Achilles Spire Rock Climb

Earlier, at a climbing crag near Canmore, we got the recommendation to climb Achilles Spire (5.8) from a Canadian. On July 16th, we finally did it. To minimize the risk of falling rocks and because a bit of rain was announced in the afternoon, we wanted to be the first climbing the route. That meant waking up early again, at 03:45 am…yay! Just a few minutes after we started hiking to the start of the route, another couple arrived. We hurried up and outran them, fortunately. But at dawn, we also had to fight against an awful lot of mosquitos, buzzing around everybody in a cloud-like swarm, eating us alive. Seriously, there were at least 10 of them stinging you simultaneously! But we are proud survivors of this attack. Who knows how many climbers after us didn’t make it, left there sucked dry?

Well, after about 1 ½ hours, we reached the start of the route. The climbing was great. Especially the last pitches (8-12) were a real pleasure. As it was quite easy, we were pretty fast, beating our estimated time by far. From the top, we had a striking panorama of the Icefields Parkway, nearby Mt Hector and other glaciers. We took our time with enjoying lunch and the calm at the summit. While rappelling, we met again the couple who started with us and even another couple, so it’s a pretty popular route. After ~10 hours, we were back at the campsite, where we took a well-earned nap.