Outdoor Video Magazine

Length: Approx 23km
Time: 2 Days
Elevation Gain: 900m total (excluding sidetrip)
Max Elevation: 2330m, (2500m side trip up Saddleback Mt)
Rating: 7/10, some tedious spots though it was overcast and cloudy
Done: End of October 2007
Book: Classic Hikes in the Canadian Rockies, Graeme Pole
Map: NTS, 82 N/8
Route: From Lake Louise Chateau over Saddleback Pass, into Paradise Valley, up Paradise Valley via river bottom (lower trail), return via Lake Annette and Paradise Valley Junction.

Towards the end of October 2007, UAOC (University of Alberta Outdoors Club) headed to the Lake Louise area of Banff National Park for a late-season two-day backpacking trip. The target: Paradise Valley.

Friday night we left Edmonton with 8 people in two cars, heading for an overnight stay at Saskatchewan Crossing. It was actually their last weekend of the season as they close for the winter period. Stopping in the little an totally unfamous town of Bentley on the way, we managed to get a 12 pack of Canadian for $10, it having been priced incorrectly. The cashier didn’t notice. We were then well equipped for an evening of poker in the hotel, won in style by a poker newbie (that would be me).

Day 1 - Saturday 11km

We finished off the drive along the Icefields Parkway and registered at the Park Office in Lake Louise. Then, after a quick drive to the trailhead at Lake Louise Chateau, we were ready to get going (you can start from Morraine Lake in summer, but the Morraine Lake road is closed to cars in autumn, winter and spring). Having assessed snow conditions, we decided to leave the snowshoes at the car…a good choice seeing as we barely had to hike through any snow at all! Yet at the same elevation on the Skyline a few weeks before, we had several feet.

We were heading into Paradise Valley via Saddleback Pass, so we had a 3km of uphill to start off with. In fact, this turned out to be a nice, steady, easy to walk gradient and the time flew by. Before we knew it, we were up above the treeline under the flanks of Mt Fairview gazing out of the Chateau (what an eyesore, I think it should be torn down!!). We stopped for lunch here, and discussed the merits of a sidetrip to the top of Saddleback Mountain which looked a nice easy scramble. Eventually we decided to do it, which I quickly regretted after a few mins of stumbling over slippy, snowy boulders with ankle breaking gaps, down one of which I dropped a Mars Bar. Those who know me won’t be surprised to find out I spent 5mins and a great deal of pain to finally get it back.

The sidetrip redeemed itself higher up though, where the going got easier and some stunning views of the surrounding peaks (including the attractive and instantly recognisable Mt Temple) and Paradise Valley itself opened up. The summit also had views down the Bow Valley, giving you a real sense of the scale of the mountains, without taking too much exertion. It was probably around 20mins to get to the summit from the pass. And worth it.

Heading down again we picked up our packs and started a steep, knee-jarring descent into Paradise Valley. It seemed like we were dropping a lot more than we gained (just an illusion). Leaving the stunning mountain vistas and tremendous rock-faces behind we dropped into the trees, and headed up Paradise Valley. Opting to take the now dis-used lower trail that keeps by the river (it was closed and the trail moved higher up to avoid bear-human conflicts). This gave us a couple of interesting river fords, but saved us taking the same trail on the return trip. I have to say I was a little disappointed with Paradise Valley, I think it was possibly an unflattering time of year for it being after the amazing larches, and before the winter snow. The trail has some limited views of Mt Temple as it slowly climbs through the trees. It was cloudy by this point too.

The valley redeemed itself somewhat with the pretty area that is Giant Steps. This collection of flat, square rocks forms some interesting waterfalls and is situated in a nice open area with goods views down the valley and up to the surrounding peaks. It is also handily close to the Paradise Valley campground. We chilled out (literally, the temperature was dropping fast) for a long, long time lying on the flat rocks. It would be gorgeous to sunbathe here on a summers day (though I can imagine the crowds, we had the place to ourselves).

