 Tower
of Babel
- Canadian Rockies
Tuesday July 8
2003
This Tuesday
afternoon I was moody and the weather was trying to chase the clouds
away poorly
so I went for the Tower of Babel. It's only 450 meters vertical and
took me 56 minutes to get up from the Consolation Lakes trailhead.
Mountain Photography
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Tower of Babel is the small flat topped tower on the right
This picture was taken from Eiffel Peak |
The summit was sunny
but the clouds were building over the Lake Louise group and then I
could here the rumbling of thunder.
11:06 July 8/2003
I'm at the top of the Tower of Babel. I just finnished my photo
shoot and can hear thunder in the distance. Got to eat quick and get
down before I get drenced. The gully would be miserable in rain.
Besides, the few mosquitoes that are here bug me.
More thunder, it must
be only 20 minuites away, got to fly
I had about 15
minutes on the summit then the thunder got louder. I gauged that I
had 20 minutes. I re-started my chronometer and started down. By the
time I got back to the trail head it was starting to rain and the
chronometer said 1:28.
The trail to the
shute is reached only after a short 5 minutes
walk along the Consolation Lakes trail and the route going up is easy.
Alan Kane's book
Scrambling in the Canadian Rockies suggests that you follow
underneath the wall on the left of the gully. I found that the going
was easier on the right and it was more well traveled. It may be more
exposed to tumbling rocks from above but only slightly. There are
numerous ledges and bluffs that one could take refuge behind. I
didn't feel that exposed to rock fall. The rocks would not fall but
tumble at you so if you are aware you would be able to hear and see
them coming.
Near the top of the
gully you can see a lone Larch tree standing at the top. When you
reach that tree it's only a short hike to the flat and large summit
area. A rock bench awaits you.
I had the summit to
myself.
I recommend this one.
I likes it. Short and sweet.
On the way back out
on the Moraine Lake road I stopped to take a picture. Looking back
at the Tower of Babel the mountain and it's larger namesake were
enshrouded in cloud and rain. My watch said 12:06, only an hour
before I had been on the summit scribbling out my thoughts on a
scrap of paper from the summit register.
On the way back to
Calgary my car failed. I think it was a connecting rod. The RCMP
were kind enough to tow it to Cochrane for me at low low cost of
only $216.14 and a daily cost of $20.00 storage.
How nice.
 t were as wise to cast a
violet into a crucible that you might discover the formal principle of its color
and odor, as seek to transfuse from one language into another the creations of a
poet. The plant must spring again from its seed, or it will bear no flower --
and this is the burthen of the curse of
Babel.
Percy Bysshe
Shelley
1792-1822, British Poet
©
CanadasMountains.com + Tim L. Helmer
Friday February 08, 2008 11:21 AM
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