Wind Tower

July 19, 2018

Katja and I slept at Tana's house last night and in the morning drove around to the Spray Lakes reservoir to begin our first acclimatization hike. Our plan was to get as high as possible before forecasted thunderstorms arrived around noon. It was now 08:30 and we began climbing through the forest on a well worn, but poorly marked trail. After about an hour of climbing, we escaped the treeline at West Wind Pass, and paused for a break at the phenomenal view down the Wind Valley. I commented that despite the dire warnings, right now was a beautiful day with nary a cloud in the sky. Katharina then pointed to some wisps of mist that were forming in the sky far to the west. We continued on towards the scramble portion and started as a mom and kid mountain goat scampered by right in front of us and then upward on the an impossibly steep talus slope. We followed a well worn path on an easier grade that was occasionally marked with a paint blaze or flagging tape. With the exception of a couple of scramble moves at the beginning, this climb was really just a gravel walk to the top. We progressed slowly has Kat was having trouble breathing in the thinner air than we are used to at our virtually sea level home. Time ticked on and the clouds to the west began to take on a more meanacing disposition. When the route to the summit became clear for the last 200 meters to the top, I scampered ahead, to wait up high while Katja slowly made here own time. She made it though, along with two other women who were not sure if they were on the correct summit or not. I assured them that they were, and we exchanged photography services while enjoying great views in all directions. I suggested that we get a move on for the descent before the now somewhat ominous looking weather arrived, though it was still beautiful where we were standing. A boom of thunder rang out from the distance and this motivated us to pack quickly and start descending the way we had come. The rain hit fifteen minutes later as we met three people coming up who were pulling on plastic ponchos. I suggested that they consider the weather situation before continuing, at which point one of them asked if going up would be dangerous, where I calmly explained that yes... lightning on a mountain top is dangerous. They continued on up anyway and we sped on downwards. The sky began to growl constantly, which was actually nicer than the earlier steady drone of helicopters (now strangely silent) that we had been subject to on the ascent, albeit the new noise was considerably more nerve wracking. Bursts of rain followed by blasts of hot and humid air had us continuously shedding and re-layering on our jackets. We got down to the pass and the weather cleared a bit, so we sat down for another break to spend a little more time above 2000 meters. This was short lived however, as another storm cloud approached and the skies openned up in a downpour. We continued down into the trees and it began hailing moth-balls. We took shelter under a large pine tree and watched as white marbles of ice bounced all around us as they covered the mountain side in a two centimeter blanket of ball bearings. After about ten minutes the storm began to let up and we made our way carefully over the rapidly melting ice. It cleared up again and the rest of the descent was uneventful except for the growling skies. Just as we reached the car, another rain shower hit, so we quicly sought our shelter and drove back to Canmore after this five hour hike.

Spray Lakes view on the climb.

Entering West Wind Pass.

Looking down towards the Bow Valley.

Climbing the gravel slopes of Wind Tower.

Summit.

Wind Tower from West Wind Pass.

Hiding from the hail storm.

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