Canada's Mountains

Middle Sister – Canadian Rockies

Monday October 6th 2003

Well It’s about time that I dealt with this troublesome sister. It’s been 718.5 days since my first attempt was cancelled due to snow on Oct 17 2001. That day I went to Stoney Squaw Mountain instead.

At an average heart rate of 70 beats per minute that’s 72,424,800 heart beats and counting. Probably a few extras thrown in for good measure.

I was saving this one for my friend Ann, because I told her I would but she’s through with scrambling, at least with me anyway.

Ann and I had tried to get up this peak in August of 2002 but missed Stewart Creek. We were to busy talking I guess.

This time I was actually on my way to Grizzly Peak but decided that going alone into a remote section of Kananaskis to a place with such a name, on a day like today, was more than I felt like taking on.

With my late start (groggy from a long “HEALTHY” session at the gym in Calgary) I knew I was cutting it close but my calculations had me off the mountain around sunset and I had my headlamp so… so what?

I got under way at around 1:00 PM

Once I was going I noticed a bit of smoke in the air. It was warm too. Ahhh, just like summer. Fantastic.

After about an hour I ran across a couple of Texans who I thought were brothers. They corrected me in an email later. I told them I grew up in Dallas and that I would also look to see if I could spot their lost sunglasses. It’s always nice to meet a Texan or two. They usually have big hearts and are always good to talk to.

After 3:15 of plodding I was on the summit. I had the urge to stop and eat-drink about 10 minutes from the top but pushed on. Without the 20 minute walk down the 2 kilometer gravel road it would have been just under 3 hours to get up the 1400 meters to the summit.

I love the Bow Corridor. I’ve scrambled most of the summits in Alan Kane’s book now and each one is a nice memory, like Cascade Mountain and Mount Cory. No matter what’s going on in my life yesterday or tomorrow, when I scramble it all melts away and all that’s left is today.

Panorama of the upper portion of the route on Middle Sister Big Sister spans the view

On the summit I snacked on grub, took photos, and noticed that 1/2 an hour somehow vanished. I had to go.

As I started down I also noticed that my headphones were missing. I guess the Texans were not the only ones this nasty sister was stealing from.

This is south from Middle Sister I down climbed for a few minutes and then I saw the light had improved

I took to the drainage near the spot where I had my first break and lo and behold there they were, laying smack dab in the middle of a dry section of Stewart Creek. The headphones!

As soon a I reached the wet portion of Stewart Creek I bent over for a drink straight from where it sprung out of the flank of Little Sister. I likened it to drinking from her bosom.

Gee that was refreshing.

I marched on with a smile on my face.

Later it was getting dark as I neared the Golf Course. The air was mixed with cool and warm breezes and I was feeling very content and right at home wandering around the woods alone in the dark.

As I crossed the golf course, lost again as I was supposed to be on the road, the moon showed me the way back.

So much for Middle Sister.

Bye!

Unfortunately, the balance of nature decrees that a super-abundance of dreams is paid for by a growing potential for nightmares.

Peter Ustinov
1921-2004, British Actor, Writer, Director

 

Middle Sister Gallery (please use F11, function key 11 to view full size)