Mount Robson - Bucket List Item # 18 (Andrea's)

Mount Robson - Elevation: 3,954 m

Day 1: Berg Lake - 21km, altitude gain: 790m / 2600ft

I am sure a lot of people would have no difficulty doing this day one hike. I am sure even with 50 lbs there are many who would shrug their shoulders at the task. I am not one of those. 21 km is daunting enough for us without the pack, without the altitude. With all three? This was going to be a bear of a hike.

Enter Andrea's great idea: Let's bike the first 6 km in! Think of the time and energy saved! Oh marvelous! Have you ever biked with a 50 lb pack on your back? I haven't. Now top heavy, every turn makes me scared of over turning off the path or just plain falling off my bike. The slightest incline a leg burner. And we are supposed to bike up switchbacks while dodging photo happy tourists? Lets just say it was a bike and hike.

Biking into Kinney Lake

Just past Kinney Lake, 6km in, was as far as bikers are allowed in, so we stow our bikes (beside the two expensive ones, so that people know which ones not to steal) and start walking.

Locking the bikes to a tree

 Due to our late start we try to keep up the pace, take few pictures and few breaks. One such break is taken when we run in to a group of Chinese hikers whose path will cross ours several times in the next few days. 

View of Robson midway on our hike

At about 7 PM, hunger starts to hit, and the clouds start to darken. We are still a few km from Berg Lake, but it's in sight! We wolf a snack and hit high gear. With Berg Lake nearing winds start increasing, and rain starts to sprinkle. If we were moving any faster we would be running.

As we hit Berg Lake campground, the rain starts to fall. We find a sight within moments and start setting up. The rain is falling hard but the tent is up within moments are we are inside with our bags in the vestibules, and rain is pouring down. we hang some clothes in the tent, to dry, put on some dry clothes, and wait out the storm.

After about 30-45 minutes, its 8:30 and the storm clears out and the rain stops completely so we grab our food and cookstove and head out to find the shelter to make dinner. On our search for the cook shelter we find the campground map and... ha... that's odd... this isn't Berg Lake campground! Our true campground still lies 2 km away! Do we move? Do we stay? Is anyone wandering around looking for a tent pad?

We eat supper, my appetite a lot lower with the thought of another 2km hike after packing everything back up again. Then scout the campground. Yep every spot is taken, campground is full and we may be in someones spot. We decide to chance it and not move. In the morning we met the very nice couple whose spot we took. (If you happen to read this, we are sorry!) They just set up their tent off a pad near the lake. No way were we telling them we were in the wrong site.

Not a bad place to eat. Marmot Campground.

Day 2: Rearguard - 22km

That morning we took our time with breakfast, packed up, and got a slow start to our next campground, Rearguard. 22 km into the trail, it was a beautiful 5 spot campground with a nice view of Mount Robson. Just after setting up, low and behold our Chinese friends show up! The are camping at Rearguard too! We would end up having supper with them, and chatting a fair bit that night, and the next morning. Had we not been so exhausted today, we probably would have headed up one of a couple of promising trails in Mumm Basin, or Snowbirds Trail, but instead we take just a short walk to stretch the legs in the evening and head to bed.

Berg Lake from Marmot Campground in the morning.

Our view of Robson from Rearguard Campground.

Day 3: Kinney Lake - 37km

We wake up to a beautiful sunrise. Time for a Robson photo shoot. This is a bucket list item after all.

We then say goodbye to our Asian friends, who stay one more night before hiking all 22 km out tomorrow. On the way out we hit Emperor Falls, which is a powerful force of nature. (Makes me wish we hit up Iguazu falls in Argentina, which would have made this look puny) It has the ability to soak you from a hundred meters away. So naturally we get as close as possible. Amazing.

The rest of the hike is done quickly, resting only for a half rolled ankle and a couple of snack breaks. We stroll into Kinney tired, but happy. Tomorrow is a quick bike ride out and then we are done!

Brisk morning at Kinney Lake

Strangest thing, as we read for bed, we hear some familiar voices. Asian sounding. Lo and behold, our Asian friends are coming down the path! You're hiking out today? after doing an extra 10 km on Snowbirds Pass? You left at 4 PM? Are you nuts? Turns out running completely out of food is a big motivator. Not sure why you would eat your next days breakfast and snacks with today's supper, but hey, to each his own. Surely makes a good story!

Day 4: Trailhead - 44km

The final day. Packs are light, the trail is downhill, and we are on our bikes! We eat up the 6 km in no time, and finish the day! 

Check another one off the bucket list! 

Canadian Rockies part I

The moose in the woods staring back at you. The looming mountain straight ahead. The Crystal clear reflection of the snow capped mountain. The radiant colours expected only on a painters canvas.

