SENDERISMO EN LAKE LOUISE: FAIRVIEW MOUNTAIN 2744 m

Click here to read the English version

Ya hemos subido unas cuantas veces las montañas que hay al norte del lago Louise (Big Beehive, Little Beehive, Devil’s Thumb…) así que tocaba aventurarse por el sur. Y ahí está Fairview Mountain.

Decidimos hacer la excursión bastante rápido porque entrábamos a trabajar a medio día y porque había tantos mosquitos en el camino que no había ganas de entretenerse.

Empezamos a caminar hacia la caseta donde alquilan las canoas; atención al precio: 105 dólares antes de impuestos por una hora de canoa. Debe de ser el negocio más rentable de la zona, madre mía que atracadores.

Antes de llegar hasta el embarcadero hay que tomar un camino a través del bosque. Lleva ya más de una semana sin llover y con un sol de justicia así que parece un bosque de abetos tropicales; tanto por la temperatura y humedad como por los millones de mosquitos.

El sendero asciende de forma más o menos suave hasta llegar a la zona de avalancha, donde ya asciende con más pendiente. Pasado ese punto se empieza a ascender hacia los prados alpinos que separan las montañas de Fairview y Saddleback y que dan entrada al Paradise Valley, al que hay que ir en grupos de cuatro o más debido a la presencia de grizzlies.

Desde ese punto empezamos a escalar hacia la cima de Fairview, en un ascenso muy pesado ya que cada vez que parece que has llegado al punto más alto siempre aparece más montaña.

En fin, acabamos llegando al punto más alto de la montaña y nos encontramos un cartel donde avisaban de que hay que volver por donde se ha venido. Resulta que esta montaña es famosa por la gente que se confía y cree que puede bajar por la parte norte, que no se puede, y acaban siendo rescatados por el helicóptero. 

Es divertido que aquí todo está rotulado en inglés y francés, incluso las patatas fritas de bolsa, excepto este cartel de advertencia que está sólo en inglés. Qué pillines.

Enrique & Marina

English version

HIKING AROUND LAKE LOUISE: FAIRVIEW MOUNTAIN 2744 m

You’ve seen us up the mountains North of the Lake Louise (Little and Big Beehives, Devil’s Thumb…) and now it’s the time to explore the South side. And we got started with Fairview. 

We woke up nice and early and walked at a fast pace because we had to start work after midday and, even more important, because there were so many mosquitoes flying around that they would bite you if you only think about stopping. 

The trail starts behind the Fairmont’s canoe rental house. Side note: it’s $105 for an hour rental plus taxes. $95 half an hour. Thank you very much. We’ve been doing some numbers and it’s probably one of the most profitable business in the area, if not the planet. 

The short trail that takes you from the back parking lot to the wharf (it’s called Fairview and it’s also a winter XC ski trail) seemed an impossible tropical pine forest: it’s been a while since the last rain and that morning was hot, humid and there were more mosquitoes than during the monsoon in Indonesia. 

The trail ascends gently for the first kms. At some point the trail crosses a section covered with avalanche debris, lots of fallen trees and so forth. Just before that section there’s a right turn that offers you a steeper path that criss crosses up and meets the trail again when it’s clear. We took that shortcut. The vegetation starts to be thiner and thiner up to a saddle where the trail forks into three: right to Fairview, left to Saddleback and straight towards Paradise Valley. To explore Paradise Valley, hikers needs to team up in groups of four or more and be loud due to the high activity of the grizzlies in this area. Parks Canada establishes the same rule every year when berry season is on. 

After the saddle, the trail (there’re two and they’re both pretty clear) climbs steeper up a rocky terrain towards the summit. We took the left switchback path on the way up because it look easier although longer. To be honest, the climb can be a bit annoying because every time you think you see the summit, it turns out to be a false summit and there’s another section waiting for you to climb and show you the next summit, which will again be fake. That happened to me at least three times. Maybe I’m just too optimistic. Or impatient. 

Anyway, we eventually made it to the real top where there was a man and a sign warning about the dangers of descending through the lake side. Apparently, there’s been people trying to get down that way that gets stuck and needs some kind of help to descend (aka helicopter rescue). 

A funny fact here, in Canada everything seems to be written in both English and French. Even the chips have the ingredients in both languages. We found very interesting that that sign was only displayed in English. Is it a coincidence?

Whatever the case, we did go down through the same side but took the other path which is straighter but it’s got loose rocks and soil and it’s more slippery. My gaiters came really handy here to keep sand and stones out of the boots. The way down was really fun and fast. We made it to work with plenty of time in case someone’s worried. 

Enrique & Marina