It’s a country that I called home for four years of my life, but until a week ago it had been more than three years since I’d set foot in Canada. I’ve come to the Canadian Rockies to enjoy some long, summer days. So far I have mostly been cragging, in the pleasant company of @sethkeena and @raphael.slawinski, among others. The first photo is from climbing on the Sugarcube, a handful of days ago. Yesterday I went mountain climbing for the first time of the trip. @jason_thompson_photos and I climbed the classic Tower of Babel, then continued up the north ridge of Mount Babel. We didn’t bring ice gear (which precluded descending the Fay Glacier), and upon reaching the north summit we decided to forgo the main summit, seeing how far away it was, and knowing we’d have to reverse the terrain afterwards. I cannot call the north ridge of Mount Babel a high-quality climb, but it was a good reintroduction to the peculiarities of the Canadian Rockies. It was for sure the most serious 5.4 rock climb that I’ve ever done! Even though I have spent a lot of time in Canada (mostly in Squamish), the Canadian Rockies still feel foreign to me. Perhaps that is because of something that I reflected upon yesterday - Of all the different mountain ranges that I have climbed in, I think that the Canadian Rockies is the range most dissimilar to all the rest. It is a range of paradoxes: Terrain that is often ugly, but other times ridiculously gorgeous. Climbing routes that are often dreadful, but nonetheless very alluring. A climate that is very dry, yet somehow a forest floor that is covered in a thick bed of moss. Rock that is terribly loose, but forms very steep walls. In any case it is a mountain range full of adventure, with relatively few climbers and climbing routes. @patagonia_climb @petzl_official @scarpaspa @totemmt