We live in a beautiful country, and while the mountains are just one piece of that beauty, they are the piece that gives me peace in my soul. And Canada does them every bit as good or better then anywhere in the world. Since moving to Calgary we are just a stones throw from the mountains. Fifty minutes to Canmore, three hours to Fernie, 40 minutes to K country. We have been able to take advantage, despite the business of new jobs, making new friends and a new house (of which we are knee deep in reno's). Here's what we have been up to:

Part I: Fernie (Feb 5, 2014)

Jobless and homeless, we figured we might as well make the most of our time. Let's go skiing. Fernie, normally 6 hours away from home, was now just 3 hours from our doorstep. Well reknown for it's dumps of snow, Fernie excited both of us.

We left in the morning from Calgary, and got there with plenty of time for some snowshoeing, and crazy carpeting at Island Lake Lodge, an amazing place to snowshoe. Back country crazy carpeting...  Some back country ski, we do this. Woot woot!

We stayed in a quaint little hotel, and got to bed early,anticipating the amazing ski day tomorrow would bring.

Beep, Beep. At the sound of the alarm we manage to roll out of our bed to... -35 degrees Celsius? What?! No, is that even possible? We can still ski right? Ski? Is that even a thought anymore? This is crazy! Whatever. I'm going. Sigh... ok let's do it.

One run... The cold rolls over you in seconds as you fly down the empty, well groomed runs. No more. This ski day is going to have to be postponed, in favour of anything else...

Annie's eyesicles at the ticket window

Here are a couple of pictures of the day, which turned into a little photoshoot before we headed home from our mini trip to Fernie:

A story of excess.

We had left off in Bariloche, Argentina...

1 bus, 5 planes and 3 days later?

Goin' to Mexico

Viva Mexico!

So we have decided to finish our trip in style, with an all inclusive vacation! Ahhh, margaritas by the pool, a choice of delightful French, Mexican, Italian, Mediterranean or Asian Cuisine, beautiful sunsets, clear blue water…. This is the life.

Sitting at the sunset

Not that all we did was sit around. No no no, 11 am was pool volleyball! Gotta burn those calories off right? Oh and don’t forget beach volleyball at 3 pm! I know, the schedule was very tight. It was tough to fit in breakfast before pool volleyball, and then getting lunch in before beach volleyball. At times it could just be a down right rush to finish lunch… But all in the name exercise. Oh and let’s not forget the dance party after dinner. Tough life.

 In case I am painting a pathetic picture of laziness and gorging, I should point out that we did fill our time with some actual activities. Scuba for instance. After carrying our scuba books all around South America, we would finally use them to finish our open water certification. Or so I thought. While I spent hours and hours and hours studying on the plane, Andrea barely cracked the cover.  It didn’t matter. We didn’t even get to see the test questions. We were given a bubble sheet and the answers, and told to finish it quick, because we were leaving in 30 minutes to finish our certification in the ocean. Oh don’t worry though, we splashed in the pool for at least 20 minutes  in our official pool session.  But hey, 1 hour, 2 dives later and you are now looking at 2 officially certified divers. Bazinga!

Mayan ruins and cenotes. First let me rewind and tell you a little story about how we scored a free car rental.  We must have been the only backpackers at this 4 ½ star resort, and while we tried to hide it, little things like walking through the lobby with our big backpacks while everyone else uses the concierge to carry theirs really tipped our hand. Oh and then there was the fact that we bused it to town, then sent 4 taxis on their way because they cost too much, negotiated the set rate down 50 pesos and spent 2 hours to get to a resort 30 minutes from the airport, all in the name of saving 10 bucks. Oh ya the car rental. In exchange for a car rental all we had to do was let the resort sell us on a lifetime package to their resorts for an hour and a half. Ha, an hour and a half with a private salesmen.  I almost felt bad at the end when we told him we were broke and had no jobs. He believed us right?

Mayan ruins and cenotes. The cenotes are sinkholes formed from underground water systems. So cool! Take a look at the pics!

Dos Ojos Cenotes

We’ve seen lots of ruins on this trip, spectacular ruins, so it was hard to get excited for the Mayan ruins in Tulum. But built on the side of a cliff facing crystal clear water, these ruins were pretty cool. Once again, take a look at the pics!

Mayan ruins, Tulum, Mexico

Mayan ruins, Tulum, Mexico

Mayan ruins, Tulum, Mexico

Alas all good things must come to an end. But we ain’t leavin this resort until we wring all the free food out of it that we can. 11 am checkout? Just tip the bell boy, he’ll keep our bags safe till we leave at 11 pm. In the meantime, its 10:55 am, pool volleyball starts in 5 minutes!

Biking in Bariloche

Bariloche

30 hours in a bus. No big deal. Not at this point in our travels. And on the other side awaits Bariloche. Land of the 7 lakes. For us this stop on the journey means mountain biking. There is a growing culture of mountain biking in Argentina, and we've heard Bariloche is at the centre. On our first day here we hit the bike shops. Reconnaissance. We are told of a few prime single route areas. 

Sunset enjoyed from the bus.

Bus to Bariloche

On day two it was time to check them out. First stop: Cerro Otto. Cerro Otto will have you climb up a long grueling gravel road for hours before you get to enjoy any of it's single track. You pass incredible views of the 7 lakes, enough to make the ride up worth it on it's own. But then you get to the top and your reward? You now get the adrenaline rush of single tracking down!

