Location: Alberta, Canada
Participants: Jimmy Quigley, Patrick Latter
Time: 7 Hours
Weather: -10°C

Directions

From Calgary take the Trans-Canada Highway to Canmore. There follow signs to The Alpine Club of Canada. More road detail to follow. Check in with the folks at the ACC before parking in the Clubhouse parking lot. The space is limited so guest will have first rights. You can park further down the road if the lot is full.

Gear

• Hiking Boots
• Food
• Water
• Warm ski jacket
• Warm fleece
• Warm socks (or 2 layers of socks)
• Toque
• Snow-pants or gaiters
• Gloves

Map

Story

The hike begins at the alpine club and it isn’t long until you have a great view of the mountains across the valley. We started the hike at 6:45am, which was early enough to get an amazing red glow touching the opposing mountain tops.

A closer view of the 3 sisters. From left to right, the little sister, the middle sister and the big sister. I’d like to hike 2 of 3 this summer.

It was relatively easy going for the first 2/3rds. Some of the snow had begun to melt and there was well defined trail in the snow.

Once we broke through the tree line the snow quickly deepened as we hugged the left ridge.

We loved grotto for the fact that that it’s basically a very long ridge walk to the summit. Great views the whole way!

We stopped to grab some lunch and take some pictures at the summit. We didn’t stay long as there was very strong cold wind coming over the top and no where to gain shelter from it.

Turns out Lucha Libre masks make for amazing wind breaks.

Heading back down was easy going as we just traced back our recently placed footsteps in the snow.

Jimmy risking his life for another photo op.

Location: Alberta, Canada
Participants: Jeremy Stroman, Cory van der Linden, Tony, Patrick Latter
Time: 5 Hours
Elevation Gain: 726m
Weather: -5 °C

Directions

22 km west of Bragg Creek, you can turn off highway 66 at the Elbow Falls Parking lot. Park on the North side of the road on the shoulder at the winter closure gates. The trail is well-defined and heads straight up (North) from the highway.

Gear

• Hiking Boots
• Food
• Water
• Warm ski jacket
• Warm fleece
• Warm socks (or 2 layers of socks)
• Toque
• Snow-pants or gaiters
• Gloves

Story

The trail starts off in trees and with the fresh snow it made for a slippery climb on the steeper sections. Cleats or crampons would have helped here.

Looking back down at the valley below you could see the Elbow River which leads to falls that are close by.

We choose this particular hike partly due to the accessibility in the Spring and the large number of geocaches on the trail.

As we neared the tree line, we spotted a paraglider that had jumped from the summit.

The snow was quite a bit deeper for the last 150m, but not too much to be trouble.

The final push to the summit was gradual hike through an area with few trees.

We stopped at the top for lunch and took a few pictures on the large cairn.

The Eagle migration takes place in both the Fall and Spring and we were lucky enough to have one pass over head while at the summit. Wish I had brought my telephoto!

With the sun heading behind the clouds we headed back down the trail.

With all the trouble we had on the slippery sections of the trail we were surprised to come across someone with a unicycle on their back! They said they were planning on riding it down from the summit, hard to believe considering the conditions.

I LOVE making photographs in bad weather. These were all taken along the many pathways around the small town of Canmore in the Canadian Rockies. The 4th photo reminded me of a cupped hand reflected in the water.

Participants: Jeff Trudel, Jimmy Quigley, Patrick Latter
Date: Jan 27, 2013
Distance: 10km
Time: 6 Hours
Weather: -8 °C (17.6 °F)

Directions

Drive south from Canmore on Spray Lakes road for about 45km. There will be turn off for ‘Burstall’ and a large parking lot.

Gear

• Snow Shoes
• Food
• Water
• Warm ski jacket
• Warm fleece
• Warm socks (or 2 layers of socks)
• Toque
• Thermal underwear
• Snow-pants or gaiters
• Gloves

Story

The trail passes through the forest for 4km until you reach the flats.

The snow here was already a meter deep in some areas but with the snowshoes, we had no trouble.

As were neared the base the mountain, the morning sun began to break through the clouds above.

Once we reached the base, we decided to have some lunch.

While it wasn’t brutally cold, the temperatures still began to freeze our water bottles.

