We never had these guys wandering around the steel mill back in NZ – bighorn sheep apparently. I’m told with the combination of hunting (bows only, no guns) & mating seasons, these males are down from the hills for a bit as it’s safer & there are better prospects. But that does mean that there are more cougars wandering around Exshaw now. Still, I suppose it’s better than the grizzly bear visitor we had a month or two back.
Somehow Alex & Megan managed to find a short local hike that they hadn’t done before. Shortly after noon today we headed up the Spray Valley (about twenty to thirty minutes drive) to walk up to Three Sisters Pass. We found the deserted trailhead & proceeded up; not too sure of where the trail was, we found it eventually next to the (dry) drainage for the valley. We followed this up, mostly on our left of it & sometimes on the drainage & occasionally on the right. This trail doesn’t get a lot of use it would seem, but there were just enough cairns for us to find a good route up. Once out of the trees after the first third we on a lot of rocks of varying stability.
A brief section had us choosing to go straight up & a through a small, and mostly dry, canyon – this was much easier than negotiating the loose rocks above it. In the bottom of the drainage for a while we could look back across the Spray Valley until it disappeared as we followed a corner around some rocks.
There was some nice slickrock around & we displayed our different mindsets – it wasn’t steep enough to climb for Megan & I thought it was a little to steep for me to ride comfortably. We chased the elusive sunshine up the valley & eventually struck the golden light – & of course started complaining about how hot it was (must have been all of 10ºC) & shed some layers. The final twenty minutes or so of climbing up to the pass was through the trees, and ninety-five minutes after setting out we were at the pass looking out over the east end of Canmore & the Three Sisters. The wind picked up a little here (it was slightly exposed after all), but we hung around taking pictures & feeding our faces. Finnian had been quiet the whole way up – apparently being carried up big hills in a sling is quite relaxing; after his feed he was not so thrilled with the wind, so we headed down.
Of course, heading down was a lot trickier with all the loose rock in places. We were keen to get down quickly as the ranges in the distance were now obscured by clouds & it looked like it was rolling towards us pretty quickly. Thanks to Megan talking about the distant future and the year two-thousand we all quickly had Conchords’ songs rattling around in our heads – at least we now have some compulsory background noise for our game(s) of Settlers tonight. After a little slipping, we managed to get through all the rocks without damage to anyone’s head and then it was easy to get back to the car in sixty minutes.
Last Saturday was locals’ day at the gondola on Sulphur Mountain in Banff. As I apparently qualify as a local now – at least my Alberta Driver’s Licence says so – I thought I would go & check it out as the passes were complimentary (“yeah, they were for free”). We’d had a little snow on Friday morning in the Bow Valley (quite a bit more out at work at Exshaw), but as the rest of Friday was pretty clear there wasn’t a whole heap left on the surrounding peaks. I joined the line & then played guess the accent as I shared a gondola car with some tourists. I find I’m not so good at picking Canadian accents – as Megan said last week while we were watching The Trotsky, “this must be a Canadian film – they don’t sound unusual” (or words to that effect) – but other accents are a bit easier.
I was a little under-dressed with only three layers on & it was chilly so early in the morning at the top. There was a lot more up there than I expected – I think I thought there would be a food outlet of some description & not a lot else. There was a bit of a paved trail to the summit, that took about ten or fifteen minutes & heaps of boards pointing out various peaks, flora, fauna & some history of the summit.
There’s Banff in the bottom left. That small lump near the centre is Tunnel Mountain (the trail I rode the previous week, Star Warz, is on the back of that hill). In the distance in the centre Lake Minnewanka – it’s been a few months since Alex & I rode there a bit. Cascade is the mountain on the left & you can see the Bow River running past Tunnel Mountain & off down to Canmore & then Calgary.
The light’s not great, but that is Mt Rundle running from left to centre – Canmore is behind the far end of that.
Amusing Asian tourists obliged with this photo – up the Bow Valley on the left, the summit over my left shoulder.
After only getting a pair of cheap skates at the local ski swap, we mooched around town a bit on Saturday afternoon & I finally relented & bought Settlers. So of course Saturday night was spent teaching Alex & Megan how to play, getting beaten a couple of times before I finally got on the board in resounding fashion. It’s nice having Settlers again – reminds me of many good friends in Pukekohe, Warkworth, Kenya, & London. I wonder how long it will before Knights & Cities becomes necessary.
Returning home after a car maintenance & shopping trip to Calgary on Sunday, I finally remembered to pack my camera for a gentle loop of the G8. This is easily the trail around here that I have ridden the most (up to eleven times now) – that’s probably because it’s usually the driest (gets more sun & is more open than the others) & it’s the easiest to complete if you don’t have a lot of time. The first part of the 8 still had a fair few patches of snow lying around, but the far section of the 8 was really dry. We had a cruisy loop (it’s been a while since I’ve done just over an hour door to door on this trail) & it was very enjoyable stopping to take photos & appreciate the views.
Alex riding off down the valley.
The other side of Mt Rundle – & me, of course.
Sunday I popped over to Banff to ride with a mate, Dale, I met construction temping at the Banff Center. Dale was just back from some time in England visiting friends & family & was keen to hit some local trails. I, of course, was up for that & we first rode part way around & up Tunnel Mountain to check out a new trail – Star Warz. It’s not a particularly long trail, but its all downhill & the local MTB organisation had built a lot of structures on the top half (they are still working on the bottom half). Dale managed to quite spectacularly stack it on the first, & easiest, trail feature – a flat low bridge like structure. It was a quite a sight, unfortunately I didn’t have the camera out. This was followed by a series of tight berms that I couldn’t quite get right, but fun all the same. Further down the trail, as we passed a group of riders pushing their big DH bikes up the trail, I popped over a little jump on the side of the trail & was immediately confronted by a stump that my front wheel was determined to make its acquaintance with. Somehow I managed to jump off the side & down the bank & grab on to a small tree with only my pride injured.
