Early breakfast at 07:00 as we are in for a long day. It is Eric's 70th birthday today and the guy barely looks more than 55. He is in great shape and has been friends with the owner for many decades. Lots of coffee for most of the hikers. Lana and I are not coffee drinkers. The cold water from the bathroom taps sure can wake you up!!! Lana gets a cup of hot water first thing and uses that on her face cloth to wash her face in the morning and at the end of the day.
Today the hiking will be longer in terms of kms and for many hikers the most elevation gain. Most of our hiking today will be above the tree line. Trails are not easy to see in this country as they tend to blend in to the slopes or rock scree. Breakfast burritos and I get a bout of diarrhea just before the hike. Warm already outside and no bugs (yet)...
This is our hiking itinerary for the day:
Take Lightning Bolt trail to Boogie Basin. Then hike up to Camelot Ridge from the Laforme entrance. On the Laforme Bowl trail next to Spire Lake. Long uphill steep climb to Marty's Ridge. Traverse on Grizzly Bowl trail to Princess trail. Take Granteloupe trail back to the chalet. Marty's Ridge will be the highest elevation point and where we will have lunch. It will take us 3 hours and 9 minutes (9 kms) to reach the lunch point.
Fortunately I was unaware there would be good deal of ropes on the climb along Marty's Ridge as it will not be good for my fear of heights. Florina is our very capable guide and is the daughter of the Swiss owners. I find the ropes portion super scary as there are sharp and long drop offs if you slip. I have never grabbed a rope that tightly in my life! Don't look down!
Above the tree line and another incredible vista looking down onto a lake with the sheer bedrock above. Lots of snow patches.
More beauty in the absence of trees and shrubbery with the mountain in the distance yet framed by the trees below.
Love these views!
Rock spire in the distance. I asked the guides if it was claimable, but given the rock conditions it is not as the shale just breaks. Beautiful alpine path traversing the slope. Just another example of the fantastic hiking and climbing available at this special chalet/lodge.
Carleen's Lake - many of the landmarks are named by Ruedi. Pretty cool alpine lake as it looks like an infinity pool! From this lake back to the chalet it is almost all downhill. Fortunately, for the three of us Florina picks up the pace and we arrive quite a long time before the others. For me, finally a good pace.
I tried to capture the ropes and the steepness, but the photo doesn't help my cause.
Another rope picture. The views in behind are pretty spectacular too as we are quite far south here from the chalet.
Our main hiking group returns to the chalet around 2:50 pm as three of us are in the lead group; Irene, Leslie and myself. We have climbed the most elevation and length of hikes. Hmmm, I am not competitive... much... ;-)
HIKE STATS: 16.10 kms 1031 metres elevation gain 5 hours and 32 minutes hiking time
around 29,000 steps
LANA:
My hike today is the "shorter one" although not really by much it would seem as we were gone for about 5 hours, but our elevation gain is only 650 meters.
Our route takes us to Boogie Basin for essentially the same view of but without doing onto Woolsey Glacier that Randy's group hikes.
If you look closely in this photo, you will see the two red roofs of the lodge and other buildings in the middle of the dark green trees.
At the top of Camelot Ridge--quite the hike across the basin with it's moonscape like terrain, then up a lot of shale rocks. This hike also required traversing across some narrow rock faces holding onto a rope, scaling down shale rocks using a chain to hold onto and two ladders to climb up!! We had not one but TWO lunch breaks as well as two snack breaks. En-route back Tate and I stop at Marmont Lake and wade in up to our knees for some cold water therapy!! Felt amazing. Good thing because the steady hike back down along Grantalope Trail was killing both of my knees.
Found this heart-shaped lichen on the rock!!
Randy:
Upon return straight into the shower as I want to ensure I have first dibs on the hot water and a shower stall. The dining room is pretty busy as Ruedi has returned with one of his buddies. Lots of high spirits from the long hike today and chatter.
Croissants for snacks this afternoon. Both chocolate and plain style. Having jam with the warm croissants is a real treat and appreciated after the hard work we put in today. Lana is in the dining room reading a recipe book and taking pics of recipes she wants to try. Lana has several interesting conversations with Dan the chef about his approach to cooking (healthy, nutrient dense) and it turns out he doesn't plan out every meal for the week, but looks at what's on hand and what can be made with what's available. The lamb tangine was delicious--apricots, cashews, couscous. Even the vegetarian version was declared delicious by Irene who sat at our dinner table.
Another great dinner. A beautiful night and I took the opportunity to go outside and enjoy my last views of the mountains at dusk. No bugs tonight! Fantastic fresh air to breathe into my lungs! They announce the passengers for each helicopter ride time slot tomorrow and we are on the first ride. We are told to be ready for 07:00 breakfast and have our stuff on the helicopter pad as early as possible. Still noisy downstairs after 8 pm. Most of us are busy packing our bags and exhausted after a long day of hiking in the fresh mountain air. Lana's luck at cribbage continued again tonight--it got a little smelly in the room as she skunked me again!! What is going on?!??!!
Fantastic alpine hiking in high elevation and fresh mountain air. Spectacular views. Wildlife on occasion, but no goats. Lots of elevation gain on pretty good trails. Overall, a great experience. It will be good to return to Vancouver although we discover on our return most of southern BC is covered in forest fire smoke from Washington and Oregon state.
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