In reality? Going down we hit patches of pretty good single track, but mostly, for me it was too sandy, too steep and too many hair pin turns! Walk the bike down, throw the bike down, bum scoot - you won't get me on my bike for some of this stuff! But hey we still had amazing views, and a heck of a work out!

This tranquil picture does not depict my emotion after our bike ride

Our next stop was just half an hour out of Bariloche. Catedral is a ski hill that opens up for mountain biking in the summer. Our plan was to stay in Catedral, for a couple of nights and do one of the classic hiking trails (giving our butts a day of rest after the bike ride), then hit the ski hill for some pure downhill adrenaline. 

When arriving our hotel that we were going to stay at was closed. Strange, since it was advertising rooms on booking.com! So we went out in search of a hostel or hotel within our budget. One after another the hotels we found were closed for the summer. And after hours of searching the sun begins to set, and a bit of worry begins to set in. We have one last shot. A hostel owner pointed us towards something that may or may not be open, and upon first sight we knew it was definitely not. No sign, no lights, not open. But wait there is someone walking past the window in that dark hostel! It was a little creepy, but no other options but ring the doorbell, and hope! Yes the hostel was closed, just a couple of buddies having a BBQ. But nothing like some Argentinian hospitality! The man who runs the hostel not only invited us in to stay at the hostel, but invited us to his table to partake in the BBQ with them! And to top it of we were offered to stay another night, even though our hosts would be gone! Just turn on the alarm, lock the door and leave the key under that stump! Never mind that we have known you for less then a day!

Breakfast at Catedrel

Hiking up to Refugio Frey the next morning produced more of the awe inspiring views that we have been blessed with on this trip. A Frey was a refugio on the lake, surrounded by sharp jagged mountains. You could stay the night, or have a coffee and leave. We just relaxed on some loungers by the lake.

Prime seats at Refugio Frey

On our second day at Catedral we geared up and hit the slopes. The runs varied from dirt road to very tough North Shore single track. It was all sandy, which definitely adds a level of difficulty. All I can say is I need more practice before I would ever buy a seasons pass to this hill!

Geared up

Now that we are done biking, back on the bus and to our next stop! If you want to see the country you can't linger in one spot for too long!

Perito Moreno glacier, and the outdoor paridise of El Chalten

El Calafate

Merry Christmas!

We spent our Christmas this year in El Calafate, Argentina! We celebrated it with some fellow Canadian travellers! Wine, a good chunk of steak, and friends. Not a bad way to spend Christmas.

There's really one thing people do here in El Calafate. Glaciers. Some might say that going to see the glaciers is like spending the day watching paint dry. Spending a couple hours at Perito Moreno however, is anything but.

Perito Moreno is a glacier that attaches to the third largest ice field in the world. What makes it interesting is the fact that it is actually advancing. {insert size of glacier here} As you sit and watch this one you actually get to see some action. Huge chunks of ice will calve and split off the glacier throughout the day. What looks like a tiny snowball from where you stand is actually the size of a car. This is evidenced by hearing what sounds like an explosion when it hits the water. The glacier constantly groans under its internal pressures. Every once and a while a giant pillar of ice, must be bigger then a semi-truck will break off and collapse into the water. Quite a sight.

El Chalten

Welcome to the outdoor playground of Argentina. With a couple of marquee hikes, a plethora of rock climbing routes, mountain bike  trails, and an up close view of the Fitz Roy mountain - all available to you as you walk out your door, - you won't get bored.

We spent our first day hiking 28km round trip (more km than Andrea or I have ever travelled by foot in a single day). It was to Cerro Torres. A set of 3 towers, which can be seen as you look over a pretty green glacier lake. Or not. It was so cloudy we didn't see much, but the post cards looked really nice! When we got to the lake, the wind was so strong (stronger then Torres del Paine) that at times your options are duck and cover or get pushed off the trail. For the record while we didn't see Torres, we did get a pretty clear view of Fitz Roy, later that evening over pizza.

Our other activity in El Chalten was rock climbing. Climbing a real cliff for the second time in my life I realize how different it is then a rock gym. Hand holds are not nicely shaped chin up holds that you can pull yourself up with. The smaller and sharper hand holds are much less forgiving. Our last climb had us climb in tandem to a pitch halfway up a cliff side. The adrenaline was pumping as we perched on the toe sized ledge on the side of the cliff. Just don't look down... Oh wow, too late! After climbing to knee shaking heights, there really is only one option. You have to go back down again! (actually you could keep going up – but really, what are we, crazy?) It takes a lot of chutzpah for a newbie to first lean back off the cliff and trust the guide that you first met that morning. Does he know what he's doing? Is his equipment good? That knot is going to hold me? Are you sure? Are you really sure? Really really sure? At this point, what other options do you have?  So you hold your breath and lean back and....

Well, you know how the rest goes, I wrote this didn't I?