Outdoor Video Magazine

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……

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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!).

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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.

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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.

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.

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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.