Weekend September 23-24th

The closeness of Calgary to an exceptional variety of mountains, which are, I am not afraid to say, some of the most interesting not only in Canada, but in the both the North and South American continents, starts to make me physically exhausted. Up till now I kept up a fast paced life and usually I am hiking both Saturday and Sunday on the weekends. I have been very lucky to find some enthusiasts like myself to hang around with. The local outdoor club contacted me with “the psycho-group” as I call them (group of “crazy” people, who are not ordinary and do dangerous and unexpected things) – for this group of 10 people, things are not impossible and places are not impossible to reach. All of them are very different, but they share a love for mountains and the desire for more adrenaline. I was with them for the first time last week... It was tiring, but entertaining – 400 vertical meters bush-whacking through bushy pine forests, lots of fresh snow, scree, loose/bad rock and a few passages 4-5 grate…















Obviously, I liked it since for the coming weekend I have signed up for 9-10-hour climb of Mount Bell with 1500m elevation gain as well as for Mist mountain - 9h and 1300m. I will not be able to move on Monday, but I will think about it then :-)

On a side note, there is a discussion going on about the Christmas/New Year holiday. After an unsuccessful attempt to organise a climbing trip to Aconcagua and an identical failure for a trek in Patagonia, Ilka (from Toronto) and myself have pitched on another option - a trip to Cuba. The country is exceptionally beautiful and there are two additional things of interest - rock climbing and diving. Rope, carabineers, belay devices, experience-everything necessary is available. However, the under water experience will be something new, especially for me. I know it sounds odd, but I still cannot claim that I swim.
We do not have a plan or bookings-only what we have read at 2-3 web sites. It is going to be an interesting trip :-) And because we are not using our official holidays, this summer we can still organise a real climbing trip in the Alps to an unsaid, but very popular and beautiful mountain. To be continued!