Banff National Park, Alberta

My annual August visit to the Canadian Rockies has been odd this year. After encountering some vehicular hiccups traversing the prairies (ran out of gas, then Bettie blew a tailpipe an hour out of Calgary) I arrived in Banff and promptly succumbed to a bad cold (replete with aches, fever, nasty cough)—uncanny how you can tough things out all year, then as soon as you start to relax, BAM… you get sick.

As physical exertion was a challenge (sucking wind), the highlight of my trip was intersecting visits with friends, rather than the hoped-for summits. First long-time climbing mate Simon Statkewich, then Gregor Brandt and Janice Liwanag (all with their VW Westys—Gregor & Janice had been living in, climbing from, and blogging about theirs for four months) shared camp-sites at Lake Louise and Tunnel Mountain (I happily discovered that the latter has a few sites with a wireless signal from an adjacent resort hotel, so I was at least able to get some online work done while moping).

Images: Yours truly on a day recce to the Fuhrmann Ledges (photo by Gregor); Bettie on Tunnel Mountain, Cascade in the background; Janice & Gregor simul-rappelling off a trad climb, Back-of-the-Lake.