Kananaskis weekend – January 20-21, 2007

Our yearly visit to the mountains with Auntie Margaret and Uncle Bill from England, and Mum, Larry and Keri.

For Saturday, we were looking for a short and easy snowshoe and so after asking for a few suggestions from a warden at the Kananaskis Lakes Information Centre, we set off to do the 5.5 km Penstock Loop. Touted as one of the more scenic snowshoe trips in the area, we were expecting some great views – and if you like trees, this trip can’t be beat! Unfortunately, the majority of the loop was in the trees and had no views whatsoever. Near the end, the view towards the Opal Range did open up, but overall, the trip fell short of expectations. On the bright side, the company was awesome as always, and no one was disappointed (the English are wonderfully easy to please!). And, of course, we got our usual laugh as everyone took it in turns wiping out on a short but steep section we near the beginning.

Afterwards, Mark, Margaret, Bill and I took a quick trip up King Creek to check out the frozen waterfalls.

On Day 2, we decided to take it easy and headed to the “Canmore Junkyards” to watch and/or try some ice climbing. Mark and I top-roped a low-angled, 30 metre route on the right side of the ice wall. It was quite easy and heck of a lot of fun – after several years of wondering, we finally realized what the attraction to ice climbing was all about.

A low-key but thoroughly enjoyable weekend with family – and Margaret and Bill’s awesome English accents never fail in keeping us entertained.       

At the parking lot

Bill prepares to descend a tricky spot

In fine form, Bill shows us how it's done

Larry follows Bill's lead

So does Keri

That's a 9.6 for Margaret from the Russian Judge!

Margaret gets a hand up from Keri

Mum is a little hesitant in making the descent

She decides to go backwards and it actually works!

Mark goes airborne

Looking back Mount Warspite

The terrain opens up a little towards the end of the trip

An old, leaky pipe that creates some interesting ice formations

A closer look at the ice

Ice climbers in King Creek

Day 2 at the Canmore Junkyards

Rappelling down to the base of the climb, after setting up a top-rope

Starting our first ice climb; not exactly The Sea of Vapours on Mount Rundle, but everyone has to start somewhere

The only real climbing was near the top

A view towards Grotto Mountain from atop the climb

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