Nice report thanks, especially appreciate the Mt Nibblock recommendation.

Angus Gordon
Bainbridge Island WA

www.wordless.me

On Tue, Jul 19, 2011 at 5:16 PM, brett rueff <rueffy@hotmail.com> wrote:

> This trip was to put the Van to a good test.  3 climbers/hikers needed to
> move from vancouver to the rockies and climb 3 peaks in 3 days and then get
> me home.  We were expecting long days on the mountains and the van had to be
> able to provide mobility, sleep and food quickly with minimum fuss.....and
> it was great.
>
> Went from Vancouver to Salmon Arm after work on thursday.  Salmon arm was
> in the process of being invaded by bikers for the first "sturgess north".
>  Negotiated some free camping just north of salmon arm thanks to a very
> gracious local.  Van went great up the highway...(this is where I apologise
> to the purists) as the EJ22 powered me along at about 120km/h.....only had
> to gear down from 4th to 3rd for two hills on the coquahalla and was able to
> maintain 85-95km/h up those hills.
>
> Next day up and drive to lake Louise for our first scramble - 3 hours up
> and back the tower of babel near moraine lake.  Back to the van, over to
> lake louise campground about 8pm for a quick bite and crash to bed.  Woken
> up at 1am by the "wild life" making screaming noises of pleasure.....who
> does that in a 450 site campground!!
>
> Next day drive to Banff and slog our way up the long but not techinal Mt
> Rundel.  Back to teh van exhausted at 7am, meet some friends in Banff for a
> BBQ (cooked next to the van) and back to castle mountain campground at 11pm.
>  No time to even do the dishes - crash to bed again....thank goodness for
> the quick conversion from car to tent!
>
> Up the next morning, back to Lake Louise for what I consider to be one of
> the finest hikes/scrambles i've ever done.  Highly recommend Mt Nibblock
> overlooking Lake Loise.  It was a long 9 hours but well worth it.  Once
> again back to the van exhaustsed, over to the campground for food and more
> sleep.
>
> Monday we drove back to vancouver.
>
> Great trip.  Cant believe how many westies I was - at least 20 if not 30
> both on the road and a lot in the national park campgrounds - thanks for all
> the waves guys and girls.  I was in the grey van with the Hella driving
> lights I tend to flash at fellow westy's.
>
> A few niggles to deal with - exhaust header has a rattle.  New
> powerstearing pump leaked a little - fixed it enroute.  Skylight rattles -
> need to fix that.  Sliding door internal cover pops out and jams the sliding
> door a couple of times....but otherwise a great trip - why I love the
> westy....transport, food, shelter all rolled into one package that lets me
> move 4 people fast and get what we want done!
>
> Brett
> Langley, BC
>