Jimmy decided to build a snow cave while we ate. With almost a meter of snow, he was able to build it right into the ground.

Attempt Date: January 19, 2013
Participants: Jeremy Stroman, Cory van der Linden, Patrick Latter
Distance: 7.9 km
Elevation Gain: 960m
Max Elevation: 2230m
Time: 7 Hours
Weather: -5ºC (23ºF)

Directions

From Calgary head west on highway 1 and then take exit 114 to highway 1X, after 3.5km turn right onto Highway 1A. The turn off for Yamnuska is on the left.

Gear

• Food
• Water
• Warm ski jacket
• Warm fleece
• Warm socks (or 2 layers of socks)
• Toque
• Thermal underwear
• Snow-pants or gaiters
• Gloves

Map

Thank you Cory for providing the map and graph!

Story

As we made our way through the birch trees at the beginning of the trail, the very low lying clouds seemed to be promising near white conditions at the peak.

The higher we climbed the thicker the fog seemed to get, until we could no longer see below us.

As we neared the bottom of the towering south east face, we began to break through the top layer of clouds. The morning sun bathing the looming rock wall was a welcome sight.

It wasn’t long before we were well above the clouds and had an amazing view of the fog covered prairies with the lower part of Yamnuska just peeking out.

Geocaching involves using a mobile GPS systems to play a sort of digital version of hide and seek with containers. These ‘caches’ can be found all over the world and there were number of them hidden on and around mount Yamnuska. Using the coordinates given and sometimes a helpful hint, we managed to find a few of them that day. The containers range in size from a small film canister to much larger metal cases.

Inside you’ll have a logbook and usually some random trinkets. Everybody signs the log and you later go online and sign the digital log for the cache as well.

As we made our way towards the summit, you have to keep an eye out for a pile of rocks and some sticks– these mark the section that must be traversed with the aid of chain bolted to the wall.

The chain is needed to navigate the very narrow ledge safely. With a 4-5m drop below, you have to give your full attention to this portion of the hike.

The final ridge walk to the summit offers amazing views of the surrounding Rockies and prairies. On a clear day you can even see downtown Calgary.

The preferred route for Yamnuska is a loop that has you come back around the front face from other side. The sun was now setting and most of the earlier fog had dissipated.

We had to hike a little ways off the trail, but we found one final geocache just as we were losing the last bit of light.

Participants: Sarah, McLean, Patrick Latter
Time: 2 hours
Weather: -15.0 °C 

Directions

From Lake Louise, take the Icefields Parkway 1 hour north, to the Athabasca Glacier.

Gear

• Snowshoes
• Food
• Water
• Warm ski jacket
• Warm fleece
• Warm socks (or 2 layers of socks)
• Toque
• Thermal underwear
• Snow-pants or gaiters
• Gloves

Story

The Athabasca Glacier is one of the six principal ‘toes’ of the Columbia Icefields. It is currently receding at a rate of roughly 2-3 meters per year. In the last 125 years it has receded more than 1.5km and has lost over half of its volume. Due to hidden crevasses it is extremely unsafe to venture past the leading edge without the proper equipment/training.

There are some fantastic views of glaciers along the Icefields Parkway.

Not far from the car, there was some VERY large ravens that were hoping for some food from us.

After a short 1.5km of snowshoeing, we had reached the face of the glacier.

The surface was surprisingly smooth, almost glass like.

Directions

Take Highway 1 from Calgary and turn right at the first Banff exit. From here follow the signs for Lake Minnewanka.

Background

For the best results when doing astrophotography you want to ensure the following things:

• Clear night.
• As cold as possible.
• No moon.
• Drive as far away from any sort of city or town to avoid light pollution.
• Shutter speed no longer than 600/focal length. This will ensure the stars do not trail.
• If you have liveview, try zooming in 10x and manual focusing on the brightest star.
• Aperture of at least F2.8 will help in keeping the iso low enough to avoid too much noise.

This particular night was nearly -20 Celsius. I parked half way across the dam and began to setup. Spent the next 40 minutes trying different compositions and exposures before the cold was too much and I decided to call it a night.

Directions

Take Highway 1 from Calgary and turn right at the first Banff exit. From here follow the signs for Two Jack Lake.

