The avalanche danger has been High here in the Canadian Rockies for the past few weeks. There is a weak november layer and a weak december layer and with all of this storm snow the CAC is reporting that avalanches are running to the very ends of their runout zones, something that the forecasters haven’t seen in upwards of 30 years!
So since the mountains aren’t a great place to play right now I’ve been staying inside and practising with water drops. Here are some of the results.
I went out the other night with a friend of mine with the goal of taking some long exposures. We both live close to Calgary’s Bowmont Park, a 164 ha natural area inside the city. At this time of year the Bow River is nearly frozen over and we were hoping to get some images that would contrast the frozen shores with the still-moving water. It was a partly cloudy night which created an interesting orange glow from the clouds and it was a cold night too so we didn’t linger too long.
The best shot of the night was when a train came steaming over the bridge just downstream from us.
Outdoor photography doesn’t have to stop in the wintertime, it just requires a little more creativity and a good pair of gloves!
Jonathan Neufeld and Keith Szlater have published an article in the October 2010 issue of Outdoor Photographer Magazine! You can read the article and more after the break
Mt Temple is the undisputed Patriarch of the Lake Louise area. At 3,543m (11,625 ft) it is the 11th tallest peak in the Canadian Rockies and one of the most accessible as well. Spied by George Dawson in 1884 he named it for Sir Richard Temple who was a well respected surveyor and scientist of thetime. While Temple got a mountain George Dawson did all right and had Dawson City Yukon and Dawson Creek named after him.
The first ascent of Mt Temple wasn’t until 11 years later in 1894 when Walter Wilcox, Samuel Allen, and L.F. Frissel cruised up the SW Ridge, or the “tourist route”.
The scramble up Mt Temple is relatively straightforward but can make for a very long day. It is 1700m of vertical gain from the trail head at Moraine Lake and the first time I climbed this mountain back in 2006 it took us 11 hours car-to-car. This time the time was much faster and we did it in 8hrs round trip.
The Silverhorn Route on Mt. Athabasca is a Canadian Rockies Classic. Located on the Icefields Parkway between Lake Louise and Jasper Mt. Athabasca occupies a part of the world that I believe is second to none; soaring peaks, glaciated valleys, and great mountaineering.
