Canada #1

Just after we posted our last blog we drove to Canada. Brilliant though Smith Rock is, we both wanted a change of venue and it had started to get hot and muggy in Oregon, so we decided to get into the mountains.

Now, we've been getting weather reports from all over North America from the various people we have met and talked to since we've been out here. They all talked of rain, which isn't what we wanted to hear. However, after several hours of intenet research, some discussions, and the purchase of a new guidebook, we decided to take a bit of gamble. We decided to drive north and east into Alberta, and on to Canmore.

It took 2 solid days of driving before we arrived at Canmore in torrential rain. Fortunately (well, okay, we'd seen the weather forecast), the next few days turned out to be beautiful weather, and we spent the time getting to know the local area a bit.

We climbed at a few different venues above Canmore. One venue in particular - Yamnuska - is reputed to be the birthplace of Canadian rock climbing back in the '50s. To be honest, after climbing a route on 'Yam' I'm surprised that climbing ever really caught on at all in this country. It was pretty grim. We'll give Yam another chance though, as I think we made a bad route choice by picking a 'classic' route to climb (it seems that Canadians are tuned into using euphemism in their route descriptions, just like us brits).

We did manage to visit some really good crags around Canmore, and spied out some stunning high mountain routes, which we hope to get on as soon as we get a weather window. But, a few days after we arrived another weather system rolled in and it started to rain and even snow. So, we quit Canmore for a while.

For the last week we've been chasing the weather, stopping off at some nice valleys around a place called Revelstoke, until a few days ago when a little patch of stable weather appeared in the forecasts to the south - so we drove straight under it asap.

We were after climbing a mountain called 'Gimli', which has a highly regarded route up its South Ridge. Just getting close to the mountain was a bit of an expedition, involving half a day's drive, a ferry crossing, 20 km of nerve wracking off-road driving (remember we're driving an RV here. Eeek!), another 12 km approach walk, and 1,600 m of ascent on foot... just to get to start of the climbing. Phew!

Luckily, it was worth it. We hit a 'blue bird' day of perfect weather, and climbed what is probably our favourite route of the trip so far. Gimli is a beautiful little mountain (see picture above). The South Ridge is a stunning line on perfect rock. But, more than that: not only did we have a world class route to ourselves, we had the entire mountain to ourselves, and the valley, and the next valley too. Pretty special really.

We've spent today relaxing and scoffing double rations of food. The weather seems to be looking good in and around Banff and Lake Louise for the next few days. So, we're gonna have a wee look over there tomorrow.

Innes

Photos in sequence:

1. Gimli shortly after sunrise. The South Ridge is prominent between the light and the shadow.
2. Route finding is easy - just follow the ridge skywards. If you look closely you might see me here on pitch 5. (Note to self: wear brighter colours when climbing)
3. Ruth descending the East Ridge, sans ice axe (thats another story though...)
4. On the way down from Gimli - only another 12 km on foot and 1,600 m of descent to get back to the RV from here! It was a long day.
5. This is Grassi Lakes above Canmore. We stopped over here for a few days. The local crag is really steep and stays dry in the rain, and we found a place to park the RV for free next to a lake. It's very nice here.
6. Chipmunks - Canada is lousy with these critters! They are constantly trying to steal your lunch, rock boots, or anything else that you may turn your back on momentarily.
7. Bard owl with chicks - it took us a while before we spotted these residents of the local crag. They are pretty darn big birds, but perfectly camouflaged in a cave half way up the local limestone crag. I suspect they like chipmunks more than we do. We like owls!
8. Trees. Canada does trees.

Smith Rock

Photos from the top

1) Dihedrals sector at Smith Rock - many quality routes packed into a short area of cliff 2) Ruth setting off up Moonshine Dihedral (just to prove that we don't just go sport climbing) 3) The Monkey Face - the route we did goes up the face you can see and into the "mouth" cave on the right, then out the other side of the cave

4) Ruth aiding the bolt ladder up the Monkey Face, etriers flapping in the wind

5) Innes exiting the mouth cave - he looks relaxed for a man with a 200 foot drop under his feet

6) Abseiling off the Monkey Face - that dot in mid-air is Ruth

After leaving Yosemite we drove north for two days to Smith Rock State Park in Central Oregon. This is primarily a sport climbing destination, and is famous as the place where American sport climbing began. We have ended up staying just over two weeks, because the climbing is excellent and it is a really nice place to be. The State Park itself is lovely - very well cared for, with loads of wildlife including Golden Eagles (although we are still not sure if we saw the eagles, or just saw turkey vultures which look pretty similar).

One of the highlights of Smith Rock was climbing the Monkey Face. This is a 400 feet free standing pinnacle. It's got lots of climbing routes up it, some of them very hard, but we decided to climb the traditional and easiest route to the top which is called Pioneer route and involves some trad climbing, some sport climbing, a bolt ladder which you have to aid, and to top it all off a 150 foot free hanging abseil to get back down to the ground. It was brilliant and incredibly exposed, made more so by the fact that it was very windy.

We also did a lot of sport climbing, and both felt that we were climbing well. There are two types of rock here - volcanic tuff and basalt columns. The climbing on the tuff is generally technical on small holds. The basalt is just weird - the climbs generally have no holds, and you make progress (you hope) by bridging and palming and all kinds of contortionist moves.

However after two weeks here we are ready to move on and ready for a change. We are both knackered, and also would like to get into the mountains and do some longer climbs. So we are setting off for Canada this afternoon, and will probably head to the Canmore area in the Rockies, although we need to check the weather forecast first.

Ruth

Calling GMIAU staff

This is just a quick message to all at GMIAU, to ask if any of you have received any emails from me since I've been away. I've sent a few, and I can't believe that none of you would reply! And I was very happy to receive birthday wishes from you all, and touched that you remembered. Maybe my emails have been stopped by GMIAU's officious anti-spam software? More photos on the blog and stories of what we've been up to soon - the reason for the slight hiatus is that our camera broke, and we have only just got a new one. Ruth