Nigel Pass (almost there)

 

On 16 of August the Relaxed Group, including Ela Tomczyk, known in some circles as "Pani Kierowniczka" (Madame Boss), Bożenna Pomorski, and this writer attempted to reach Nigel Pass in Jasper National Park. This all started however the previous day ...

... when the group of the nine members of Polish Men and Women Mountaineering Club of Edmonton arrived at the Beauty Creek Hostel. I have to admit that I found the process of the ladies preparing beds for themselves ...

... and their colleagues, who were to come later, to be ... very inspiring! 

After making our beds, we proceeded to the kitchen for the supper ...

... during which some dramatic scenes took place. Brzenna Brzemienna Bożenna perfomed her first ever "kraval" (in Czech language a hullabaloo, a tumult, or draka, wrzawa in Polish) ... you can see in this short - https://www.instagram.com/p/DNgj__Ko8di/

This didn't stop us from being at the trailhead at 8:00 am the next day.

Soon we had to deal with a "light drizzle."

We persevered regardless ...

... using an occasional cover of "good-to-stand-under" trees. 

We crossed a couple of creeks. Pani Kierowniczka demonstrated a good balance when "negotiating" this one - https://www.instagram.com/p/DNgk7IXolv8/ 

It looked that the day will be ours. We got some sunshine, which we hoped would dry up the mostly muddy trail. 

However, at 11:30, when we had still about 1.5 km to the pass, things took a turn for worse. 

It started to rain and it rained for about 45 minutes ...

... making us rather miserable. 

Cold and wet, facing the prospect of even muddier trail and possibly swollen creeks, reluctantly, we decided to turn back. 

As it often happens in these situation, soon it became sunny again, making the leader (almost) ... pissed. 

Pani Kierowniczka. looked like, was teasing me ... 

... maintaining that even Prezeses bow to her ... feminish powers!  

Desolated I was about to commit sepuku by throwing myself at these sharp branches. 

Luckily for me, it started raining again, justifying our decision to turn back.

After crossing the Nigel Creek for the last time ...

... we shortly reached our car. Altogether we did almost 15 kms of the challenging terrain with about 270 meters of altitude gain. 

Our boots testified to our honorable efforts. 

Back at the hostel, we met with our colleagues from the Ambitious Group who also failed to reach their objective - Mount Wilcox - because of the rain, wind and cold. We quickly moved toward the integration of our experiences, with the help of a few bottles of the excellent Rioja wine. The ladies even composed a new Club's Anthem, which involved some ridicule of the Prezes ... but this is entirely different story. :-) 

Yours truly ...

(PR)