Rambling Pete on Walking Places

Canada 2010 - Wind Pass at Canmore

Day : 18th September

Weather: Sunshine - perfect

Route: Wind Pass near Canmore

Oh lucky me. Not only are a couple of good friends putting up with me for a few days, they even arranged the weather for me. Stef and Emma migrated to Canada from sunny Manchester a few years ago now and haven’t looked back since. They are living in Canmore (near Banff) and what great scenery they have on their doorstep – an outbreak of rabbits and big mountains. They kindly took me up a valley to West Wind Pass – part of the Fairholme Range high above Canmore. Brilliant weather, with big blue skies, no grizzlies and fantastic views from the top – we’re having a party to celebrate. Last time they had a party in England I was a little bit poorly for a while – a red wine 'catherine' wheel I seem to remember – that and nearly falling down a set of steps. But we’ve all done it haven’t we? ..aren’t parties brilliant, I only had to peel about 7 spuds, and hand a hammer to Stef…I had to have a glass of red wine after that….only the one mind you.

The walk itself was fairly straightforward, a drive out past the winter cross country course and up a gravel road called 'The Smith Dorrien Trail'. We parked a few miles along this and walked up a steady ascent on snowy slopes up to the West Wind Pass. It was great and the trail took us up to a col between two peaks - on one side called Ha Ling Peak and the other called Mount Lawrence Grassi, and on the other were the three sisters - Faith, Hope and Charity

This bit is from Wikipedia about the peak - 'The name of the mountain has been subject to much controversy. Originally, the mountain was referred to locally as The Beehive. In 1896 Ha Ling, a Chinese cook for the Canadian Pacific Railway (some say the Okaloosa Hotel in Canmore) was bet 50 dollars that he could not climb the peak and plant a flag on the summit in less than 10 hours. According to the Medicine Hat News of October 24, 1896, he started the ascent at 7:00 am the previous Saturday morning and was back in time for lunch. As nobody believed his story, he led a party of doubters to the summit where he planted a much larger flag beside the original, this one visible to the naked eye from Canmore. The townsfolk referred to the mountain as Chinaman's Peak in his honour.

The name Chinaman's Peak did not become official until 1980. Later, in 1997 it was renamed Ha Ling Peak as the term Chinaman was viewed as derogatory - I don't know why? Englishman, Chinaman - what's the difference?

But we didn't scale any of the peaks we stayed on the col and mootched around taking in the fantastic views. Scooby Roo the dog was growling at something the other side of the valley but we couldn't spot anything untoward, no late bears, just a few chipmunks. Another grand day out on a company holiday.