Magic Continues

What it looks like to have the world at your feet...

View from not quite the summit.

Now officially addicted to alpine adventure I yet again found myself in the Rockies today. This time we took it to the next level and hit Rundle Mountain in Banff. Nestled in the shadow of this monster of a mountain, Banff provides a last blast of Calgary influenced tourist trap emptiness before you escape from just below the famed Banff Springs Hotel into a wilderness of opportunity. Along for the day was the always rock solid J Sparls and a new addition to the weekend escape crew Brooks. The weather this time around was a stark contrast to the sunshine and warmth of the weeks past and even at low elevations we began to encounter snow. Sparlings research revealed that this trail held a guidebook rating of "extreme" surpassing the "difficult" rating of our previous adventures (not including Big Sister, it is unclassified as no real trail exists...). The approach was very gradual and tame, but once the trail started to show its "extreme" side we were climbing through the trees on a layer of light snow which added an element of technical advancement. We broke the tree line relatively late in the ascent and found ourselves on a ridge to the summit which reminded me all to much of Big Sister from last week. After navigating the lower slopes of the open terrain members of the party began to get skeptical as to the possibility of safely reaching the summit. I decided to leave my partners in high adventure behind and take the next ridge, still well down from the summit. With light blowing snow, some ice and plenty of loose rock it was a technically difficult ascent. Mentally it was potentially devastating with shear drops on either side of the ever narrowing ridge. I reached a higher point and decided enough was enough, snapped some pictures and returned cautiously down to were my compatriots patiently waited out my need to scare myself. I got my fix and we headed down again. Just over 4 hours later another day was done and memories cemented. I can't get enough, the next adventure is most certainly just around the corner.

Gutta pa tur