Straight after these little incidents there was a nice wall ride that we rode a few times – it doesn’t require a lot of speed to get up high, but I’m not sure that I ever got the line completely right. It was quite fun to able to ride the same feature a few times as we traded my camera & tried to get decent photos.
Here is Dale
And here is me
Shortly after leaving the wall we found this jump. For those with sufficient skills, it was pretty easy to clear and land on the other side – while I could still get a little air and land on the horizontal platform. Here’s Dale showing me how it’s done:
And here I am getting about the amount of air I am comfortable with (that said, we both had some rather interesting landings).
From here we rode through a few berms that had just been built the day before – they were pretty soft & loose, as one would expect. Then it was time turn up the hill back to the road that would take us back to town. Riding through some sort of holiday camp, I was amused by this sign:
Is this for obese children that spend all day in the living room playing video games? I’m still unsure.
Cruising back down the hill to Dale’s place we loaded up his car, jump-started it & drove up to Norquay to ride Lower Stoney Squaw. We rode both the Upper & Lower trails back at the end of August – this time due to time, fitness & motivational constraints we bypassed the steep climb to the summit & rolled in to one of our favourite downhill trail sections around Banff & Canmore. Dale, with his big DH, bike was pushing on the slightest hint of a climb – suits me, finally someone taking photos, on my camera, of me riding trails.
I had a lot of trouble remembering any of the trail, even though it was only about six weeks since I first rode it – due in part from joining the trail from a different direction. Nonetheless, it was a blast riding down here & there were plenty of little rises to launch off – although, I did, somehow, keep landing right before rocks I would’ve preferred not to hit. Just before the end of the trail there is a nice easy jump that one can get a little or a lot of air off – compulsory photos stop.
Crossing the TCH, we battled a headwind back in to Banff & I split quickly to get back for my first Thanksgiving dinner – I was quietly excited by this prospect. We had enough people around in the evening to take a fair chunk out of two turkeys & all the other food our guests brought. Steve had some how managed to wangle himself a complimentary rotisserie for the barbecue – so one turkey went on there, while the other, wrapped in bacon & stuffed with pork sausages went in the oven.
James sniffing & trying his best, I think, not to lick this turkey
Steve basting this bird of goodness – I think mostly with beer; whatever, it was brilliant.
Thanksgiving didn’t disappoint my preconceptions – masses of great food with good friends & (pseudo-) family (that’s you Alex & Megan [& Finnian – although I suppose he can’t quite comprehend it yet] – thanks, I’m pretty sure Canmore wouldn’t be what it is to me without you). For some reason, I’d scheduled (yet) another ride on Monday morning with a random on the forums at mtbr.com – so it was an earlyish night for me.
Dragging myself out of bed, breaking the fast, loading & de-icing the car I headed out to meet Jeff at the trailhead at nine o’clock (he came in from Calgary) so I could show him Razor’s Edge. The first bit of the trail along the highway was good fun & in nice condition with no other users around – it was bloody cold though, the clear skies lulled me in to a full sense of warmth. What was I thinking riding in short sleeves? The ride up to the pass warmed us up a bit – I was particularly pleased to finally clear a steep, rocky section in which you have to choose your line carefully as the rocks are loose & send you in directions you really don’t want to go. This photo doesn’t show just how much difficulty I have had in clearing it the previous half-dozen times (it’s steep, I promise you – & it comes in the middle of a tough, long climb).
After somehow missing the unsigned turnoff, we were finally on the new trail. There is lots of cool moss & general undisturbed growth. The first half was OK, but being a new loose & moist trail it became increasingly difficult to get any sort of rhythm to make the climb to saddle.
Before long we were riding along what I assume the trail is named after – the exposed jagged rock on the ridge line that you have to transverse. Sometimes, it’s difficult to see how one could ever get the front tire to negotiate such a narrow path; but you do know that if you can, it will grip like crazy. Unfortunately for Jeff, he had left his helmet behind – so he had to walk a lot of obstacles that he would have otherwise ridden. There are no man made features on this trail, but the rock provides more than enough great drops & drop-offs. I was pleased to ride things that I avoided last time I was up here – & perhaps even more pleased to have a willing photographer to capture me pushing my limits. As always – I assure you it’s steeper & trickier than it looks (at least for me, especially the first feature [the next two images])
Just before the annoying hike-a-bike section up a hill & after negotiating more of the jagged rock there is this cool wall ride (I suppose about a forty-five degree angle) that is so grippy that it doesn’t really matter how much you stuff up the entry (I should know – damn chain dropping a ring on bumpy descents), you can still ride along this slope with a lot of confidence.
Getting back on the bikes after the push up through the trees we were on dirt for a change – a very steep plunge had us walking briefly before blasting down (stopping briefly to look out over towards the prairies) & then a short little climb before on the slick rock. It can be quite difficult to spot the trail as you drop many metres towards the road – & this particular spot is a wind funnel. For the second time in as many days I was struggling to negotiate tricky trail with the wind buffeting me incessantly. Still, it was greatly challenging & very fun. Down one part with particularly loose rock & then a sharp drop off my front tire & some rocks decided it was time I had a little rest – I firmly planted my butt on a very hard rock. Shortly after we turned the hard left to avoid riding off the cutting on to the highway & were heading back to the parking lot.
Four great rides in one long weekend & a lot of turkey – I love it. Although, the end of the riding season can’t come soon enough for that big buy up – my rear tyre & drive train are decidedly sub-par.
