Jake Kriger and his stepson Ezra, realized a dream of summiting Mt. Temple with their Yamnuska guide Fred Amyot on August 1, 2012.
Jake was happy to share his holiday experience with us.
‘Jake & Ezra Climbing Mt. Temple Trip: – July 30 – August 3, 2012
Ezra and I left Philadelphia in a cab at 6AM and flew through Minneapolis to Calgary and then drove in our rented testosterone fueled Mustang to Banff National Park arriving around 4PM Western Canadian time. We took a short 1.5 hour hike up Johnston’s Canyon to get our legs warmed up from traveling and sitting all day. It was good to breathe natural clean Canadian air.
After stopping to see a bear on the road, we stopped at Baker’s Creek Chalet for our first of many gastronomic experiences that set the standard for how well we would eat over the next 4 days.
We stayed at the Lake Louise Inn where we had the best view of Mt. Temple from our room and the essential hot tub downstairs.
The next morning we ate breakfast at Bill Peyto’s (of course) and Ezra declared that he could eat breakfast here every day and never get tired of it. Everything was so fresh and delicious.
To get our legs moving we drove to Lake Louise and then hiked to the Tea House on the Little Beehive – a 1,300 ft. elevation gain. When we got there we had soup and delicious bread while I explained to Ezra that tomorrow we would be doing 4 times this elevation gain in one day. The late afternoon we went to Takakaw Falls on our way to Field for dinner at Pig’s Truffle where Ezra had a dish that had more than 30 cloves of garlic and he ate more than half of them.
It was so good and memorable. The day ended with an auspicious rainbow heralding our big event the next day.
This is Mt. Temple in all its glory. It is 11,565 feet.
Our climb to the summit was a 5,500 foot elevation gain in one day.
We packed our backpacks with layers of clothing, gloves, rain gear and lunch and failed to get some sleep, feeling so excited about the next day’s departure at 6AM to climb Mt. Temple.
We met our guide, Fred, at 6:15 and drove to Moraine Lake to meet Vince and Logan, the other father/son team who would be doing the climb with us this first day of August, 2012. Nice, positive Canadians. Fred, our guide, was from Quebec with a French accent that oozed confidence and positivity. 7AM – Let’s go!
It was a very steep ascent with some places more challenging than others and requiring ropes for safety.
We reached the SUMMIT at 1:30!! We were exhausted and ecstatic. It was a spectacular view of peaks for miles. The clouds were hovering but did not disturb the amazing view. It did threaten precipitation which, during the descent, turned into light snow…..on August 1st.
Moraine Lake – where we started our hike 6 hours ago and 5,500 feet below to the parking lot.
The descent was harder, filled with slips on annoying scree and rocks plus one spot where we rapelled. A slow pace worked out well for all of us until back to Sentinel Pass and then we motored down the trail back to the cars.
One leg cramp responded very well to some rest with a gorgeous view. Ahhhhhhhh…….
Takin’ time to appreciate the colorful alpine flora that survives the extreme weather on the mountain.
The successful team.
5 went up and 5 came down safe and tired. (and ready for the hot tub)
When we got back to the car, we stretched and high fived each other, thanked Fred, said goodbye to Vince and Logan and headed back to our hotel in our Mustang to get to the hot tub and a warm soothing shower.
We celebrated that night with dinner at the Lake Louie Railroad Station Restaurant where Ezra ordered his first glass of wine because in Alberta, Canada the drinking age is 18.
The next day was our last day in the Canadian Rockies for 2012. Ezra and I went for a guided 3 hour hike on the Athabascar Glacier. We collected some pre-industrial age water melting off the glacier and enjoyed the colorful crevasses, millwells and gullies of glacial water.
Being above a rainbow for a colorful ending to a wonder-full trip that will be a memory for a lifetime.
With Love, (and happy to be home in one piece.)
Jake’
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