Outdoor Video Magazine

Distance: 21km to Berg Lake, one way.
Elevation: 862m - 1646m.
Effort: Medium-high to get to Berg Lake in one day.
Maps: NTS 83 E/3, Mt Robson Park 1:125,000
Rating: 9.5/10 If you include trip to Robson and Mist Glacier.

A stunning trail featuring close-up glacier action, the Canadian Rockies Highest Peak (a staggering 2.5 vertical kilometres above the trail), blue-blue lakes, and more than one fantastic waterfall. Also some pretty forest in the lower sections.

Well finally, I’m ready to write about my latest backpacking trip, done May Long Weekend. I went to Mt Robson Provincial Park, just over the border in BC with Lucas and Rob (from NAIT Outdoors Club). The plan was to do the Berg Lake trail, despite rumours of trail closure due to rockfall and deep snow (in MAY? yeah, I know). Forecast was for rain all over all parts of the Rockies. Oh well.

We left Edmonton after work on the Friday, and made it to the trail head for around 11pm. We decided to hot-foot it to Kinney Lake, the first campground, under cover of darkness. We made the 7km in around an hour and twenty mins, its a mostly flat easy trail. The rain held off just about the whole way there.

Day 1

The next morning I awoke to a gorgeous view of Kinney Lake, the first time I’ve been here. Despite the grey clouds and threatening rain, the lake was still a lovely colour. We had a lesiurely 10am start on the trail, intending to take it easy on our way to Berg Lake that day. We checked out some areas for potential climbing on the way (I didn’t like the look of the rock though). At the start of the Valley of a Thousand Falls (12km) the trail was closed. Apparently it was just closed for when they were actually working though, it didn’t look like anyone was. So we naughtily jumped the sign. Falls of the Pool were first on our list. Wow. They are gorgeous. The sun even came out for the first time while we checked them out. A short 10min detour of the trail, across a rather loose scree slope (see video!).

We then continued up the very steep and long switch backs of the notoriously aerobic part of the trail. It wasn’t really that bad though. 500 vertical metres in 4.5km to give you an idea. Nearing the top of the climb you come across the impressive Emperor Falls. I prefer the Falls of the Pool for aesthetics though. We hit our first snow around here, and it wasn’t long before we got the snowshoes out.

Continuing on we had our first view of a shoulder of Mt Robson as the cloud cleared up, and we broke into the broad, flat, New Zealand-esque valley of the upper-robson river. We soon had fantastic views of Mist Glacier, the closest glacier just before Berg Lake. Berg Glacier quickly followed into view. Both these superb glaciers (the scary Mist and the pretty Berg) come RIGHT down to the valley bottom, and Mist Glacier was begging to be explored.

We detoured of trail and had a CHILLY ford of the Robson River (in Crocs, see video). We then hiked right along the ridge of glacial morraine, enjoying stunning vistas of the frozen Berg Lake, and the two glaciers. Awesome. We then had to return to the trail, via another even colder ford. This time the rain had returned, with a strong icy wind and an ambient temperature of 0C. Not a time to be getting your feet wet in a river that has chunks of ice floating down. I will remember this as one of the least enjoyable of the trip (hence the lack of video footage) as I quickly lost feeling in my fingers and toes…for a good 45mins.

We hurried our freezing extremities the last few kilometres to Hargreaves Shelter, a beautifully situated cabin (no beds, and not for sleeping). We quickly got a fire going, and soon discovered the stunning view had from the deck of the shelter. The clouds all but cleared the summit of Mt Robson, and wow was it amazing.

Day 2
We had another leisurely start (12) as we waited for the minor blizzard to cease, and the few inches of snow to start melting. Today we had it in mind to go as far as possible on the Snowbird Pass trail.

After an hour and a half or so of easy hiking, the toe of Robson Glacier came into view, and we descended from the trail to investigate (safely!). As you can see from the video, it makes for some impressive footage.

Carrying on up the valley, we now stuck to the very edge of the glacier for easier hiking. But the snow-covered nature of the glacier, and the avalanche risk from above meant we were unable to get all the way to Snowbird. We did have the fortune of a beautiful day opening up, treating us to a virtually cloudless sky for the whole afternoon. Lucas discovered that suncream really IS necessary when on a glacier in the sun.

By the time we made it back to Berg Lake, Mt Robson was COMPLETELY clear of any sort of cloud, a rare occurrence i’m told. It remained clear the rest of the night AND the following day until we had actually driven out of sight of it. How lucky. We, however, ran out of SLR batteries, video camera batteries, and compact camera batteries!!! Major error. We did capture some footage though. Oh and I almost forgot, we also got great shots of a HUGE massive avalanche of the side of Rearguard Mountain.

