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Campathon 2006 Part 1

Photos of the trip can be found here!

Pre-trip Prep

So Renata and I arrived in Edmonton almost 2 weeks ago.  Packing for the leave was a bit hectic, and after all that we still needed to pack for our big camping trip.

It was really nice to see my buddies again back home.  I took my brother out to have some sushi with my pals.  It was like a triple date plus my brother.

The next day was a little bit hectic with all the mad packing.  We stopped by MEC to pick up a tent, water filter, stove, pots, and a dozen other small knick knacks that would be ultra handy on our backpack.  We also made a trip to pack for food and other such things.  There just wasn’t enough time in the day to cram everything in, so we did the best we could.

That night, we went to the Remedy Cafe to be a part of my buddy Lee’s fundraiser.  He’s biking to Mexico from Edmonton for the “Two Wheels One World” project.  There was an open mic for musicians, and they had this wicked guitar player up on stage.  He was blind, but his musical abilities more than made up for his loss of sight.  It was incredible to watch him solo some wicked blues guitar and sing along.  It was also good to see Lee again too.  For whatever reason, we seem to be in different cities at the same time.

I wish him well, and hope that he stays safe on the long journey ahead of him.

Renata and I passed out late that night.  We got up at like 8, when we were hoping to be out of the house by 7.  We missed a lot of things, so we ran around picking up a few more things like a stuff sack for food and a few more munchies.  It wasn’t until 11 that we left Edmonton for the long 5 hour drive to Lake Louise.

We arrived safe and sound, with no hassles.  The Impala rental we had was a really comfy ride and it’d almost be perfect except for how much of a gas guzzler it is.  It felt great to be back in the Rockies again, and I could see Renata’s face light up as we drove by some big peaks.  We setup camp at the Lake Louise campground, and fortunately the campground was surrounded by an electric bear fence.  It was grizzly country afterall.  I know it was one of her worries, and the bear fence just adds peace of mind.

After setting up, I took her sightseeing at Lake Louise.  It’s very understandable why the Lake is world famous, as it’s absolutely gorgeous.  We got some great photos in, and it was a nice way to relax from our long car ride.

Hello Scrambling!

We woke up late the next morning.  On the itinerary was a scramble of Mt. Temple, the third tallest peak in the Southern Rockies and the tallest peak in the Lake Louise area.  By definition, a scramble is an attempt to summit a peak without any technical climbing or ropes and such.  As the name implies, a lot of the time is spent scrambling up the mountain on all fours or up incredibly steep slopes.

I had scrambled Mt. Temple once before two years ago, and it offers one of the most beautiful views of the Rockies.  The summit stands at an elevation of 11000 feet, way taller than what any gandola or tramway would take you as it’s way above the treeline.

I remember the scramble being exhausting when I first did it.  It took me a solid 12 hours back then.  Although it was Renata’s very first hike in the Rockies I knew she could physically handle it.  She’s very athletic and has much better endurance than I do.  If my couch-potato body could will itself up the mountain, then her body should have no problems.

So we started out in the cold morning.  At the start of the trailhead there was a sign warning us that we had to travel in groups of 6 or more because a grizzly had been spotted in the area.  The fine was a hefty $2000 if we were caught winging it.  We decided to wait a little to see if we could join others, and only one very lean Austrian man showed up.  The three of us decided what the hell, and began our ascent.

He was a very calm and collected man, with a thick Austrian accent.  Already I was lagging behind him and Renata.  My natural walking pace is tortoise-like, and so my hiking speed is just the same.  He was waiting for me at every turn of the switchbacks, and it was like a casual stroll in the park for him.  The first 6 or 7 km’s of the trail are spent grovelling up steep switchbacks before clearing out of the treeline.  Those Austrian’s really know how to hike their mountains!

Once we were above the treeline, we parted ways as it was probably safe from bears.  I found out that he revolved his life around climbing and travelling, and that he had just completed a tour of Tibet.  Not only that, but he’s planning an expedition to Mt. Logan next year which would take a grand 6 weeks to summit.  Hardcore.  He said that there were only 5 or 6 people in Austria who did what he did, and I felt a little embarassed to be dragging behind up those switchbacks.  At least Renata could keep up with his pace the whole way before he left us.

We reached the saddle in about 80 minutes, besting my previous hike by a whole 40 minutes!  The saddle was the point at the base of the mountain where we would begin our scramble.  We were making wonderful time, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.  If there was a day to climb Mt. Temple, it’d be that day, as weather would not be a factor.  We rested a bit at the saddle and had lunch.

We began our scramble the same way I remembered, up a very nasty gully full of scree.  The stuff is hard to climb up on if you’re not used to it.  For every two steps taken, the scree slides you back one.  The height combined with the uneven footing can be unnerving at times.  About half an hour in, Renata started getting nervous and a bit shaky.

It was like that my first time too, and it was very understandable.  We are very high up, and although scrambling is not as extreme as rock climbing it too has its dangers.  A bad slip or fall can injure pretty badly, and people have died scrambling before.  Mt. Temple itself held Canada’s worst hiking accident when 6 boys tried scrambling it and all perished.  The height and possibility of danger can really wear on you if you don’t have any experience.  For myself, my nerves were okay and I just took my time.  I knew that a lot of the fear was mental, and that if I did slip I’d probably slide maybe a meter or two before stopping.  If it were to happen, it’d just be a nuisance and I could get back at it.  For Renata, it was an overwhelming mental obstacle.

When I did it the first time, I was with a bunch of guys and over half of them couldn’t get to where we were at just the start, so already she was doing better than them

Another half hour passed and we saw a couple on the fair end of the gully, hiking up easily on even ground.  What gives?!  We’d been sliding and huffing up the gully a fair bit, burning tons of energy and here are two people who are seemingly strolling up.  We made our way over to them, and I found that they were on a route that completely avoided the nasty scree!  Their route was so much easier and safer that Renata was a bit miffed at me and my route-finding skills.  The gully was really the only way up that I knew, and by looking at the incline it seemed to be the most logical way.  Little did I know, that right beside the towering rockface and exposure was a nice easy-going route.

We followed the couple for awhile until they sped up and were up and over the ridge.  The scramble in the gully exhausted us, but even more importantly it exhausted Renata’s nerves.  We pushed on up a little bit further until we met up with the Austrian man on his way down.  He looked at his altimeter and told us we’re only one third of the way up.  I was still ready to go and we had plenty of daylight left, but I knew Renata was beat mentally and all the emotional stress tired her out.

She’s one that rarely quits, and it’s very hard for her to throw in the towel.  Reluctantly we both decided it was as far as we could go.  We could’ve made it all the way up, but it’d be draining and possibly dangerous from the fatigue.  So we made the long hike home.

We both have bad knees from injuries.  Knee injuries don’t quite go away, they just kind of haunt you from time to time.  Descending from the height made it quite painful, and we were questioning at times  whether or not our bodies would be healed up in time for the long hike on the Skyline trail the day after.

We eventually made it back to camp, had a delicious dinner, and passed out from exhaustion.  I knew then that the Skyline Trail would be quite something on our bodies, and I remember asking myself that night why I always manage to put myself through so much masochism each year!

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