Yamnuska Summit

Yesterday we climbed the Yamnuska with Brad and Chad. It took us about 5 hours for the entire hike.

The mountain is the result of a thrust from the Mcconnell Fault and resulted in there being 80 million year old rock in the face of its cliff and 8 million year old rock at the scree slopes near its base. The route we took up the limestone mountain to the 2240 m summit was very challenging, as we did a 900 m elevation change in about 5 km.

At one point you have to scale across the sheer rock edge with the help of a cable.

To get down the front of the cliff face you run down the loose scree. It's so loose and steep that running is your only choice. We took video of each of us running it, and only Chad managed to fall.

The view looking down the scree.

The scenery the entire way up was amazing, with lots of snow and a sunny sky for the most part. Check out the pictures by clicking on the slideshow at the top left, more at http://community.webshots.com/user/craigswinson.

This was definitely a good hike to get us in better shape for the greatly anticipated mountains of New Zealand.