Mountain Magic

Half way up

View from the summit towards Canmore with our veteran guide.

This past Sunday I was finally able to escape the city lights and sounds to the Rockies for a day of hiking with adventure hungry Sparling and a crew of young buck cyclists. The route planned was 'Tea Room" which heads up the south slope of the range to the north of the city of Canmore. From the base we could see a distant snow covered peak and as the goal for the day we set out at a brisk pace to make the ascent. The conditions were magnificent with no wind on the lower half of the mountain and temperatures high enough warrant only a single layer. Higher up the slopes as one breaks the tree line the winds started to pick up and the technical difficulty of the trail increased substantially although still a simple hike. After a couple of hours of steady hiking we reached the traditional trail end at what was to be a tearoom serviced by helicopter for wealthy tourists. Fortunately the final structure never saw daylight and all that is left is a simple foundation and a makeshift plank heli pad. At this point we could see that the final push to the summit was steeper and more intimidating than we first had thought from lower down and we began to question whether it was worth it to risk the high winds, snow and loose scree...in running shoes. Fortunately all doubt vanished once we sought advice from an older mountaineer type whom we had met several times on the way up to this point. He assured us that the last leg was fully within our abilities and proceeded to guide us up the final pitch. This master of the mountains picked a scree munching route that saw us on the summit basking in our mountaineering glory before we had one chance to turn and observe the majestic views surrounding us in a 360 degree panoramic marvel.

After a descent filled with running shoe scree skiing heel turns, aggressive trail running through the worst of the rock gardens on the lower slopes and finally substantial joint and muscle pain we were back in suburban Canmore were it all started. It was a great experience and reminded me of how little I have been able to enjoy this incredible natural resource located only one hour from the bustling city. It was an experience that definitely requires a sequel.

The Backside