Dinner included a fantastic bowl of melted chocolate orange to share. Mostly consumed by me.

Day 2 - Sunday 12km

After a rather lonely night in my bivi-bag (I know, it’s a bivi-bag, it’s meant to be lonely, but still, there was no need for everyone else to camp out of sight and out of ear-shot from me!) we set off for a lesiurely day two. This time heading down the current (and kind of new) trail that runs higher up the slopes of Temple, well away from the river and the preferred bear habitat. This route would take us out past Lake Annette. Unfortunately, the weather came in a little bit, and most of the views were obscured by cloud. The hike out was pleasant as far as Lake Annette, and we had some fun times playing on frozen streams on the way (see video). The trail is through scattered trees with some good views of Paradise Valley at times, and some awe-inspiring close-ups of the dramatic gullies of Mt Temple. Lake Annette itself does seem to be in a gorgeous location, though we couldn’t see much. However, the rest of the hike from there onwards to the car at Lake Louise got pretty tedious.

• Parks Canada Trail Info
• Another review of Paradise Valley (boasting it one of the best hikes in the world!!)
• Large collection of photos of Paradise Valley

I was sat at a climbing wall the other day reading a magazine. It featured an article on ‘Hard Grit’, a term that has come to mean crazy, difficult climbing on gritstone in the English pennines. With very poor protection. A good example of just how poor the protection is is
given by a route where the last piece of protection is less than halfway up. If the climber falls near the top, the selfless belayer must jump from the ledge they are on in the hope they can take up enough slack to prevent a ground fall. Nice. Unfortunately I can’t find out the name of this route….you’ll have to trust me though.

The term “Hard Grit” was pioneered by the DVD of the same name that first made it big in 1998. Below are some clips of the DVD from youtube, including a trailer.

First off we have Seb Grieve on his first attempt on ‘Parthian Shot‘, a ’safe’ but sustained E9 6c. The final protection is 3 RP’s placed behind a dodgy flake. No-one ever thought these would really hold a fall, but Seb decided to put to a test in this video. He’s the first person to fall on them. He also did it another 5 times that day. They held.

Gaia, E8 6c. This route was made famous by a falling Jean Mihn Trin-Thieu who I believe broke his leg. You can see this (in low, crappy qquality)) below. The video quality gets better as it goes on though, so persevere!

The Bad and the Beautiful, E7 6B:

Here’s another one detailing a whole bunch of ‘Hard Grit’ routes, and also giving you highlights from a LOT of climbing. There is another big fall of Gaia at 6mins 43secs.

Elder Statesman, E8 7b. This climb has one particularly funky move in. Good vid. (but the guys voice kinda annoys me!).

Time: 5-7 hours (just hiking time from book) - 11 hours total for us!
Elevation Gain: 1500m
Highest Point: 2580m
Difficulty: Moderate
Scariness: 1/3
Map: Not really needed
Book: Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies - Alan Kane
Trailhead: Morro Slabs. just East of the bridge over the Athabasca River on Highway 16, a few kilometers East of Snaring River campground.

Get the latest Flash Player to see this player.

This is a LONG day’s scramble with considerable vertical gain and NO water along the way. The terrain is variable and interesting, the views good, and I would definitely recommend it if you’re feeling up to the distance.

Starting of on the obvious Overlander trail (which allows mountain bikes) the hike initially contours the side of the mountain sticking fairly flat for around 35-50mins. Keep an eye out for the first drainage you cross (a dry stoney creek bed probably) and this is where you turn left off the obvious trail and find a fairly well beaten track that will take you up the mountain proper. Starting through brush and then eventually a large burned area, the trail quickly steepens and will never really let off until the summit now. You follow the edge of a cool canyon for some of the way, and apparently there is a waterfall if you follow it all the way to end. When you’re up above the first small cliff band, hang right and follow the base of crags along to the ridge above the next drainage area. From here it’s essential to pick up the fairly obvious and well trodden trail again (marked with cairns and pink/orange flagging tape) and follow it up to the start of the scrambling.

