10/20/2026
Tsar Mountain - August 13-16, 2026
To get to that spot in the first picture we had already driven 6 hours from Calgary (half on logging roads) and walked around 31km. During those 31 kilometers, we battled stinging nettle and devils club, crossed the braided river 25+ times, got stormed on while crossing the river, set up camp in the rain, walked way too long in Crocs Shoes , and vertically bushwhacked 1,000m up a headwall that had been ravaged by avalanches. All to arrive at this nice meadow with beautiful alpine flowers everywhere. A few more kmโs and we were at our camp for night #2. If you zoom in on the second picture, you can see our 3 tents near that sunspot in the lower left corner.
On summit day, we started in the dark and returned around 3:30pm. After a quick snack, we packed our bags and set off through the meadows to the headwall. Down the headwall we went, across the longest river crossing in the evening (the glacial runoff wasnโt cold at all), and then pulled out the headlamps to eventually find our spot for night #3.
The day out was a cool 24 ish kmโs and another 6 hours of driving. We did manage to avoid most of the devils club and nettles on the way out so that was a nice little bonus. Thankful for a crew that was ready to suffer for this one ๐