NOVEMBER/DECEMBER ACTIVITY SCOREBOARD
November is the “shoulder season” between fall hiking and the commencement of Winter activities. Nonetheless we had 9 hiking and snowshoe events on our calendar, as well as a “social dining” event, our annual Christmas party and the Castle Junction Chalet weekend events in early December.
Some Highlights
Hike Brown-Lowery Provincial Park |
Backcountry Ski Pocaterra Cirque |
Hot Drinks in North Glenmore Park |
Snow Crystals – Highwood Pass |
Castle Mountain Chalets Weekend
|
Boom Lake Snowshoe Trail |
November Club Meeting
Last month’s club meeting was held on Tueday November 24 at the Scarboro Community Centre. This was our annual Christmas party, well attended, a good time had by all. Presenter Andy Gamp gave an informative and exciting slide show on the sport of paragliding.
December Club Meeting
There is no club meeting in December. See you in January.
January Club Meeting
Tuesday January 26, 2016 – 7 p.m.
Join us at the Scarboro Community Hall, 1727 – 14 Ave SW. The presentation for the evening will be:
South American Adventures
CORE members Geoff and Lynn will be presenting on their amazing trip to South America.
SAFETY
We are now into Avalanche Season. Evaluate the risks before heading into the back country. You can find current conditions on the Parks Canada Mountain Safety website.
PLANNED EXCURSIONS
Assiniboine Lodge
Mar 6 – 9, 2016
We are starting to make plans for a weekend at Assiniboine Lodge. We will be taking a helicopter to Assiniboine Lodge March 6, returning March 9. During the stay we will be able to backcountry ski or snowshoe. The lodge provides guides and avalanche gear (transceivers, probes, and shovels).
Anyone interested, please check the CORE calendar for further details.
EXECUTIVE CORNER
Our Club
Article written by CORE member Carol Miyagawa which appeared in the AHA Winter Newsletter.
CORE, which celebrated its 16th anniversary in November, is a hiking club… and more. When members browse through the activity calendar for the Calgary Outdoor Recreation Enthusiasts, they find mostly hikes, snowshoe trips and x-c ski trips, but they also find some unusual outings. Take the club’s fall 2015 schedule, for example. Besides the 15-20 hikes posted on the calendar, members were able to choose from the following activities:
- Two cycling trips – one featured the fall colours in K-Country at their peak
- Eight urban walks — where members could enjoy beautiful sunsets and evening twilight
- A Labour Day weekend backpack trip to “Little Yoho”
- A chance to hike through the tunnel at Crypt Lake in Waterton National Park
- A Thanksgiving hiking weekend at Ribbon Creek Hostel
- Two educational presentations at the Scarboro Community Hall, including one by David Peyto who is attempting to walk every street in Calgary
- An early winter snowshoe trip to test out the snowshoes and winter gear
- A backcountry ski day
- A shopping discount night at MEC
When winter arrives, CORE members can look forward to many snowshoe trips in K-Country and the National Parks, as well as a few winter hikes. In December 2015, CORE members stayed at the Castle Mountain Chalets for a weekend of snowshoeing and cross country skiing… just another example of how members are always coming up with a “new twist” on basic activities.
CORE Featured in the Alberta Hiking Association Newsletter
CORE is highlighted in the AHA Winter 2016 newsletter as the “Featured Club.” If you scroll down to the end of the newsletter, you’ll see the article we submitted about CORE “Crypt Lake hike” By David van den Eikhof.
New CORE Maps Page
We’ve added a new CORE Resources page to store trail maps that may be useful to club members planning trips. It contains links to just a few maps so far, but we’ll add to it as the need arises. If you are planning an outing, and would like a map posted for the benefit of the people joining you, or simply as a resource, please drop a note to the club Webmaster.
Ask your Exec
If CORE members have any questions about club policies or procedures, just email us at mailbox@corehike.org and a member of the Executive will respond. If the question is of general interest, we’ll include it with the answer in the next newsletter.
Q&A’s
HIKING STORIES
This month we’d like to initiate a Hiking Stories section to spice up our Newsletter a bit. If any of you members have an interesting story to relate about one of your outings, and you would like it to appear in the CORE Blog (newsletter), kindly send it in MS word format along with a PIC or so to the CORE Communications Coordinator (or to mailbox@corehike.org). We’ll likely edit it a bit (we have some skilled proof readers on the CORE Exec), and will include it in one of the upcoming newsletters.
The first submission is about a trip in the summer to Crypt Lake, written by David V., and originally appearing in the AHA Winter Newsletter.
Crypt Lake Hike
By David van den Eikhof
Reprinted from the AHA Winter Newsletter
While there’s no shortage of great hikes closer to town, every now and then I’d suggest taking the three hour drive down to Waterton Lakes.
A group of seven from CORE, the Calgary Outdoor Recreation Enthusiasts club, met there in the morning at the boat dock (most after a windy night in the main campground). The boat dock? Yes, you have to start with a ferry ride across Waterton Lake to take the classic Crypt Lake hike. The trail rises from a sheltered landing up Hell-Roaring Canyon.
Okay, so the canyon and its falls weren’t roaring that morning, it being late September and the creek fall-quiet, but the wind provided a substitute roar. Back on the boat, white capped waves crashed on the boat bow and windows, and then along the trail Burnt Rock Falls were blown into full reverse more often than not. We were blown about too, invigorating us once we were out of the lower forests.
Well, the unique thing about the hike is the fifteen metre long cave-tunnel you have to traverse on hands and knees, trying to find space for your pack—in pitch dark if your companions are just in front of you. Emerging, you’ve made it through the sheer rock wall into the Crypt hanging valley?
Nope. You’re still on the cliffs and have a bit of via ferrata cabled scrambling to do to get around a precipitous corner. It’s really not bad, but one member of another group needed an extra two or three hands to steady her. Next, on a mid-cliff bench you find the lake outflow emerging from a gap in one cliff for a short trip through lush forest before a plunge over the next ledge. Nestled just above, Crypt Cirque itself was—I won’t say calm—but calmer.
We could have spent an hour walking around the fair-sized lake, just barely traversing US territory protected only by the steep cliffs, but we opted for a more leisurely lunch and watched some goats on the mountainside high above the lake. Back to a rendezvous with the boat, completing the 17 km round-trip. We didn’t have to hurry to get there, but we definitely didn’t want to be stranded, right? Be there at 5:30, or else. Hmm. Now what were we to do at 6:00 when there was still no boat in sight? Someone had a cell phone and the boat company’s number and reception! With the high winds, they had to use our craft to also run the main tour cruise to Goat Haunt down the lake. They showed up half loaded from that direction about an hour late. At that point we were just grateful not to be stranded when some of us had to find space on the back or upper deck—open to further wind spray exposure.
Now then, let me tell you about some of the really memorable hikes we did this summer…
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY
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Roughing it at Ribbon Creek Hostel
Relaxing Above Memorial Lakes
View from Wasootch Ridge
Porcupine Ridge
Porcupine Ridge – End of trail
The Colonel’s Cabin *
Baldy Pass Trail
Lillian Lake Hike – New Galatea Bridge
Halloween Walk Garrison Woods