Day 3
We headed home, and made it back to the car from Berg Lake in around 6 hours. Including all stops (one for nearly an hour). So it really is possible to do this trail, with a nice day for side trips, in a 3-day weekend. From Edmonton.

This one is just a quick video-type post. I was out doing a crevasse rescue course as part of the ACC Edmonton section’s Summer in the Mountains course last weekend. We stayed at Rampart Creek and went and practiced under Parker Ridge. It was amazing weather, and although I regularly applied suncream to my face I forgot my ears, lips and hands. DOH! The result is some painful sunburn…but at least I know how to rescue someone from a crevasse now!

When I have my stuff sorted I will post more pics and info about this course. But in the mean time here are some videos I found online about how to build some different sorts of snow anchors. Interestingly it looks like it was also filmed at Parker Ridge though, from what I can tell.

The snow picket video here talks about how they’re not great in the Canadian Rockies, but we had some success with these burying them horizontally in t-slot fashion. I would not recommend trying to play them vertically. Looks dodgy to me!

 The Rockwall, Kootenay National Park, B.C., Canada
Length: 55km
Time: 3-6 days
Book: Don’t Waste Your Time in the Canadian Rockies/Classic Hikes in the Canadian Rockies
Max-Min Elevation: 1338m-2370m
Effort: High
Rating: 9/10
Scariness: 0/3
Map: NTS: 82 N/1, Gem Trek: Kootenay, The Adventure Map: the Rockwall

Overview
The Rockwall is a fantastic backpack which has all the major features needed for a perfect outing in the mountains. It has lush valleys, mountain streams, glaciers, tarns, superb wild flowers, spectacular cliffs, and the second highest waterfall in Canada (a fact which is often debated. But it’s certainly high.) There are also excellent wildlife viewing opportunities; the trail goes through some prime grizzly habitat, and sightings are frequent; mountain goats can often be seen round Helmet Falls; Wolverine Pass is a good area to see the wolverine (funnily enough), although it is highly unlikely you will see this elusive creature; hoary marmots and ground squirrels are pretty much guaranteed unless you normally hike with your eyes closed.

Trail Description
There is no huge advantage to hiking this trail in a particular direction. If you go North to South you save a whopping(!) 100 metres in overall elevation gain, but this pales into insignificance against the overall elevation gain on this hike. Either way you will need two cars, or you will have to hitch. I will describe this going from Floe Lake to Helmet Falls.

From the road to Floe Lake campground is a short 10.5km. But you go up. Up 720m to be exact. At first it’s OK, you climb gradually through a burned forest that is starting to flourish with new growth. You pass through some good bear habitat as you cross overgrown avalanche slopes. The views are interesting, but not particularly inspiring. Eventually it starts to get steep…really steep..and there is a grueling section of switchbacks that seemingly goes on forever..but there is a pleasant smell of wild strawberries in july to keep you going! There’s also an awesome selection of BIG trees (Engelmann spruce) some more than a meter in diameter and over 40m tall. Floe Lake is very nice…when I got there in early July it was slightly disappointing. I was expecting something SPECTACULAR…but it was just very nice. I think it was the lack of snow by the lake that is normally known for it’s floating ice chunks. God damn global warming. Maybe if you get there earlier in the year. Oh, and beware mosquitos June to August..yowser.

From Floe Lake to Numa Creek campground is just 9.5km, so we doubled up and headed to Tumbling Creek CG, 17.9km in total. My criticism of Floe Lake was retracted the following morning when I dragged myself up for sunrise. It was by no means the nicest sunrise in the world…but seeing the sunrise over Floe Lake made it very special indeed. See the photos below if you don’t agree.

Unbelievably, after sunrise the hiking only got better. Wild flowers. Wow. If you do the Rockwall, you have to do it in July when the flowers are out. They were actually too good to be true. I felt like i was hiking through the set of a music video. Literally CARPETS of flowers….red, purple, yellow and white (yeah, I’m really technical when it comes to flower identification), All the way up to Numa Pass (a quick 300m in 3km) the flowers are brilliant. Descend a crunching 800m down to Numa Creek CG, for lunch or for your night’s rest.

Carrying on to Tumbling Pass…you go through some awesome grizzly territory. Big lush bushes covered in berries by a loud stream..be careful…it would be a shame to get eaten by a bear this early in a fantastic hike. Nearing the top of the pass you pass through a alpine-meadow type area complete with glacial morraine. Tumbling Glacier should also come into view as you summit the pass. It’s a beautiful glacier that really looks likes it’s tumbling off the summit of a mountain. Your second and final descent of the day then takes you to the relaxing looking Tumbling Creek CG, sat in a nice little meadow. If only there was some ice cold beer for sale…..

