Mountaineering Dudes

above: Mt. Edith Cavell with Angel and Cavell Glaciers.

The Ranger at the Visitor’s Center in Jasper recommended a hike to us that was “short and had great views of 3 glaciers and a glacial lake”. It sounded interesting so we packed up our day packs and headed out to do the Edith Cavell Hike. Little did we know that it would turn out to be the Dudes first mountaineering experience.

 

right: The boys check the map before the hike.

 

 

When we left the campground it was sunny and 50 degrees. By the time we got to the trailhead, clouds had moved in and the temperature had dropped a bit. The parking lot was also jammed. “Great,” I thought. We get to a hike with 5000 other people!

 

left: Driving up to the mountain.

 

 

The hike turned out to be an “up, up, up, down, down, down” kind with very little “across”. The first part was more like a human freeway but as we got closer to the first view point, the crowds thinned out. And, almost no one was interested in pushing to the second viewpoint. So, by the end of the hike, we had the mountain to ourselves.

I really didn’t expect it to be so steep or so continuously steep but, it stayed that way to the first viewpoint. With my 20 lbs. of extra gear, I kept a very slow pace. The Dudes didn’t seem to be slowed down at all.

 

 

We started out in a thick subalpine forest and with more clouds moving in I thought we would never be able to see any of the views which was the whole reason for doing the hike to begin with. When the forest began to thin to the point we could get a peek through, all we saw were clouds.

 

left: The Lil’ Dude catches snowflakes on his tongue.

 

Then, it started to snow. The Dudes were delighted since they had not seen snow in a couple of years. But, that also meant that the temperature was dropping more and the visibility would be even less. But, we pushed on.

 

 

 

right: It’s snowing!

 

When we finally got to the first viewpoint which was above the tree line, we were able to see most of the mountain, the three glaciers and the lake. It was spectacular, even other worldly. Angel glacier was huge and hung off the side of the massive rock face and the lake was a milky turquoise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Oh, this is the view the ranger was raving about.” O.K., so it was worth the effort. Now we were hooked and had to push on to the second viewpoint which also happened to be the end of the trail.

 below: A Pika scampers along the moraine.

It was still snowing and now we had reached the alpine part of the hike. There were no trees to protect us from the wind and the temperature dropped to about 20 degrees. The rest of the hike was very steep, snow covered and with a wind strong enough to knock you off your feet.

above: the Big Dude leads our expedition. Can you find him?

The Big Dude led our expedition all the way to the top. The Lil’ Dude talked all the way to the top. ( He had a revelation the other day, he said “Mommy, I can start a conversation and end a conversation all by myself!” At least he got the first part right.)

 

 

It took one careful step at a time to get to the second viewpoint because of the steepness, the wind and the slippery snow. It really did remind me of a mountaineering experience I had had in the Himalayas. But, we all made it to the top. When we got there, the skies had cleared and the see forever view was amazing. You really got the feeling of being on top of the world.

We didn’t stay on the top of the world for very long though as the biting cold encouraged us to descend. As any climber will tell you, going up is only half the trip and going down is often the more dangerous and difficult to navigate than going up.

 

The Hippygeek held the Lil’ Dudes hand on the way up but we decided to rope ‘em up for the way down. If he slipped, he would tumble for several hundred feet before coming to a stop. The Big Dude, once again, led our party down (we now call him “mountain goat”) off the ridge back into the wind protected forest. Once there, we had a picnic lunch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Feeling a little high from our accomplishment, the rest of the trip back down was a fun wander through the woods. We took time to see what was left of the wildflowers trying to hang on with a cover of snow and got to see the views we had missed on the way up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We finished the hike with a trip to the lake where the Dudes played with some of the icebergs from the glacier. We even got to see a huge hunk calve off the glacier while we were there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although the trip was a little sketchy in the beginning, the Dudes proved to be aspiring mountaineers and the trip turned out to be the highlight of our time at Jasper.

above: At the top of the Edith Cavell Hike and the “see forever” view.

“You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know.” Rene Daumal