Page 46 - DreamScapes Magazine | Spring/Summer 2022

ADVENTURE
Adventure
Above the Crowds
Mountaineering in Canada’s Rocky Mountains
BY NANCY O’HARE
Has your mind ever floated alongside the silent whir of a mountain breeze? Beware of such a calming state, a craving that flows so intrinsically it defines you. Dare you stop after just one trip?
My grandmother, Carrie Shouldice née Eyres, peered across this same valley. Like mine, her eyes looked higher, past pine trees in 80 shades of green towards dull granite. Dull rock striated with cracks, creases and hidden clefts turned simplicity into an intricate maze of the unknown. Our goal— although 104 years apart—was the upper tip of that hazy point of rock, Mount President, in Yoho National Park.
My grandmother spent the summer of 1913 helping her uncle set up the Alpine Club of Canada’s (ACC) Cathedral Mountain Camp on the shores of Lake O’Hara. Like many alpinists, the spores of wilderness trickled into her veins and would not let go. A year later she returned to summit Mount President. The climb earned her membership into the ACC. Nowadays, anyone can join for around $50.
The Lure
Imagine a place where every direction presents longer ridge lines, deeper glacier dips and crag- gier cliff bands. Imagine feeling exhilarated to wake up with the sun at 5 a.m.
The Beginning
Outdoor adventure swept into my own blood by my grandmother’s taste for untainted mountain vistas. I followed the same course—albeit swap- ping woollen knickerbockers for synthetic trekking pants.
Gear-laden and with knee-saving walking sticks, we left the cushiony seats of our vehicle one summer morning. Takkakaw Falls bid us adieu with its watery call as we wound along a pathway strewn with pine needles further into Yoho, a Cree expression for awe or amazement. Three hours later, we arrived at the Stanley Mitchell hut—our home for two nights.
46 DREAMSCAPES SPRING/SUMMER 2022