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Finally stopping that crazy suffering that is ice, climbing to concentrate on great ski tours!
3505 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2010 : 08:42 AM
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On the morning of August 16, we made the hike up to the Bow Hut. We had four families with three 11 year old girls and (pity him...) one 13 year old boy. The group total was 11, so we had quite a "trail presence" as we moved up.
Stopping along the way to teach my daughter how to use the GPS.
We could see the hut on the bench, and this was energizing for the kids. They carried all their own gear, but the adults carried the food load.
The Bow Hut! Thanks to having to safeguard the kids as we went over the boulder bridge, and lots of breaks for snacks and learning, we took 5 hours to reach the hut.
Moved in...
We cooked supper and faffed about on Monday evening, the kids enjoying their second wind as they explored the hut and surrounding area. Tuesday morning, we made the short hike to the glacier to learn how to walk in crampons, basic ice axe usage and moving roped up...
Helping my daughter with her crampons...
Roped together...
Based on some conversations with a guided party that had gone up Mt. Olive the previous day, I decided to change our objective to Mt. Thompson. The approach to the col sounded a little sporty for our group. The views from Thompson were supposed to be nice, so I figured we'd still have a great summit. The kids were stoked about their first alpine start! We spent the first little while star gazing, and then headed out.
Despite the glacier being mostly snow free to the Thompson shoulder, I roped us together at a fairly short interval to safeguard the kids. No stumbling into a crevasse for little ones...
Moving above Bow Falls on the glacier, Mt. Thompson comes into full view...
After the steep rubble on the shoulder, the flat ridge was a nice break...
Summit! 3065M ASL. The total trip was 30km horizontal (from the parking lot) and ~1200M of vertical gain/loss. Two of the kids and three of the adults made it to the summit. My daughter and her friend enjoyed the summit together.
  
It's flat at the summit, but it's a straight cliff shot down the east side of the peak, so some care is needed. Nice views...
 
The summit group posing near Bow Lake with the "horseshoe" shape of Mt. Thompson in the background...
My daughter loved the experience and we have plans to make "family mountaineering" an annual event out of the Bow Hut. She's put St. Nick, Olive, Gordon and Rhondda on her list. She did hope to have Mt. Athabasca as her first mountaineering summit, but the 1500M of gain is a lot for 11 year old legs. We'll savour that one when she's a little older. |
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Alberta-based choss climbin', flame throwin', rappel lovin', ass talkin' hater who doesn't like "Gumby" for a descriptor
6302 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2010 : 09:16 AM
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Awesome....totally awesome!
Don't be suprised when she picks up and takes off to live in the mountains when she's 18. |
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Vancouver, BC
Canada
2660 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2010 : 09:16 AM
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rockies, alberta
Canada
249 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2010 : 09:18 AM
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pretty darn cool!! learning at that age will make it second nature in the future! My daughter's husband is always amazed at what she seems to "just" know, all from an early start of back country exploration! (he is a city boy) good job on alpine summit starts!
Nice the weather cooperated too! that summit smile is worth a 1000 words! |
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876 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2010 : 10:12 AM
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| That's too cool. While the rest of her classmates are spending their holidays playing x-box or making sandcastles at the beach, she's standing on Mt. Thompson. What an education, and one I wish I'd had at her age! |
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2421 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2010 : 10:30 AM
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Your daughter is pretty lucky, John.
Good for you. |
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vancouver, bc
Canada
987 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2010 : 10:50 AM
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| Fantastic, I hope to follow in your strong example of guidance and development when I have kids of my own. I'd love to have an army of little ones breaking trail on a sunny winter morning;) |
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North Vancouver, BC
Canada
679 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2010 : 11:08 AM
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Hi John,
That is amazing!! Many kudo points for taking the kids up!
Bas |
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31 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2010 : 2:31 PM
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Cool trip with the kids!
Any more photos of the glacier? I'd love to see what it looks like in summer up there... |
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Finally stopping that crazy suffering that is ice, climbing to concentrate on great ski tours!
3505 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2010 : 3:26 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by time2clmb
Don't be suprised when she picks up and takes off to live in the mountains when she's 18.
That would be the fulfillment of this Dad's dream!
I come under flak from most parents in my neighbourhood for doing this stuff with her. They bubble-wrap their kids, and think I'm borderline negligent for exposing her to skiing, rock climbing, and now mountaineering. I look at it in a different way completely. She is learning the life-long skill of determination. She understands that the elation of the summit is hard won through effort and skill development.
Some "teary-eyed Dad" moments from the trip:
As we came up the final steep bits to the hut, a group of cadets training with a couple guides came down to offer to carry packs the remainder of the way to the hut. We had one fellow that was labouring heavily under his pack, so I sent one of them down to help him. As another young man approached my daughter, she said "no thanks, I'm good." She took pride in carrying her own gear, including her climbing gear.
Relaxing on our last night in the hut, she asked me if she could have her own mountaineering boots, crampons and ice axe for Christmas this year.
She wondered if next year we could bring bivy gear, sleep on the glacier at the base of Mt. Gordon and race up to catch the sunrise on the summit.
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Thanks for the positive comments. It is nice to hear something other than "omigod, that looks dangerous, how dare you do that..." |
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Finally stopping that crazy suffering that is ice, climbing to concentrate on great ski tours!
3505 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2010 : 6:45 PM
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A huge scoop you really want to avoid when coming to Thompson from the Peyto Hut. Some people have skied off the edge in a white out. It's probably 30-40M deep and you'd be in the shitter if you didn't see it.
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Calgary, Alberta
Andorra
3787 Posts |
Posted - 08/26/2010 : 01:12 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by johngenx
I come under flak from most parents in my neighbourhood for doing this stuff with her. They bubble-wrap their kids, and think I'm borderline negligent for exposing her to skiing, rock climbing, and now mountaineering. I look at it in a different way completely. She is learning the life-long skill of determination. She understands that the elation of the summit is hard won through effort and skill development.
Thanks for the positive comments. It is nice to hear something other than "omigod, that looks dangerous, how dare you do that..."
What a great trip and good experience.
I have seen so many kids this summer that actually lack the strength to pull themselves up a climbing wall. It's horrific. And not at all surprising given the constantly-terrified parents I see regularly.
It's good to see there are still a few parents willing to teach their kids instead of hide them. |
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New Orleans, Louisiana
USA
301 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2010 : 10:07 AM
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This is truly awesome.
We used to go camping when I lived in New Mexico and Colorado, but lost easy access to mountains when we moved to Louisiana.
I'd've killed for continuing experiences like your daughter will have. I really envy her.
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Kids go mountaineering
