I spent my first night in the Rockies just inside Banff National park at the Rampart Creek wilderness hostel. The hostel has basic electricity and no plumbing, so it’s primitive, but the beds are comfortable and the price is the same as a campsite for 1 night. Since I’m travelling solo hostels just make more sense. There were a couple groups there and we had a campfire, but it was a relatively quiet night.
The next morning I got up early and headed down the parkway to Sarbach Mountain. I started out on a well worn trail hiking 5.2 km (3.1 miles) to a lookout at the base of the mountain. From there I headed through the woods above the tree line and continued to the ridge of the mountain. I then followed the ridge line all the way up. I had the pass through a couple slots that required some down climbing and then climbing back up the far side. After a few hours, was up to the last part of the hike, I had to scramble up a steep ridgeline, there were also a few pitches I had to climb up. I made all the way to the false summit and decided to stop there. I made it to the summit if 4 hrs. My guide book warned the true summit was very steep and few people climbed it. I could also see that it was completely snow covered, and not looking very safe, so I opted not to go for it since I was alone. The weather had been off and on with a bit of rain here and there and then the sun would break through periodically as well. Luckily the sun came out while I was on the summit so I enjoyed lunch up there. After a 20 minute break I made my way back down. On the way down I decided to scramble further down the north slope of the mountain to avoid some of the down climbing on the ridgeline. This worked out until I had to cross a snowfield. I checked the snow and it was pretty soft so I decided I did not need crampons on an ice axe (both of which were attached to my pack), while making my way across I started to slied down and got out of control, luckily the snowfield was relatively short and I slid and hit some rocks pretty hard and grabbed them before slipping off the down a small cliff. It would not have been a fatal fall but would have really hurt. I’ve learned my lesson next time the axe comes out. The rest of the trip back down was relatively uneventful, with the exception of about 20 mins of hail that fell on me. Of course by the time I was back o trail in the woods the sun was shinning and it warmed up.
I made my way to the hostel in Lake Louise, but they were full so I headed down to Banff and snagged a room there. The hostel was very busy, lots of tour groups and other travelers, but I managed to get some blogging caught up, planning for my trip, and laundry done.
Next I headed down to Waterton Lakes National Park in southern Alberta.
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