2019.07.22
Today was the first day of my volunteer fun-employment (for lack of a
better word). It started off with waking up with Sam and quickly heading
out the door as she went to work for 7. I went to McDonald's to kill
some time as I was meeting a girl I had spoken with online at Lake Louise to climb at 1pm and
it's only a 3 hour drive. At 8 I went to the grocery store and picked up
some supplies and then to my storage locker to grab some miscellaneous
last minute items (specifically a knife). I hit the road at 9 sharp and
briefly stopped at Fairmont for some gas and then again at the Kootenay
River stop in Kootenay Park for a quick lunch. It was quite
beautiful at the river (pictured), the water was fast and a turquoise blue. It was
tempting to go in but I knew it was too dangerous. I briefly pondered
how one might ford it to visit the mountains on the other side. After
that I beelined straight for Lake Louise. It took a bit longer than
expected as there was roadwork in Kootenay Park and at one point I was
at a dead stop for the 20 minutes.
I arrived at 12:30 and the place was a zoo. Knowing there was no chance at getting a parking spot I foolishly wasted 15 minutes driving up to the chateau only to be ushered back down to the village. There was no parking in the village either so I stopped at the visitor center. They recommended I park at the campground and walk up but the campground check in wasn't till 2 and it was only 1. I purchased year long national park pass for $70 while I was there and got a call from the girl I was meeting to climb with, Jasmine. Jasmine told me to park at the back of the lot behind the Husky gas station across the street and I drove over to luckily steal the very last spot. We met at our vehicles and compared gear. We agreed to use my rope and quick draws and headed up the mountain. It was about a 4km hike up and then we had to walk around the lake to the climbing as well. We were lucky to hitch a ride from a stranger up to the parking lot which saved us about half an hour and some effort. Along the way we chatted and surveyed the tourists. Jasmine is a final year kinesiology student at the University of Calgary and was working at a restaurant in Canmore for the summer. She was a good climber, about the same level as me (if not a bit better) and we seemed to get along well. We finally arrived at the first wall, Blob Rock, which Jasmine chose at ~2:45. We picked an easy 5.9, Castle Anthrax, which I lead first without much trouble. Jasmine followed and cleaned the route. Next we moved to the 5 star tsted 5.10a, the Black Knight, which I had earmarked before arriving as being a good climb. The start was quite difficult and then the climb was straightforward but quite pumpy. I couldn't do it clean I had to take 2 rests but neither did anyone else I saw. I figured it was because I had climbed the day prior. Jasmine went up next and did about the same as me and we had decided she would hop over to the anchor immediately beside and setup a top rope anchor on the 5.10d. This took a while and while she was doing it another group of 4 approached wanting to do the black Knight. They had to wait until she was down but we told them it was worth it. At this point my step dad Ken called me and I told him id call him back that night (I didn't), he seemed interested in doing some fishing. We top roped the 5.10d with much difficulty and were down around 6:00.
We decided to do one more climb on the outhouse wall and set about looking for it. We started walking west for ~20 minute before realizing we were headed the wrong way. Jasmine had been reading the map wrong but a kind stranger showed us the way. We chose a 5.10a, Full Body, that turned out to be, in my opinion, sandbagged. Jasmine decided to lead first and though it took a while she made it up, even taking one whip. I was eager to start the 1.5 hour descent in order to set up camp, eat and hit they hay immediately in anticipation of climbing Mt. Temple the next day so opted to top rope the final climb. It went fine and I'd like to return to lead it. After that we made the walk down uneventfully. I arrived back at my truck at 9:30 and quickly went to the campground to set up. After setting up I made a quick dinner, spoke on the phone with Sam for a bit and went to bed.
My camera on my phone wasn't working on this day so there is only the one photo. Future blog posts will have more photos.
I arrived at 12:30 and the place was a zoo. Knowing there was no chance at getting a parking spot I foolishly wasted 15 minutes driving up to the chateau only to be ushered back down to the village. There was no parking in the village either so I stopped at the visitor center. They recommended I park at the campground and walk up but the campground check in wasn't till 2 and it was only 1. I purchased year long national park pass for $70 while I was there and got a call from the girl I was meeting to climb with, Jasmine. Jasmine told me to park at the back of the lot behind the Husky gas station across the street and I drove over to luckily steal the very last spot. We met at our vehicles and compared gear. We agreed to use my rope and quick draws and headed up the mountain. It was about a 4km hike up and then we had to walk around the lake to the climbing as well. We were lucky to hitch a ride from a stranger up to the parking lot which saved us about half an hour and some effort. Along the way we chatted and surveyed the tourists. Jasmine is a final year kinesiology student at the University of Calgary and was working at a restaurant in Canmore for the summer. She was a good climber, about the same level as me (if not a bit better) and we seemed to get along well. We finally arrived at the first wall, Blob Rock, which Jasmine chose at ~2:45. We picked an easy 5.9, Castle Anthrax, which I lead first without much trouble. Jasmine followed and cleaned the route. Next we moved to the 5 star tsted 5.10a, the Black Knight, which I had earmarked before arriving as being a good climb. The start was quite difficult and then the climb was straightforward but quite pumpy. I couldn't do it clean I had to take 2 rests but neither did anyone else I saw. I figured it was because I had climbed the day prior. Jasmine went up next and did about the same as me and we had decided she would hop over to the anchor immediately beside and setup a top rope anchor on the 5.10d. This took a while and while she was doing it another group of 4 approached wanting to do the black Knight. They had to wait until she was down but we told them it was worth it. At this point my step dad Ken called me and I told him id call him back that night (I didn't), he seemed interested in doing some fishing. We top roped the 5.10d with much difficulty and were down around 6:00.
We decided to do one more climb on the outhouse wall and set about looking for it. We started walking west for ~20 minute before realizing we were headed the wrong way. Jasmine had been reading the map wrong but a kind stranger showed us the way. We chose a 5.10a, Full Body, that turned out to be, in my opinion, sandbagged. Jasmine decided to lead first and though it took a while she made it up, even taking one whip. I was eager to start the 1.5 hour descent in order to set up camp, eat and hit they hay immediately in anticipation of climbing Mt. Temple the next day so opted to top rope the final climb. It went fine and I'd like to return to lead it. After that we made the walk down uneventfully. I arrived back at my truck at 9:30 and quickly went to the campground to set up. After setting up I made a quick dinner, spoke on the phone with Sam for a bit and went to bed.
My camera on my phone wasn't working on this day so there is only the one photo. Future blog posts will have more photos.
 |
| Kootenay River stop for lunch |
Comments
Post a Comment