Here is the ‘crux’ according to Alan Kane, but I have to say the ‘5m chimmney” is not really is difficult as it sounds. With little/no exposure and some good holds it won’t cause any problems. If it does it can easily be by-passed via an easy line to the right where there was even some webbing for hand-support when I was there.

From here an obvious trail leads up to the right, following a fairly steep drop on your righthand side. This bit sketched me out a bit, especially coming down. The trail was dry and loose with dirt and some rock, and a slip could have been far from amusing. Don’t let me fool you though, this part was still easy (I’m just a wuss!). You could take a more rocky route than this in parts if you fancied scrambling some more.

Topping out above the rock, you’re back in spruce again (by a cairn with some big horn horns). The trail now follows the ridge crest through the trees and is well marked with ornage flagging tape the whole way. As you approach the tree-line there are some fun places for some slab-bouldering (see video).

From here to the summit is an enjoyable slog up talus, across scree and up some easy rock scrambling (you can usually find a trail if you prefer, ot a harder rock-line if you want!). Don’t be fooled by thinkign your near the top until you are looking down in every direction…Hawk has on of the worst most consistent false summits I’ve seen!

From the top there are great views of the surrounding mountains including Mt Robson, Pyramid, Edith Cavell, and some other HUGE ones further away that I didn’t recognise. lol. Check out the crazy coloured pounds the far side of Highway 16 too. We saw a bear sat on the train tracks from this vantage point too, and the resulting bear jam. Put a quick note in the summit register, feel free to add a plug for outdoorvm.com haha, and begin your descent the way you came.

By this stage we were all pretty short of water, it being around 30C out. I had gone through 3 litres already. 3 of the 4 of us dosed up on Ibuprofren to ready our aging knees for the descent (yes, I’m only 24).

Once you get back to the canyon, there is an optional detour if you find a safe descent into it and want a bit of fun. We all LOVED this part of the descent. We followed the canyon bottom the WHOLE way back to the Overlander trail. There are numerous small (up to 4m) would-be waterfalls (it was all dry) that make great fun to downclimb. Some involved walking down trees, some had to be jumped, some downclimbed in VERY interesting fashion by certain members of the group. See video! This whole part provided great comic relief to a tired and sore group of people.

Back on the Overlander, it’s nearly over with just a quick, fast, flat march back to the car. Interestingly enough I predicted 11 hours for our trip before we set off. We were back a few seconds under 11 hours 1 minute. Pretty good eh?

Another good route description is given by dowclimbing.com along with some good photos, but not a patch on mine of course

I need to stop going to the mountains every weekend (8 of the last 9 weekends!!). I am generating a huge backlog of video to edit, photos to manage, trip reports to write and there’s always my real job to do too……

Get the latest Flash Player to see this player.

So anyway, a few weeks ago(!) I went to Jasper for a climbing and scrambling trip with Katie and Mathieu. The plan: to leave Edmonton after I finished filming a wedding 11pm saturday evening, scramble sunday, and climb in the Hidden Valley on Monday.

We ended up leaving late, and arriving around 3am at a convenient little ‘campsite’ just outside the Park Boundary on Highway 16. It’s a down a 4WD road on the left, 100m before the gates. But ssssh don’t tell everyone. Wait, is this internet thing public? ooops.

It was also raining when we arrived, giving Matt the oppurtunity to tryout his ‘waterproof’ sleeping bag (nearly a bivy0bag, but not quite). Katie and I sensibly chose the tent.

Morning found it still raining, with cloud level at road level. Visibility zero. Brave, nature-boy Matt had retired to the car after his ‘waterproof’ bag got him very, very damp.

With the inclement weather, and the lack of dry bag for the next night, we headed into Hinton to find a laundry place for his bag. A few hours later we were ready to hike! And the weather was still terrible…oh well.

