 4:45AM and we headed off to the University to meet up with another. Unfortunately he was unable to make it, in fact, neither of the other 5 were able to make it, leaving just Siva and I to do this mountain. If I had thought to check my e-mail before heading out, we would have known just after 5:00AM that we were to be flying solo and likely could have started at 7:15AM instead of 8:10AM - LESSON LEARNED! The good thing is that we were provided a great vivid alpine sunrise.

The hike itself was very uneventful and not the most inspiring. The trail was quite circuitous wrapping around and back over itself through a pine forest slowly approaching the treeline. We pretty much knew the 'fun' was to begin once out of the trees, and again we were not let down. As we approached the false summit, the wind started whipping around - we estimate that it was around 40kph - not enough to physically move us, but enough to turn the snow crystals into eye hurting projectiles. Sive noticed a small herd of Mountain Sheep hunkering down behind some trees below us. As we crested the false summit we noticed a higher summit further off, we decided to grab a quick shot at he false summit before moving to the true summit.

As we began our approach to the true summit, the wind decided to throw up even more force. This time we were actually pushed by the wind and could hardly hear each other talking (even at close distances). We forced ourselves along the rock spine to the summit where the sun decided to greet us and the wind died down slightly. So without the wind and subsequent high-windchill, the trip was pretty straightforward.

The total elevation gain was 706m, distance was approximately 14km and total trip time was 5 hours.

Rimwall Summit - 2010/11 Winter Scrambling Is Officially Here!

Rimwall Summit is a moderately rated scramble that has an elevation gain of 1020m/3,346ft and a summit elevation od 2680m/8,792ft. It has been on my to-do list for a while and with summer quickly slipping away and winter taking its chilly frozen hold on the Rockies, there was no better time than now to do it.

With three friends, we left Calgary at 5:00am with dreams of a clear pre-sunrise approach followed by an alpine sunrise giving way to clear blue skies and a high of 3C, afterall, this is pretty much what the forecast told us - we should have also realised that the closer you get to the mountains, the less you can trust the forecast. We knew it would be chilly when we first arrived at the trail head, and chilly it was (cold is in a different class than chilly - as you will shortly find out). The lack of clouds caused the mercury to drop a bit more and as we exited our warm cozy vehicle, we were welcomed with an brisk ambient air temperature of about -9C. Let this be a lesson, never keep a car very warm when you are to go winter scrambling or hiking, slowly lower the internal temperature so its not such a shock to the system when you get out (we knew better).

We started our approach under a half-moon with the constellations shining brightly above us - Orion and Cassiopeia being the main stellar attractions. The first part of the approach was through forest on a nice trail, but having to keep with tradition, Siva and I decided that off-trailing would be (as we normally do) the way to go, so off trail we went scrambling some rockbands and doing some minor bushwacking until we finally came to the treeline. From the treeline we knew we had to continue up, but this is where things started getting interesting. We were provided a nice sunrise off of Mt. Lougheed as its snow dusted and cloud enshrouded summit burned red under the rising sun, but the clouds wouldn't stop rolling in, and soon enough visibility was reduced to about 10m in any direction. The wind was blowing at what we estimated was 60-70kph, snow crystals became eye-stinging ballistics, and the temperature quickly plummeted to below -20C, even our insulated drinking tubes couldn't withstand the coldness and succumbed to freezing solid.

Without this temperature and conditions, I don't know how eventful the summit trip would be, but add blustery winds, low temperatures and a bit of snow and ice and you get some good stories to tell - like how we only really knew the general direction to go and where the general location of the big cliff was. Suffice it to say we continued on to the summit, scrambled over the snowy, icy cliff bands shoved a big stick in the summit cairn where we took a few pictures and then headed down after a poor attempt to find the summit register. The funiest thing happened about 35 minutes of leaving the summit. The wind stopped, the angels sang and the clouds parted to reveal a beautiful clear autumn day overlooking Spray Lake the the entire length of the valley.

We did see another group of 6 people heading for the summit as we descended and knew they would now have a great trail to follow and have a great clear summit experience. Our experience was great though, the addition of bad conditions makes the ascent more interesting and adds a new degree of difficulty, at the very least, we didn't have to peer down on Canmore one more time from the summit and the windburn on our face will subside. 5 hours and 55 minutes after leaving the car, we were again standing on the side of the road putting our gear in the trunk and getting ready to go to Canmore for some hot chocolate.

