May 16, 2009
May 03, 2009
Skiing the Down Dog on Bow Peak
Ali approaching Bow Peak. The Funnel of Death is the obvious line up and left from the skier. To read about a descent of the Funnel, click here. We skied the face to the right.
Ali perfecting the art of dragging my ass up cool lines.
Since he was doing such a great job, I let Ali break trail almost the entire day.
Ali burrowing through the summit cornice. Tight, narrow constrictions are his specialty.
After the perfect day on Bow Peak, I was stoked! Doing the ACMG exams can sometimes take the fun out things, and it felt really good to be cruising around the mountains, getting a little scared (steep faces in the Rockies are always a bit scary), and having only ourselves to answer to.
We took a rest day and came up with a new mission. We were initially thinking about laying tracks down the K-Country classic Smuts, but eventually set our sights on what is possibly the most visible line in the Rockies - The NE Face of Mt. Victoria. For those who don't know, this is the face that overhangs Lake Louise and it is an undeniable fact that more Japanese tourists take photos of this line than any other. A few months ago, while I was in the thick of slogging around in preparation for the ski exam, I wrote something about wanting to go out and get scared on a big face just to remind myself that I am a skier. Well, I asked for it and I got it.Smuts Overview.
Ali and Frank The Tank at the Lake Louise parking lot at 5 am. Notice the two cans of Redbull in Ali's grasp. This, combined with an early morning helping of greasy eggs, made for a painfully fast approach.