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And my feet and gloves are itchy again...

What are the vertical scars in the last photo? Water/snowmelt drainage? Landslide?

I doubt its a ski trail as you'd get killed at the bottom. And, how would you get up there to begin with.

We don't see mountains like this out here in the eastern seaboard.

Looks nice though, a scenery on top of a mountain. But a bit risky with gravity.
I do like the look of all the crumbling rocks. Where there any cacti?

jerrytheplater wrote: ↑Sat May 20, 2023 7:59 pm We don't see mountains like this out here in the eastern seaboard.

I don't see mountains like that here too. I have just cycled 140 kilometers today. I think the highest climb I had to do was to about 40 meters above sea level... On top there was this tower. That was my main climb of the day! I could see a few dozen kilometers away.

What are the vertical scars in the last photo? Water/snowmelt drainage? Landslide?

These are avalanche tracks above Lake Louise. Seen all over our Rocky Mountains.

Looks nice though, a scenery on top of a mountain. But a bit risky with gravity.
I do like the look of all the crumbling rocks. Where there any cacti?

No cacti are seen in Alberta mountains along the trails. Just some small succulents on rocks.









Some nice flowers in summer as well.

Cacti I've shoot along Arizona mountain trails.




Rocks may become crumbling along the trails and we have no choice but continue further up or down the trail.



Last 2 photos are taken from a ground trail that is 3000 m above sea level in Alberta. Bare rocks and no vegetation there. But we met some lonly female hikers.

You see a lot of avalanche stripes in the Cascade Mountains, too. I recognized them instantly.

Thanks George/Spence. Avalanche was not even in my thoughts, but makes sense. How deep does the snow get?

I looked up Lake Louise, the ski area gets an average of 178" of snow per year. Pretty heavy snow.

The Cascades get extremely heavy snow. From the Western Climate Center: "The average winter season snowfall ranges from 50 to 75 inches in the lower elevations, gradually increasing with elevation to between 400 and 600 inches at 4,000 to 5,500 feet. Some of the greatest seasonal snowfalls and snow depths in the United States have been recorded on the slopes of Mt. Rainer and Mt. Baker. The greatest seasonal snowfall recorded at Mt. Rainer-Paradise Ranger Station (elevation 5,500 ft) was 1,000 inches in 1955-56."

Lots of avalanches.

Wow!!! 1000". Wow!!! Thanks Spence.

That record was broken in the winter of 1998-99, when Mt. Baker, up near the Canadian border, had 1,140".

Those, of course, are the extremes. The quote above was about the Washington Cascades, but it's not uncommon to get above 500" many places in the range, even down into Northern California.

Nice Mountains
I was a very serious rock/Mt. Climber for my first 30 years
Climbed the Bugaboos in the 80s
Did some backpacking near Lake Louise also, such pretty country
I remember going barefoot for some miles on purpose because the landscape was pure moss and leaf mold
It was like walking on a thick carpet

In recent years I also started thinking much longer before climbing ridges like these:




Enjoying flatter wooded areas of this type.


Also lot of things to shoot and view there.

Wild spirea with beetles.


Wild lilies.


Blooming spotted saxifrage on rocks.

Awesome pictures. I really need to get out to the nearby mountains more, but I think I'll stay away from those ridges.

Some more of my older shots.



Fairy-Slipper (Calypso bulbosa).


This is also a saxifrage (Saxifraga oppositifolia).

Really beautiful pics!

More peaks to be climbed:





From the last weekend.