The passionate hiker

The passionate hiker
Early days in the outdoors

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Statistics 2009-2012


Statistics 2009 to 2012:  Keeping up the Pace


These tables tell the story of an amazing four years of adventure in the Canadian Rockies.  This past year, 2012, unexpectedly kept up the pace and even exceeded previous years in some categories.  I say “unexpectedly” because I started off the year with no firm plans.  Yet by December I had overtaken the three previous years in four categories:  distance biked, distance snowshoed, number of nights camped, and maximum elevation achieved.   It turned out to be another wonderful year packed with challenge and adventure, capped in late December by a night out in the snowy wilderness of Kananaskis Country in temperatures around minus 14C with wind chills in the minus 20’s.

Some of the highlights of 2012 were:

  • An early season trip in mid-March to the Cypress Hills in far eastern Alberta, which looked a lot like the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, marooned far out on the prairies.
  • A long bike ride on May 20th up the Highwood Valley beyond the still-closed winter gate, all the way to the snow-bound foot of the Highwood Pass, and a much faster return, for a distance of 63 km.
  • A long, challenging day on remote Pasque Mountain on June 29th, with an elevation gain of 3,070 ft. and a distance of 20.6 km.
  • A superb summer’s day on August 18th when RH and I broke the 9,000 ft. barrier to reach the summit of Snow Peak above Burstall Pass.
  • During six days in Jasper National Park and the David Thompson Highway in early September, I did eight separate trips totaling almost 100 km. and 7,000 vertical feet.  This included the remote hillsides beyond the spectacular Crescent Falls on the Bighorn River.
  • Exploring the abandoned ski hill at Fortress Ridge in mid-September, thanks to the kind owner who gave me a ride up the access road.
  • Discovering the old Burns coal mine and the rustic, but locked, Denning cabin way up the Sheep River Valley on a colorful Fall day in late September.
  • Crossing the Highwood River on November 2nd to follow a snowy trail into McPhail Creek’s hidden valley below the mountain wall.
  • Skiing the full length of the Moraine Lake Road on November 16th to visit the lake in perfect early season snow conditions.
  • Camping out in the snow in sub-zero temperatures under a full moon in late December at Point back-country campsite beside the Upper Kananaskis Lake.
  • On twenty separate trips I managed a vertical height gain of over 2,000 feet.
  • On eighteen trips I climbed above the 7,000 ft. mark, and, on four of those trips, over 8,000 feet above sea level.
  • Managing to break the camping record with twenty six nights out in the mountains, either in my small tent or in our posh new trailer.  This included camping out every month from March to December.

This first table compares the past four years and highlights in red which year holds the record for each category.

Category↓ Year→

2009
2010
2011
2012
Total 4 years
Distance (km)
(see details below)
970
1,099
960
1,006
4,035 km
(2,435 miles)

Vert. Height Gain (ft.)

64,760
94,430
81,670
74,355
315,215 ft.
(57.4 miles)

Max. Elev. (ft.)

8,253
8,415
8,860
9,150
n/a


Time on Trail (hrs.)

234
300
276
269
1,079 hrs.
(43 days)

# Nights Camping

22
19
22
26
89




This second table breaks down the modes of transport used over the past four years, and again, in red, highlights the record year.

Distance↓  Year→
(km)
2009
2010
2011
2012
Total 4 years
Hike

564
626
591
478
2,259
Bike

396
321
223
404
1,344
X-C Ski

9
75
77
39
200
Snow Shoe

0
77
70
85
232
Total

970
1,099
960
1,006
4,035

BOLD RED = record year

These statistics show that, on average, over the past four years, every week I travelled 19 km and climbed 1,515 vertical feet (a good size hill).

It is probably time to ease off a little in 2013.  I still have plenty of places I want to explore, or return to, but sometimes it becomes a little obsessive.  I said the same last year, but perhaps this year I will become more selective, and maybe less intent on capturing the statistics.  We will see.  At least as far as 2012 was concerned, I certainly kept up the pace.



