Notes to myself: (Before starting to hike a
9-10 hour advanced hike/climb)
- Cut your toenails, walking down a mountain for 3-4 hours putting pressure on your toes, it’s not pleasant, you might loose a couple! (I got 2 blue nails)
- Blister bandage, hiking/climbing up hill for 5-6 hours are putting a lot of pressure on your heels, result if your are not prepared, an inch diameter big blisters on each heel.
- Hike Sulphur 10 times before, so that you can do it without any needs of a break. And then mentally get ready for something 10 times as hard!
- And Juice/vitamin water/energy drink just doesn’t kill thirst as good as water!
Okay, I think that I would be ready now, if
I knew this in advance of my Mt. Rundle hike. But… I didn’t, so I just putted
on my hiking boots, brought 2 litres of juice (I thought the sugar would be a
good thing), and half a litre of water and a vitamin drink. 3 litres of
drinkable stuff, sounds good to me. Sandwiches, granola bars, trail-mix, and
fruit were packed nicely in my backpack with bug spray, sunscreen, bear-spray,
gloves, and a soft-shell. Honestly I didn’t think I could be more ready than I
was. But I was wrong!
My sweet hike on Mt. Rundle
We started out nice and early in the
morning, and were on Banff Springs Golf Court at 9am Sunday the 5th
of August 2012. I was so ready to hike Mount Rundle, I have thought of this day
since my first season in Banff, and how sweet it could be to say, “I’ve been on
the top of that mountain!”
The first part is nice and easy, it was a
bit steeper than I expected, but easy and doable, and it was nice and cool in
the morning shade. The first 2 hours were manageable easy, I were in need of
few breaks to catch my breath, but nothing that scares me, compared to what
would come! After a good two hour hike we got to point ➌, and the terrain
of the trail changed from a normal good hiking trail to more of a scramble, it
was hiking up hill, just step for step. It was from this point I started to get
exhausted. But didn’t feel like giving up.
➍ The forest ridge was to me a pretty hard hike, I needed some breaks,
but I was eager to get to the top or just get out of the trees, so that we
could see the summit at least, and the thought of turning around was not even
crossing my mind (yet). When we finally got above the tree line I was a bit
shocked that we weren’t closer to the summit. Must admit that the thoughts
“OMG, I’m never gonna make it to the top!” crossed my mind. But we continued…
➎ The dragon’s back scared me! Not that I think I gave that
expression, but I suffer from a bad fear of heights, and the thought of you’re
scrambling around on loose rock pieces and half a meter on each side of you
there is a f******* drop. I was pretty focused, I was not going to fall
anywhere. I was on all four making sure that I wasn’t loosing my balance. It
didn’t really help that I was exhausted and the sun was backing me a live! It was on this patch that I was
starting to doubt if I was ever going to make it all the way to the top!
I think that we spend 4 hours if not more
from point ➌ to the point where the trail turns to the right just before you
reach the summit. It is possibly the hardest most exhausting thing that I have
ever done before in my life. And I’m not sure if I will ever do that to myself
again, even tough already today, 2 days after it doesn’t seem like the worst
thing. I remember that I was telling myself, that I needed to write this blog
post while I still remembered how horrible I felt that day, I should probably
have done it that day. Because right now I might be able to be convinced to
hike it again. Because it is a pretty cool thing to say you’ve hiked/climbed a
mountain, and you feel pretty good about yourself, when you get over the
I’m-so-sore-I-can’t-move-period. And the view from the top of a mountain is
just a thing that can’t be described, not even by showing the pictures, it’s a
feeling of accomplishment and a extraordinary view that’s only for the few that
actually gets to the top!
- But just because I say now, that I might
be convinced to hike Rundle again, don’t get disappointed if I’m not going to hike
it with you in October, when you get here. I might need to wait a year or two
before I try to hike Mount Rundle again. But If my nice hiking friend Oscar was still here in Banff by October, he would probably have done it with you, he was keen on doing it again the next day! I think he left his head on the top of Rundle! He's a crazy person!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF3TsF71-Z8
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