Home Introduction Climbs Scrambles Ski Ascents Photo Tour Links Guidebooks About
Evening on French Glacier, Kananaskis Country, Alberta Rockies
Here are ideas and information about mountain ascents in many different places including my playground, The Canadian Rockies. Many of the scramble peaks on these pages are described in the new edition of my best-selling guidebook, Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies, which can be ordered online by clicking here. This site also includes select peaks from the European Alps and Western United States. They were were great fun to ascend; Maybe you'll want to climb them too.
Scrambles, climbs, mountaineering, what's the difference? (the amount of scree?)
Scrambles are largely non-technical ascent routes up a peak, making for a low-stress way to summit. Scrambles are popular with soloists too. In dry conditions, a rope is not usually required, nor is any other equipment except perhaps an ice-axe. I'll admit, these are to promote my best-selling Scrambles guidebook.
Climbs are technical ascents and usually require a rope and some rock-climbing hardware, such as pitons, chocks or camming devices. May or may not involve snow, ice and/or glacier. Soloed by the hard-core crowd sometimes.
Mountaineering generally involves a nice mix of everything: technical rock, glacier travel, perhaps ice or snow climbing. Equipment list also includes a bit of everything: crampons, ice-axes, ropes, ice screws, pitons. Occasionally a solo pursuit.
Ski-mountaineering is a popular way to ascend glaciated peaks. This usually involves participants roping up and travelling on glaciers, and may require the use of ice axe and crampons when you can ski no higher. Requires specialized knowledge of glacier travel, crevasse rescue, avalanche avoidance, winter camping, and the ability to navigate in poor visibility. Serious stuff, not usually a solo pursuit, and almost never when travelling on a glacier.
For an excellent overview with info for climbing and mountaineering in the Canadian Rockies, courtesy Banff National Park, Click here.
Click here for climbing related Rockies accidents
Site contents:
Firsthand information to ascend summits in Canada, USA and Europe, either on foot or on skis.
Free photos of mountains, glaciers, lakes and passes.
Applicable guidebook ordering info and links.
Useful (and useless) links.
First hand hints on helping back problems. It works for me. Usually.
What is not here:
Investment or financial advice, gardening hints, cheap computer hardware, mutual funds, vitamins, hockey info, adult novelties, nude bodies, golf tips, games, screensavers or free software. Darn, eh? may as well surf away into the wild blue yonder. But there are those damn annoying ads! It's the only way I could get enough (free) space. Too cheap to pay...
WARNING
Contrary to what you may have thought, this site is not "Mountain climbing for dummies"! Undertaking any of the trips described herein could kill you. These ascents are not just a walk in the (National) Park, although many start out that way. You are responsible for your own actions, so if you're the type that screws up a lot but won't take the blame, please choose a different, more extreme sport and then let nature take its rightful course. This applies doubly to litigation lawyers. |
That's it! Enjoy your visit; Surf these pages. Perhaps you'll get ideas for your vacation or weekend. You might wish you had more time off, and a whack of free airmiles would help too...
Home Introduction Climbs Scrambles Ski Ascents Photo Tour Links Guidebooks About
© all photos copyright by the author 2001.