On a sad note, as I did check "Rimwall Summit" from my list, I had to add "new camera" to it, as it succumbed finally to the orgy of rocks, cold, snow, trees, bumps, scrapes, drops and wet that the mountains had thrown at it over the past 2 years. Here is the last video that my camera would take (listen to the wind).

More Adventures At Moraine Lake - Tower Of Babel

The past weekends mix of low temperatures, low-lying heavy fog and wet snow kept most people indoors and those that went outdoors mainly stayed low. It also provided the opportunity for some quiet scrambling with some friends without the hoardes of people and late year tourists as well as some spectacular photos. It also allowed me to bag my 7th peak of the year.

We left Calgary just after 5:00am en route to Lake Louise in Banff National Park. I've had my eye on a small 455m quartzite spire named The Tower of Babel for some time. I had to cancel my two previous attempts due to heavy rains in the area, but decided unless there was lots of snow on the ground, we would attempt a summit. When we arrived at the parking lot it was a balmy 3C with a low cloud cover. We geared up with all the mandatory scrambling gear necessary for a slippery scramble up a very enclosed gully.

The total round trip time for ascent and descent was a mere 4 hours and provided us an opportunity to relax at the summit and take in some of the views that the low clouds and fog were providing. The ascent was through a narrow gully, although there is some optional moderate scrambling on an outcrop that forms the right wall of the gully. We decided to venture up a few times, but found that when slippery the loose rock can be trecherous and rockfall abounds, so a helmet is not an option but a necessity.

For a small peak surrounded by giants, the Tower of Babel can offer supurb scenery, the light dusting of snow slightly higher up mixing with the fog and the changing of the larch trees was a fantastic bonus that none of us expected. Well worth the trip and we'll likely be heading back next year for a summit camp. Enjoy some of the pictures below of our trip.

Back From Hiatus

Its been exactly two months since Tyler and I placed our boat into Spring Lake in San Marcos Texas and armed with 8 lbs of food each, 4 paddles and one boat, started our 262-mile, 76 hour endeavour to finish the Texas Water Safari. In the next couple of days I will be posting about the race, my experiences, feelings and lessons learned. I'll be posting statistics of our run and valuable lessons learned as well as possible future ambitions.

In the time between the Texas Water Safari and now, I haven't been nearly as active on the water or in the mountains. I've been taking time to spend with friends and my wife, who all had to put up with a lot during my training. From picking me up in Drumheller at 4:00am on a Sunday to sacrificing entire weekends without me to watching the travel costs increase tremendously.

So stay tuned...

TWS v.2.2010

As most of you know by now, Tyler and I will be back in Texas on the 8th of July to race in the 48th annual Texas Water Safari.

Like before you will be able to follow us live by clicking the TEXAS WATER SAFARI 2010 link on the right hand side of the screen and following the instructions.

The South Dakota Kayak Challenge - 75 Miles Of Wind, Water & Waves

On May 29th over 100 paddlers descended upon Yankton , a small city in southern South Dakota, bringing with them 77 canoes and kayaks of various size and style. The people were there for the inaugural South Dakota Kayak Challenge, a 75 mile race along the Missouri River ending in Sioux City Iowa. The race brought competitors from around the American Mid-west, representing 9 states and us, a lone boat from Canada.

Our SDKC journey began with a 2000km (1250mi) drive. We left Calgary the evening of June 27th in the midst of a rain/snow combo. The trip took us across Alberta and east into Saskatchewan where we crossed into North Dakota at the North Portal Saskatchewan border crossing as the first daylight came over the horizon. We continued east to Fargo ND which is just west of the Minnesota state border, then turned down I-29 and arrived in Yankton SD a mere 23.5 hours after leaving Calgary. In fact, we were a little late and missed part of the mandatory safety meeting. When we arrived, we were greeted with 22C weather and sun, a far cry from the near winter conditions we left Calgary in. As we exited the car, we took note of the boats that were already at the campsite. Most notably we took an inventory of the canoes there (since that is what we were in), a couple of Wenonahs (Jensen, Minnesota II) and a few carbon fibre 20" boats. Lined up among the canoes were many kayaks (massinvely outnumbering the canoes). Current Designs, Surfskis and Pelicans among many others. After catching the last of the safety meeting, we checked in, received our shirts and pulled our 16' Clipper Prospector (racing and prospector - two words the do not go together, but our racing boat is in Texas being fitted for the Safari in two weeks time) off the car and prepared our tents for an early night, afterall the race started at 7:00am sharp.

