 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.
TODAY!
That's
all that's with me when I'm scrambling.
|
Little Sisters not
looking so little any more Humm??
Middle Sister cast
her shadow on her sibling |
|
Mountain Photography
> <
Little Sister in
her last light
The dark is
coming soon |
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!
CANADIAN MOUNTAIN PANORAMAS
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| Mountain / Image |
Java |
VRML |
Jpg |
Size |
39. Middle
Sister
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Java |
VRML |
JPG |
350k |
 nfortunately,
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
©
CanadasMountains.com + Tim L. Helmer
Friday February 08, 2008 11:19 AM
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