Craggy Cliffs to Sentinal Pass, Lake Louise, AB
©2004 Duleepa Wijayawardhana
Album Notes
In 2003, standing at the summit of Storm Mtn. in Banff National Park I turned to Matt Goldman and exclaimed that I would climb Mt. Temple in a couple weeks. Sadly that trip never came to be, but now in 2004 I can claim to have sat at the top of Mt. Temple. This was a trip organized by those affliated with the Alpine Club of Canada and who consented to have some ACC members along.
I would heartily recommend Mt. Temple to anyone who likes scrambling, there's a bit of everything: some basic rock climbing, scree-skiing, scree-plodding and route-finding. Unfortunately the weather just did not co-operate and I'll have to do Mt. Temple again, just to see the views. The entire mountain (see photos) was clouded over and was quite dismal. Thankfully the group was anything but and it was a thoroughly enjoyable day. So thanks to Jim Barrow for leading and the other summit members (Jared, Len, Nataliya, Alec and Trina) for a fantastic and memorable ascent.
The only bad point was that on coming down I felt something give in my knee during the last 20 minutes (there's a reason for my nickname of "He-Who-Falls-A-Lot"), I didn't think much of it at the time, oh what a mistake that was.
Next morning I joined Craig Priddle and his fiancé, Yolanda, and off we went to do Observation Peak (3174m) overlooking Peyto Lake and the Wapta Icefield. Despite constant pain in my knee we did make it to the top, well what we thought was the top. We actually made it to the false summit, but really I'm quite happy with our effort on this day. Another grand day in what was a fantastic weekend. Now all I have to do is recuperate and get my knee to the point where it can bend again. I'm optimistic!
