2 More Mountains Sumitted

As the title suggests, prepare yourselves for another slew or pictures. Did these 2 ascents this month: Cascade a couple weeks ago and Norquay just today. Greg was out here for Cascade and was his first hike/scramble - what a trooper. Took a picture of each mountain from the top of the other. They are right next to each other and form the "walls" on the North and West side of town. With these 2 mountains ticked off, I've now summitted every mountain surrounding our little village here. HUzzah!

Norquay is the one with the ski slopes. The interesting part about this photo of Cascade is the giant canyon (ampitheatre) that is visible from this angle (and only this angle). Otherwise, Cascade appears the formidable rock face that stares down Main Street Banff and greets tourists as they turn off the highway.






Before the photos, Bonnie made a comment that made me want to try to explain to everybody what summitting a mountain is like. First of all, it is an incredibly personal task in that we're usually talking about many hours of constant, unrelenting physical exertion (Cascade took 9 hours round trip). Down is no easier either, it just shifts what you're working. It's you against both yourself and the mountain and often degenerates into "one step at a time". Greg started going about 3 steps and stopping as we neared the summit of Cascade and you could tell even that was difficult for him.

Very often you're also dealing with a fear of heights or other complications that result from exposure (a mental thing where you feel more exposed to the elements, especially height. It usually causes you to feel "out there". This has nothing to do with sun-exposure or anything like that, though that happens too) and usually the ground is loose rubble ranging from boulders to fine gravel. Shortly after the treeline, nothing grows, eventually not even mosses, and the only things you have anymore are what you have on your back (and are probably causing you to sweat from the weight at this point). Of course, you're also getting more and more tired as you go, and at the same time the air is getting thinner - nice combo (this is one part that's much easier on the way down). Anyway, they're incredibly demanding goals, both physically and mentally, which just goes to make it more worth it when you reach the top. Getting there usually makes you feel like...well...this:





SO on to the pictures. Cascade first. Again, Cascade is "Banff Mountain" - the giant one in all the photos of main street and the biggest in the immediate area. It's apparently an incredibly popular scramble for these reasons (and that's it just a "walk" - no technical aspects at all), but this day we were the only ones on the mountain until we were over 1/2way down. I can't say enough about Greg who somehow made it up this 9-hour slog (marathons are 2 hours) his 2nd day in the mountains and his first real hike. The mountain is only 25 meters shy of 3000meters and was still quite snow-covered on top despite weeks of 100-degree weather. Went up with Greg, Tracey, and Matt (who i haven't yet mentioned in this blog).

We started at 7am and by 9am had hit the Cascade Ampitheatre. None of us had been here before, nor seen any photos, and wow, were we ever surprised.



Then it was up the long ridgeline on the arm on the left. Unlike some other mountains, you can see the summit for quite some time on this hike and i'll tell you, it's very often disheartening.



Towards the top it started to get snowy (as I said). The snow is an added bit of danger as it's not often very slippery for standing (standing on it is a bad idea), but it's also usually easily jarred from the mountainside in this weather and you'd probably plummet with it. Mom, forget this paragraph.



And here's me on the "crux" of the hike. Beneath me is...well....town. A long way down there.



And a couple photos from the summit. One of Lake Minnewanka and the other of Mount Assiniboine





And Greg heading down the slope with Banff in the distance





So then today Tom, Dave, and I did Norquay (of ski-hill fame). This summit could not have been more different from Cascade. It took us all of 5 hours round trip, going slowly, and of that very little wasy walking - most was technical scrambling requiring the use of your hands as well. As a result, I think it was far more fun.

The first 45minutes is hiking more or less straight up a ski slope (double-black diamond - very steep). At least you get a view though, and I thought the clouds on Rundle this morning made a nice scene, so we'll start you off with yet another Rundle photo.



Remember that bit about requiring hands? Yea, a lot of the 'hike' looked like this. That's Dave up there.



