Team Krimo

Well it's only two months overdue, but here's where I recite a few accounts of our summer journey through the mountains.  It's not that it wasn't worth writing about; it's that as summer came to an end there was pressure to take advantage of the last moments of good weather instead of sitting on a computer in my spare time.  Well, the rain has finally arrived, and so has the time to put a few thoughts down.

The August Adventures of Team Krimo, as perceived by Kristen: 

We started our August escapades with a rough plan to climb Mt. Assiniboine, Mt. Sir Donald and spend some time in the Bugaboos, feeding our rock addiction with routes suitable to our style. 

I have a personal connection to Mt. Assiniboine since I first saw it as a little person at about age 13, and have always thought of it as the most beautiful mountain I have ever laid eyes on.  I've wanted to climb it since my interest in mountaineering began, but it never seemed feasible.  Now was an opportunity to actually make that dream a reality and it scared the crap out of me.  It went from beautiful to intimidating and had me questioning my abilities, but I was sure that given good weather and good condition of the route, it would be a cake walk.  Remo felt the same, intimidated, but ready to put a game face on if conditions were right. 

When we left, the forecast reported the best weather for Cannmore, but we arrived to cold and rain -surprise surprise.  The Assiniboine attempt was called off immediately because we feared snow on the route which increases the severity dramatically.  We had enough fears and apprehensions about Assiniboine in the first place and our best decision was to save it for another day; a little disappointing but a little relieving too.  When we do climb it one day, I hope to report that all our apprehensions were in vain.

So instead we spent the rainy days cragging in Canmore on the steep, overhanging jugs of ‘Meathooks' and routes of the like.  It was an awesome way to spend our rainy days.

The weather continued to suck around the province of Alberta and BC, and our three week mountain adventure was starting to look a bit bleak.  Bugaboos were out and seemed to be deteriorating; Sir Donald was out too... So we played a bit more with bolt-clipping on the gneiss rock at the back of the lake, Lake Louise.  Remo excelled here and my climbing ability went to shit.  I kept blaming the rock being not my style, but really my confidence was down and I was not enjoying the climbing as much as I could have.  We were quite a few days here, poaching free parking at the hostel which allowed us to poach showers, kitchen facilities, wireless internet, and of course, a spot to sleep for free (in the truck).  That is until we overstayed our welcome on about the fourth night and were kicked out along with 10 other poachers in the parking lot. 

Finally the weather cleared in the Bugaboos and we took all our dehydrated goodies in for a whole weeks worth of climbing.  Remo found us a good camping spot on a rounded piece of rock that I was a bit peeved about, but later appreciated.  Our warm-up route was "Ears Between" an easy 4 pitch route that got good ratings and is obviously quite popular.  The day we climbed it, about 7 other parties did too, including a party of three that we passed and were quite unimpressed with.

A few easterners, new to the mountains I imagine, our first introduction of which is a big dude (250lbs?) standing next to the first belay ledge with his pants off.  WTF?  The last thing I want to see up in these mountains is this guys junk, yet I get a full cock & balls shot when I arrive at the belay.  After being balls out for what must have been 15 minutes, he puts his clothes back on and leaves behind a giant turd, fresh with a big wad of toilet paper sitting on top.  The remaining parties behind them that day risked getting hit in the face with his shit stained paper flying in the wind and had to stand right next to his excrement at the belay.  I could not believe this irresponsible, disrespectful behavior in the mountains.  The park actually provides poo bags for just this reason, to avoid contaminating these pristine, alpine areas and work hard to raise awareness about human fecal impact. ARG!

We were sitting in camp wondering what route to do next when we ran into some Squamish locals, Sue and Jay who informed us that they just got engaged that morning!  What a wonderful thing to hear!  We climbed with them the next day, heading for routes on the back of Snowpatch Spire, but the access was ridiculous.  We couldn't go up the Bugaboo-Snowpatch col because of recent rock slides and constantly falling rock; instead we had to go around Snowpatch from the other side only to be blocked out by an enormous ice fall.  The only access was to continue around Pigeon Spire, and we weren't feeling that ambitious, so we settled for climbing Pigeon.  Pigeon Spire is my favorite, it's easy, but exposed, and SO fun!   I loved it, but I think the others were a little underwhelmed by the lack of vertical difficulties. 