From Tumbling Creek CG you then climb up on to Wolverine Plateau. I delightful alpine meadow area with stunning views back along most of the Rockwall that you’ve hiked…right back to the mountains above Floe Lake. The wildflowers here are also stunning (indian paintbrushes and western anemone I believe. Yes I had to look that up.) Next is the scenic highlight of what is already a scenic hike, so it’s obviously…umm scenic. Actually no, amazing is probably a better word. From Wolverine Plateau you climb gradually to Rockwall Pass, where a 4km long vertical slab of Ottertail Formation limestone dominates the view. It’s HUGE. There is a glacier hidden at the base of the cliff, covered in rocks. If you look carefully you may notice a couple of parts where it breaks the surface. Indeed when I was there a big 10m high face of it was exposed. It was well worth a sidetrip to inspect it..but beware the falling rocks in this area.

The trail now descends to cross Helmet Creek before beginning it’s final climb to Limestone Summit. By this stage on the hike you’re probably getting a bit weary from the constant ascending and descending, and this up feels a lot longer harder than it should be. Once you reach the top however, it’s downhill all the way. Oh and look out for the views of the second highest waterfall in Canada. Its quite pretty. Once you get to the Helmet Campground, I would recommend finding the energy to take a sidetrip to the base of the falls themselves. They truly are spectacular, and it’s just a 1.5km hike to get right to the base. This is also an excellent area to see mountain goats…and we had the privilege of seeing one across the falls from where we sitting. It was nice to be looking across at eye-level with the worlds best four-legged climber. The falls themselves are in shade a lot of the day, and as such are hard to photograph. However, if you get there for sunrise you in for a treat as it illuminates the falls perfectly for the first few hours of the day.

From Helmet Campground it’s a 14km hike out to the road. This section isn’t much to write about, some nice forests and some nice river sections but it’s all pretty plain compared to the grandeur of the previous days. Those still wanting an adventure can take the long side-trip to Goodsirs Pass. The highlight of the hike out is the Paint Pots as you approach the road. These ochre beds are pretty amazing with the greeny/yellow water and the fantastically orange soil.

The Rockwall is truly an unforgettable hike and one of the best in the Rockies.

Since spring is clearly here, and summer is on the way, it was time for the years first outdoor climbing trip (not counting early January in Joshua Tree…that’s cheating!). It was a very last minute affair, plans to go in Canmore broke down on the Saturday…and it was around 11.20pm when I had just finished filming a wedding all day that I got hold of a friend on the phone who said he was leaving for Nordegg, right then, and would be passing my housein 10mins if I wanted to come. Yikes. I said ‘yes’ of course, and packed in a crazy rush. My food for the day being an apple and a loaf of bread and a lump of cheese, all I had knocking around.

We made it into Nordegg around 3.30am, and crashed by the road side (not literally..bad choice of words!). I set up a tent, Matt and Luc just slept outside in their bags.

The next morning, we set off for Abraham Slabs, on the side of (who’d have thought?) Mount Abraham…located 5 mins drive east of the David Thompson Resort, around 3km or so West of Windy Point. Park by the roadside, and you can find an unmarked trail that leads up to the base of the limestone slabs. There are tonnes of routes to do here….s

ome top-roping, around 6-10 bolted sport routes, and trad climbing too. We decided on a 4 pitch 5.8 called ‘Pacemaker’. It was my first ‘real’ time climbing outdoors, having only started in January. Not counting the twice I went in Joshua Tree which was before I had started climbing at all.

Matt lead all 4 pitches, with no real difficulty apart from a fall on pitch 3. Cheese grater. That slab is SHARP! Luckily it was pretty cold, so he had a bunch of clothes on and it was only his hands that got cut up. He also dropped his camera…hence the lack of actual climbing pics for this post. Needless to say, 3 pitches of fall didn’t do the camera much good, and we couldn’t even find the memory card.

From the top, it was an easy rappel down in two stage. Easy-ish. Easy if you weren’t the one going first who had the problem of one rope getting stuck and hanging in the air, ultimately just rappelling on one half of the double rope, trusting the end snagged on the rock would hold. Matt.

It was an awesome day out, and a great place to climb. Loads of fun, interesting routes on good rock (but loose, bring a helmet). The views were great and the access is an easy 10-15min walk from the road. It was windy (it always will be there). I will definitely be going back to check out some other routes.

On the way home we stopped for a play on the big boulder on the outside of Rocky Mountain house, on the edge of town heading towards Nordegg, right by the main road and a church.

 Length: 12km round-trip to Helen Lake. 14km round trip including Cirque Peak.
Elevation Gain: 455m to Helen Lake. 1050m to Cirque Peak.
Time: 3-5 hours round trip for Helen Lake. 6-8 hours for Cirque Peak.
Difficulty: Helen Lake - Easy hike, Cirque Peak - Easy Scramble
Effort: Helen Lake - moderate, Cirque Peak - high.
Rating: 9.5/10 (including Cirque Peak).

