A Kick-Ass Kickoff

This past weekend, I sneaked away from my senior design group to lead on the UAOC's Jasper Kickoff.  Driving down with my sister and an exchange student, I passed the time by blaring some some classic tunes I hadn't listened to for a while.... Jaya the Cat.  Don't think they enjoyed it too much, but I couldn't hear them over the sound of El Camino so it's all good.

Rolled into the Marmot Meadows group camp and helped get the fire started.  Finally met Mr. Barry, also known as the Nightime President and head of the Geriatric Crew.  Dude has been coming on trips for over ten years... an inspiration haha.  The party got going, and I announced my trip for the next day, Mt. Wilcox.  Too soon though, it was only the exec up and everyone else had gone to bed.  What the heck?  Anyway, we partied a little more and then went to bed ourselves.

Got the troops rallied the next morning and drove down to the Icefields.  I coordinated with a hiking group, so we had a group of 21 people with Robert Z, Claire and myself leading.  Hit the pass and had lunch, then Claire and I split a scrambling group off and headed for the peak.  We slogged up the scree, then hit the more difficult section of the ridge.  Here, a guy from Singapore was climbing pretty darn sketchily so we decided to turn him back.  I volunteered to hang back (even though I didn't want to), but Claire was a champ and stuck back instead.  I still owe her beer.  Anyway, I took the rest up to the peak in great spirits and an awesome break in the weather.

Chilin at Wilcox Pass

Cornelius hanging out above the Parkway

We attacked Wilcox using siege tactics

Sidewalk in the Sky

Wilcox is pretty special to me, mostly because of how exposed and alpine it feels, even though it's real easy.

"It's just like the Alps", easy but exciting terrain

Melanie's first summit!

The crew on top

Nigel Peak, could be fun on skis

There's a ski line

Wooley and Diadem

On top, Barry finally got the better of me.  He kept gushing about this "easy descent route" which involved heading north along the ridge and then dropping off the scree to the pass.  He ended up convincing a few of the participants.  He said he'd done it before.  Long story short, he was horribly wrong, and after taking a few people on some very serious terrain, was forced to come back the way I went down, two hours late.  I was pretty pissed that he pulled that stunt, but at least everyone came back safe and sound.  Another lesson learned, it'll be a cold day in hell before I trust someone with my group again.

Walking back to the cars

Anyway, we got back to camp, made dinner, and then the party really got going.  I was on fire and definitely wrote a chapter in "The Legend of Craig Hartmetz" as Pete would say.  Woke up early the next morning, recovered a bit, then headed to the Miette Hotsprings for a dip before driving back home.  A good weekend, and a party that will likely last at least a few years as my rowdiest performance.

Our campsite at Marmot Meadows

Being a Wimp

Well, this could be seen as a failure of a weekend.  Early on, a Erich and I got some grand plans going for exploring some remote areas near McBride, mostly along the Jasper NP north boundary.  The weather forecast slowly crapped on those plans, and since we were just a pair, I wasn't stoked on doing extensive glacier travel.  So we bailed to Nordegg.

Pulling in on Friday afternoon, the weather looked pretty splitter.  Along the parkway, however, we could see lightning flashing and the storm looked pretty socked in.  We awoke the next morning to rainy/windy weather, slept in, and then did the unexpected; we sat in camp.  Well, we mapped out the camping area for future reference, napped, then made dinner and set the alarms for the next day hoping for a passable day for Elliot NE Ridge.

I got up at 6 and saw nothing but dark cloud up above.  We slept in again, but this time got our act together and walked into Hidden Quartzite.  It's a great crag with lots of room to explore.  I'm excited to try and get back out there!

Camping near Wildhorse Creek

Once in a blue moon, I have a lazy weekend of camping.

Prepared for a day of camp mapping, with a bag 'o beers.

The "trail" to Hidden Quartzite

The trail is flagged by tying tiny bits of tape onto the mankiest twigs in existence.  That's why half the flagging is now gone, even though it was done last fall.  Seriously, it's like they were trying to keep the trail non-existent.

Erich forgot his water bottle so we used an old trick learned from many an outdoors club member.

At the top of the cliff with Triangle Peak and Mt. Murchison behind.  There was a lot of snow up high, another reason why we didn't go alpine.

Erich starting his figure-4 training early.

He is a very capable and dependable belayer.

"Chainsaws and Battery Acid", and easy 8

We climbed a 7, 8+, TR'ed the 8R (seriously runout, would be properly scary), and did Chainsaws as well.  A good short day, we got back to the car at 5:30.  BUT we had no car keys so back up the trail we went again, enjoying it's high quality bushwacking and log-hopping.  Found the keys at the crag, then went back to the car and made dinner back at camp.  Of all places to lose the keys...

On Monday, we packed up and drove out to The Dark Side, where we quickly onsighted "Wet Slut" and "RJ" (both 10b) before hurrying back home.  They're both nice climbs, and I'd really like to work at some more stuff on The Dark Side.  There's loads of room there and an 11a as well that I'd like to try my hand at, but  I was quickly realizing that I had a lot of stuff to take care of before school starts...

David Thompson Country, home sweet home.