Ski touring at Taylor Lake

  Had another fun day of ski touring with my buddy Sylvain at Taylor Lake, a beautiful alpine lake situated under the flanks of the impressive north face of Mount Bell. The trail climbs gradually over 7km's with an elevation gain of 600 meters or roughly 2000 feet, and you don't really get any vistas until you've arrived at Taylor Lake and emerge from the forest. Unfortunately for the two old men(us), there had been some significant snowfall over the last few days and the snow lining the trail got progressively deeper as we gained elevation to a point were we basically forged a trail in untracked powder shin to knee deep! Those are sometimes the breaks when you're the first ones up, but the reward of deep, untracked ski lines kept the motivation up there on the 'stoke' scale!
  Somehow, (well we know how now,) we missed the last leg of the trail heading to the exit waters of the lake. The over abundance of snow had completely filled in any old 'up' tracks and we continued right off the trail following a terrain weakness that had fooled others before us. Eventually though we popped out of the forest and were given enough of a view to regain perspective of our position in the valley. In addition, our frayed nerves were reminding us that there was no more fuel in our tanks which forced us to take a mandatory food break to regain the lost calories from our extended trek into lala land! and to also readjust our cranky attitudes that usually comes from an overexerted, under nutritioned body!
  After fueling our bodies we were able to continue onward with renewed spirits, but with increasing difficulties of ever deepening snow, and fatigued legs that were starting to respond negatively to our minds planned objective as we inched our way up the shoulder of Panorama Ridge. As we climbed up the slopes in the trees we were constantly reminded of the increased avalanche risk that is coupled with such a significant amount of snowfall, by listening to numerous avalanches being triggered naturally from wind loaded slopes in the distance that were unable to support the weight of the excess snow.
  Eventually we arrived at the high point of our safely chosen objective, and we fueled up again in preparation for the endorphic decent that lay below us. The wind was howling in gusts, and dusts clouds of snow could be seen in the forest below from the loose snow being forcefully prompted from the branches of unsuspecting trees.
  Sylvain dropped down into the ski slope first with 3 sweeping turns before disappearing out of sight. After a short delay and a quick assessment that the slope could now be confirmed stable, I followed in behind staying just off his tracks to revel in the steep and deep snow! We would eventually leave the treed slope we had originally dropped in on, to finish skiing the final 400m on the edge of a major slide path that drains some of the south face of Panorama Ridge. The snow was deep, but heavy and moist which made for much slower skiing than both of us are used to coming from the typically cold, dry Rockies. Maybe the experience I attained from my earlier days in Whistler skiing coastal snow gave me the 'enjoyment advantage' today, but I seemed to manage the conditions with a little more finesse than my free heeled friend Sylvain (who is still a fabulous skier none the less!)
  This final slope of the avalanche path landed us at the west end of Taylor Lake were we moved ourselves from the bottom of slide path to safely reskin our skis for the arduous trudge out across the lake in the still knee deep snow.
  We would eventually find the trail that we missed on our way up and reconnect with the track that would take us back to the truck 'luge' style!! And what fun it was! A single track no wider than the width of our skis, winding and weaving through the mature forest around blind corners and tight shacains. Luckily it was late enough in the day we weren't too concerned about meeting any fellow skiers on their way up!
  We arrived safely back at the truck and marvelled at the difference in weather from such a short distance down out of the mountains as we donned our sunglasses while we smiled at the sun and grinned about another fine day in the mountains with friends :)

Taylor Lake with Taylor Pass going through the notch up and right of center

Panorama Ridge on the right with large avalanche chute visible down the center of the face

terminating at the lake. Our skin track out is visible on the shoreline.

We skied a line on the skiers left of the photo through the thinned out Larch trees

before joining the bottom of the avalanche chute.

Sylvain looking out over the eastern slopes of Panorama Ridge at

some nice ski lines for future considerations.

Did I mention there was some deep snow up there?!

Thoroughly enjoying myself!

Did I mention the snow was deep?! Woo Hooooo!!

Check out the snow stuck to my chest

Silly into one of his big tele turns!

