Training Log Archive: revy

Lake Revelstoke paddle with Courtney. Conditions were calm when we started but tailwind picked up as we paddled past Waterworld. This made the crossing a bit more interesting than we wanted. Heading back upwind on the opposite shore was tough and reverted to paddling kneeling down to decrease the wind resistance. Luckily the wind died down a bit and upright paddling became doable. The water in the lake is amazingly warm - have never seen it this warm before. We stopped and played on a rope swing for a bit which was really fun. Still appears to be a fair amount of snow on Keystone.

McCrae hike with Courtney. Wasn't feeling so hot early in the hike but things improved as we got higher. Being up high always helps. More snow than I expected though not so much that it was annoying. Couldn't convince Courtney to climb to the summit...

C • Logan! 2

A bit of riding putting up and taking down signs for the XC race. Not enough volunteers so I had to assist with timing and no racing today...

Edit - link to pictures added....

https://bartjarmula.smugmug.com/Dogtooth-Traverse

Woke up this morning to the smell of smoke and hazy skies. Wasn't sure if it was something local or if the smoke from the Interior had finally made it this way (turned out to be the latter). Left Holt Lakes, climbed to Holt-Canyon Col and kept a high line to gain the ridge. This worked well with little bad side-hill travel. From the first low point on the ridge we picked up the intermittent trail and continued on the up and down ridge to Kicking Horse. This section is more travelled than yesterdays route as the resort to Gorman Lake is a popular trip. Still lots of rock hopping and certainly not an easy trail. It was hard to see across even the Canyon Creek valley and we missed out on views of the Rockies but it was still nice to be up high. Once we got to the resort we scoped out the gondola situation and once we confirmed that they weren't checking for passes we took the gondola down. I am more than happy not to walk down over a thousand vertical meters...

Awesome trip with interesting travel, stunning scenery, and great trip partners. Long enough to feel satisfied with the achievement but without feeling like we were doing a death march.

Had a 55L pack - could have probably taken the 45L but wanted to try a new pack out. Was quite happy with how it worked. Wore approach shoes and they were excellent for all the rough terrain.

C • Fires 8

C • Nice photos! Too bad about ... 2

Woke up today to mixed weather - after such stable high pressure it seemed like we were unfortunately hitting the few days when it might rain. It turned out that the weather was fine - the sun came and went, it didnt get too hot, visibility was fine, and for the most part the threatening skies avoided us.

We had a few route choices today and decided to try the ridge route. I think this was the right choice as it kept us high with good views of the Selkirks and travel was pretty good. With the lower route I don't think we would have had the same views of Rogers Pass or the Rockies. Wasn't sure how dropping into Lang Creek would go but just a short steep scree slope to deal with after descending the upper valley. Some nice tarns and waterfalls in this valley could make for a potential camping spot if this route was attempted in two full days. The climb to Lang-Gorman Col seemed to take longer than expected -lots of rock hopping. For the most part the rock hopping was OK as it was pretty solid and didn't shift underfoot.

We took a break at the col to enjoy some sun and bug-free conditions. We passed through the head of Gorman Creek in short order - such a different scale in this valley. Climbs that looked long were actually short. We had the most snow to deal with in this drainage but it was soft and easy to kick steps in. Once in Holt Creek we wandered down the alpine meadows to the rock slide. The flowers on the south facing slopes were just starting to come out. Crossing the rock slide we picked up the trail to the lakes - for future reference aiming for the flat lightly treed bench on the south side of the rock slide is fine as that is where the trail starts.

We set up camp between the two lakes and enjoyed the spectacular setting - such blue water and a perfect waterfall cascading into the lower lake. If not for the cold water it would be a great swimming lake too. Better bug situation than yesterday was nice and better able to enjoy he surroundings. Rain finally caught up with us but only after we went to sleep.

Nice paddle with Courtney on the Columbia. We made it almost to the golf course and then stopped for a few minutes to say hi to Liz at her house. Disconcerting crossing the river when suddenly you are over a gravel bar and can see the moving water over the rocks.

I had a couple open weekdays and was feeling like I needed an alpine adventure now that the snow was finally melted enough. I needed partners though but as luck would have it Lucas is a teacher with summers off and Mike is always good for taking some flex days at short notice:)

I proposed a traverse of the northern Dogtooth range - a combination of a few trails/routes linked by a fair bit of off trail travel along ridges and alpine valleys. We planned a late afternoon start, left a vehicle in Golden and drove back to the Quartz Lake trailhead. Saw a black bear ambling across the road when we pulled up - turned out to be the only bear we saw all trip. The first 5km of trail to the lake were a pretty stiff climb. Not the most exciting trail but it got us to the lake in short order. Saw two groups of hikers - these would be the only people we saw until we got to Kicking Horse. One group had seen a grizzly but we never ran across him.

At the lake the off trail travel started. Felt a bit like an AR with mild bush-whacking and some route finding. Travel got better once we gained elevation and unlike an AR we had no pressure to keep going and once we found a suitable campsite we called it a day. The site was scenic but the bugs were rather horrible. One of the downsides of wilderness camping in the summer....