Snowshoeing Lineham Cliff Trail December 28, 2015

A friend of mine called me up around Christmas and wanted to get to the mountains.  He was going to be home for Christmas and lives away from the mountains so we decided to go Snowshoeing.  I had never tried this before (snowshoeing) as I usually cross country ski.  I figured Lineham Cliff trail would be pretty in the winter and I was right.  I had to get back to work on the day we chose so we headed out really early in the morning.  We were the first set of tracks on the snow covered road as we entered Waterton.  We were on the trail by about 8:30 am and had finished by about 12:30.  Snowshoeing is a little more difficult than I had thought.  I had hiked this trail a few months before and it took us much less time.  The trail along the Ruby Ridge slope was also pretty packed down and was on an incline so you had to walk and try not to slide down the slope.  You also use different muscles for hiking or walking as you have to lift you foot higher and keep a wider stride as you go.  The day was gorgeous, it could have been a little clearer but the over cast snowfall was pretty as well.  We had not a breath of wind which is very rare in Waterton and the temperature was just cold enough that you didn't have to have too many layers.  I of course still sweat profusely but I always do...I did forget my headband and had to hike without my glasses as it got to foggy on my lenses.  We returned a little later than I should but still got in a good 3 hours at work.  The track for this hike is broken up because my phone must have got too cold and restarted itself at the half way point of the hike.

Blazing a trail in the morning, first tracks on the road!

Rowe Mountain at the start of our hike

Winter Wonderland!

Previous picture was looking back on the trail, this is from the same spot looking forward.  Love the snow on the trees!

Clouds clearing around Buchanan Ridge

Close up of snow capped Buchanan ridge

Change of socks, feet were getting a little cool

Hard to get traction on some parts of the trail.  This is the slope of Ruby Ridge I was talking about in the description at the top of this blogs entry

Creek along the way covered in snow

Emerging from the trees, we were definitely the first tracks on this snow in some time

Our view of Lineham cliff...snow fall making it not as clear as I would have liked but still beautiful

Looking North to Blakiston, this ravine is the route you take up Blakiston

Lineham Peak to our South

Zoomed picture of Lineham Cliff

See how sweaty I got!

Starting to head back

Sun peaking through the trees

Almost got full sunshine at one point

Little clearer on Buchanan ridge on the way back

The end

Video at half way point of hike

Google Track of Hike (two parts):

Track up Lineham

Stats of Track:

Total distance: 3.52 km (2.2 mi)

Total time: 2:22:55

Moving time: 2:22:55

Average speed: 1.48 km/h (0.9 mi/h)

Average moving speed: 1.48 km/h (0.9 mi/h)

Max speed: 14.84 km/h (9.2 mi/h)

Average pace: 40:36 min/km (65:20 min/mi)

Average moving pace: 40:36 min/km (65:20 min/mi)

Fastest pace: 4:03 min/km (6:30 min/mi)

Max elevation: 1866 m (6123 ft)

Min elevation: 1546 m (5072 ft)

Elevation gain: 333 m (1092 ft)

Max grade: 23 %

Min grade: -13 %

Recorded: 12/28/2015 8:25 AM

Track down Lineham

Stats of Hike:

Total distance: 3.58 km (2.2 mi)

Total time: 1:41:40

Moving time: 1:19:29

Average speed: 2.11 km/h (1.3 mi/h)

Average moving speed: 2.70 km/h (1.7 mi/h)

Max speed: 4.85 km/h (3.0 mi/h)

Average pace: 28:26 min/km (45:46 min/mi)

Average moving pace: 22:14 min/km (35:47 min/mi)

Fastest pace: 12:23 min/km (19:55 min/mi)

Max elevation: 1863 m (6112 ft)

Min elevation: 1551 m (5088 ft)

Elevation gain: 21 m (69 ft)

