Mt Indefatigable - Fatty

More short rides around my favourite trails in town ensued for the rest of the week. Prospector with Lafarge workmates was good & I'm slowly getting used to this 29er thing - I was very pleased to clear the entire G8 the other day while out riding Megan. I've been able to ride everything in the past, but not string it all together - there was one particular creek exit that would always trip me up.

On Saturday, after a late start we drove up to the Kananaskis Lakes to ascend Mt Indefatigable. This appeals by just having a great naval name (too much time spent studying Nelsonian history & watching Hornblower). With many variations possible of the name - popular ones being Indefatigue-able & Indefeatable - we settled on calling it Fatty. It was supposed to be two to three hours to the southern summit (the less travelled route apparently, although it didn't seem so on the day) & we got off to a late start just before one o'clock. After less than a few minutes walking & just about to start climbing away from the lake we came across a woman with a freshly (obviously) broken ankle being carried down the slope by her father & son. She didn't seem in huge amounts of pain most of the time, but those carrying her were rather tired. Alex & I spent some time tag-teaming some others to carry her back to the parking lot.

We walked up through the usual variety of terrain - damp forest, exposed rocky ridges, some small meadows with nice flowers out & then a little more scrambling as the soft dirt trail gave way to rocks, rocks & some more rocks before reaching the final ridgeline & the weather station near the top. The view off the back wasn't nearly as exciting the one we'd been looking at on the way up. Looking across Upper Kananaskis Lake we could easily see (not so) Hidden Lake, the falls & across to Aster Lake & Warrior - the site of a ski-tour a few months ago that I found particularly gruelling. The descent was one of those that we were feeling in our quads the day after, but we were quickly down & driving home via Spray Lakes (saw a moose shortly after departing).

Finn taking it easy while Megan picks a route - Lower Kananaskis Lake down below

Upper Kananaskis Lake in front of Hidden Lake & Warrior