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.
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.
posted by Anonymous at 9:58 PM
2 Comments:
Great pictures Noah. Wish I could do something like that. Too late on telling me not to look at that picture. Ugh. I can't imagine the feeling you have being on the top of those mountains. Must be awesome. Keep sending the pictures . . . that way I know you are ok.
love
mom
Man it took me forever to see these... love the pics from the top! So epic!
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