A Party on the Peak

Photo: Even the universe is on board with Ha Ling Peak as a Place to Party on my 65th.


I have dropped into a trough of relatively few demands from a high that had me scatter-brained and spread in all directions like buckshot. I kept my head—mostly—by remembering that it would all pass and relative calm settle in.
And it has. ** sigh **
Time to focus on the big goal of 2010: my birthday climb of Ha Ling.
I like celebrating big birthdays with big events. The last one the boys, wives and I took on the Grand Canyon. What an unforgettable trek that was: the highlight of a very highlit year.
Ha Ling is a bald peak that towers over town. It’s impossible not to notice, and it occurred to me that I would love to see the view from the top as a place I've been. It is a suitable goal for my 65th. I would also like to join the large percentage of residents, older and younger, who have stood on the top. You can’t get lost, although some trails are better than others, and the real challenge is at the top where the scree is the old “two steps forward, one step back” slog. The trek down can be a bore on sore muscles.
The view, they tell me, is spectacular, and it seems a fitting place to raise your arms in pure joy of accomplishment.
I don’t know what the aboriginals called it, but Ha Ling was called The Beehive for much of the white man’s presence in the Bow Valley. It is possible it didn’t have a name because the natives considered the valley sacred and used it for ceremonies or quick passage.
For most of the years Canmore was used by the white man for travel, coal mining, gas station pit stops, Olympic training and tourism, it was The Beehive, which is absolutely resembles.
That changed in 1980. The story is that in 1896, some white men bet a local cook named Ha Ling that he couldn’t climb to the top in less than 10 hours. He left at 7 and was back for lunch. They wouldn’t pay because they couldn’t see the flag he'd planted and didn't believe him. So he led a party to the summit to show them his flag. He left a bigger one behind for those who declined to climb and collected his fifty bucks.
It became Chinaman’s Peak to honor his feat but the name didn’t become official until 1980. That only lasted 17 years, when it was renamed Ha Ling Peak.
His feat is way more impressive than mine since there is now a parking lot half way up and clear trails to the top. He was up and down in one day from the valley. I plan to be up and down in five hours, from half way.
I have seven months to train.
Good, the waistband on my pants has shrunk and my arms have lost their tone. I’d like to greet my 65th year in shape. I’ve invited anyone who wants to go with me for A Party on the Peak.
SLI