Party, Part Two

Photo: Yep, the peak is steep, sheer even. Fortunately, this is the front. I'm climbing the switchback trail on the back.











Perhaps a few details about the peak are in order. To start, it’s not impressively high, just 7,897 feet (2,407 m). I have climbed a 10,000 footer in Yosemite and been on top of 14ers, as the Coloradans call their impressive collection of mountains over 14,000 feet. (Full disclosure: “been on top of” is not the same as climbing. Some of Colorado’s giants have roads to the top.)
The trail is only 6 kilometres (or 3 miles in American) but the elevation is the trick. It’s a non-stop uphill slog that rises 2,457 feet (or 819 meters in Canadian). The guidebooks allow 1 to 3 hours to ascend.
Dogs are allowed.
They tell me it gets crowded on sunny days in the summer.
The local seniors hiker’s group with the terrific name the Meanderthals have a pic of them sitting on the top looking quite fit.
The other side has a sheer drop off rated at 5.10d (aka “sheer drop off”) and popular with real mountain climbers who want to tackle the longest pitch north of Mexico. I have fooled around with climbing, even climbed baby stuff or at a climbing gym, but nothing remotely like Ha Ling. I figure to watch them encouragingly from the top.
The area is lousy with rock climbing walls, pitches and cliffs. The Canadian Rockies are like baby teeth compared to those old timers further south. The Rocky Mountains are mighty but worn down from eons of erosion (and maybe rock climbers/hikers). Their flanks are rounded, their heights jut bluntedly into the sky. The sharp incisors of Canada’s much younger Rockies are half the height but replete with sheer drops and soaring peaks.
Ha Ling just juts into the sky, calling me to party at the peak.
Once up, I have been advised to also climb up Miner’s Peak to the east. The two are like a saddle, with Ha Ling the horn and Miner’s the back, so as long as I’m there, what the hay, eh? Rumor has it it is a 20 minute slog from one to the other. Any beer would be froth by the time I get to the top, so the refreshments will have to wait til we get back down...physically.
Emotionally, it will take a little longer.
But that’s what big birthdays are for, yes?
Training starts now. Everyone's invited.
SLI