Current status: tired legs, full heart, re-fueling with a cinnamon bun, looking out the window at Grotto Mountain from cozy downtown Canmore and it’s feeling like a good time to write about another big bucket list adventure in the books.
The Canmore Quad.
I first did the ‘Canmore Triple’ in 2018, a local challenge to climb three peaks (East end of Rundle, Ha Ling and run across town to climb Lady MacDonald). I was a baby ultra runner, overly confident (probably faster then I am now) and hungry to prove myself.
Then in 2019, a couple of us attempted a variation of the Canmore Quad (Heart, Grotto, Lady Mac, EEOR) but it didn’t go as planned, so while we still got a lot of vert and put in a long day, we didn’t get four peaks.
Then in 2020, Tania and I had planned to do it for her birthday, but the closure of Lady Mac the day prior prompted a change of plans, taking us to Mount Northover instead. The day that unfolded there changed my life forever.
Since then, a series of trail closures, other priorities, 200 mile training plans have meant the Canmore Quad has continued to elude me.
A couple guys I run with were planning to do the Quad this year so I worked up the courage to invite myself, but struggled with serious imposter syndrome.
Imposter syndrome. Now there’s a topic worthy of its own blog post. Even top athletes struggle with that ‘not good enough’ voice sometimes. It can be so pervasive, colouring every decision, impacting relationships and holding us back from all the beautiful things waiting for us. But we’ll get back to that another time.
There was a solid group of athletes already assembled. Brad, my Need for Speed co-lead and very talented runner, Aerobic Base Endurance run- coach Stewart, Climbing for Change race director Luke, Amy and Scott, both boasting 16 hour Canadian Death Race times, Robyn who just placed second in this years Near Death Marathon, and a Calgary runner named Jaime I’d never met before but who has done some impressive races. I was feeling older and slower than all of them, and seriously questioning if I was in over my head.
But can you imagine if I let that stop me from asking if I could join? I would’ve missed out on all the magic that unfolded across those four mountains.
We started dark and early, 5 am in the Safeway parking lot, and set out towards Grotto trail head near the Alpine Club for our first climb. Those first lung heaving breaths of a climb always leave me questioning if I have any fitness at all, but of course, I quickly settled in.
I know how to do this.
The overcast day meant we didn’t get the sunrise we hoped for as we came out above the treeline. But we were greeted by some mountain goats who seemed to float down those steep rocks with an enviable grace that I’ve never found.
Grotto is a beast of a mountain. Made even more difficult by the wicked wind and rain that came up as we reached the top of the ridge and started making our way towards the summit. There’s two ways up, a very steep climb with treacherous shale, or the ridge, which is a bit further distance, and also has some pretty technical sections. Given the conditions, I’m not sure our choice of taking the ridge out and back was the most expedient, but too late now. We were all in.
Luke and Amy opted to wait at a spot before the technical stuff started, while the rest of us continued, bracing ourselves against gusts of wind that seemed to pick up at the most harrowing sections imaginable.
I was lovin it. There’s been some heavy stuff going on this summer and I haven’t always felt like myself. In fact, I’ve noticed symptoms of depression: isolating myself, not wanting to do anything, not feeling joy from things I usually love, lacking motivation and the energy just to tend to basics. Blah. But being up there feels like the antithesis to feeling numb. It’s pretty hard not to feel fully and ridiculously alive when all your senses are lit up in the moment. Wind. Rocks. One foot in front of the other. More rocks.
I’m in no way suggesting that the cure for depression is to put yourself into risky situations just to feel something. Nor is a trip to the mountains a miracle cure for mental health challenges. Not at all. But for me, in that moment, I was reminded of what it feels like to be fully present, strong, capable, engaged. Alive.
The opposite of depression isn’t happiness. The opposite of depression is engagement.
I’ve missed that part of me that normally feels fully engaged. Being on that mountain felt like a recalibration of sorts.
And I was all here for it.
We hit the summit and snapped a picture to prove it even though all we could see was cloud and all we could hear was our jackets whipping in the wind.
One mountain down. Three to go.
By the time we got back to Amy and Luke, they were nearly hypothermic from sitting. Things can turn ugly so quick in conditions like that, so we hustled to get everyone moving and back to the protection of the treeline. Once we were most of the way down (and after a fall that had since left a VERY colourful bruise!) we took the connector trail over towards Cougar Creek, where the trailhead for Lady MacDonald starts. Those were some gorgeous couple kms of dreamy mountain trail that was very runnable. Not too techy or steep, we were able to move quick enough to get everyone back to feeling warm and energized for the next climb.
We had stashed a water refill at the trailhead and paused to load up. By this time we were 5 hours into our day and already behind schedule for Brad and Stewart’s goal time of 12 hours. I could tell they were disappointed, and was feeling a bit responsible for slowing them down, but they insisted they let that go and were just happy to be sharing the day with friends. Ok. I hope so. Onwards and upwards. Ha.
Lots more upwards left!
Lady Mac is a relatively easy trail. Some good switchbacks and steady climbs, only a few technical sections. We reached the spot I’ve always considered the ‘summit’ even though it’s not truly the top of the mountain. There used to be a wooden deck-like structure there (tea house? Heli-pad?) but that’s been taken out since I was last there, and now there’s a lovely bench. Brad flew past the bench and kept pushing towards the true summit, which I had always been told was extremely sketchy and not a requirement of completing the Quad/Triple. I yelled at him that he was working too hard. He ignored me.
