Welcome! Alberta has several excellent bloggers whose trip reports have aided me in planning over the years. They are my inspiration for contributing back and sharing my own experience. My posts alone should never be used as a sole data source for trip planning. Readers are expected to exercise personal judgement in deciding whether a trip is appropriate for their skills and conditions and are solely responsible for their own safety.
Most of my trip reports involve scrambling (YDS 3rd and 4th class terrain). If you aren’t familiar, consider joining a local outdoors club and/or hiring an ACMG certified guide. Do not head out without understanding the hazards as a mistake can be fatal.
Additional Resources
Apps:
- AvCan – Read the latest avalanche forecasts. Read and submit MIN reports.
- Alberta Wildfire Status Dashboard – Interactive mapping of current-year wildfires for Alberta
- BC Wildfire Service – Interactive mapping of current-year wildfires for BC
- FATMAP – GPS navigation tool. Great topo layers for trip planning.
- CalTopo – GPS navigation tool.
- GaiaGPS – GPS navigation tool.
- Trailforks – Mountain biking routes.
- AHS Mobile – Shows a list of the nearest Emergency departments, including estimated wait times.
Books:
- Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies – 3rd Edition
- More Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies – 3rd Edition
- A Peakbagger’s Guide To The Canadian Rockies – North
- David Thompson Country: A Scrambling Guide
- Mountaineering: The Freedom Of The Hills – General reference and skills refresher.
- Backcountry Avalanche Awareness – The AST1 textbook. I refer back every winter.
Websites:
- Avalanche Canada – Trip Planner – Polygons classifying ATES terrain for a few popular areas are provided. Clicking a spot opens the Avaluator to assist in evaluating against the avalanche forecast.
- Avalanche Canada – Mountain Weather Forecast – Meteorologists familiar with mountain weather patterns review various models and apply extensive expertise to interpret the data for you.
- SpotWX – Line-graphs from various weather models can be reviewed and interpreted by the user. This is my go-to for weather forecasts.
- Giant’s Gate – Scramble blog, mostly the Jasper area or northern Rockies. Covers some less-common peaks around Jasper.
- Bob Spirko – Scramble blog, mostly the central and southern Rockies. I find Bob and Dinah’s pace is similar to mine, which makes for easier trip planning. Whenever a trip report is available, this is my favourite source.
- Explor8ion – Scramble and Climbing blog, covers most of the Rockies. God-like pace, add extra time when planning trips.
- Canadian Cellular Towers Map – On days I need to stay in cell coverage, I use this map to filter for my provider and then pick objectives that are within line-of-sight of a nearby tower.
- Public Land Use Zones – Interactive mapping and other useful information for public land use in Alberta.
Peak Bliss 