East End of Rundle

East End of Rundle

Attempt date: February 25, 2012 (unsuccessful)Participants:  Jimmy Quigley, Patrick Latter

Weather conditions at base

Temperature

Minimum Temperature: -13.0 °C Mean Temperature: -7.6 °C Maximum Temperature -2.0 °C

Pressure and Dew Point

Mean Sea Level Pressure: 100.54 kPa Mean Dew Point: -9.9 °C

Wind Speed and Gusts

Mean Wind Speed: 18.33 kmh Maximum Sustained Wind Speed: 16.90 kmh Maximum Wind Gust: 46.30 kmh

Directions

From Canmore follow the directions in town towards the 'Nordic Center'. Continue on around the reservoir and dam until you reach the 'Goat Creek' trailhead parking lot. This is the same parking lot you would use for 'Ha Ling Peak'. Once parked, walk back up the road towards the town a few hundred meters and you will see some telephone poles on your left; begin your climb here.

Gear

  • Food

  • Water

  • Warm ski jacket

  • Warm fleece

  • Winter Hiking boots

  • Warm socks (or 2 layers of socks)

  • Goggles (extremely helpful once you break the tree line)

  • Poles

  • Toque

  • Neck/face warmer

  • Thermal underwear

  • Snow-pants or gaiters

  • 2 layers of gloves

  • Hand warmers

Ascent 

With the recent snowfall, the trail was not visible from the road, so we just started up from where we could best remember. We had done this particular hike a few times before so it wasn't long before we across the trail. Despite the cold temperatures, we had to start shedding layers as there was little wind in trees. Viability gradually worsened as we climbed until we broke through the tree line and visibility dropped to just 40 or 50 meters. With the decreased visibility came much higher winds and we decided to stop and cover our faces and eyes the best we could. Jimmy's eyes literally started to freeze shut; the wind was cold.

East End of Rundle 5

East End of Rundle 5

We did our best to follow the ridge up the right hand side, hoping to see the large rock formation that comes just before the summit.

East End of Rundle 2

East End of Rundle 2

At this point we were starting to lose motivation as visibility was so low.  We were having trouble determining how much further it was to the top. We decided to stop in a somewhat sheltered area of the ridge and have some food and water.

East End of Rundle 3

East End of Rundle 3

After a bite to eat we packed up and made the decision that we would head back down after taking some pictures. We trekked up a maybe another 100 meters or so as we took pictures along the way.

_MG_6375-Edit

_MG_6375-Edit

Just then, the peak of the mountain finally came into view.

East End of Rundle 7

East End of Rundle 7

We were only about 75 meters from the summit, far closer then we thought. Despite realizing how close we were, we still made the difficult decision to head back down as it was unsafe with the current conditions to attempt the final ridge.

Further Pictures

_MG_6436

_MG_6436

East End of Rundle 4

East End of Rundle 4

_MG_6464

_MG_6464