So What's Canmore Got that Toronto Does Not?

It seems like more and more folks are leaving Toronto these days and moving out west to the Rockies to places like Canmore, Banff and Lake Louise.

So what do these western places have that's missing in Toronto?  Well, apparently lots of cool places to see and rad things to do.

Sometimes it starts with Canmore's Summit Cafe ...

and a stroll up Ha Ling ...

multi-pitching at Kid Goat ...

cragging at Cougar Canyon ...

or Grassi Lakes ...

and then there's a short drive to Lake Louise ...

with a 7 km hike up to the Tea House ...

and a gorgeous view of the mountains and glacier ...

and then there's more cragging at Back of the Lake, a world-class climbing destination (when the weather's nice) ...

which is was when we rolled into town in July 2014.

So who's next???

Yoho Video 2014

Here's a short video from the ACC Toronto Section Camp at the Stanley Mitchell Hut in Yoho National Park in July 2014.

Yoho 2014

The President

In July 2014, the ACC Toronto Section held a summer mountaineering camp in Yoho with many alpine peaks within a day's climb of the Stanley Mitchell Hut.

The highest peak in the area is The President which goes at 3,138 m (10,293 ft), so of course we had to climb it and enjoy the morning sunrise.

Vice President on the left ... The President on the right ... The glacier in between.

Soon, or actually hours later, we scrambled up to the summit and WOW what a view!

As we headed down towards the col, the Vice President was waiting for us in the distance and another team was making their way up to the summit (using our steps in the sun softened snow).

The descent to the col was tricky in places and we had to remember that we were far from the hut so some caution was in order.

The route up the Vice President looks "easy" but the steepening slope up to the ridge with a long drop below meant we were entering "short-roped, don't screw up" territory.

Once at the top, we could look back and see our route up the ridge to the summit of The President.

The journey back down was a 1,000 metre descent with a few "objective hazards" like potential rock fall and the odd crevasse along the way.

Finally we made it back to the hut to refuel on real food; what a day in the mountains!