Silly's skis are quite a bit fatter (wider) than mine so he 'floats' a lot more on the snow

Still getting in it though!!

The exit creek from Taylor Lake. The water is still flowing under the snow!

Silly forging the trail out with an exhausted trudge!

What a change in weather down at valley floor! Highway 1 west of Lake Louise was closed

due to avalanche control hence all the long haul truckers lined up along the shoulder.



Skiing with Remy at COP (Canada Olympic Park)

  Had a really fun evening on Saturday with a good crew of people all very enthusiastic to see the smiles and amazement of the disabled skiers ripping down the slopes of Calgary's Canada Olympic Park or COP as it's commonly referred as. This particular night was the 'Family Day' for the CADS (Canadian Association for Disabled Skiing) Program where all the CADS participants invite family and friends to come ski with them and the entire ski hill is at their disposal without any interference from the general public. It was a great turn out, and my best estimate would suggest that there was over 250 skiers and riders coming down the slopes with their newly adapted friends and family.

  The wind was a little ferocious at the top of hill, but a short turn around, once off-loaded from the chair, ensured that nobody sat exposed to the winds biting nip. Jass has become a volunteer for the CADS program so is able to assist Remy to get him loaded on and off the chairlift, so he is very grateful for that! He posted a very nice thank you on Facebook to all his friends who attended, and he's already quite excited for his upcoming two mountain trips to Nakiska in early and mid March.

Remy getting fitted with a 'helmet cam' for a different perspective

on his speedy trip down the slopes!!

Remy putting on his helmet and the gang waiting to load the chairs for our first run

Sylvain and his oldest girl Leah (7) attending the function after an already full day of skiing

in Lake Louise! She was a real trooper and was quite excited to ski with Remy

Jass doing some adjustments befor launching Remy down the hill

Remy leaning into the turn to steer his sit ski

Remy in full control of the steering!

Jass, Remy, and Remy's volunteer CADS instructor (can't remember his name for the life of me!)

Remy's right hand gets velcroed to the handle bar so it doesn't get runover from the sled

Group shot of the gang!



Ice Climbing with cousin Kent :)

  Had a really fun afternoon on Saturday with cousin Kent doing some ice climbing in Grotto Canyon. The weather was windy and overcast with light snow come down, so our choice to get into a sheltered canyon turned out to be the right one. (Plus the noon start really limits the options for a bigger day! :)  )

  Kent successfully dropped Blair off for his first battle with learning to snowboard on the slopes of Nakiska, and arrived in good style for partake in some ice climbing with the crack-of-noon club. So we geared up and headed off to start our adventure. 

note: I had to decline the bean and tuna salad that Kent had made for us to take to the climb for lunch due to a deliciously sculpted ham, cheese, red onion, spinach sandwich, with a touch of prepared mustard, that I had already prepared the night before. However the bean salad did look delicious!

  We arrived at the climbs after a short hike up the canyon, and were greeted by a busy crowd of hikers and climbers. We put on our gear and Kent got the condensed version of the 'how-to' of ice climbing, and we headed up towards the main falls, AKA Grotto Falls.

  A party of 3 Aussies were scaling the ice on the climbers right hand side of the falls, so we chose the next obvious line on the climbers left to distance ourselves from the ice shrapnel coming down from above. Kent, still feeling quite unfamiliar with this foreign activity of clinging to a frozen waterfall with armor piercing tools, proceeded to climb the falls with the grace and tenacity of a seasoned veteran! It was great fun, and successfully topped out at the top of the falls ahead of our 3 Aussie comrades.

  I explained to Kent the procedures of 'rappeling' back down to the bottom of the climb, and this being his first time climbing and rappelling, he embraced my knowledge with eager enthusiasm. I'm not sure he fully understood the engaging nature of the 6mm cord that had been woven into the ice that we were about to trust our lives to, but he smiled and put the control into my hands that I would return us safely to the ground.

