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This past weekend was a long weekend in Canada and most of my friends back east were bragging about the sunshine, the patio's, the beverages and the beginning of warm summer type weather. I on the other hand, was busy taking naps on Saturday and eating as much dinner as possible getting ready for the 1am start from the Moraine Lake road just outside Lake Louise Alberta. For a long time I've had the Aemmer couloir, a 600+ meter, 50 degree gem on the north face of Mt. Temple, burning a hole in my thoughts as I pondered my next objective. I did make an attempt in April but was turned around about 250 meters up due to very heavy sloughing initiated by what sounded like a small cornice failure. Although I wanted the line, I knew pulling the plug was right at the time and had no issues doing so.

Recently, the evening temperatures have been consistantly below freezing prompting me to start looking at some bigger lines knowing the stability was going to be there. On a recon mission, I took this photo which shows the Aemmer couloir from the road. I knew this was the weekend to hit it.



The road to Moraine Lake is still closed for the winter however it is snow free right now so I thought I would make the short 3 km approach to the trail head on my old beat up bike rather than taking the heel toe express in the boots.



Ditch the bike in the woods and head towards Lake Annette



On the skin track I was kept company by the pump up mix on the MP3 and the head lamp and realized that even solo skinners can pass the time with riveting photos like this



As I got ready to head up the couloir, I was greeted with an awesome sunrise. It doesn't get much better.



I took this pic from the base of the couloir on my previous, unsuccesful attempt. The weather this time was much nicer!



Topping out a few hours later I was able to have a quick bite to eat and enjoy the views to the North



East



And South



The selfie, just before dropping in



Switching to the go pro screen shots (can't edit the video for some reason).
I decided to drop in switch for one turn for no other reason than this is the way I was facing when I strapped in and I was ready to get after it



After a big ski cut up top, the snow proved to be the way I had assessed it on the way up after digging a number of hasty pits...rippable!



The snow was great however a biproduct of great snow and a steep consistant slope angle is slough which took some management to say the least. I have never ridden a line with such heavy sloughing and at one point I needed to stop while a standing wave formed in the middle of the line. The second, more favorable biproduct of great snow is something we all crave and something I have never experienced in late May before.....the faceshot





Who is happy to get this line off their hit list?? This guy!



Totals for the day were:

- 1809m gained
- 22 km traveled (6 on bike)
- about a thousands smiles


Thanks for reading and happy spring shredding!

Great TR! That sunrise photo is the shit!

Very Impressive TR! Solo style. I will have to make it up to checkout that part of the world some day. The snow looks fun.

Great classic

Awesome line, way to get after it!

More great Canadian Rockies snowboard mountaineering, love it! Well done, Temple is such a beautiful peak, and the Aemmer a fantastic steep line. Congratulations, thanks for sharing, and way to get it in what looks like fantastic snow conditions.

RAD!!!

Awesome job, Cam. Looks like great conditions.

Hoping to tick this one off next year. What time did you start?

Thanks Kev - and everyone else,

I started at 1am as the weather was really supposed to be warm the following day and I wanted to be off early. I had a route finding difficulty that cost me about 30-40 minutes heading up Paradise Valley. I was at the base of Aemmer at 5:30 and after a bite to eat, strapping the board to my pack and strapping on the crampons, I was on my way up at 6am.

I took a few rests on the way up, had a bite up top and sat at Lake Annette for a while soaking it in after my ride down so I definitely wasn't looking to set any speed records. Truck to truck time was about 12 hours.

witness the Sickness!
fukn great line man.

holy crap! score.