The Passionate Hiker
31 December 2012

Friday, December 28, 2012

The Point


Thurs./Fri. 27/28 December:  To the Point





I had been planning this short trip for some time.  The temperatures had been frigid for a couple of weeks, but then I noticed a sudden warming trend in the forecast, and so hurriedly put my plan into place.  The definition of “cold” and “warm” has a different meaning in December in the Canadian Rockies.  To me, cold means minus twenty C and below.  Warm means perhaps around ten degrees below freezing.

My planning had included checking the rating of my goose down sleeping bag (minus 10 C), adding an outer and inner bag, buying a small snow shovel, and carefully preparing my camping list.  When I laid out the gear I thought I needed for the trip, I had about twice as much as I could carry.  Even after some major reductions, I was left with a backpack which weighed between 50 and 55 pounds – much heavier than I have carried since my younger days in Scotland, well over three decades ago.  I was confident I could carry it the relatively short distance needed to reach my campsite.  It was heavy, but I managed it alright.

The idea was to snowshoe westwards along the northern shore of the Upper Kananaskis Lake, to the Point back-country campsite, a journey of about three and a half kilometres.  I knew the area well, so was confident of my route.  I would stay either one or two nights, perhaps exploring locally, but staying close to the campsite which was safe from avalanches.  There can hardly be a more spectacular setting for a campsite than Point.  There are twenty sites spread out in the trees on a peninsula of land stretching out into the wide lake.  All around are spectacular mountains, several of them rising to well over ten thousand feet.  I was expecting there to be snow on the ground, but was perhaps a little surprised to find how much snow had already accumulated.

I could tell that nobody had camped here recently, although a set of snowshoe prints showed where at least one day tripper had travelled through the campsite.  I chose the only really sensible site, which was adjacent to the snow-covered wood-pile and the elevated cylindrical biffy.  There must have been a foot of snow lying on the ground, and so my first task was to shovel off the picnic table and tramp down the snow to make a tent base.  And, of course, I needed to start a fire as it was still around minus twelve degrees that morning.

The fire proved to be a challenge.  I had carried a complete fire log with me, thinking it would be good for two nights as well as two morning fires.  In the end, I used the whole log up, just to get the fire started.  I worked on the fire patiently for an hour or more, chipping logs with my axe to make kindling, and it finally caught.  There was a lot more smoke than fire, and it looked as if it had gone out several times.  It never did amount to much, but was just enough to warm up my feet.

I strolled through the snowy campsite, down the hillside to the upper section of the lake, to admire the fine mountain winter landscapes.  Towering above me were Mount Sarrail (10,413 ft.) and Mount Lyautey (10,112 ft.).  The lake certainly looked safe enough to walk on, but I had been warned of strange currents, so I stayed on the shoreline.

Later in the afternoon, some swirling gusts of wind blew the snow off the trees and into my camp, but overall it was a calm, sunny day here below the Great Divide wall.  I cooked up some delicious turkey slices and L’s home made gravy, followed by some fresh fruit and chocolate.  It was a very early night for me.

The big test of course was whether I would be warm enough overnight.  It was a clear night, with temperatures dropping to around minus fourteen C with gusts of wind giving a wind chill of below minus twenty.  My tent was pitched on the packed snow.  The first layer inside my tent was my silver emergency blanket, followed by my inflatable insulated mat.  Then my sleeping bag with its outer liner and inner fleece liner.  When goose down gets wet, it loses its insulation values, so the outer liner keeps it dry.  This worked really well. Overnight the frost formed inside the tent, coating the inside of the tent roof.  My bag remained dry.  It took a while for me to warm up, but this sleeping arrangement worked well and I remained warm, as long as I wore my wooly hat and kept my face covered under the hood of my sleeping bag.

It was a cloudless night, and, as I discovered afterwards, a full moon.  The moon rose in the northwest around 4.30 p.m. and shone brightly across the campsite all night.  This date also marks the latest sunrise of the year (8.40 a.m.), although a beautiful light-blue dawn light was shining through the trees almost an hour earlier.  I had survived the winter camping test.

