Heart Mountain Circuit, 2149 m, or red pine mushrooms.

With nice weather continuing, we managed to squeeze another rewarding trip this autumn. This time my companions were Ewa, Bozena, Jacek, and, routinely, Mike. Yellow autumn leaves accompanied us to Heart Mountain (in the background) and Grant MacEwan Peak (2149 m).

Though we came from 3 different places - Calgary, ACC clubhouse in Canmore, and the Dead Man's Flats (!), we were ready to hit the trail by 8:30.

It quickly became apparent that the day will be an excellent opportunity for mountain related photography, especially in the categories "Pretty women/sexy men in front of the mountains!"

We followed the Heart Creek Trail for about 20 minutes, but soon we started ascending the ridge to Heart Mountain.

The ridge quickly steepened up. In spite of its challenging angle, the ridge was pleasant to scramble as it was covered with either slabs or decent trails around them.

Being the last in the pack had some definite photographic advantages.

After about 2 hours, we reached the first, well-marked, crux point ...

... which made Ewa and Bozena tremble a bit (not really)!

They knew they could count on Mike's helping hands. 

To allow me to take a proper picture, Mike held Ewa's leg for a while. The whole scene was filmed by Jacek from above. You can see the crux being negotiated by Bozena - here, and Ewa - here. Brave women!

Ewa felt so relieved that she even ... changed colors!

Soon, though, it was time to face the second crux!

 

We had to scramble this depression ...

... and then to traverse the overhang ... 

... with an excellent, though somewhat industrial, view toward Grotto Mountain and Exshaw. It was a great pleasure to observe how all the participants managed to do it in style!

 Nothing could stop us then, so we quickly reached the top of Heart Mountain.

We had a chance to see how exposed was our scramble toward Heart Creek Valley.

After a short lunch break ...

... we continued our hike over a picturesque ridge ...

... toward Grant MacEwan Peak, seen in the distance. 

This part of the hike was very pleasant for me, comparable only with the pleasures of the cultish Pocaterra Ridge (see the fotoreportaż if interested). 

From the top of Grant MacEwan Peak we got our first view of, what Ewa correctly identified as, Barrier Lake in Kananaskis. 

It looked it could rain for a while ...

... but eventually the strong wind pushed the clouds away. Only Mike and the ladies had difficulty controlling their hair - see the short film about it here. 

Just before going down, we were rewarded by the rainbow, associated for Mike with his well-known commitment to LGBT cause. 

Beautiful slabs were making our descent easier at times, but - don't get me wrong - losing 900 meters of altitude was still very hard on our knees and hips. 

To ease his pain, in the forest below, Jacek started collecting mushrooms, coming down with two big bags of what he believed were "red pine mushrooms" (Polish "rydze"). 

From the bottom of the mountain, after making over 14 km, we had another chance to look at Heart Mountain ridge. This made Ewa and Bo to seek a solid support. 

In the clubhouse, Jacek promptly started preparing ...

... and serving his mushrooms to the gathering of hikers and climbers. The mushrooms were sauteed in garlic butter with onions, and served with solid doses of Krupnik (Polish honey vodka). This quickly happened to be an international hit! 

Seeing that no one is dropping dead, after emptying half of the bottle of Rioja wine, I ventured to try some of his mushrooms. They were delicious!!! My only complaint would be that I didn't have any visions that night, with the exception of the vision of going to the washroom. 

The next day, to prove to ourselves that we were not alcoholics, with Mike, we hiked Tunnel Mountain in Banff, in good time of 35 minutes.

We enjoyed the excellent views of Banff (also known as Canadian Zakopane) ...

... and of Mt. Rundle we scrambled two weeks earlier (see the photostory).  

In the afternoon, we met with Jacek and Bo to celebrate one of the best hikes ever (Heart Mountain Circuit) with well deserved bison burgers. 

During the supper, Bo suggested a new objective for our adventures - the highest Polish peak - Rysy!(the inscription on her shirt says "I have Rysy [marks] on my conscience.") 

I did Rysy a few times in the past, and I don't remember them to be so appealing. I think if Bo suggested Mt. Everest, my hands would likely sweat less! A very fine objective indeed, but can I take it on my conscience? 

(PR)