Ha Ling Peak (30.09.2015)

Written by Damhenning (Dylan Moen)

Characteristic	Sport climbing
Duration	9h 30min
Vertical meters	609m
Map

Ascents	Ha Ling Peak (2,408m)	30.09.2015

Sysiphus Summit

Ha Ling (formerly Chinaman's Peak) is a monolithic peak that towers above Canmore, Alberta. The name of this peak has an interesting history.

"In 1896 Ha Ling, a Chinese cook for the Canadian Pacific Railway (some say the Okaloosa Hotel in Canmore) was bet 50 dollars that he could not climb the peak and plant a flag on the summit in less than 10 hours. According to the Medicine Hat News of October 22, 1896, he started the ascent at 7:00 am the previous Saturday morning and was back in time for lunch. As nobody believed his story, he led a party of doubters to the summit where he planted a much larger flag beside the original, this one visible to the naked eye from Canmore. The townsfolk referred to the mountain as Chinaman's Peak in his honour." - Wikipedia

Surrounded by other famous peaks of the Rockies, its unique form catches the eye. There are a number of ways folk ascend this peak, one of those means being a sport route up its face. 21 pitches of varying difficulty (up to 10d on the YDS) snake their way up its north face, beginning atop the scree slope beside the widely visited Grassy Lakes climbing area. A trail runs down its south facing aspect, offering an easy means of descent after a solid day of climbing.

I climbed this route with my father after having heard the story of his climbing the same route in the early 90's. We began our approach from Grassy Lakes at roughly 10 a.m., reaching the base of the route an hour later. After prepping our gear we began our ascent. The route took about 7 hours to complete, putting us at the summit around 6 p.m.. After a few photos we began our descent, realising we had forgotten headlamps once the sun retreated behind the distant mountaintops, silhouetting our natural skyline and darkening the woods around us. A walk turned to a brisk jog down the trail as we squeezed out what was left of the dying light. Reaching our car we headed back into town, making the requisite pitstop at Wendy's for a bowl of chili with some extra burger patties thrown in for good measure. All in all it was a beautiful day of cruisy yet exposed climbing spent being bombarded with stunning views of the Bow Valley.

Pictures