Lake Louise, Alberta

Earlier this month Ev and I once again crossed the prairies with Bettie Blue (my 1988 VW Westfalia camper van) for a holiday in the Rockies. For a number of reasons, not least of which being that I took up fly fishing earlier in the summer, I decided not to climb and scramble as usual, but rather stick to the valleys, streams, rivers, and lakes of Banff National Park.

Above are a few images from our sortie “out west.” Ev informs me that crispy-skinned pan-fried trout are her new favorite fish… which is a nice reward for doing something I’ll admit is almost as much fun as climbing. (-:

While we were in Banff we heard the tragic news that my long-time friend and frequent climbing companion, Peter Aitchison, had been killed in a fall while attempting an ascent of the south summit of Mount Victoria. This came as a real blow, from which I’m still recovering (ergo the absence of blog posts over the past few weeks).

We ended our trip a few days early with a visit to Lake Louise, where we could sit and take in the spectacular view that would have been Peter’s last… climb on, Peter, climb on.