Heart Mountain VI
July 10, 2012
Mountain height: 2135 m
Elevation gain: 975
m
Round-trip time: approximately 6.5 hours
Scrambling with Nicole, Michelle, Andrea, and
Victor.
At the end of every school year, all teachers
want to do is melt into their couch or bed and sleep for two weeks straight. It
was a pleasant surprise, therefore, 
that I was able to convince four of my
Bishop McNally High School work colleagues to join me for a scramble partway
through the much needed and well-deserved “teacher year-end coma sleep”! We did
start the trip at the shockingly late time of 2 pm, but I’ll let that one
slide.
And so on a beautifully sunny day in early
July, 
two mathematicians (Nicole and me), a historian (Andrea), a biologist
(Michelle), and a construction expert (Victor) set out to do scramble up Heart
Mountain – a task infinitely easier than dealing with 120 high school students,
whose daily question, “when are we ever going to use this in real life?”, gets
tired pretty quickly! (my response was always, “Never, but it provides me with
this cushy job and two months off in the Summer!”).
Ascending this fine peak with these fine
individuals was awesome! Not only were they great company, but all four chose
to tackle some challenging hands-on terrain, instead of sticking to the
standard route. They even did a lap on one section! We soon reached the summit
of Heart and then continued on to Grant MacEwan Peak for a long, rewarding
break.
Thankfully, I was able to coax the gang into
completing the loop route, as described in Gillean Daffern’s Kananaskis Country
Trail Guide. It’s a wonderful route, considerably easier than returning the same
way (though longer) and far more scenic. That too went exceedingly well, all
five of us thoroughly enjoying the route and the company.
An awesome day with four terrific soon-to-be
hardcore scramblers!
Michelle, Andrea, Victor, and Nicole are ready for action
Michelle and Nicole
Cool flower
Just steep hiking at this point
The gang leaves the trail for some hands-on scrambling
Same as above
Nicole hangs on for dear life on a super steep and exposed section
Maybe not!!
Michelle approaches the crux
Up she goes
Andrea's turn
Nicole's turn
Resuming travel above the crux
Michelle tackles a very steep line
Up she goes again
Success!
The fun continues
Again, the troops are off-trail, but having a good ole' time!
A fantastic pattern of lichen
Close-up
Quick break
The next crux is much easier. Michelle is already up.
Nicole and Victor are up too, but they decided to descend and make another run at it
Still descending
And again
Heading back up, but by different routes
Nicole goes straight up the gully instead of following the trail marker
Victor is clearly enjoying this!
Easier terrain to the top of Heart
The view to the north, featuring Mount Yamnuska
Same as above with Nicole and Victor
Celebrations at the summit of Heart
Food break and good conversation
Continuing on to Grant MacEwan Peak
Same as above
The Twin Towers in the background
The summit of Grant MacEwan is now visible
A nice orderly ascent
Minutes away from the highest point of the loop
Success again!!
Barrier Lake
The route to the Twin Towers
Starting down the other side of the loop route
Again, orderly - like most teachers!
Victor takes the low road, Nicole takes the high
The rock here is fantastic
Care is required
At tarn at the bottom of the loop
The End
LOG