We could barely make out the looming shadow of Roche Miette through the clouds as we set off on the trail. With all the wetness I forgot the wise, wise words of my friend Jen who had explained how NOT to get lost on this hike. We happily followed the directions from the book for a few hours, trudging up steep ridges through misty forests until we finally made the tree-line just as the clouds cleared. Wrong damn place. Way too close to the big, steep scary rock face! Just like Jen had done before us, we had taken the climber trail to the huge cliff-face, not the route to the summit. Realising our error, we spotted the trail on the ridge opposite, and decided we had the energy to bushwack down an avalanche path to the valley below, and then scramble up the far side. It didn’t actually take more than 45mins.

Back on the correct trail, the weather suddenly co-operated and we found ourselves in blistering, hot sun under deep blue skies. Perseverance paid off. On yellow, rocky slopes we headed further up the mountain, taking a brief (pun intended!) rest when Ewen changed his pants to shorts and aired his boxers…giving rise to the brilliant idea of a naked photo shoot if we made the top (thanks Matt!).

Pressing on, the weather closed in again as we came to a gorgeous narrow bit of ridge, on route to the saddle that marks the start of the scramble. At this point we found a beer, full, kindly left by some previous hikers. Downing half, we carried on. Helmets in place. The scramble proved a bit trickier than it should as we veered off path (damn cloud and visibility zero). Eventually we spotted some pink ribbons and found the much, much easier route to the top. If you stay on the easy route the whole time, this would be an easy scramble. We were definitely more in the moderate to difficult area. The route is definitely not exposed in any way though, just steep and loose.

At the top, we did our naked photo shoot, with just boots and helmets allowed. Mucho fun, and caused havoc on facebook when the photos were posted! Unfortunately you only have the right to view mine on this site!

Overall, with the detour it took around 5 hours to make the summit. And another 3 to get down. We were going slow though.

This is an awesome hike, and I would definitely recommend it. Very fun all around, good scrambling, good hiking, nothing too scary, and nice and close to Edmonton (just a few km from the Jasper park boundary).

The only thing that marred the fun of the day was that Katie’s BRAND NEW tent had been stolen from our impromptu campground. There were tire tracks and empty beer cans, and our sleeping pads. But the tent was gone. Sorry Katie

So here is the video from my third day at Heart Creek. Three of stayed on for one more day of climbing. We tackled an easy 5.8 on First Rock (my first ever lead…and I only did half of it. Booo! haha). Matt also top-roped a fun 5.10 here. Then we moved onto Bunny Hill, which is some interesting part-normal/part-slab climbing. There are a lot of routes on this wall. We tackled a 10b and a 10c/d. Both very fun. This wall is probably a bit more different than Waterfall Wall, First Rock and Jupiter. It adds a bit more variety into the mix (plus you have to cross a river again!).

Get the latest Flash Player to see this player.

So last weekend I had my second outdoor climbing trip, this to time to Heart Creek near Canmore, Alberta. This is a beautiful little area, featuring over 130 sport routes (plus a few trad I think) on 15 different walls. They are all single pitch, and vary from short to long with a nice variety of routes too. To get to Heart Creek from Calgary, take the Lac des Arcs turn off, around 20km east of Canmore, then immediately get BACK on Highway 1 heading to Calgary. There is a gravel pull off after a few hundred metres, just before a creek (which is actually Heart Creek). The first routes (First Rock) are around a 10min walk following the very obvious trail along the side of the creek. Expect this area to be busy, especially First Rock and Bunny Hill, and especially weekends.

We made this video while we were climbing for the weekend, it’s around 8mins long. Should give you a good idea about a few of the different walls and the sort of climbing to expect. And probably entice you to try it out. Heart and Sole, Jupiter, First Rock and Waterfall Wall are all featured.

Get the latest Flash Player to see this player.

This website has details on a lot of the routes, and gives you an idea of the grades. Some more info can be found here and a local climbing gym put together a very useful pdf of all the routes available here.