Max grade: 10 %

Min grade: -24 %

Recorded: 12/28/2015 10:52 AM

Blakiston Summer 1996

This was a very memorable hike.  A group of friends decided we wanted to hike Blakiston.  None of us had ever hiked the mountain and we really didn't know where we were going.  Some of us had just graduated from High School and this was one of my first times using my Minolta 35mm film camera, I had got for graduating, on a hike.  I wasn't very good at taking pictures as you can see from how blurry some pictures are.  Young people don't remember the challenge of film cameras that you never new how the picture turned out till you actually developed the pictures.  Anyways we headed up the trail that day.  We had talked to someone who told us to go up and over the Lineham Cliff first and then it is an easy summit.  Well we did it, and survived.  The Lineham Cliff is a sketchy trail that the park doesn't suggest using anymore.  We were young and dumb and we did it anyways.  As we neared the summit the weather got really nasty and cold.  At times we could see icicles on the rocks, it was below freezing and it was windy.  As a result we didn't stay at the top very long and quickly came down the drainage basin south of the summit.  We should have taken this route up but we learned the hard way.  Once we reached the Lineham Cliff trail below the weather was pleasant and a lot warmer.  I'm sure we had at least a 20-25 degrees celcius difference in temperature from the top to the bottom.  I don't think I've had that extreme on any other hike.

Getting ready to traverse the Lineham Cliff

This was the sketchiest part where you have to straddle the cliff, and below you is like a 100 foot drop

Almost at the top of the cliff we had to take a cliff shot, pictures never do justice

Scaling the cliff just north of the waterfall

A little cave on the ridge between Hawkins and Blakiston

Coming up the north side of the ridge between Hawkins and Blakiston with red rock canyon below us

Summit in view but clouded over

Some of the icicle's we saw

We also had to hike through some snow near the top

False summit near the top getting pretty tired but almost there

Summit Cairn in view

Freezing cold and windy but loving it

This was about the only direction from on top that we could see anything, this is looking down towards Crandell Lake campground

Coming down looking towards Lineham Lakes

Coming down, blurry shot

Not sure what we are doing here?

Group shot looking towards Lineham Lakes

Found a little snow shelter to hide under

At the end, mission accomplished

Approximate path we took for the hike

Mt. St. Victoire 1998

This hike was while I was a missionary for my church in France.  On a day off a group of us drove to this mountain and hiked it.  It wasn't the highest peak I've done but it was probably my first hike in a non pine tree forested area.  The day was beautiful and the view was nice from the top even though it was a little hazy in the distance.  This mountain is featured in paintings by Paul Cezanne.  The one thing I found great about this hike was seeing the nuclear reactors in the distance.  Reminded me of the Simpson!

Picture with Nuclear Reactors in the middle

This is looking west towards Aix-en-Provence

Me on the top with Aix in the background

Church near the summit of the mountain...don't get that in Waterton!

Approximate path we took for our hike

Akamina Ridge Summer 1999

This was a very hot day and one hike that I actually ran out of water on, luckily there was a lot of snow pack to get more water from.  I had been camping the night before in Glacier park and drove up that morning to Waterton.  I even got my first speeding ticket on the way up.  Anyways our group started early and we had a great hike.  None of us really knew the way up from Forum and I have since learned there is a trail.  The way we went was fine and I did it the same way a couple years later.  This path makes it easier to do Forum Peak, because if you take the actual trail from Forum lake you go up the ridge between Wall and Forum lakes and you have to double back to get Forum Peak.  Anyways great hike and beautiful day.

Picture of our group heading over to the high point of the hike directly behind us

On a high point of the hike with Kinnerly and Kintla peaks behind us

Approximate path we took

Bears Hump January 1, 2000

There were a lot of people doing things for the first time in the new century and millennium so we decided as a group of friends to do our own "first."  So after a dance on new years eve we headed up to Waterton to be the first to climb bears hump in the new millennium.  We had quite the blizzard driving on the way up and some of our group turned back as the roads were to treacherous, but the remaining group forged through and had a great time.  We sat/slept in our vehicles at the parking lot for the hike and waited till morning.  One friend even brought a tent and slept in it, the ranger came along and said we shouldn't pitch tents in that area but he was ok with it for this night.  Eventually the sun started to come so we headed up the hike and got to see the sun rise...well not really.  Because we didn't realize that in winter,  Vimy peak would be obstructing the sun rise because in the winter the sun doesn't rise very high in Canada.  It was still a fun day and we had our claim to fame.

Our group on the dawning of the new millennium!

View of Waterton Lake that morning