Vacation in the Rocky Mountains- July 2004
Mist Ridge - 20km! How bad can it be!
The area off Hwy 40in Kananaskis Country has got to be one of the most beautiful areas to ride. From low mountain meadows to alpine ridges you can ride it all. When Greg mentioned that he had a ride he would like to take us on, well what could we say! The ride is in the Bible even! (Backcountry Biking in the Canadian Rockies). We should have known we were in for an epic when the climb was actually the scramble route...
The Intersection with Mist Creek An area we have already visited not to long ago
The climb up was an old prospectors route when they used to mine coal in 'dese 'dem hills. The grade was steady.
We stop at a view of where we are going, the low point in the distance. On the slope in the foreground you could see
This Elk! The rest of the herd was just below him.
Fortunately Nigel was NOT climbing on his 40lb 243 bike, but my little Ti bike. He would still be climbing if he was on that pig!
The climb goes steady into the Alpine.
With the occasional reprieve to take in the view! Notice the blue sky...
This is the other valley...
Mist Mountain. Look Blue sky over here!
Tyler climbing through the clouds in the other valley...
This valley is much nicer...
Greg leading the charge! The Clouds ever Threatening.
The start of the ridge ride.
We stop for a short lunch as the clouds threaten
We have to ride across this ridge. Once you get to the far ridge in the distance, you can see the next ridge we have to ride to.
We start the ridge ride. Can you see the trail?
Parts of this slope HAD to be 40o. Wonder how the skiing is?
We took the low road. There is another trail that follows the very top of this ridge. Where we were it was a fine 2300m.
We did manage to get to 2500m on this ride. The alpine flowers were just starting to come out at this elevation. We saw about 10 different kinds that were unique!
One ridge bagged, how many more to go?
Rickerts Pass! The start of the 12km descent!
You don't take a lot of chances here. It would be a long walk home.
The rains just started about 30 minutes before we finished the ride. The fact that this is also a popular horse trail didn't make the mud any cleaner.
Two hard core Surrey XC Converts!
Back at the parking lot. Pissing rain and we're staying at Greg's tonight! Tyler and Nigel started the long drive back to Vancouver in the Rocking Land Cruiser!
A muddly Little Lee!
5 hours later we're back at the cars. After a bath in the cold cold river we were on our way.
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