December 28, 2019 Rummel Ridge
Distance: 7 kms
Elevation gain: 700 m
Saturday, December 28 weather forecast promised a mainly sunny day. Often I don’t trust these types of forecasts except when I see a high pressure system predicted to hang around for a few days. And Saturday fell right in the middle of this system meaning there was a stronger likelihood the forecast would be accurate. Too, I read on Hike Alberta a party of ten broke trail up Rummel Ridge a couple of days earlier. Perfect because with the recent dump of snow, breaking trail would make for hard work - work we didn't feel like doing on this day.
Fred and I did this snowshoe early 2019 and just loved it – easy with spectacular views. In fact, a picture from that day became February on the calendar I made this year for family and friends. With Sam working pretty much all nights and needing to sleep during the day, only Nic was available to join us. I was excited because I really wanted to Nic to have a winner of a day in the mountains before heading back to university for 4 months.
As usual, we rose early, packed up our gear, stopped at Timmie’s and was on the highway shortly after 7:00 am. And again, I never tire of the drive. I actually feel a calmness come over me the closer I get to the Kananaskis turnoff. And even though I have driven highway 40 and the Smith Dorien far too many times over the past 25 years, I always enjoy the drive. On this day, a spectacular sunrise occurred such that stunning pinks and oranges wrapped around the mountains as we made our way to where we would start our trek. In an effort to not wake Nic (he was tired!), I was snapping pictures through the front windshield while the car was moving 😮! But occasionally, when I couldn’t stand it any longer, I would asked Fred to pull over and stop the car.
When we arrived at the spot where we would start, there was already another car there and two more pulled in right behind us. This was a good thing because we have got into a bit of habit lately hanging out in the car hoping it will warm up a bit, which of course, it never does. This morning was sitting at a brisk minus 23 🥶 but seeing others propelled us out. I was wearing pretty much all my clothing and coats and buffs, etc., and I was still too cold to wait for Nic and Fred. I am the slowest anyways so I got going right away knowing that Nic and Fred would catch up.
Other than one steep hill, the first section that climbs 300 m is nothing but a gentle incline. The snow was white and fluffy and deep, and the mix of trees covered in snow and the burnt trees allowing for some views was beautiful. The next section was a simple traverse, followed by a dip down to cross Rummel Creek. The final section involved a steeper climb to the ridge summit.
Already on the summit were two other snowshoe parties – 2 guys and a group of about 8. Missing were two skiers that left at the same time as us but opted to try and take the gully between the ridge and the Tower to make the ridge, given after crossing the creek, the forest is dense with trees. I admit I was worried about them because on the way up, I saw not one, but two slides on Tower. But not too long after we arrived, the skiers made their appearance. They had seen the slides and thinking it was too dicey to continue, they retraced a bit and climbed the ridge spine like the rest of us had done. What was shocking to me is the bigger group proceeded to go down from the ridge to the Tower taking cornices all the way. And then they proceeded to climb the Tower. No helmets on and no ice axes, and from what I could tell, no shovels or probes 😧. One member of the party was wearing only microspikes. Crazy!
The views from the top were nothing short of spectacular! We were able to identify many of the mountains and so many of the faraway peaks, including those in and around Mount Assiniboine. I took a ton of pictures, including many of Nic 😊. What was truly special about this day was the joy on Nic’s face as he looked around only pausing to check his phone to confirm mountain names. All too soon it was time to head down.
Nic and Fred had a riot trying to knock snow off trees on one another. I would say Nic was the clear winner. He was even willing to dive into very deep snow to hide so he could surprise Fred. Gorgeous views continued all the way back to the car. What a perfect day! A perfect day topped off with taking Nic to visit the new resident at the Highway 40 gas station – Opal, a four-month old, 60-pound Saint Bernard puppy – named after Opal Ridge 😊.
