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Cameo and Ken are a couple of working stiffs who discovered long ago that life's more satisfying when they're chasing grizzlies and climbing mountains.
So far their travels have taken them to six continents from Tuktoyaktuk to Tasmania with a few stops in between.
This is their adventure...
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Tag Archives: banff national park
Photo of the Week – Boulder of Doom Banff National Park
Cameo at the Boulder of Doom – Bow Glacier Falls Trail, Banff National Park AB ©theexplorerslens.com
Posted in photo of the week
Also tagged alberta, boulder bridge, boulder of doom, bow glacier falls trail, bow lake, hiking
2 Comments
Squack Alberta Adventure Gallery
Back in August we wrote about our friends, the Squacks visiting from Ontario and us sending them on our infamous Two Week Tour of Alberta. As you can see words just do not do the tour justice.
Special THANK YOU to the Squack family for sharing their memories and images.
Lake Agnes – Free Desktop Wallpaper
Lake Agnes and Mount Whyte – Lake Louise, Banff National Park AB ©theexplorerslens.com
The link to the full-sized image that can be used as your desktop wallpaper can be found here, Lake Agnes – Free Desktop Wallpaper.
Posted in desktop wallpaper, freestuff
Also tagged alberta, lake agnes, lake louise, landscape photography, mount whyte
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Happy Belated Canada’s Parks Day 2012
Cameo attempting Niblock above Lake Agnes – Lake Louise, Banff National Park AB ©theexplorerslens.com
I know. It’s a little late, but Canada’s Parks Day snuck up on us this year! On Facebook we vowed to make it up and it doesn’t get much better than an outing in Banff National Park where it all started in 1885.
Cheers.
How did you celebrate Canada’s Parks Day? Click on the comment link above this post and let us know.
Bloodied, Battered, and Beaten – Mount Niblock
Cameo set for belaying down a slippery section of trail – Banff National Park, AB ©theexplorerslens.com
You’re probably familiar with the adage ‘a bad day of (insert whatever activity you enjoy) is better than a good day at work. We had a ‘bad day’ in Lake Louise and loved it. Well most of it.
The plan was to retrace the previous days trip with the Squacks to the tea house and continue past Lake Agnes into the bowl with the intention of summiting Mount Niblock and, if everything went well, Mount Whyte.
Mountains – 2, the explorer’s lens – 0
Things did not go well. We got skunked.
Mistakes were made. Obstacles Overcome.
Shortly after entering the bowl we lost the trail and ended up slogging up a sole sucking and soul destroying scree bed. We hate scree.
Reconnecting with the trail at the first rockwall we found our path, usually a pleasant rock hop scramble up a dry waterfall, flowing with melt water and treacherously slippery. An unusually high snowpack and wet spring had flooded the trail. Breaking out our harnesses and rope we belayed over the hazard – that was fun – and continued onward and upward. More scree!
A little further on Cam accidently caused a small rockslide and I took a rock the size of a large grapefruit in the chest. Ouch.
Out of Time and Out of Gas
Remember that snowpack comment? The upper bowl had a large amount of snow which we decided to hike/climb around. By the time we made the second rock wall containing more scree we were gassed and closing in on our predetermined turn-a-round time. We were within reach of the col and the summit of Niblock was just 45 minutes beyond… but not today.
On the positive side, the views were absolutely stunning and well worth the effort put in.
Adding Insult to Injury
The only thing worse than climbing up scree is climbing down. This wasn’t the stuff that you could easily scree ski. It was hardpacked marblie junk. We made good time on the way down by glissading down the snowpack. After a quick belay down the waterfall we angled our descent to join up with the now clearly visible trail (my bad!). We were safe, clear of all the hazardous stuff and 10 minutes from a delightful pink lemonade at the tea house when I fell, tripping over a boulder I dislodged on the trail. Cuts and bruises seemed a fine way to end this trip. This is what happens when the mountain decides it wants to bite back.
Bloodied, battered, and beaten. Our ‘bad day’ at Lake Louise was still better than any good day at the office.