This is a fantastic summer hike, especially if you include the ’scramble’ up to the of Cirque Peak, which sits just under the 3000m mark. It is one of the most easily attainable peaks of this height in the Canadian Rockies, with absolutely spectacular views.

The trail starts across the road from the Crowfoot Glacier viewpoint, 33km North of the Lake Louise junction on the Icefields Parkway. This is right by Bow Lake, at around 1900m elevation…which means you have a nice high start.

The trail starts off through some fairly open pine forest, giving you some nice views of the Icefields Parkway valley (is this still called Bow Valley this far up?) as you climb steadily. After 45mins or so the trail steepens as you start to climb out of the trees, and you soon break into the Helen Lake valley. This area is beautiful if you catch the alpine flowers in june/july. From here the trail heads easily onwards to Helen Lake. Awesome views of the Dolomite Range and Cirque Peak surround you. Watch for bears…this is prime grizzly country. The trail is sometimes closed if a bear is known to be in the area.

In no time at all you make it to Helen Lake, a really gorgeous little place that reminds me a lot of some tarns I know in the Lake District, England. There is some good fishing to be had here…I saw a bunch of beautiful ones while I was sat eating lunch.

For Cirque Peak, follow the obvious trail anti-clockwise round the lake, and begin to ascend the high ridge over looking the lake. This is still all on a fairly easy trail, so even if you don’t fancy ascending Cirque Peak, it is worth to top out on this ridge for a view Eastwards over Katherine Lake to Dolomite Pass.

Once you reach the ridge, you can see the easy route up talus slopes to the top of Cirque Peak. It’s steep, monotonous hiking…but I assure you it’s worth every second. Near the top, the talus changes to some real rock where you may use your hands on a few occasions. But there is no exposure at all to worry about. When you reach the top (the first obvious top)…you can be amazed by the tinyness of the summit you just ascended with ease. It’s extremely precipitous on the backside, but you can keep well away from that if you want. If you want to obtain the true summit, there is a little bit more exposed (but still very easy) scrambling to do as you head right. If you don’t have a head for heights, don’t worry. The view is much the same from the both summits.

Looking out across the Icefields Parkway, you can see Bow Glacier, and the gorgeous looking hanging lake right above Bow Falls which I now HAVE to visit one day. If you like spotting peaks, I’m sure you could name about 20 of the tops you can see from this vantage point.

Now you just have to descend the way you came back to the car (the only bad part of this hike). However if you’re feeling adventurous, you can come down the talus on SW side of Cirque peak, then up a short gully onto the ridge that separates Helen Creek valley from Bow Lake. Follow this ridge S, enjoying views of Bow Lake and the Dolomites all the way, then angle down through talus slopes and open areas to meet the trail only a short ways from the parking lot. I have not done this particular descent, sounds nice though!

You are almost guaranteed to see ground squirrels and hoary marmots on this hike. They were EVERYWHERE. And very friendly.

Length: 21.2km
Time: 2-4 Hours
Book: Mountain Biking in the Canadian Rockies - Doug Eastcott
Elevation: 1500m-2000m
Date done: June 2006
Effort: High
Rating: 7/10
Technicality: Moderate
Map: 82 J/15 Bragg Creek

This ride is a loop predominantly on single track with a bit on gravel road. There is some nice scenery (but not stunning), and some excellent single track on varied terrain. Park at the Powderface trailhead on Highway 66, west of Elbow Falls.

Initially the ride is all up hill. At first it’s quite gentle with nice relaxing scenery. After the first 3km things get steep (see video on right…the slope doesn’t really do it justice!), very steep and towards the end you will need to push some parts. It’s just too steep and rocky. But once you reach the top, you know that’s the hardest bit of the ride over with and you have a long, fun 100% rideable descent down a rocky/muddy tree-lined trail. But first take a while to enjoy the nice view, and maybe ride/hike up to the nearby summit.

The descent brings you out on to the gravel road where you turn right (north) and can relax as you coast gently along and enjoy the meadows. When you turn off the road after 2.7km onto the Prairie Creek trail, you can look forward to a rolling, muddy, fast trail with some technical sections to keep you on your toes. Evenetually the trail climbs up away from the creek, and it gets steep (pushing requried). At the top, the fun begins again. Fast, narrow and dangerously close to a big drop into the creek the trail is an awesome ride. It is a 100% rideable if you’re good, but if you’re a bit unsure it may be best to get off your bike for the part with the warning signs! (I certainly did). After racing across the bridge at the bottom (or through the creek)…you’re right back at your car.