Background

I passed by Lake Minnewanka on my way to Two Jack Lake and took a few shots while it was still dark. The cold temperatures caused an icy fog/mist to rise off the still unfrozen lake.

Once I arrived at Two Jack Lake, I began to make my way around the icy shore trail.

After the sun had risen, I made my way back to Minnewanka to take a few more photos.

After trying to leave, my path was blocked by a rather smug Bighorn Sheep.

Directions

Take Highway 1 from Calgary and turn right at the first Banff exit. From here follow the signs for Johnson lake.

Background

It was still dark when I arrived, with heavy snow falling. This time of year is great for capturing the white snows of winter against the calm reflecting water of a mountain lake. It won’t be long until these lakes freeze over for the winter. Johnson Lake is a small thin lake stretching East to West with the best views for sunrise about a 1km hike from the parking lot. While this particular morning wasn’t going to have any views of a sunrise, I was looking forward to exploring the freshly snow covered landscape.

Attempt date: October 8th, 2012
Start time: 8:30am
Completion time: 8 hours
Elevation gain: 1350m (4429 ft)
Elevation above sea level: 3121m (10239 ft)

Participants:  Marko Pribilovic (Moderately Hungover), Jimmy Quigley (Moderately Hungover), Con Sweatman, Patrick Latter

Directions

Take the road out of Canmore towards the Nordic centre, continue past the Grassi Lakes and the Goat Creek day use parking. Follow the unpaved Spray lakes road for about 27-28km until you see the Sparrowhawk Picnic sign. Park here and the trail head is on the opposite side of the road from the lake.

Gear

• Food
• Water
• Warm fleece
• Winter Jacket
• Winter socks
• Hiking boots
• Thermal underwear
• Gaiters
• Gloves
• Hat
• Poles

Trail

Con and I arrived early enough to go down to the lake and take some pictures in the dim morning light. As we made our way down to the water’s edge it was raining lightly and the clouds were low enough to obscure the peaks of the surrounding mountains.

Once the others arrived, we began to make our way up the well defined trail as the rain quickly turned to snow.

It wasn’t long until we broke out of the tree line and the snow had already begun to accumulate at this elevation.

Once you reach the base of Reed’s Ridge, you have to go left around it and up the gully. The almost white out conditions we were currently in were similar to what we had back in June when we had made the mistake of just following the ridge and ended up with no way to continue on to the summit.

This was Con’s first serious hike, as he had just recently moved to Banff from Winnipeg.

As we neared the top of the gully, it began to get steeper and we ran into hidden ice under the snow that made it dangerous to continue without crampons. Luckily, we managed to find a route to the far right that was free of ice.

Once we reached the top of the gully, we had a fantastic view of Reed’s Tower, which is the highest point of Reed’s ridge. You can see why you wouldn’t have a way down if you had gone the wrong way.

From here you go left and follow the wide barren slope up to the summit block. The loose rock was mostly frozen into place and the snow drifts were never more than knee deep so it wasn’t too bad of a hike up. The near white out conditions did make it difficult to keep motivation up as you couldn’t see how far from the top you were.

Looking back down you could now just barely see the top of Reed’s Tower.

At almost 4 hours into the hike we finally got sight of the summit block; it was far more daunting than expected. We decided to stop and have lunch and decide whether to attempt it or not.

As we ate our lunch the sun briefly broke through the uppermost layer of clouds right above the summit. It was an amazing sight to see this natural spotlight shine down above us.

Looking back down the mountain we were briefly above the clouds/storm. You could feel the cold wind suddenly change to blindly bright heat from the now exposed sun.

The brilliant sunlight gave us the motivation to at least attempt the summit block. We began to make our way around to the back as we followed the right most ridge.

Almost as quickly as the sun had come out out, it disappeared behind the clouds and snow.

Once at the back of the summit block the sun came out one final time and gave us one of the best views I’ve ever seen hiking. We were literally above the clouds for about 10 minutes.

We made our final push for the summit just as the clouds returned.

Once at the summit we took some photos and wrote our names in the logbook that is stashed in the rockpile at the top.

There is no cell reception for 30 mins in either direction at the base of the mountain but at the summit Marko managed to get enough reception to stream the music video ‘Gangnam Style’ and have a dance off.

The wind really started to pickup and there was no sign of the sun returning with the blowing snow, so we quickly made our way back down.