Well, it has been a looong time since posted anything. Winter ended, spring flew by and before you know it, summer is already half way over. Not sure where to start, but I wanted to share a bit of what has been going on at Sarahhueniken Guiding!
Winter ended with a few more days of ice guiding, all the way into late April this year! I finally met my goal of climbing Musashi by the season end as well so that was very exciting for me.
Spring had its ups and downs and I ended up staying locally. I can’t complain too much about that though, as my favorite places to climb, exist right in my back yard. I worked a bunch of ACC Calgary courses, which are always highlights for me. The Calgary section has such a strong membership of keen climbers, its always fun to share skills with them. I also worked my first ACMG exam! The Top Rope Instructor course I never took this course myself in my ACMG schooling, but was seriously impressed with the skills required to pass this newer level of certification. Congrats to all those newly certified top rope instructors!
Spent another fun day in Lake O Hara with the amazing staff there. A bit of a burly weather day, but we still managed to go up and over the Yukeness/Ringrose pass and down the other side. I love this day, because all the staff are so appreciative of their surroundings and the day in the mountains, I get to work with other great guides, and I always learn something from the Master…Larry Stanier. This time we spelunked a bit in these cool ice caves at the toe of the glacier!
Probably old news…but there was a flood in Alberta..:( Yeah, Canmore got hit pretty hard. I was extremely fortunate in my “ark” of a building downtown, but many were not so lucky. The whole town, really rallied though and cleanup happened with speed and efficiency.
Most things are back to normal here, other then the businesses and people that lost their homes. I really feel for these families. I was fortunate enough to only miss a week or so of work, and also change our “ghost” camp to a local rock camp due to impassable rivers in the Ghost valley. A strong crew of ladies still rallied for this camp and we had 4 days of great weather to crag and multipitch in!
Spent a few more days with some great folks multipitching in July as well. Motivated people, and amazing weather! Spent a day out with Liz and Mark on Aftonroe where they wanted a bit of coaching on leading multiptiches. Both of them swapped leads the whole way up and ran the whole descent Looks like they are ready for a great summer!
Mary Ann, one of my favorite people…decided to “off the couch” climb Redshirt on Yam…nice work MA! You rock! Of course I knew she would do great, looking forward to Robson later this summer!
Claire came out for 4 days of Bow Valley based rock climbing. There were times I thought there was no satiating her climbing energy. Everyday we would either do 2 multipitches or a multipitch and some cragging. Amazing energy and a strong climber. I hope we have more adventures in the future!
- Day one, after being chased away by thunderstorms, we hit guides rock, and Claire led all of Aftonroe, and then followed Sea of Dreams. A 13 pitch day despite going home and changing out of wet clothes!
I was fortunate enough to get asked by Canadian Rockies Alpine Guides, and head owner and friend Jay Mills to work alongside him in the Bugaboos for a couple days. We had a gorgeous day on Pigeon followed by a nice romp up the Rundlehorn in Banff.
Its been a great summer so far, and lots of fun trips to come. Mt Victoria, Sisyphus, Sir Donald, Robson, and examining the Assistant Rock guide exam!
Within all the work, I’ve been strangely motivated this spring to tick off some personal goals, and I am most proud of my recent send of Spicy Elephant 13b (8a). It is a long (45 meter) climb that was a real endurance tester. I learned alot in the process of working this route and wrote an article for Outdoor Research that should be on their Verticulture site soon. I realize this grade is nothing in terms of rock climbing, but for me it is a milestone and reaffirms that getting older does not make you weaker!
I hope summer is treating everyone out there well, and behind every rainy day, if we search hard enough, we might get lucky enough to find one of these…
It was great having you join with Jay to be our guide for the Bugaboo’s. You made it possible for us to go up as a group and enjoy the experience to it’s fullest! Thanks again Sarah!
Thanks Madelaine! Was inspiring to get out with the three of you. What a great tradition you have going on!! Hope to see you again down the road:)