Yesterday was an incredible day, filled with both happiness and fear. We decided to hike Ha Ling Peak, just outside of Canmore. Just me, the puppers and two girls under 10.
How Ha Ling got it's name
Ha Ling is probably the closest, steepest peak you can get to from Calgary, so it makes a good day trip. According to wikipedia in the late 1800s a man bet a Chinese cook $50 he couldn't climb to the peak in 10 hours. Not only did he plant the flag once, but he did it again with a much bigger flag so that they could see it from town.
The ascent
Climbing up was a little icy, and with all kids full of the sound of complaints. It's too early, I'm tired...how far is it, are we there yet. With crampons and strong legs we pushed on to the summit. Once we cleared the treeline there were fewer complaints and more exclamations.
"It's so beautiful."
Getting to the peak
The best bit of Ha Ling is that the views are panoramic in 360 degrees. On one side you can see the spray valley, and on the other you can see Canmore and beyond. On a clear day like we had you can see for miles.
This is when the adventure started
After making the summit, we started our descent. Of course being covered in snow, sliding down was just too tempting to pass up. The first little bit was perfect. Long slides, no trees and enough flat areas to catch your fall. Once we got into the trees though sliding on the trails was just not enough for the girls, and they begged me to take the "short cut." After a day of making good decisions, I made a bad one and we decided to cut through the trees to the bottom.
Thankfully I went first. I started my slide, leaning on my back boot. After about 10 seconds I realized I had made a horrible mistake. It was much too fast. Sliding out of control, I dropped to my belly and luckily grabbed a tree on the way by to stop my fall. Panic setting in, and yelling to the top I screamed.
"Don't come down. It's too icy, too fast."
But unfortunately they didn't hear me. Two rocket children were barreling down the hill towards me. Clearly also out of control, fear in their eyes. Adrenaline set in. I had to stop both of them from being crumpled by trees. My kid got to me first, I caught her hard and spun around. Putting her ass down in the snow, I didn't have time to think about whether she was ok. I charged up the deep snow just in time to catch her cousin before she went straight into a pile of branches.
No harm, no foul.
It's not often as a parent you're actually scared. Usually you give them enough rope to have adventures, but they're not in any real danger. This time, it felt a little more real. Ultimately they would have been stopped by the snow, or worse a tree. They probably would have just been a little banged up...
All of this happened in seconds. Once the adrenaline stopped pumping and we all had a chance to catch our breath we continued more slowly down the hill.
It was a good lesson for them, and a reminder for me. The mountains can be as dangerous as they are beautiful. Hopefully they'll take that lesson into the rest of their lives.
"Make good decisions."
Note: Some people will call me a bad parent. But I personally believe that some times you have to have adventures, and close calls - to remind you that bad things can happen. My girls will grow up knowing how to climb, and how to have fun, and how to be safe. And I hope not too many close calls like that when I'm not around. You can't protect them forever.