Saturday, July 12, 2008

Landscape


Driving home from work on the Transcanada Highway is always an event for the passionate "outdoorsman". I usually leave the Bobbie Burns Lodge by 11a.m, it takes me about 2.5 hours to drive to Lake Louise, where I usually stop to break up the drive. After a 30 min hike I try to get a burn in at the Back of the Lake, where there are plenty of classic quartzite routes available. I usually arrive without partners, so I try to bum a belay here or there. So far I was always lucky with this tactic, and I got to know some very nice and fun people. I find that when you go with a partner to a cragging area, it's hard to get to know other climbers, simply because you don't have to. Although nobody is going to read this anyways, I would like to thank everyone who spend his precious time belaying me at the Lake, it means a lot to me! Here I would like to share a few impressions from the drive home after another burn at the Lake.
The sun is in my back at this time of the day, and the bizarre limestone formations of the front range of the rockies have a chance to show off.
This is an unclimbed, 300m face fairly close to the highway. Approach time is about 2h, and the thing is right in your face as you drive from Lake Louise to Banff. There is an obvious natural line in the center, right trough the left side of the big roof. If I would only have more time to play, this is a 45min drive from home!