BOU AVENUE
Mount Rundle First Peak
Taking advantage of the fine weather on 30 September 2008, I headed out to Banff National Park to ascend the First Peak of Mount Rundle as described in Alan Kane's Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies.  Another late start ensured that I would be returning in the dark, but because of the well-maintained access trail, I was not in the least bit worried.  During my ascent, the only route-finding hiccup I had was missing the faint trail at the start of the traverse below the cliffs (on my return, I built a couple of extra cairns to make the turnoff clearer).  I eventually picked up the trail halfway through the traverse and had no difficulties scrambling up the crux--a wide gully breaching the cliffs.  The slopes above the crux, though easy, seemed endless.  Kane fails to mention in his description that there are actually two bumps of roughly equal height at the top of the First Peak.  The first bump is easy to get to, but the second bump is separated by an incredibly exposed notch.  Getting across this notch certainly added some excitement to my day.  I had no issues on my fast descent and was back at the Bow Falls parking lot after a round-trip time of 7 hours 35 minutes.
R.I.P. This memorial was tacked onto a tree beside the trail to Mount Rundle.
If you look closely, you can even spot Mount Edith and Mount Louis. One of the few clearings along the trail offers this view of Mount Cory and Mount Norquay.
There are also a few shallow caves here. These are the cliffs that guard the upper part of the First Peak of Mount Rundle.
The trail is a little hard to spot, but it's worth finding to make the traverse simpler. The traverse continues across this scree slope.
You'll want to hug the base of the cliffs here. Sonny is nearing the end of the traverse.
Piece of cake when dry. This is the crux described by Kane.
It takes longer than you think to climb up this slope. Sonny slogs up the easy but long upper slopes.
I'm standing on the second bump. Sonny stands atop the First Peak (2808 metres) of Mount Rundle.  The Main Peak (2949 metres) dominates the background.  The true summit (2958 metres) is not visible here.
Another pointy peak for Calvin Damen to drool over... Mount Assiniboine is the most striking peak on the horizon to the southwest.
And there's good ol' Moose Mountain on the horizon! To the southeast is Grotto Mountain.
Looks like a rather complicated mountain to get up. Mount Peechee lies to the northeast.
Anyone know an easy way up Mount Girouard, if there's such a thing? The late day sun casts long shadows on Mount Inglismaldie and Mount Girouard.
It's much tougher now to access that mountain. To the north is Mount Aylmer.
Another Banff Classic! From this vantage point late in the day, Cascade Mountain is mostly in shadows.
It doesn't look it in the photo, but the exposure is pretty unforgiving on both sides of the ridge. This is looking back at the first bump from the second bump.
Great scree surfing here! Sonny begins his descent.  The crux is to skier's left of the yellow promontory far below.
Surprisingly, I saw two people descending from the Main Peak at the same time as me. The last rays of sunshine light up the big west-facing cliffs of Mount Rundle.