Waterton Scrambling

*posted by Blair Piggot @ 9/18/2007 10:02:00 PM* 0 Comments

Climbed the South East ridge of Spread Eagle Mtn (Yarrow) with Trevor on Sunday. A cool breezy morning soon turned into an excellent and warm day on the mountain. It looked like there might have been a little activity on the route this summer. I hope so. It's certainly worth doing for an easy day out. I had previously graded it at an alpine II 5.6 but it's probably more like a 5.5. I'd love to hear somebody else's thought's on the route. If anybody wants to give it a go i have a pretty good route description and pictures.

Blair
ps: glad to see the backcountry closure is finally off.

*posted by chris g @ 9/18/2007 07:57:00 PM* 0 Comments

Complete access to the National Park and Forestry reserve has been restored. Let's hope there is still a few more days of good weather for rock climbing this year

I must tip my hat off to the National Park Staff for all the effort they have put into getting information out and dealing with stakeholders. Their friendly emails stand in quite stark contrast to the Forestry services threat of $5000 fines for illegal access.

*posted by chris g @ 9/10/2007 08:42:00 PM* 0 Comments

For those who haven’t been to the park recently, after recent paving work, a series of rumble strips have been cut on the by the park gate and down the hill after the information bureau.

Here’s what I have found so far. The strips leading to the gate, while annoying, are probably a good idea. However two or three would have sufficed. From what I can see of the strips going down the info bureau hill, cyclists hate them, late at night a few cars are now driving on the wrong side of the road, and speed is the best bet to make the huge width of the strips less traumatic to your car. I guess the only consolation is the large amount of noise they make can be heard quite well at the park superintendent’s house. I wonder if park vehicle shock’s will wear out early as an added benefit of this extra safety feature?