Goodbye to Canada

Sorry for the long silence. Here's an update on our last couple of weeks in Canada.

After Mount Assiniboine we took a few days to recover. Then we decided that we'd like to do something a bit different, so we went to explore an area to the east of Canmore called the Ghost River Wilderness. This is an area of slightly lower limestone peaks, which looked to have a lot of good climbing. It is also pretty remote and outside the National Parks, which means that you are allowed to camp where you want and there's generally less bureaucracy. We planned to go in and camp for a few days, and do a bit of cragging. After Assiniboine we fancied something fairly non-serious.

There was only one problem with this plan - 20km of dirt road which turned out to be too rough for the RV. We decided to walk in anyway, so with heavy rucksacks containing food for four days we set off. After about 20 minutes we discovered the second problem - the mosquitoes. I've never experienced mosquitoes that bad. I thought that they were worse than Scottish midges. The little buggers were even biting me through my clothes. We soldiered on, but unfortunately the mosquitoes ruined the experience for me. Innes didn't seem to suffer from them so badly. We also hadn't reckoned on how tired we would be from walking in, which meant that we didn't get much climbing done. Still, I'm glad we went to the Ghost River - it's really beautiful, and the climbing potential is massive. If it were in Europe, there would be a thousand routes. As it is there are only about a hundred. It's good rock too - solid limestone, as opposed to the more shattered stuff you get on the higher mountains.

Back in Canmore we started to think about going to the Bugaboos, an area of Alpine granite peaks about 100 miles to the south. We'd been looking forward to going there since we saw Kimm's photos from his trip a couple of years ago. What was slowing us down was that we couldn't seem to get weather forecasts that made any sense. Frustrated, we decided to ignore the weather forecasts and go anyway. After our Ghost River experience we fancied a bit of luxury (and lighter rucksacks) so we booked some space in the Alpine Club of Canada Hut in the Bugaboos.

The next challenge was to get there. The trailhead to walk in to the hut is at the end of 50km of dirt forest road. Ever since we'd arrived in America we'd been asking people who had been to the Bugaboos if they thought we could get the RV along the road. The consensus was that we'd probably be OK, but we weren't sure. In the end it was OK, but very nerve-wracking, and it took 3 hours to go 50km. Innes did a very good job of off road driving.

Once at the trailhead, we walked up to the hut. Two days of good weather were forecast, followed by rain and more unsettled weather. We decided to start by doing an easy, classic route called the West Ridge of Pigeon Spire. This was a fantastic day out - moderate climbing, solid rock and brilliant views. Unfortunately I wasn't feeling very well, and started feeling worse as the day went on. This meant that Pigeon Spire was the only route we got done in the Bugaboos, because I wasn't feeling up to doing much and the weather was going to deteriorate. We decided to leave, but we'd like to go back - it's an impressive place.

At this point our thoughts started to turn slightly homeward, so we headed south. We've got to fly home from Los Angeles on 31st August, so we are (very slowly) on the way there. From the Bugaboos we drove south for two days, over the border back into the US (luckily they let us back in) then through Montana to Wyoming. We're now in a place called Lander, where we have been doing some sport climbing. The climbing is good, and the crags are in a beautiful setting, but it's all pocket-pulling so a bit hard on the fingers. Today Innes is nursing an injured finger, and we're thinking of maybe having a few days off climbing and going to check out Yellowstone National Park, which is not that far from here.

See you all soon - not long now until we get home.

Ruth

Pictures from the top (they are in reverse order - sorry I'm too stupid to work out how to get them in the right order)

1. Me on Zorro 11d at Wild Iris at Lander, Wyoming - see what I mean about pocket-pulling?

2. The view from Wild Iris - it's at 9,000 feet and you feel that you are on top of the world. We camped up there for a few days.

3. Me on the West Ridge of Pigeon Spire in the Bugaboos. This bit of the ridge is traditionally done "a cheval" (ie sitting astride it) but we thought walking along the top would be more fun - it felt very exposed.

4. Pigeon Spire - we climbed the ridge on the right hand skyline.

5. The RV in the Bugaboos car park. You have to build a fence of chicken wire around your vehicle. Apparently if you don't porcupines and other critters will get in and chew your tyres and brake cables.

6. One of the many big cliffs at Ghost River. We didn't do any routes on this cliff as we hadn't brought enough gear, but it looked to have some good lines on it.

7. Innes crossing the Ghost River. It was damn cold.

8. Our campsite in Ghost River. Looks idyllic because you can't see the mosquitoes.

Pictures from the top: