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Published: November 3rd 2006
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Espanol abajo...quizas.......
There's no real point to this blog other than to show you some photos from October.
As I predicted in my last blog that all I'd be doing is working and climbing mountains, this is sadly all I have done.
I can't fit the photos from work in this blog entry so I'll do another blog for them soon.
Travelblog now cuts any photos over a 21 limit and shoves them onto another page, which I think really bites. So I am going to have to do more, but smaller, blogs.
This blog will cover the 'climbing mountains' part of October- and I'll only mention the ones I have photos for...
Firstly, I climbed up MT Cascade with Paul, the guy who's house I'm living in. He gets one day off a week, and the day I climbed Mt Cascade it was his day off, so I let him tag along.
It became quickly apparent that his fitness was not a to scratch. He's a pretty fit guy for someone in their mid 60's, and he can ski the pants of me, but on the treck up to Cascade Amphitheatre he was falling
Mt Cascade
This mountain appeared once or twice in my last blog...but it appears again in this blog becuase I decieded to climb it futher and further behind. It is a pretty steep and steady up-hill for about 2 hrs but he didn't complain (well, he was far enough behing that I couldn't hear him)
Cascade Amphitheatre is a grassy little cirque craved out by a glacier several enons ago and is dominated by Cascade's barren summit 800 vertical meters above.
After leaving the amphitheatre, there's this really slabby hill you have to climb, and I had to wait at the top for about 40 minutes for him to catch up. I didn't mind though as he was carrying soup.
That's pretty much where Paul decided he'd had enough, and I left him there and treck up to the summit alone.
It gets a lot steeper from where I left Paul, and the final scramble to the top was in snow. I reacon it was below freezing when I got up there so I only took a few photos of Lake Minawanka (which was the lake I cycled around in the last blog) and me on the summit. I tried to get a shot of me breaking the 3000 metre mark, but it was too hard to time a jump with
Cascade Amphitheathre
This valley was carved out by a glacier that disappeared sometime ago. Most of the glaciers in the Rockies are disappearing the self timer, and it was too cold to bother with more than one attempt. Cascade tops out at 2998 metres, and with me at about 1.80 in heels, I had to jump for that final 20 centremetres. I'll have to wait untill I climb Mt Temple or Mt Ball or Storm Mountain next year to break the 3000 meter mark in the Bow Valley.
Paul was a little quiet when we got home, which Helen (Paul's wife) attributed to the fact it was the first treck that Paul hadn't finished. I hassel him about it sometimes, but really, he got over half way, which kind of impressed me considering that he retired mid October.
Sunshine meadow isn't what I'd call a treck because in the summer months you can catch a mountain bus shuttle thing up to the top of the mountain and walk the remainding 30 minutes to the little lakes that are up there. I went up there after the summer season had finished and the shuttles had stopped running, so I had to moutain bike up there. It was a gut busting cycle but it was well worth it considering that no one
Paul and I on the way up Cascade
with the summit in the distance...here is where I left Paul, as he did not have the strengh to make it any further. Not a bad effort for an old codger though else was would bother to do it.
These three little lakes, Rock Isle, Grizzly and Larix, that are up there are pretty heavily visited, but it is just lovely when no one else there.
I had high hopes for Grizzly lake. I still haven't seen a Grizzly yet, and was kinda hoping Lake Grizzly would live up to it's name. It didn't, but then it did sort of in another way...
There are trout in the lakes up there, which is rather odd, considering the waterfall they have to climb to get there. Trout in these parts don't grow very big due the everything being glacier fed, and therefore short on nutirents. One of the trout was a little close to shore and got a rude suprise when I reached and grabbed him. He had most of his body tucked under an overhang rock on the riverbank, with only his tail showing, so I flicked him out just like the Grizzlies do. If I can't see any Grizzlies I may as fish as they do. Christainito reckons his brother Isreal can catch trout with his hands, so I was maily interested to see if I could too.
The other mountain that features in this blog is Castle Mountain. This is another 'classic' banff mountain.
The season ended weeks ago, but apart from one heavy summer snow dump, winter has held off. Having said that, Castle Mountain was at least knee deep in snow by the time I did it.
I was quite fortunate that two guys keener than I am had started at the crack of dawn, and were about an hour ahead of me as I approached the summit. They did all the hard work of chomping a bit of a path. We had approached by differnet routes, so I really only got that benefit for the last half hour or so- but as I had left the ice axe in the car, it was better than nothing.
There's this funny little rocket thing on the summit of Castle Mountain. Castle Mountain was briefly name Eisenhower, after the American President Dwight Eisenhower, who was supposed to visit the area. He snubbed the area at the last minute, and sodded off esle where, so in the 1980's they decided to change it back to Castle. I don't know what the rocket is for;
The summit shot of Mt Cascade
2998 meters...when I jumped my head just cleared the 3000 meter mark maybe it was simbolic of someone's desire to bomb an American President - although I think it's more likely a peice of Canadan military technology.
I signed the summit book on Castle Mountain exactly the same as I have signed the other half dozen in the area. I thought 'why change it now - it's sort of like a stamp'....it's either that, or like most Accountants, I can't come up with anything creative.
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hmm, lo siento, pero hoy dia falto tiempo para escribir en dos idiomas..
Pero, tengo tiempo para decirles que subi algunas montanas en el mes de octobre, y en esa pagina hay tres montanas que yo subi, llamadan Cascade, Sunshine, y Castle.
Subi Cascade con un amigo, Paul, lo que dueno la casita en que vivo. El no pudo alcanzar el cumbre, entonces subi solo. El cumbre es un poco de menos de 3000 metros de altitud (dos metros menos), entonces tuve que saltar para alcanzar aquella marca.
3000 metros es una nota significativa por aqui porque las montanas de aca son mas chicas de ellas en America del Sur, y entonces no hay muchas montanas cerca de aca mas
Lake Minawanka
as seen from the summit of Mt Cascade alta de 3000 metros.
Fui al algunos lagos que estan encima de una montana. Pues, estan en una pradera. Pero, hay tres lagitos alla que son muy lindas. En uno de los lagos hay trucha.
Isreal, el hermano de Christanito, puede pescar peces con los manos...yo no lo vi, pero ellos dicen que es asi.
Entonces, lo trate. No fue tan facil, pero tuve exito. Pesce una trucha con los manos no mas, y la come por desayuno.
El tercera montana, llamada Castle, estaba cubiendo de nieve, y es lindisima.
Esa lugar es muy especial por su geologia, la piedra de un lado de la montana es mas joven que el orto lado, pero la verdad, no se mucho de la geologia.
El camino fue poco mas dificil porque falte todo del equipo necesario, pero logre el cumbre a pesar del neive.
y, Russ, si no te gusta mi espanol, probar esa frase de French-Canadian - Va peter dans les fleurs.
(It's a bit of a loser expression, I know, but children may read this blog....but you get the drift, eh?)
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:D
pasandola mal parece..hahahahah nooo broma!! cuando te vemos por aki otra vez amigo?? espero ke las estas pasano suuuuuuuuuuuuuuu`per! te kiero ..un abrazo God bless ya! xxx