Climbing
Mt Temple SW Ridge – Rescue Report
At 11:00 pm on August 5, two people started up the regular SW ridge of Mt. Temple, in Banff National Park, AB with the aim of climbing all night to watch the sunrise from the top. They downloaded a GPS track off the internet and followed their phone all the way up to 10,500-feet until… their phone died. Now it was pitch black and they had no clue where to go.
They traversed 500 meters across a ledge in the wrong direction, over cliffs and across steep snow patches until the sun came up and they called for a rescue.
Lessons learned: Research the route thoroughly, learn to use a map, carry a paper copy of the route description and map, download GPS tracks onto both phones, and carry a spare battery.
Oh, and that Instagram sunrise isn’t worth risking your life for…
