Mt. Abbott from the ridge - Glacier National Park

Karen on her way to Abbott Peak - the Illecillewaet Glacier to the left

On Aug 19, 2013, Mike and I joined friends from the Alpine Club of Canada (Vancouver Island Chapter -- yes, we WERE far from our home base) for a fine hike and scramble up and along the Mt. Abbott - Afton traverse in Glacier National Park. This is arguably the most impressive view hike in the Park. One doesn't even have to gain the summit for amazing vistas of the Mt. Sir Donald group, the Bonney Glacier, the Asulkan group, and the Illecillewaet Glacier -- and those are just the leviathans that are right in your face! Take a bit more time and care, gain the the summit of Abbott, and the mountains march on in all directions as far as the eye can see.

Coming back down from the Abbott summit

 Views notwithstanding, I particularly enjoyed this hike because it closely follows the footsteps of Arthur Wheeler, who, in 1906, co-founded the Alpine Club of Canada. While I am very proud to be associated with the club he helped found, it is more than Wheeler's ACC affiliation that endears him to me. It is the number and quality of large format photographs he took of mountains in Western Canada that holds my deep and abiding interest. Wheeler had the good fortune to survey mountains in areas I know and love, so it has become a particular pleasure of mine to stand where he stood, re-photograph his historic images, and observe how the landscape has changed.

From 1894 until 1925 Wheeler was, in one way or another, involved in surveying and making maps of Western Canada. In those days photography came to play a major role in mapping the mountains -- traditional rod and chain methods were simply too expensive. Photo-topographical techniques back then involved taking a panoramic series of mountain landscape photos from a control point that offered excellent views of the surrounding area. The cameras used were bulky and heavy, and the images were exposed on 6 x 4 inch plate glass negatives. Wheeler and the surveys he led produced hundreds and hundreds of these plates.

Mary going up Mt. Abbott
Wheeler's control station for the 1901 images was
 below on the wide ridge.

Wheeler wasn't alone in the pursuit of making maps with photography in the Canadian west. Indeed, Library and Archives Canada holds over 140,000 glass plates taken from the 1880's up until the 1940's. The images produced by Wheeler and other photo-topographic surveyors of the day are outstanding historical documents. Each high resolution, richly detailed image presents us with a snapshot of what these majestic mountain environments looked like over 100 years ago.

 I have been lucky enough for the past few years to be involved with a dedicated group of researchers at the Mountain Legacy Project (mountainlegacy.ca) whose goal is to re-photograph as many of the 140,000 historic plates as possible. Most of my field work has been in the Rocky Mountains -- a truly lovely area -- but not the mountains of my heart. Growing up in Revelstoke BC, with Mt. Revelstoke National Park and Glacier National Park as my playground, the mountains of my heart are surely the Selkirks.

Mt. Abbott on the left and Afton in the middle. The Bonney Glacier to the right.

Even though Mike and I enjoy the mountains of Vancouver Island where we live, when our ACC Section announced that one of 2013's mountain camps would be based at the Arthur Wheeler Hut (yup, the same guy), in Glacier National Park, deep in the Selkirks, we jumped at the chance to join in. A week rambling in my favourite mountains was just the way to end a summer spent in the alpine. And, our very first hike of the week was up Mt. Abbott via the ridge.

In 1901, when Wheeler was assigned to survey this area, he would have travelled up much the same route as we did -- making his way out of the interior cedar and hemlock forest into Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir around Marion Lake, and finally up into alpine tundra along the ridge. Wheeler's goal was not the peak of Mt. Abbott. His control point was somewhat lower. He must have selected it because of the spectacular view it commanded. He took images looking south west towards Revelstoke, north towards the Hermit group, and east toward the Sir Donald group. This last image set, shown here, is my favourite -- the differences between Wheeler's 1901 photo and the 2011 repeat are astounding. For example, look at the extent of the Illecillewaet Glacier (on the right in both images) in 1901 compared with 2011 -- certainly a huge retreat.

Mt. Sir Donald and the Illecillewaet Glacier: A.O. Wheeler, 1901

Mt. Sir Donald and the Illecillewaet Glacier: Mountain Legacy Project, 2011

I was pleased to make it up to Wheeler's Abbott ridge control point, thinking what a march it would have been for Wheeler and his crew as they schlepped 25 kilograms of camera, tripod, glass plates, and survey equipment with them. My own pack was heavy enough! However, Mike and I went on past Wheeler's control point and gained the summit of Abbott after a wonderful scramble amongst huge chunks of granite. Glaciers, neves, icefields, and high ridges opened out in front of us as we ascended. Some in our group continued from the summit of Abbott on to Afton, but Mike and I decided to return back via the main ridge. I had fun scrambling down some of the airy steps I used scrambling up!

All in all an excellent day spent with a fine group of folks in some of the most glorious mountains in the world. I think Arthur Wheeler would have been proud of his legacy -- not only as co-founder of a club dedicated to preserving and promoting Canadian mountain culture and self-propelled alpine pursuits, but as the creator of stunning photographs that let us look back and compare today's mountain environments with those of over 100 years ago. Here's to you Arthur, and to the other mountain surveyors whose work all those years ago informs us so eloquently today.

Karen, Diane, Mike, Krista, Mary, Dave, Frank, and Ken. ACC-VI Section: Our motto is "Come back alive, Come back friends, Respect the land, Have fun, Get to the Top."

