From the summit of Mount Rundle, I turned my gaze west to focus on Sulphur mountain. It looked so small in comparison to where Katie and I stood on one of the most popular and recognized mountains around Banff.
Turning slightly, we could see the famous Mount Assiniboine peeking out from the clouds.
This was a hard-fought summit but the views were worth it.
Katie and I met early Saturday morning, parking at Bow Falls Day Use Area near the Banff Springs Hotel – so early that the public washrooms in Banff were not open. (When you’re driving from Calgary and sipping coffee the entire way … you may need a pit stop. Let’s just say there may be a “wanted” sign with my mug in Banff now because when have to go …)
Katie had summited Mount Rundle a few times so I trusted her to lead the way. We chatted the whole way as we hiked up the steep forested switchbacks with some intermittent running. The trail was nicely maintained, and well marked with pink and blue ribbons.
The Central Gully had some snow but otherwise the trails in the woods were in solid shape. We were moving great and the time went by so quickly. Before I knew it we had reached the tree line with something like a kilometre and half to go to the top. I remember looking at my Garmin thinking, we had already hit 900 metres and the total elevation was something like 1,600 metres.
I had briefly scanned some reviews of Mount Rundle earlier that morning. People had said it was one of the most challenging hikes they had done. I took it with a grain of a salt because these reviews are always so subjective. Maybe they had a point?
Out of the trees we reached the infamous Dragon’s Back, a sloping spine of rock between two steep gullies. The rock was super smooth and slippery. You can see in the picture above that I found it much easier to climb on all fours as opposed to hiking or running. Once again I ignored the poles in my quiver and focused on one step at a time.
After clearing the slippery slog, we began another slog through crap scree and rocky bits. Alan Kane calls it “rubble without a cause” in Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies book. I had to keep reminding myself, I was having fun as Katie powered more and more ahead. Bless her heart, she looked back a few times to see if I was still alive, and to offer encouragement.
I wasn’t moving very fast but I was moving forward.
Katie waited just before the summit so we could reach the peak together. When I joined her, I didn’t know if I wanted to cry or laugh. That was a hard push.
Before long we were joined with a couple visiting from Austria. We basically started the same time, and I was surprised they had caught up with us. We chatted with them for a few minutes then we realized they were experienced hikers.
We had a snack on top of Rundle while trying to identify all the mountains in the distance. It was such a lovely morning with little wind on the top. We didn’t linger because once we stopped moving, it got chilly.
Taking our time going down through the scree and the Dragon’s back, we bumped into a man and his two young sons under the age of 10 who we had passed earlier. Almost immediately they asked us if we had any food.
We didn’t know how to respond except to quickly gave them what food we had left. They said they only had water and peanuts. While handing over our bars and candy (Katie), I asked where they were from and why they chose this mountain. They were visiting from Newmarket. The dad said they wanted to do something hard when I asked why they didn’t just do Sulphur mountain. I also gave him some names of easier family hikes.
They thanked us, and kept moving forward. Now I wonder if they made it to the top or turned around. Hopefully they made it back safe.
We jogged down through the forest to our cars. Katie ran over to Sulphur Mountain for another summit while I took a walk around Bow Falls while I sipped my protein shake.
Beauty day: 1,660 elevation gain over 16 kilometres.
This is peak #9 in Project 23. Next: Nihahi Ridge.