Sir Donald NW Arete 5.4

I've had the priveledge of being up on this mountain a number of times. The classic NW Arete is an incredible day out when the weather is fine. Some hero has created a 25m raproute from the mid point on the ridge where the old ragtag collection of slings would tend to drop the rapline down the north face into the abyss. Lots of exposure and moderate soloing or short roped climbing. Speed is your friend on this climb. The route can be fast, or I'm sure it can be painfully slow. I remember talking to one party in early spring conditions spending 24 hours on the route in full epic conditions. I've also been on the summit at 9am from the car at Roger's Pass. Have Fun!

Quotes from Gladiator

"What we do in Life echoes in Eternity."

"Three weeks from now, I will be harvesting my crops. Imagine where you will be, and it will be so. Hold the line! Stay with me! If you find yourself alone, riding in the green fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled. For you are in Elysium, and you're already dead!"

"We who are about to die, salute you!"

"Ultimately, we're all dead men. Sadly, we cannot choose how but, what we can decide is how we meet that end, in order that we are remembered, as men."

more quotes

Mt Robson

I had to speak to Andrew, we had to do a big climb before he left for Europe. Andrew, he ums and arrhs. A lot, about doing climbs, once he is there, it is total commitment. We did Mt. Temple last year, and Mt Fay, about a week ago. Good days. What are we going to do? I had a few ideas, Andrew was noncommittal. He wanted to do Robson. I had not even considered it. Maybe in a few years, besides there was only one route that I would consider, The North Face. When I realized that I was saying No to Andrew, I thought to myself, "steady on Man, this is just the thing you have been hanging out for. A real climb, a challenge, new territory, say Yes!" O.K. sure. Why not. let's do it. Robson. O.K. I'll see you tomorrow. We will drive up. Hike in, and climb it. Great. Ok. Sure. Ok. Tomorrow? Ok Spoke to Dave briefly that evening with a smile that nearly stretched past my ears. "I flew of Yam, and Lady Mac, yeah. And Andrew and I are going up to do Robson." Next morning, we drove off. The hike into Mt Robson is one of the most spectacular hikes you can do in the Rockies. I have never seen so many beautiful waterfalls, the zillions of kilometers we were supposed to do just flew past, and soon we were chatting to the Ranger about the conditions, our route, and the approach. He gave us a few ideas and a key descent route. Thanks. We snuggled into bed for a short but comfortable, spacious, and warm night under the stars. We woke at 5AM. Still dark. Stuff it. 6AM. Ok Let us do it. More weird rockies ledges. Traverse until it feels Ok, and then up. Repeat until at top of cliff. What is exposure? What is this huge goddam backpack doing on my back? On this cliff? We took a break from the rain and had lunch in a little cave. Cruised up the glacier following a descent track from some guys that had been here on the Fuhr ridge. Our plan was to get to bed early and head up the face by 10PM this evening. So we did., with a token three hours sleep.T he weather looked perfect. We worked out the bergschrund and just started cruising up the face, only vaguely knowing where we were going. It was interesting climbing by headlamps. The dawn provided a little variety, but the face just continued up.... The rock bands slipped in a little funky snow and ice. We still were not sure where on the face we were. Left or right? Oh well. Probably Ok. The face continued up. The pitches were just numbers, belaying was almost as difficult as leading. As always, eh? The face looked down...a long way. We continued up 15,16,17... We had a brief lunch on the face, and continued up, into the clouds. Mmmm. I guess it is called commitment. Mmmm. Commitment. I wonder if I have that stuff, my life does not seem to have it, is this different to life! Let us see? Up the face, Thank God. Onto the ridge. Oh my God. Yeah, the gargoyles. Yeah, this is supposed to be the crux. That cloud is kinda thick isn't? Mmmm. Oh well. What are these gargoyles? I cannot see for this snow being blown up into my face. Oh well. I suppose I can sit on top of this ridge looking thing and slide my bum across. I suppose I should be thankful that I cannot see down. It might be good psychologically to see forward, so I could see what I am getting myself into. Commitment. That word again. Time slips as we move ever so slowly through the wind and clouds. Thank God, the ridge eases off. We are on a broad snow ridge. All right? So where are we now? this could actually be the summit. Andrew took a few shots on the summit. Oh sure, a face in the clouds, looks cool. Good summit. Let's get down. the SE ridge should be over there somewhere, with the cornice on the left and the ice cliff on the right. it might be Ok. Why have I got the prussik in my hand flicking it out in front of me? So I can see! This is a bit of a joke. options come out brutally; do we continue down, to where? Dig a snow cave and sit out the night. Calmly, insanely, relaxed, we dug a hole. It is going to be cold. It was hard to get excited about this ditch in the snow, our home for the next twelve hours. We tried to syncopate our shivering, otherwise our shivers would crescendo and shake our bodies. Another does of pure sugar gave my body enough short term energy to fuel the furnace and keep the shakes away. How many hours have we been in here? Ten hours. Bursting out of the cave, we are met by cold, cold and visibility. We are out of here. A quick cold pack, thinking about that 6 pack that 's a waiting. The Kain/descent route was so obvious it made last night just that bit more frustrating. The cornices and cliffs on either side are also there, ready to accept that frightening step in a white-out oblivion. Safe, and ready to go home, we wandered. Just doing our job, getting our bodies to that green grass. Moments of mild ecstasy; the Kain face was snow; a fast run down, the crevasse fields were negotiated and the final pass to the Helmet completed. Descent. Descent. Nine thousand feet in that happy to be alive day. We met the ranger late that afternoon, he saw most of the lower part of the climb. He confirmed that the weather was shitty, although it sounded a little worse at the bottom. Valley winds; we could not care much anymore. We had climbed Mt Robson, has the mountain to ourselves, the mountain had us to itself. We climbed a route which stretched Andrew and myself just a little further, and it was all downhill from here to the roadhead. My secret, and now sickening plan to climb Mt Edith Cavell after Robson, went unmentioned as Andrew and I started driving back to Banff. The north face of Edith Cavell was snow plastered. Filled with our own thoughts, we made our way through the last moments of this trip.

Tandem Paragliding in Ymir

Yahoo. Finally got out paragliding again. The weather cleared for a beautiful day and I took Sara for a tandem flight.

There is a small paragliding school starting in the small town of Ymir using Mt Dundee for a launch. Joaquin is running the operation and flights are from the 2,200 vertical mountain launch. We flew for about a twenty minute flight with a little bit of thermalling.

Jaoquin is helping some newer pilots get their skills honed and is doing a great job. Let me know if you need to get hold of him and get flying.