The hike can be divided into 3rds. The first is the grassy ski slope, the second is the rubble-strewn gully that Dave is climbing through above, and the final is a scramble along the ridgeline on the top of the mountain. Here's a photo of it back from the summit



And my climbing friends enjoying the view and their lunch



Tom used to be scared of heights. HE seems to have shaken that. Remember me talking about exposure? Yea...this is it. Big time



These are 2 mountains that are generally hard to see. They are tucked away in an odd part of a difficult-to-see mountain range. Mt Louis is on the left, Fifi (his dog) on the right. Impressive mountains, to say the least



And from just beneath one of the summits along the ridgeline, a view down 40-mile valley with an idea of what we were scrambling over (no, we didn't scramble over the bit in the photo, but we did go up just to the left of the photo).



So that's the story of my two latest summits. Well worth it on both counts with some beautiful weather and great company, and as always, the sense of accomplishment when you get to the top.

I'll leave you with this photo by Tracey at the end of the Cascade hike. It's 40-mile creek and can be seen from above in the last photo. I don't know how she saw this photo when we were being as assaulted by mosquitos as we were, but it's great that she did. It's the opposite of the jagged and lifeless rocks on top of the mountains; we've got everything here.

Banff if a funny town...

10 months ago I packed up all my stuff, crammed it unbelievably tightly into my car, and drove out here with a job and accomodation already in hand. I have yet to meet somebody else that did things that way.

Everybody else came out here on a whim with whatever they could carry on their backs, stayed in the hostels/B&Bs/street until they found a job, preferably one with a place to live inlcuded in the deal.

That's how "Banff" starts for most people - it's a funny town, almost a reflection of what it must have been like to move to a gold-boom town back in the 19th century, except the allure here isn't money - it's snow, alcohol, "anywhere but here", or the promise of a nearly responsibility-free existence. Then it's off with a pile of resumes (sometimes) until you get a job, usually that day. Nobody really cares what they do. Sure, everybody wants to serve tables at a restuarant for the cash, but in the end most anybody will take most any job - and they certainly have their pick.

I remember a year ago when I visited here to scope it out and look at the job market, I remember telling Bob that it seemed like I could "stand on a street corner, wave a resume in the air, and magically land a job. I had no idea how right I was.

It's a funny town. While so many places are struggling with massive unemployment, businesses here have to raise wages to exceedingly high levels ($17/hour to host in one instance that i know of) and advertise incentive programs to not only get staff, but keep them once they get here. It's the ever-present managerial danger of "the other side of the dence". If you don't like your job, no sweat! You quit and get the same money next door. Same at that job, and so on and so on. There's a paradigm shift at work here. People trade in jobs like poker chips and hold on to housing they can't afford and can't stand because it's either that or on the street.

I have one friend who is living with his ex-girlfriend in a studio appartment and sleeping in the same room/bed still. It's that or nothing. Employment but no housing.

And since one of the points of this town is that you can be a "grown-up" here without doing any actual growing up, unexpected things happen all the time. You don't ask for a vacation, you take one, sometimes with no notice (another friend just bought plane tickets to New York for 3 days from now about 3 days ago). Others work 2 jobs to support their nightly drinking at whichever pub is giving the locals rate tonight.

That's the thing - living is actually cheap (not rent). You lower your standards a little because you're not here to make a career for yourself or put money into your 401k; you're here to do something else and your job just pays for that. Another paradigm shift: You don't care how long you've been at your job, or what your job is, or whether or not you'd do it at home, you only care that you have some semblance of cash flow to support whatever the real reason you're out here. Nobody takes a job oppurtunity here in the same way that you do when you get promoted to VP of your company and have to move to Texas; you move here because you want to and who gives a crap what comes next. Aside from rent and food, most people have no bills. The rest of the money goes to hobbies.

That's Banff for you. In the last 10 months I've held three jobs, lived in three different places, and have seen an entire generation of friends come and go (I'm currently on friends Mk.II). This is now the 2nd job I've held where I am amongst the most senior staff, and this time after 3 months of work (Tony's took about 6). I have been to more going away parties than my entire tenure at Universiy, and the only time I've ever met more new people that I could call friends (or at least acquanitances) was Frosh Week in Univeristy.