It took a little while for my stove to heat up the porridge, as it had been cold enough to freeze the gas line, but it did the job in the end.  The fire had burned some of the night but I could not revive it, and my feet were getting cold.  So I decided that one night out here would be quite enough!  After making an efficient job of striking camp, I was on the trail before ten a.m.

I noticed that the trail which leads from the campsite to the Lower Kananaskis Falls was free of any footprints, either human or animal.  The snow lay across the path, and I only gave short consideration to extending my trip to the Falls.  However, I was bold enough to drop down to the lake and follow a snowed-in trail back along the edge of the lake.  This was a magical journey, first beside the frozen lake, then up over a hillside, before returning to the lakeside again.  Over three kilometres of rocky shoreline, with stunning all-round views of the wintry mountain scene.  This route also saved me the climb up through the boulder field and back down to the lake.

As I came within sight of the trailhead, I saw three guys striding out across the middle of the lake, towards the Hidden Lake shore.  I was still tempted to travel out to one of the islands, but stayed on the shoreline.  In the bay beside the car park, a couple of ice fishing tents were erected on the ice, and a small party of people was preparing for a day’s fishing.

Arriving back at the car, I dropped my heavy pack on the ground with some relief.  A lady and three male colleagues were curious to know if I had been out overnight and I think they were somewhat in awe that I had been camping in the snowy wilderness.  Their plan was to do a short snowshoe trip to Rawson Lake.  It dawned on me too late that they were starting at the wrong car park, so I hope they realized their mistake early enough to correct it.

In the meantime, I was glad to clamber into the car and return slowly back up the Kananaskis Valley and out onto the Trans-Canada Highway.  It was a stunning winter’s day, cloudless, and there were many vehicles heading down into the valley as I drove north.  The cross-country ski trails would be busy today, as well as the ski hill at Nakiska.

I had achieved my goal, which for me had been a stretch.  My planning had been successful, the gear had worked (apart from the iced up stove), and I had enjoyed the experience of a winter’s night out in the snowy wilderness of Kananaskis Country.  And it gave me the opportunity to add more landscape photos to the growing collection of pictures that nobody will ever look at!



Statistics
(round trip)
The Point, Upper K. Lake
Thurs./Fri. 27/28 December

Total Dist.

7.4 km (‘shoe)

Height Gain

    150 ft.

Max. Elev.

 5,760 ft.

Time on trail

3 hrs. 13 mins.




Other Stats.

Thursday:
Dep. car:        9.53 am
The Point:   11.20 am

Friday:
Dep. camp:    9.50 am
Arr. car:       11.36 am

O/night temperatures around minus 14 C with wind chills down to minus 24 C.

Sunny, light W breeze, gusting at night.






Sunday, December 23, 2012

Lake Louise


Sat. 22 December:  Lake Louise




An enjoyable hour skiing up to the far end of Lake Louise, and back right down the middle of the lake.  L and I were spending a luxurious two days at the Chateau, in a beautiful room overlooking the lake, to celebrate our anniversary. That afternoon we took a romantic sleigh ride along the lakeside pathway.  The horses turned around at a huge icefall, which some brave climber was scaling.  When we got back to the Chateau, I grabbed my cross-country skis and headed back outside. 

There was plenty of snow and ice on the lake, but not too many people out there, as it was a very cold day, around minus 16 degrees C.  Three young people with mountaineering skis were returning from a trip further up the valley, and they headed out across the middle of the lake.  I followed their route, now confident that I would be quite safe.  Some light snow flurries partially obscured the view, but the spectacle of the huge Chateau straight ahead of me at the end of the lake was worth the risk of being out there on the ice.  It was a busier scene in front of the hotel, with ice skaters on one large rink, and some hockey players on a separate rink beside the lake.

This must be the most perfect place to visit during the Christmas season, and we made the most of our short stay here in a true winter wonderland.









Statistics
Lake Louise
Sat. 22 December

Total Dist.

