Canmore – Page 2 – HIKES & HAMSTRINGS

East End of Rundle: In Photos

East End of Rundle. Or EEOR, as it’s commonly known. It’s a relatively easy scramble with the potential for sections with lots of exposure.

On this particular day, the weather was gorgeous and it seemed like everyone and their dogs wanted to hike either Ha Ling or EEOR. I have never seen the Goat Creek parking lot so busy! If you drove from Canmore to the Goat Creek parking lot, a quick walk back along the gravel road will take you to an electrical pole near the Bow Crow Forest sign. The trail starts there. The ascent is pretty straight-forward, and once you get to through the forest you can either head right and scramble up the steep rocks along the edge, or head straight up, through the gully to the ridge. This was my second ascent of EEOR and I’ve only ever scrambled up the right… which is super fun if you don’t mind a bit of exposure. Unfortunately, I never seem to get the descent right. Both times I’ve landed in a super steep gully, which apparently isn’t the more popular way. Oh well- better luck next time! All in all, it’s a 4 hour round trip scramble at a pretty quick pace for some pretty incredible views. Not too bad for a morning stroll…

Continue reading “East End of Rundle: In Photos”

Mount Lady Macdonald: Unplug

Sometimes you just have to unplug from the daily routine and the city stimuli, venture out on your own in nature, and think.

I know. It’s so cliche. But how often do you actually give yourself the time… the space… to be at one with your thoughts? To really honour what it is that occupies your mind? To allow yourself a chance to gain some clarity- without the car noises, text message beeps, pressing work and family commitments, ongoing to-do lists, or multitude of other things vying for our immediate attention?

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Ha Ling Peak

So I’ve written about Ha Ling Peak before. It’s steep. It’s awesome. It’s quick. And the views from the top are incredible. With a round trip time of about 3.5 hours and an elevation gain of 700 metres, Ha Ling (2408 metres) is also a great one to do if you want to stretch your legs after a day at the desk job. From where I work in Calgary, I can leave the hospital and set foot on the trail within an hour. I’ve mentioned numerous times about how grateful I am to live in a city where this is possible.

What’s notable about this particular Ha Ling climb is that my brother Ry was visiting and he was eager to scramble up his first mountain in the Rockies! As expected, he was not disappointed with the view of Canmore, the Bow Valley, and the Spray Lakes area below. It’s was one of those breathtakng moments where he couldn’t even find the right words to describe the feeling of looking down at the world. Ry has always thought my photos were pretty awesome, but admitted that they never really capture the moment. I would have to agree. It’s that sense of awe that has drawn me in, leaving me wanting more with each and every mountain peak!

Ha Ling wouldn’t be the only mountain adventure during Ry’s stay in Calgary… Continue reading “Ha Ling Peak”

Mount Lady Macdonald: So. Much. Exposure.

Paul makes his way along the knife-edge. Incredible views all around.

Oh Mount Temple. I shake my fist so hard at you right now. They say the third time’s a charm; however, this is the third year that efforts for a Temple summit have been thwarted. It’s not that it’s an impossible climb, it’s just that I have promised two other nerds that we would reach the top together. Between a combination of weather obstacles and logistics between Paul, Dan and myself, conquering Mount Temple will wait another year. Sigh… clearly we needed another epic mountain to take its place. But which one?? Continue reading “Mount Lady Macdonald: So. Much. Exposure.”

An Ice Walk through Grotto Canyon

Flood debris near the entrance to the Grotto Canyon Ice Walk

I’ve been in an exploration mood lately. It dawned on me last year that after being in Calgary for a while, there were still many sites and attractions I had not visited! I suppose this is fairly common: we tend to think about all the amazing wonders in other places- the salt flats in Bolivia, the mountains surrounding Seoul, or the beaches of Thailand- that we sometimes forget about the incredible things right around us.

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