KUHL

So, got back from work last Thursday night! After the secret quartzite area and Parker ridge, I went on to explore some more ridges and stuff the evening after! So much to do up there!!!

Friday I was going to do Generosity on EEOR with Bernie but the weather was so and so! So we headed to Lake Louise instead for a day of cragging. I on sighted 2 11b´s and did 2 11a´s as well (one of them that I havn´t done before) as well as some 10´s for warm-ups (never did Rolling Stone before so that was a pretty good score on sight as well on gear!)

No rest for the wicked! Erin was getting "cabin fever" so we had to get amongst it today as well. Well, we blasted up this cool route on Guides Rock called "Paperchase" that goes at 11a on both bolts and gear...the 11a part has to be protected by gear so that was super cool. The whole route has very nice exposure and the fact that I got to do it with my sweety was the best part!!! Ah, love my wife!!!

Life in the fast lane

Yup, did Corkscrew with Josh Smith last Thursday. It goes at 5.12a or 5.8 A0...and yes, we did it at the A0 grade. Its a classic exam route for the guides course so it had to be done!
Doing a route like that free is not only hard but kind of insane as the bolt ladder is ca 40 years old!! If I was on sighting 12's then I would not do that on this route! Its scary enough to put your weight on those old bolts instead of chancing a fall on them!!! Excellent route and again, as always for Yamnuska, those that put up the route had some strong head space!

Guiding: we spend a lot of money and time to get qualified to take people out and do all the worrying for them! Guests spend alot of $$$ to go out skiing/climbing and not having to train to much for it and therefor not having to think about hazards! Might seem silly to do some things that you see guides do but it all makes perfect sense if you think about it. I can honestly say that if I was going to do my first heart transplant that I would screw up in the most simple areas (simple to the surgeon).

At work right now, went and hiked to the Parker slabs after my toure! Found 4 bolted slab heavens! Potential for way more. Also looked at some very intimidating quartzite area that only has a hand full of routes. Man, us humans are so small! Int eh presence of great natural features, you feel small!!!

Hung out with some cool marmots as well after work...just them and I

Enough for now

Science Friction

EEOR is the wall on the left side of the pic! EEOR´s Tail goes up just to the left of the big wall. 355m of good climbing with generally good rock!

Back from work again. Full on winter at the Icefields this time, it was snowing most of the day yesterday and full on storm 2 days prior to that! Have to remember that it is 2.000m and above up there!!!

Hiked up Boundary Peak Monday night, good 1hr to the top, think it is close to 3.000m, The view from the summit is spectacular of Hilda, A2, Athabasca, Dome, Kitchen, etc. Good after dinner hike!!!

Athabasca from the info centre

Did an attempt on EEOR´s Tail last Thursday but got rained away even before getting on it so Bernie and I did it on Friday! Excellent route with a bit of route finding skills! Recommended it to those interested (I made a topo for it for those keen). The grade is 5.8 but I would say you have to be VERY comfy on that grade as the moves can be tricky and there is some cool exposure!!!

Well, going out for a hike in the Spray Lakes area. L8R

Billy Goat

Feeding the ducks after sleeping with them in Penticton a few years ago!

Arrived back in Canmore Sunday night after a few days of work at the Athabasca Icefields. I am really liking the place for work as it gives you so much opportunity to train after (or before) work.

Usually the day is mostly done at 1500 hrs! So you can zip out and do a few routes right after work until dinner...or just skip dinner and climb as long as you want!!!

Then there is all the hiking, alpine stuff, biking and running to be done.

For the climbing, a few of the areas that have trad and sport routes; Panther Falls, Weeping Wall, Weeping Wall Boulders, Parker Ridge Slabs (they have 4 pitch sport routes), Bath Creek, etc etc.

I went to the Weeping Wall Boulders last Saturday after work and was amazed how much fun it was. Well, the approach was a gruelling 1 minute walk on flat terrain and the routes were good quality! The good part is, it´s super quiet and there is so much potential for new routing!!! Might have to borrow a hammer drill and go put some up this summer?

Enough for now.

Reflecting on the past week

Like I have mentioned before, I just finished the Asst. Guide Training! It took 8 days and was pretty full-on in regards of all the info that got crammed in to our little brains!!!

Things lectured on, practised, done and re-done: gear placements, station management, all kind of belays, all kind of rappels, all kind of rope configurations, all kind of lowers, coaching, teaching, lesson planing, rescue systems, knot passes, short-roping, traverses, guiding, guiding 2 clients, etc etc.

The day I dreaded the most was the Climb off day! The screening on if you are good enough of a rock climber or not! I did not get lots of climbing inn this spring so I was nervous! Big time!!!

The day we did it I ended up on the hardest route right off the bat! Hmmmm, yeah, whatever I thought to myself and went for it. Got through it no problem! Yeah!!! Second route, I was put on the hardest gear route right away (no option there as I was sent over first along with one other guy and he started easier! Well, pulled that out no problem as well! YEAH!!!

I had to do two more routes that day but they were both easier so the stress was off and I knew that I was setting myself up for success. Now I just had to keep doing what I always do, stay focused and learn as much as possible!

The week was great and I got a lot out of it. Great instructors and I am so motivated now to go and train and do well on the final rock exam this coming September!

Back to work tomorrow morning but will be back on Sunday night, so training will start this coming week. Might go do the NE route on the Windtower next week!

Erin is more than likely gonna coma and visit me at work this weekend and so we will hike and climb a bit after I finish work this Saturday and probably Sunday as well.

Have a good one