Here is a picture (left) of Paul Warman descending the log jam in Hood Creek (Kananaskis Country). What a day! We had gone to climb Waxy Referendum (WI3, 100 m), but the guidebook really bummed out on its description of the approach. The cited approach time is 90 minutes; after 5 hours of hiking in fairly light snow conditions we turned around. The guidebook writer had cryptically suggested that approaching this climb via Hood Creek was a bad idea. After five hours of toil for no result, the route came into sight maybe 30 minutes above us, but the light was already failing. At this point we decided that this book really couldn't be trusted! Ninety minutes of descent later, we hit a 20 m high jam comprising thousands of logs wedged into a narrow canyon, and had to abseil down, avoiding pools at the bottom. So now we know why Hood Creek is a bad idea - but not why the FA forgot how long the approach took!
Looking west from South Baldy, Kananskis Country
Saturday, 20 December 2008
Waxy Referendum - the climb that never was
Here is a picture (left) of Paul Warman descending the log jam in Hood Creek (Kananaskis Country). What a day! We had gone to climb Waxy Referendum (WI3, 100 m), but the guidebook really bummed out on its description of the approach. The cited approach time is 90 minutes; after 5 hours of hiking in fairly light snow conditions we turned around. The guidebook writer had cryptically suggested that approaching this climb via Hood Creek was a bad idea. After five hours of toil for no result, the route came into sight maybe 30 minutes above us, but the light was already failing. At this point we decided that this book really couldn't be trusted! Ninety minutes of descent later, we hit a 20 m high jam comprising thousands of logs wedged into a narrow canyon, and had to abseil down, avoiding pools at the bottom. So now we know why Hood Creek is a bad idea - but not why the FA forgot how long the approach took!
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