My original plan was to climb Heart Mountain and take the ridge over to Grant MacEwan Peak but my partners wanted to do Ha-Ling - it snowed throughout the week and they thought Heart would be dangerous. So being a good sport, I did Ha-Ling with them.

In 1896 Ha Ling, a Chinese cook for the Canadian Pacific Railway (some say the Okaloosa Hotel in Canmore) was bet 50 dollars that he could not climb the peak and plant a flag on the summit in less than 10 hours. According to the Medicine Hat News of October 22, 1896, he started the ascent at 7:00 am the previous Saturday morning and was back in time for lunch. As nobody believed his story, he led a party of doubters to the summit where he planted a much larger flag beside the original, this one visible to the naked eye from Canmore. The townsfolk referred to the mountain as Chinaman's Peak in his honour. The name Chinaman's Peak did not become official until 1980. Later, in 1997 it was renamed Ha Ling Peak as the term Chinaman was viewed as derogatory.

And yes, there was a ton of snow this weekend in the mountains. Micro-spikes were a must! We saw some kids on our way down trying to go up in Vans and runner shoes... That pisses me off because then someone gets injured and ruins it for everyone.

We had a late start as it is a short hike (3hrs). We trekked through the treeline quickly. A beautiful day with a nice sunshine to warm up.