3.5 km (XC ski)

Height Gain

        0 ft.

Max. Elev.

 5,740 ft.

Time

1 hr. 00 mins.




Other Stats.

Start:             2.46 pm
Icefall:            3.11 pm
Ret. to htl:      3.46 pm

Temp: minus 16 C

Overcast, light flurries



Sunday, December 16, 2012

The Highwood Hills


Sun. 16 December:  The Highwood Hills


The days don’t get any shorter than this. Today the sun rose at 8.35 a.m. and well before 4.30 it had disappeared behind the mountains.   In between, it stayed low in the southern sky, bright but not warm.

Once again I was drawn to the Highwood Valley, where there is often good hiking well into December.  So it was today.  On my journey up Grass Pass and onto the ridges to the west and the east of the pass, there were plenty of bare patches on the grassy hillsides.

The lower sections of Grass Pass, from the Highwood road, are quite steep, and it only eases off a little as you break free of the forest.  Someone had navigated this rocky, narrow trail on an off-road vehicle.  There were long bare patches along the trail, and then small snowdrifts in the open areas.  Even at the pass itself, the snow was thin and crusty.

I decided to head left at the pass, to reach the open ridge above Gunnery Creek.  I had never been that way before, but it was easy enough.  For the final steep section in the trees, the snow was over a foot deep, so I exchanged my MICROspikes for my snowshoes.   The ridge top was bare, with several small cairns along the summit.  Views all round were very fine.  The mountains rose up directly to the west.  To the east I had a different perspective of Grass Pass and the Bull Creek Hills.  A biting gale was sweeping the ridge.  Although the temperature was only a few degrees below freezing, the wind made it feel like the arctic up there.

Back down at Grass Pass, I then resumed the traditional route up towards the Bull Creek Hills.  The open hillsides lead to a ridge, running south to north, which connects to the Bull Creek Hills themselves, a snowy plateau guarded by forested slopes.  This connecting ridge is always a fine place to linger.  Today, the wind made it unsuitable for a picnic stop, so I didn’t stay long up there.

I had disturbed a group of bighorn sheep which somehow had detected my scent, despite the strong westerly winds.  From the ridge, I strode down the open grassy hillsides towards Fir Creek Point.  This is one of my favourite places.  The views are outstanding, and the hiking is exhilarating as one drops down the wide, open slopes.  It’s a great place for a photographer, with mountain shots framed by ancient limber pines.  Today the westerly wind shrieked across the hillsides, into my right ear.  I needed a couple of wooly hats to stay warm.  I had also put on my wind jacket early in the day and needed it. 

Dropping down off the ridge, I noticed a mule deer stag.  He started to come up the hill towards me before realizing his mistake, and then rapidly bounding away into the trees.  He must have almost run into two hikers who had chosen a strange route up the eastern slopes of Grass Pass.  We waved to each other, and they continued up the ridge.

It is a very pleasant route back down to the road.  The path contours down some steep slopes into a pine-filled valley.  Here the temperatures are always several degrees warmer in the shelter of the ridge to the west.  I found a handy old pine tree to shelter behind for my picnic.  From here it was a simple, steep descent to the road, and west for a few hundred metres back to the car.  The Highwood River was starting to ice up, and the low sun reflected across the water and the ice.

It had been an exhilarating trip up into those high hills.  While people are skiing in deep snow just a couple of mountain ranges west from here, in the Highwood it’s often hiking season any time of year.




Statistics
Grass Pass, ridges to W & E
Sun. 16 December

Total Dist.

1.0 km (‘shoe) +
8.0 km (hike)  =            9.0 km

Height Gain

 2,005 ft.

Max. Elev.

 6,465 ft.

Time

4 hrs. 18 mins.




Other Stats.

Dep. car:        8.44 am
Pass:              9.55 am
W peak:        10.22 am
E ridge:        11.14 am
Ret. to car:     1.02 pm

Temp: around minus 5 C to minus 2 C

Sunny, biting wind, strong on summits, clouds over mtns.