BOU AVENUE
Mount Inglismaldie

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My scrambling buddy, Dan Millar, celebrated his 40th birthday on 15 September 2001 by joining me on a long and painful ascent of Mount Inglismaldie in Banff National Park.  The usual approach route goes up a dry, rocky stream bed which is choked with overgrown bushes and fallen logs.  For almost three hours, we were constantly climbing over, under and around a tangle of obstacles.  By the time we reached the open scree slopes above tree line, we were already both physically and mentally weary.  Nevertheless, we pressed onward, but a few hundred metres below the summit, I hit the proverbial wall.  Suddenly, every little step became a struggle of epic proportions as I fought to catch my breath, maintain my balance, and avoid falling asleep.  With much difficulty, I eventually dragged myself up onto the 2964-metre summit.  While it took me over six hours to reach the summit from the trailhead, Dan was at the top half an hour before me--not bad for an old man!  Although the surrounding views must have been terrific that day, I was frankly too tired to really care.  In fact, I was already worried about my sore feet,  the lateness of the day and the fact that we still had a lengthy descent before us, not to mention the dreaded bushwhack down the stream bed.  Despite our growing thirst, exhaustion and pain, we carefully descended the scree slopes and bashed our way through the stream bed before eventually reaching the trailhead in the dark.  I later treated Dan (and myself) to a vegetarian pizza at Boston Pizza in Canmore--a rather delightful and delicious end to an otherwise hellish day.

	This outhouse is near the ruins of a couple of log cabins located improbably somewhere up the rocky stream bed.
	This sun-bleached (and rather short)  wooden cane was stuck in the summit cairn.
	Mount Aylmer grabs all the attention across Lake Minnewanka.