Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

The Alberta Speleological Society is assisting with a cave diving expedition at Castleguard Cave in April. We are supporting a team of English divers in pushing (extending the known passage) in the hope of increasing what is currently Canada's longest cave.

The English team is currently organising their equipment and currently has some gear that needs transportation from Vancouver to Canmore/Calgary. I thought I would post here in the hope that one of my fellow, handsome Delica owners might be venturing over this way in the near future and could assist with transporting two large scuba cylinders and 10-15kg of rebreather absorbant.

I could meet you at Revelstoke or somewhere in Eastern BC if you weren't heading all the way over. I would certainly like to reward you with a slab of beer or something. If you're interested I can take you on a tour of Rat's Nest Cave in Canmore, which is easily accessible and a great intro for beginners.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact me.

Cheers Scott

Here are some links about the club and the caving trip:
http://caving.ab.ca
http://freecal.brownbearsw.com/ass?KW=c ... 2009-04-01
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castleguard_Cave

Castlegaurd!? Gnarly man! A little FYI about it for those that don't know - it is tied with one other European cave for the furthest one can get from an entrance of all the world's known caves. Getting to the ice plug at the limit of exploration (way under the Columbia Ice Feild) is an epic adventure. AND, there is a 20 some km backcountry ski trip just to reach the entrance - Have a great expedition. Hope lots of new passage is discovered and surveyed

Thanks mate, I'll hopefully have room for my camera and will post some pics.

Scott,

Are you one of the party of 3 I met last spring at the Big Bend that had gone most of the way up there on rental skis before the depth hoar under the isothermal pack did you in? (I was the guy in the Delica at the parking lot shaking my head in wonder, appreciation and amazement).

One of the real neat things that I love about the approach to Castleguard Caves that we have often seen during our ski trips in on the way in is something you will very rarely see in the Rockies: several wind affected orange-weathering dykes that were probably exposed after recent glacial melt. The unweathered part is greenish in color and probably diabase (igneous rock intrusions are very rarely seen in the Rockies, unlike the Canadian Shield). If you do head in that way watch out for it on the SW Slopes of Castleguard after you leave Saskatchewan Glacier, about an hour after you have climbed off the top of the lateral moraine. Look in the cracks and you can still find artifacts left behind by the military who trained in that area during WWII. I always thought that it looks like a ballroom floor and it would be a great place for a wedding reception if you could fly all your guests in. Guess it's lucky it's a Park or probably everyone would.

Are you stockpiling the gear in Canmore? If you need help co-ordinating 'unofficial' storage for gear at the Crossing, let me know, may be able to help.

G'day

The only skiing I've done on the Icefield's so far is at Molar Meadows, lot's of hiking in Summer. I did see some photos at the ASS annual meeting of a party from Edmonton skiing up there. It may have been those guys?

I had to wiki to find out what a geological dyke was. Are the ridgebacks (razorbacks or hogbacks?) found in the foothills on the way to Calgary another example of this or something different entirely? Are you planning on skiing up around that way soon, or is it only exposed in Spring? I need to ramp up my ski training.

TBH I'm a relative new-comer to the club and this is my first trip to Castleguard. Currently I'm assigned to "Sherpa Out" which is the team hauling gear back out but I will pass on your offer to those co-ordinating. Thanks for the offer, look forward to meeting you sometime.

Those guys (and a girl) I referred to were also doing a reccy for an upcoming trip into the cave, and I suspect it is probably this trip.

If I recall correctly the landform you may be referring to when you go to Calgary is a Roche Moutonée made up of limestone. However for those who have travelled the Icefields Parkway you will have passed another rare piece of the Canadian Shield that has come to the surface 1km South of the Crowfoot Viewpoint (near Bow Lake). It's called the Crowfoot Dyke and is actually almost 3km long, starting near the Bow River and ending near Helen Creek. It's a pretty unremarkable rock cut however, and you don't see many tourists stopping to take pictures of it!

When the conditions improve we'll have to get you out sometime soon, not much skiable terrain worth getting excited about right now.

Sounds like you're flying in there in the 'ship' ith all your gear. Lucky guy, the perfect tour, except for when you leave the cave mouth going up over the meadows, it's pretty much either downhill or flat all the way out! I'll PM you if I hear of anyone coming this way from the coast that has some room for that gear.

We got up to Nigel Pass yesterday, it's a beautiful day trip. The snow was pretty variable, I took XC skis and must have post-holed 3-4 klms. But there was some recent tracks, perhaps a week ago that we were able to follow part of the way. We've got about 15cm of snow here in Canmore tonight, looking forward to doing some more skiing on Sunday and next week. Did you get a 'dump' up there as well?

Thanks for the update, we're considering going up and skiing Hilda Ridge on Sunday, or alternatively Chickadee Valley. We just finished discussing a spring tour to Four Point Cabin on the other side of Nigel Pass. If you were breaking thorugh doesn;t sound too good. Must be upslope conditions, because we only got about 3cm here and then it stopped. Delica is not happy, sitting in the stable waiting to go on a road trip.

It was quite slushy/wet down here but I imagine it would be nice up high. We're headed to Yoho tomorrow.

Have a fun & safe trip tomorrow.

I've just found out this has been taken care of. Thankyou to anyone who gave it consideration.

Cheers

I run the Rampart Creek Wilderness Hostel 15km south of the Big Bend before parkers ridge. If you need a place to store equipment or gear let me know, or if you need an extra porter I would be willing to help haul gear in. I have two pack dogs aswell. When is this mission taking place?

If any other delica owners need beta on ski conditions on the icefield parkway or need a partner let me know. or if you wanna ski some hidden stashes.

tyler.heather wrote: I have two pack dogs aswell

Sounds very cool - could you post a picture or two of these guys in action?

tyler.heather, how are conditions in that area, E.G. Hilda Ridge?

We'll stop by and say hello when we go by, maybe this Sunday or Monday if we can get away, our Delica is a common sight on 93N year round.

High winds around the parkers ridge area in the last few days, its probobly quite wind blasted by now, snow is quite punchy up there at least 30cm of facets on the bottom. There are usually some good turns ontop of the shoulder where the wind has less impact.
stop by for tea or coffee, maybe ill ski with you for the day. I drive a white exceed with crystal lite roof

That's what I thought, I last saw you parked at Hector. You can often see our Chamonix parked at Sask Crossing Warden Station. My kids like Hilda Ridge as they know it like their backyard, and I like it because it's a safe place to take them when conditions are iffy and not as crowded as Bow Summit. See you sometime soon.

You have internet at Rampart Creek? Must be satellite. Hosteling Association must not be as stingy with their budget as they used to be, or maybe you have to pay for it yourself. You definetly should set up a webcam pointing across the flats where the large Grizzly has been seen numerous times last year.