Map of our route to Mt. Abbott: 

View Mt. Abbott via ridge in a larger map

More pictures from our day on Mt. Abbott

Two-stepping to Tent Ridge

Lisa and Mike on the west arm of Tent Ridge looking back at our hike and scramble

Kananaskis Country - what the folks who live in south-west Alberta refer to as K-Country - is the place where the locals go to play. Full of glorious Rocky Mountains, K-Country has all the vistas, views, and trails of the Mountain Parks, but almost none of the National Park tourists.

Mary below Mt. Smuts on the ridge high point

Last year, while working with the Mountain Legacy Project (mountainlegacy.ca) I fell in love with K-Country, so, when Lisa and John arrived for a bit of Rocky Mountain hiking, I was keen to get out and try our hand at something in Kananaskis. That something turned out to be Tent Ridge (see map below). But, it did take us two attempts to actually get up on the ridge.

The first attempt saw Mike, me, John, and Lisa spend an hour in the car at the trail head waiting for the weather to clear. We didn't exactly waste our time - we played Famous People 20 Questions (pick a famous person - write the name on a piece of paper - give to friend - friend sticks paper on head without looking at it - repeat for everyone playing - everyone asks questions - guess name of famous person stuck to your head). The weather never cleared, so we left for another hike elsewhere.

 The next day was better situated for weather so we headed out again. This time to great success. Tent Ridge is rated as a challenging hike. It is approximately 11 km long, with about 780 metres of elevation gain. It does have a few airy steps where hands on the rock are required.There is some route-finding necessary, however, accomplished hikers and scramblers should have little difficulty. Indeed, all our difficulties seemed to fade away as each step along the ridge offered better and better views. As an added bonus, the approach to the ridge is via a gentle valley trail -- not your typical calf-clamping steep gasper of a trail that MOST hikes in the Rockies present.

Storm in the north over Spray Lakes

If our first attempt at Tent Ridge saw us rained out, our second saw us sheltered from nasty weather. As we rounded the western arm of the ridge huge thunderclouds gathered to the north -- and sped right past us without so much as a drop. Talk about lucky!

John and Mary taking pictures of plants - Lisa on the ridge line

The ridge presented us with some lovely wildflower shows - new plants, like Bladder Campion, and Autumn Gentian, that I had never seen before. Everyone took turns trying to get good macro photos. John capped off the day by presenting us with a wee dram of good single malt scotch - Springbank from the bonnie Mull of Kintyre on the west coast of Scotland. In fact, the entire west arm of Tent Ridge, with its wide back, sloping down towards a blue-on-blue lake, reminded me a lot of Scotland and some of the grand hill walking we all enjoyed in that fair country.

Our route down off the ridge took us steeply down through lush meadows full of Paintbrush, Arnica, and Saxifrage. We had to exercise a bit of route finding expertise to find our way, but all was accomplished in good time. We arrived back at the trail head just as the first raindrops began to fall. Another day seized traipsing around in the mountains -- I could get VERY used to this!

If you're lucky enough to be in the mountains, you're lucky enough!
John, Lisa, Mike, Mary

Map of Tent Ridge

View Tent Ridge - Kananaskis Country in a larger map
More pictures from the hike: Tent Ridge pictures

Cruising to Cirque Peak

Cirque Peak summit: the view looking west

July 29, 2013 : Another day in Rocky Mountain paradise! This time we decided to venture a bit further afield up the Icefields Parkway (see the map below for location). The destination was Cirque Peak above Helen Lake in Banff National Park. And what a worthy destination it was! The day, which was forecast to include thundershowers and rain, was sunny and easy-walking-warm. The bugs, after the correct application of bug-juice, were completely tolerable. The views were superlative. And, the 515 million year old fossils were purely the icing on the cake.

Huge stromatolite reef below Cirque Peak

 Mike and I joined up with Pat, Doug, and Arianne for this excursion. It was Arianne, a geologist, who put us wise to the fossils in the area. It seems that to the south of Cirque Peak, on the plateau above the Helen Lake pass, is a reef of fossilized stromatolites. Stromatolites are layered structures formed in shallow water by the trapping, binding and firming of sediment by blue-green algae. Stromatolites are probably the earliest lifeforms on earth, dating back to 3.5 billion years ago. The stromatolites at the base of Cirque Peak are not that old - they probably date back to about 515 million years ago in the Cambrian period. More info on the Cirque Peak stromatolites can be found in this interpretive guide to the area.

The hike was a long one - 17 km round trip and a total elevation gain of 1100 metres. The peak itself is just shy of 3000 metres (2993 m). But, it is one of the easiest accessed high peaks in the Rockies. If you can put one foot in front of the other (and repeat for 17 km) this mountain is in the bag. There is a spot of scrambling at the very top, but honestly, the views from the tippy top were no grander than those from a few metres lower down.

Mike and Mary on Cirque Peak - Bow Glacier and Bow Lake in the background

The views from this peak let us look down on the start of the mighty Bow River. In the last few weeks the Bow has been our guide looking down from the heights at landscapes that are new to us. It is always there to give a point of reference.We've ridden bikes beside it, photographed it, and drunk from it drinking water; after the floods of early July, it is a source of endless fascination and discussion for everyone who lives along its banks.

It was such a treat to see the two glaciers that are its source: the Crowfoot and the Bow. On the top image of this post the Crowfoot is on the left, and the Bow on the right. We'll be seeing more of the Bow over the next few weeks - now I know exactly where it comes from.

More pictures from this hike at Flickr

View Cirque Peak, Banff-Jasper Highway in a larger map