On Sunday, Sheena, Dean, Laura, Boady (le chien) and I did a little scramble up the East End of Rundle (EEoR).  As we noticed, Rundle Mountain is fairly large and stretches from Canmore to Banff with several peaks in between.  For this trek, we intended on reaching a spot aloft the end closest to the Spray Valley roadway and Ha Ling Peak.

It being Victoria Day weekend, we were surprised and not surprised by the amount of people at the trail-head.  Oodles and oodles of people were heading up or near Ha Ling Peak, with quite a few enjoying the biking in the valley behind Rundle.  I certainly longed for a weekday trip or somewhere down south of Kananaskis, where the people are scarce.  Nevertheless, we began our ascent.  With Boady on a leash, it was certainly a ball to watch him climb and climb without being tired or signs of slowing.  If only we could have his energy and drive!

Along the way, we noticed the weather.  Moving in from the west were several clouds of rain/sleet/snow/etc and a strong wind to boot.  We found ourselves donning wind jackets, fleeces, toques and mitts, only to take them off after 10 minutes when the sun returned.  The sights were spectacular when the sun returned, making for some neat shots of the surrounding mountains and valleys.  We pretty much tended to take all our pictures during the sunshine! Here’s one of Ha Ling Peak
and another of the ridge.

Sadly, the weather would keep us from heading much higher than about 3/4 to the east summit.  When we reached the large split/crevasse on the east side, we were inundated with snow.  With hoods up, and signs of more bad weather on the horizon, we made our return trip.  Overall, we were pleased with our hike, just over 3 hours of travel on the mountain.  And over a raspberry draft and grub at the Grizzly Paw Pub, we were glad we turned around when we did.  From the window, none of the mountains were visible as a good storm had blown in.