  Upon arriving safely to the bottom of the climb, we coiled the rope and ventured back down to our packs that had been stowed at the head wall junction of the three climbs. There we enjoyed our lunch, Kent his bean and tuna salad, me my tasty ham and onion sandwich, and we fueled up to tackle the next segment of our climbing adventure, the ice seep called 'Hers'. I hung the rope off the anchor at the top, and rigged our ropes to allow us to 'top rope' the mixed climb to the left called 'Scratch and Sniff'. Again Kent handily swung his tools and kicked his crampons up 'Hers', and humored me periodically with my paparazzi actions, and soon being being lowered from the anchors at the top. We both decided that we should give the mixed route a go next.

note: mixed climbing is climbing on rock (AKA dry tooling) with your ice tools and eventually reaching the ice to finish a route. This form of climbing originated due to the massive quantities of unformed ice routes not quite reaching the ground.

  After a quick demo, Kent was off, delicately balancing his tools on the small ledges of rock, and methodically placing the front points of his crampons on similar small edges as he progressed uniformly up the scrappy limestone. After completing the rock section of the pitch, he was rewarded with a large hole in the ice in which his ice tool was able to be 'hooked' with little chance of it falling out. After the engaging mind work of balancing up the rock on, the ice hook was needlessly welcomed and Kent stood atop the climb with a permanent grim!

  Being Kent's first time out ice climbing, he did exceptionally well, showing great poise, and an experts understanding of the physics and systems involved in the sport of ice climbing

I can't be certain, but I think he'll be back for more!

Kent psyched to swing the tools

Getting down to business on Grotto Falls

Serious business

Now that wasn't so hard!

Kent smiling on a climb called 'Hers'

More 'Hers'...

Nearing the top on 'Hers'

Kent trying his hand at 'Mixed' climbing

Kent succeeding quite handily on the drytooling section

of the mixed route 'Sketch and Sniff'



Evan Thomas Creek and Beyond ....

Ventured into Evan Thomas Creek on Thursday with my room mate Jacynthe. It had been around 6 or 7 years, as best I could remember, since the last time I had visited this area to climb. Oddly enough there has been some recent development further up the canyon at an area that has been dubbed the 'Rehab Wall'. The quality of the routes is actually quite high and the potential exists for at least double the number of lines already established. To top it off, the quality of pure ice routes is good as well so there is a great mix for all levels of climbers to enjoy, all in one spot! Hard to believe this area was only discovered a few years ago?.

Moonlight and Snowline in great condition. Climbers visible

on Moonlight and at the 2/3 tree on Snowline.

Jass rappelling down 'Green Monster'. A mixed line called

'Yoga Monster' links the rock to the ice on the right.

The 'Rehab Wall' An M7 called Physio-Therapy

links the rock to the hanging ice in the center.

Jass stretching out on 'Yoga Monster' M5 WI4

Jass finding the Zen from the rock to the ice on 'Yoga Monster'

'Slurpee' in a neat ampitheatre near the Rehab Wall

Jass eyeing up 'WD40'

Jass feeling well oiled on the deceptively steep 'WD40' WI4+

The 'Team'. I was actually having lots of fun, honest! Just a little cold from being wet :)



The Wind Tower

Displayed is a picture of the Wind Tower just SE of Canmore. The photo was taken from my pocket size Olympus Stylus 720SW on my way back from Grotto Canyon yesterday afternoon. Winds were relatively calm in the valley but ferrociously licking the flanks of the Wind Tower at the higher elevations. Almost made the Wind Tower look like it was being enlightened and risen into the sky! This mountain, actually a trail on the backside called 'West Wind Pass' was the first hike/date that Karolin and I went on during her trip to Canada. It's always been my favourite mountain in the area so pretty special that we got to know each other hiking beside it.

The sun is actually quite high in the sky but far enough behind the 

Wind Tower it was reflecting through the blowing snow

 Also got to see the local Bighorn Sheep that were hanging out in their usually spot on the grassy, sun exposed hill on the 1A highway towards Exshaw. Do you think they were there though when Karolin and I tried to say hello when she was on her trip? Ohhhhhhhh noooooooooo!!!!! Well they were hanging out there yesterday :)  

Papa

Baby

Mama

Papa posing



Skiing on Mount Whymper

Big Sykorsky Helicopter flying over

Stoked!

