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Calgary, Canada - 28th August 2011
By: smaug
Hi Mum,
Today we gathered together to say goodbye and wish a safe trip to Sigfrido, Krystal and Landroval who are travelling back to Europe .

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Posted Sep 8, 2011, 5:19 am
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Cascade Mountain, Canada - 3rd September 2011
By: smaug
Hi Mum,
although we got some rough weather over the last week, today it was a wonderful day (a tad cold maybe ), so smaug took us up to the mountains again . First we stopped at the Norquay Ski Resort parking lot, which was pretty much empty.
As we moved up the mountain we started having a good view (getting blinded by the sun ) of Cascade Amphitheatre on one side...
...and of the of the valley leading to Elk Pass on the other.
Moving further up we started seeing Banff and Vermillion lakes ...
...the front face of Norquay ski area...
...and the valley hiding Mystic Lake.
While we were wondering if we’ll ever go there and be enlightened by some mystic vision , we noticed the more mundane, but equally impressive, amount of snow that the clouds dumped on the top of Cascade Mountain over the last couple of days .
So, before pushing for the summit, we decided to get a sugar boost ...
...and spent some time resting and laying in the sun .
Eventually it was time to move on and, as the track was getting snowbound, things got exciting..although I am sure I overheard smaug using very different adjectives to describe the situation .
On the way we started seeing Mt Rundle...
...and the Spray River valley behind Banff .
Still the summit didn’t look much closer...
...while the snow was getting deeper....great for playing .
Anyway, we eventually reached the top and we were also brave enough to take a few photos in the freezing wind. We saw Lake Minnewanka...
...the mountains in the west...
...and the Bow Valley heading east .
And that was enough of coping with the freezing cold for me, so I hid back in the backpack until we reached warmer elevations .
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Posted Sep 13, 2011, 4:17 am Last edited Sep 13, 2011, 4:30 am by smaug
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Castle Mountain, Canada - 5th September 2011
By: smaug
Hi Mum,
Guess what? Today was a holiday in Canada, so we could take advantage of the lovely long weekend weather and head again to the mountains . After the usual long chilly walk at the beginning of the day, we emerged out of the trees and got greeted by a lovely little lake called Tower Lake.
From here we had also the first glimpse of our destination of the day, Castle Mountain .
Moving up a bit we reached another little lake, Rockbound Lake. As the name suggests , it’s fenced almost on all sides by steep rockwalls...
...which made us wonder how the heck smaug thought to get past that, but he said that the scree slopes on this side looked walkable enough.
And apparently they were, as we got to the upper ledge without any accident . From here we were able to see the Bow Valley in the distance...
...the summit of Castle Mountain...
...and Rockbound Lake just below us.
Moving on the landscape turned a bit “lunar” ...
...and as we approached the summit ridge some scary cracks allowed us to have a peek at the other side of the mountain.
Eventually we reached the top, from where we had a great view of the Bow Valley,...
...Vermillion Pass heading to British Columbia...
...and of Rockbound Lake, which now looked quite far away.
What a day !
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Posted Sep 30, 2011, 2:12 am
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Calgary, Canada - 28th September 2011
By: smaug
Hi Mum,
Today we said goodbye and wished a safe journey to HelgaHH who will start travelling to her next host in Germany tomorrow .

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Posted Oct 5, 2011, 2:24 am
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