The next day Remo and I challenged Bugaboo Spire, heading up the NE Ridge and descending the Kain route.  It was a fantastic day on an amazing route and we climbed smoothly and efficiently the whole day.  The summit traverse was scary, but the descent went well; we only got our rope stuck once.  We continued down the new rappel route in the Snowpatch-Pigeon col.  It worked out well that we know this decent route already because Remo and I were able to avoid carrying our mountain boots, crampons and ice axe all the way up Bugaboo Spire.  The dry conditions of the glaciers and lack of snow actually allowed us to carry only our approach shoes and it worked out great.

We had a well timed rest day the next day, allowing the clouds to release of bit of tension with some rain and while others were drowning in their tents, I was thanking Remo for his advance thinking on having a dome shape under our mats.  And then we decided to climb ‘McTech Arête' as our closing climb, and happy about that because it is SUCH an amazing route.  I love it when you get high on climbing... the perfect hand cracks at just the right vertical and variety of movement... it was glorious!  The descent however, was a bit tricky as the rappel stations were consistently about 3 meters out of reach.  We recruited another party to rap on two ropes but were quite confused by the rope set up of these stations.  We settled on the fact that it was our rope that was shorter than 60m... weird.

The fun didn't end there, we hiked out the next morning and started our drive immediately to Mt. Sir Donald.  We arrived at the base that night, slept in the back of the truck, woke up at 4 and went for it.  Fast and light, we went wearing only approach shoes, watched the sun rise on our way and reached the awesome ridge at about 6:30 AM.  It was cold, but the climbing is so good and juggy that I was able to climb with gloves on.  We sustained a good climbing pace all the way to the top of this long ridge and I was stoked to tick off another one of these mountains I have always stared at.  More than the peak, I was glad to be sitting there next to my amazing partner on yet another amazing peak.  It was Remos third time to the top, but his appreciation is the same for being able to share this together is something truly special.  We were back at the car in about 14 hours round trip and were stoked about that. 

Despite our long day, we continued driving, heading for a bit dinner in Revelstoke, spending the night and recovering a bit the following day.   We drank coffees and checked e-mails, then drove to the Valhallas in the afternoon where we sought out Mt. Gimli, but not before stopping at yet another crag.  Another night at the trail head lead to another early morning and another one day trip to the summit.  Gimli boasts a stunning arête that appeals any climber, and we took it by storm... sort of.  Fatigue hit me by this point, and the cold was unbearable at the start of this climb.  I lost my cool (or rather my heat) before leaving the ground because I was frozen through and through.  The first pitch is the crux pitch and I climbed it with fleece gloves on.  The strain and fight I put out to not fall out of jams with fleece gloves didn't even raise my body temperature a half degree.  I was pissed at the cold (Remo stood in for the cold in receiving that anger) until the sun finally hit my face half way up the route.  My body relaxed a bit and it actually became enjoyable, but now I can see that the entire route was, in fact amazing, even if I couldn't see it for the first half.  The descent was a little less hairy that all of the other summits we stood on in the past weeks, we were grateful for that.  We enjoyed the day and picked blueberries on our way back to the truck before driving Penticton that night. 

Acknowledging my fatigue, we headed to Skaha for a few days of warm, fuzzy sport climbing before cheering for my brother in Ironman Canada.  Remo kept climbing strong, but my mind gave up as I had no interest in climbing anymore.  This happens sometimes, my moodiness with climbing, but we worked it out to suit both our needs, a bit of bolt-clipping, a bit of beach-bumming. 

Watching Trevor's race was amazing, but witnessing his illness afterward was not.  It crazy to see the length at which we can push our bodies, in one minute he ran as a strong, amazing athlete ready to kick ass, and in the next minute barely able to walk, vacating his stomach and intestines and hooked up to IV after IV.  It's unbelievable what they do, he and Heather.  I could never imagine putting myself through that mental and physical challenge.  On the other hand - maybe the way Remo and I do it just looks different.  

Trevor and Heather have a great blog too and they've always got good humor, check out http://www.fyzz.ca/ for their stories as professional ironman triathletes.

So there you are, the August Adventures (click here to see photos).  Our next adventures are coming up very soon and we're very stoked - as always.