Beautiful colour in the tree stump

Another colourful dead tree

Looking up the Whymper Slide Path to the summit of Mount Whymper

Sylvain getting ready to dig a pit and do a snow profile

Looking across to another skiable slide path on Mount Whymper

Silly digging a pit to do a column test for our snow profile

This is the clean shear that occurred at a snow depth of 40cm.

Kimmer, all smiles :)

Looking across the valley to Mount Stanley and the Stanley Headwall

Looking up the Whymper Slide Path. We skiied skiers right of the main slide path

in the center of the photo from just below the major rock band in the gully



Silly looking up at what we skied!

Had a great day of skiing with Sylvain at Mount Whymper just into BC on Highway 93S. We left the house at 7AM with coffees in hand and had a chatty drive heading west. Got slowed up a little by the 1A turnoff just west of Banff for an overturned car that ended up on its drivers side, parked in the center of the Trans Canada Highway. Interesting?! The road conditions definitely deserved some respect that some drivers weren't willing to pay out. Another car was parked in the ditch as we passed the Sunshine turnoff!

As we pulled into the Stanley parking lot we saw two climbers walking back down the approach trail to the Stanley Headwall. They approached us at the truck, we were already sitting inside putting our boots on, and they began to tell us of the epic they had on the trail up to the Headwall. Somehow they got distracted from the main trail (which would be difficult to miss?) and they ended up in the creek that flows down from the Stanley Valley. After a half an hour of disoriented slogging, the fellas returned to the trailhead with disappointed hopes of climbing on the headwall. They quickly conjered up a plan 'B' and headed off north towards the Icefields Parkway with more optimistic hopes.

Silly and I shouldered our skis and headed across the highway, then strapped in and started skinning up. We came across an old skin track, presumably from the Banff Snow Safety Crew, and followed it up to the top of a nice chute. Both Silly and I agreed that it would be wise to ski this chute and get a feel for the snow pack since it was both of our first times in the area this year, plus the line was looking pretty damn sweet! Silly dropped in first and woo hooed his way down just about stumbling on his smile at the bottom! I dropped in second while Silly shot some video of my turns, and I too had the same issues with my smile at the bottom! Fist bumps were exchanged and we were quick to reskin our skis and head back up :)

This time we continued up through the trees above the chute, then crossed the avalanche path above a convex roll that we both agreed made us nervous, and we continued over to the main slide path that drains the upper slopes of Mount Whymper. Silly crossed the avalanche path first while I observed, then I followed once he was safely across to the other side. The slide path had recently slid so the slope was stable but there's always the chance of crossfire hanging up above so we instinctively eered on the side of caution.

We picked our way up through the trees with increasing difficulty from deceptively steep slopes and the lack of an established skin track, but we perserveared to a high point we had both agreed on. Silly pulled out the snow profile gear and dug a pit to exam the stability of the layers buried in the snowpack. He found a clean shear at 40cm possibly from a sun crust that had formed earlier in the season, the remaining snowpack was strong all the way through the last 105 cm to ground. With this knowledge of the snowpack, and the strength of the shear test, we now felt confident to ski the slopes that fell away below us. We also been assessing the conditions from the moment we strapped our skis on from the truck so we had quite a bit of confidence in the snow conditions. We both know the seriousness of the terrain we chose to put ourselves into so we always make sure we're feeling confident and educated about our decisions.

I dropped in first and encountered variable conditions with my first three turns being nice and soft, then the remaining turns on a thin layer of fresh snow on wind affected slab. Not quite the conditions we had expected from the point of our snow profile. Silly dropped in second and I shot video while he kept it together through the wind slab section. We continued down skiers right of the avalanche path into some lower angled terrain, but very soft and consistent throughout. We woo hooed past a group of skiers gearing up to descend behind us, and skiied down to a tree island to catch our breath and let the lactic acid drain out of our quads. Our smiles told it all, as we finished the final few hundred feet down to the highway. High fives were exchanged as we smiled at each other with grins that can only be generated from such a great day out with a good friend in the mountains! Thanks Silly :)