This is not a town for someone who likes stability, constancy, or predictability. This town keeps you on your toes and doesn't let you sit down. It's a town where you're equally likely to have an adventure on top of a mountain as you are staying down in town if you keep your eyes open (and sometimes if you don't).

And that's Banff for you.

This Blog: Scary-picture free since....this post.

Just as I was sitting down to write a new post, I noticed a new comment on an old post calling me out for not posting. Here i am! I have not fallen off a mountain, plummeted over a waterfall, or any other kind of gruesome death involving rapid motion towards the ground from some high point.

And while I'm on the topic, I agree. The feet-dangling pictures do have to go. So we one-upped them. That's for the next post though.

For this post, I'm going to clear out some photos that have been sitting around for a while (and a couple recent ones I think as well). All the way back to Canada Day (which was a brilliant day, btw. This town goes all out). Oh, and as much as I hate talking about the weather...wow! has it ever been nice out here.
Canada Day was no exception.

They set up all these tents and what not in "Central Park" (lol imo...idk my bff Jill...roflmao....acronyms!!!) and had stuff going on all day. I worked 9-5 so I could only pass through in the morning for the setup and on my way home. I grabbed some photos though. What better place to spend Canada Day? (except probably Sauble).

Oh, and speaking of Sauble, there fireworks show here was awesome!! I'm sure it was helped by the fact that from my home on the side of the mountain they were bursting at about eye level for Bonnie and I. Very spectacular and fancy and incredibly loud - i don't think they fireworks were very far from us at all (my house is the same side of town as where they launched them from, AND we were at "explosion height")



I've never seen people get so festive for Canada Day - it was like July 4 in the states. People had painted faces, dyed hair, fancy clothing and the whole town was like a big fair with stilts people and marching bands and whatever else. I felt like Joshny on his first trip to the circus (if you don't know, don't ask. It's for your own safety



The river is actually turning away from this brown color now and into a nice shade of blue-green.

I also took some pictures that day of my walk to work so that everybody could see it. It takes me about 10 minutes and is mostly forest (which is amazing in the morning with the birds and the sunlight and everything else), but I also walk through Canada Place (administration building and park). I read in the newspaper today that they plant 50,000 flowers in their garden and I definitely believe it - so pictures of that too here.

Kinda makes getting up in the morning not so bad, and definitely beats rush hour traffic.













Doesn't the last one look like UWO? Heh.


The last good sight before hitting the traffic and construction and dust is this one, which is probably the one photo that every tourist goes home with and is on the cover of countless books and magazines. That's Cascade in the background there, dwarfing the town. HIked it 2 days ago, but will make a separate post about that some other time.



In other news, Tracey is finally leaving town to meet up with Anthony in Holland for a few months. She's been cramming in an incredible amount of stuff over the last week, and yesterday we finally got to do our take on the ever-popular Banff "going away party". Usually this involves going to your favorite bar with all your friends and getting plastered, which is odd to me because nobody remembers it then. But i digress...

There were 4 of us most of the time last night, and when we finally did get to the bar we were joined by a 5th. Nothing too big but tons of fun. We started off by going to the local watering hole, Johnson Lake, for a swim. Nice lake. Nice grassy knoll. Not too cold for swimming. And as always, good scenery.






Then we had a very long series of mis-adventures eventually culminating in the 4 of us going up to a little park by my place and having a BBQ. Hey! If you haven't heard I finally got myself a little camping-style BBQ. It's great!!! I use it all the time and it's so nice to have around. Anyway, here's the only picture on Bonnie's camera of that event that is any good. I'll go through my friends' cameras later and see if i can't find a better one - or one with everybody. BUt this was our spot at least



Then once all our meat and salad was eaten, we moved to the bar (naturally!) and probably drank too much (Banff style!). I won't bore you with the thousand pictures of people trying to make their arms look like but-cracks and blinding other people with the flash and all that nonsense. But here's one that's all right. I'm.....not drunk




That about clears out the photos for now. C'ya Trace!! Thanks for all the skis, climbs, hikes and generally good (usually dangerous) fun. Best of luck in Holland

Tomorrow or the next day I'll post on the Cascade Hike and what not - more great mountaintop pics!