By 5:45am on race day, a vast majority of people were up. Riverside park in Yankton was abuzz with people having breakfast, taking down their camps and moving boats to the starting beach. By ten to seven, almost all the boats were lined up on the shore and the competitors made the last minute preparations to their boats and awaited the US Military to fire the starting gun (after all it was the Memorial Day weekend). At 7:00am sharp two soldiers fired their rifles to signal the start of the first ever South Dakota Kayak Challenge. Within seconds the Missouri river was alive with activity as boats slipped into the river and began the journey to Iowa, passing through 4 checkpoints along the way. In all seriousness, only a few boats had a chance to win the race, and these boats separated themselves fairly quickly from the pack. By mile 10 about 15 boats had separated themselves from the entire pack.

The first 30km (19mi) seemed to fly by as we were surrounded by boats, specifically three other boats that we seemed to pass, just to have them pass us and we would then pass them again, this went on for the vast majority of the race. Ti first thing we noticed was that the Missouri River (unlike the Red Deer and Bow in Alberta) was deep enough in most places to get a full stroke into the water, something that we've sadly been missing in our practices. This made the ease of paddling easier and the stroke much more efficient as we could get the vertical motion needed to drive the canoe forward. T he only time this didn't occur for any distance was a small 1km stretch just before checkpoint 2 where we opted to go around a lrage sandbar to the east. Two kayaks went to the west and passed us. By the time we reached checkpoint #2, the fastest boats really pulled away and we could barely see them on the horizon and four boats made up the "chase group", comprised of 2 kayaks, one 20' carbon fibre/kevlar canoe and our little prospector chugging away at an average speed of 11.6kph (7.2mph) we had our GPS rigged. Unfortunately that would not last long, by mid-day the wind had started to pick up and soon we found ourselves paddling into 20-30mph headwinds, virtually negating the current. In fact some paddlers told me when they stopped, the wind would actually blow them upstream against the current. It was this wind that caused most the problems. By 2:00 about 6 boats had already dropped out, by 5:00 I was told that number had increased to the double digits, by the end of the race, 23 boats would succumb to the wind and distance.

Over the last 32km (20 mi), the wind really played havoc with our speed. Our shourt, wide flat bottomed boat with no skirt scooped the wind and pushed us back. Coupled with the biggest challenge of the race - drunker recreational boaters purposely causing wakes - some over 3' tall) our speed fell to an average of 7.8kph (4.5 mph) for a total race average of 9.2 kph (5.7mph). After pulling into Bev's at 6:51pm we were both feeling pretty good - especially after we were told we were 7th overall and first in our division. We took a quick swim in the water - jumping off the pier (once on purpose, the other by accident) then went and sat down for dinner with some fellow racers, such as Bryan who won overall in just over 10 hours. Bryan talked to us of the Missouri 340 and really stolked our interested, perhaps next year, but definately we'll be in a much better boat, perhaps a Jensen or something similar. This year we have to focus on the Water Safari in Texas in a few weeks therefore a trip to Kansas City is sadly not in the budget.

Unfortunately we couldn't stay for the awards ceremony the next day. We rigged our canoe for the 1600 km (1000 mi) drive back to Calgary (we were to go through Wyoming and Montana this time). At 10:30pm or so we started our trip back to Canada, having said bye to event organizers Jarett and Stephen and several other racers that we met along the way. We decided this is definately an event that we will likely be back to again, it was organized great and the hospitality was quite amazing. Kudos to all that helped organize such an event and have it run so smoothly. I am sure everybody, regardless of how they finished, enjoyed themselves and the event. On Monday morning just before leaving South Dakota, we pulled over at a rest stop and had a quick awards ceremony of our own, more of a keepsake picture more than anything.

We arrived back in Calgary at just after 1:30am Monday May 31st, tired but excited that we had just accomplished a race after 24 hours of driving and very little sleep each. It truly is amazing how far your body can be pushed if you are determined to finish something. As a side note, it was joked that we currently hold the Canadian Record for the SDKC, albeit not a good one and only because we are the only Canadian boat to take part, but hey, why not live it up while we can right?

Hope to see you again next year SDKC. Keep me informed Jarett and Stephen.

Next up, 262 miles of the Texas Water Safari - June 12, 2010