We eventually reached a spot that felt like an appropriate false summit, and turned back before it got too risky. No need for an ego push for a full summit. We turned around to finish off our second mountain of the day.
As we got back to the bottom of Lady Mac and started on the paved path back towards downtown Canmore, Scott and Amy announced they were good with bagging two of the four peaks. Neither of them felt confident enough in their training for the year to complete the challenge, and committed to more hill training so they could try again next year.
We got back to the vehicle for a reload, said goodbye to Scott and Amy, (saw Robyn who opted not to join us due to injury concerns, and instead found some mud to bike through!) and then we set our sights to the southwest and our next two peaks. Ha Ling and EEOR.
On some of the gruelling climbs, Luke commented several times how he was looking forward to gaining some speed and distance on the run back across town and up Spray Lakes road to get to the other two mountains. But I wasn’t as keen. I warned him, it wouldn’t be as easy as he thought cause there’s a lot of what I cheekily call ‘douche-grade’. An incline that’s not steep enough to really feel like a climb, but not flat enough to be an easy run. So instead you spend the whole time trying to run, and seriously questioning your fitness as you wheeze your way up a grade that looks easy compared to climbing a technical trail, and yet leaves you feeling like a mesh bag of jello.
We ran/shuffled/power hiked the rather miserable 8k to the parking lot where we had another stash of water ready for a refill. We said goodbye to Jaime who had to bow out due to party plans later that evening. Extra kudos to him for joining us up the rather unrewarding douche-grade before turning around to call it a day.
Unfortunately, the water was past the trailhead for EEOR, so in the interest of not backtracking and getting unnecessary distance, we opted to do Ha Ling first. I say ‘unfortunately’ because the Ha Ling is the easiest of the four peaks and a great way to end a tough day. EEOR is pretty technical, and even more difficult to do when you’re tired. And although I still felt great and ready to climb, I was definitely not getting any less tired as the day went on.
It was down to Brad, Stewart, Luke and I as we pushed past the crowds of people on the trail. Ha Ling is relatively easy and highly rewarding with stunning views from the top of a very steep drop down the other side. This makes the mountain a tourist hot-spot, a ‘must do’ climb in Canmore. And on a fair weather Saturday in peak season, that means the trail was pretty populated with all kinds of folks taking on the challenge. Pretty cool to see so many families, kids and people who probably don’t normally climb mountains, out there giving it a shot. We overheard a conversation between a mother and daughter, with mom coaching her girl on how if she is brave enough to climb this mountain, she is brave enough to go to Kindergarten in the fall. Damn, right girl. You got this.
I started to need some of the same self-coaching on that climb. Still feeling good, but noticing the cumulative effort of all that elevation in my legs. Stewart however, wasn’t feeling so good. He was struggling with energy and feeling light headed and suggested he wasn’t sure he was up for four mountains. Luke agreed, saying he was pretty done with climbing, but they would decided once Ha Ling was done.
We made it to the top, got the mandatory summit photo, and bombed back down as quickly as my tortured quads would allow.
Just kidding. This isn’t torture. This is a privilege. How freakin lucky are we to have the health, fitness, time and support from loved ones to spend a whole day chasing summits? I’ll take the sore quads and faltering energy if it means I get more days like this.
Stewart and Luke waved their goodbye and turned to head down Spray Lakes road, pushing the completion of the quad to another year. Brad looked at me and asked if I had one more in me. Yep. Let’s do this.
Mount Rundle is a massive stretch of peaks that spans the distance between Canmore and Banff. Some brave souls traverse the whole things but that’s way beyond my skill level. Getting to the top of the most eastern peak (EEOR: East End of Rundle) is all it takes to claim you’ve completed the challenge. But damn that climb ain’t easy. It’s steep, technical, easy to lose the trail, and after three mountains, it proved to be pretty taxing.
I knew I was holding Brad back. He is an incredibly strong athlete and had earned a much faster potential time after weeks/months of training runs where he would get up to 2000m of gain in a single Wednesday night training run. In Edmonton. Where our biggest elevation change is maybe 45-50m hills.
That’s a lot of hill repeats.
I did a lot of hill training too (on Coyote hill in Whitemud ravine, the closest to mountain simulation we can manage!), but my training was a fraction of Brad’s and it shows. Thankfully he’s a pretty patient guy, and if he’s got ego, he doesn’t let it show, and he seemed ok with taking it slow to safely get up, and back down EEOR in one piece. There’s some sections near the top that require some scrambling which is pretty fun, if you’re into that, but every time I’ve done EEOR I seem to forget how difficult it really is. Also, by this time we were both tired and hungry, dreaming of cheese quesadilla’s at the top (spoiler, there weren’t any) and I had a few more good falls on the way down. Nothing serious. But enough that I had to take some deep breaths, re-up and focus.
Getting off that mountain and back to Spray Lakes road was a huge relief, and that douche-grade on the way up was now a welcome gentle descent, and we cruised down in no time. We made sure to ask for a ride from the parking lot we started in, so we didn’t have to run back to the hotel. Seeing Luke and Stewart, all clean and promising pizza was a pretty sweet finish line prize.
The stats for the day ended up being just under 60km, 4600 m of elevation gain and took us just under 16 hours.
Another goal checked off the bucket list ✅
Run me Wild 