On Saturday September 6th 03, John Ionescu lost his life while climbing in the Lake Minnewanka area near Banff. I had the chance to meet John on the climb of Mt. Joffre. He had climbed more places and experianced life more than most people will in a lifetime. My condolences go out to his family and his many friends.

Note for June 14/15, 03: - We left the Upper Kananaskis Lakes parking lot at around 10:30 AM on Saturday morning. After following the Upper K. Lakes trail for a little over an hour, we branched off to Hidden Lake, then over the talus slope.

Once above Fossil Falls the route to Aster Lake is knee deep in snow for most parts. Half of the time I could stay on top of the crusted snow, but the other half was drudgery. All told it took us about 5 hours to reach Aster Lake. Temperatures were pretty cold on Saturday with low cloud and apprehensiveness among the group. That evening, while most of us stayed around camp, reserving our energy for the summit, John had different plans. John ran up Warrior Mtn. and was back down in camp before we had even finished eating dinner. He walked back into camp two hours after he left. I had climbed this same peak the previous season and it took me 5 hours to do the same trip.

We made a nice Alpine start on Sunday, waking up at 3:00AM to clear skies and off on the trail by 4:20. The route up to the base of the Mangin Glacier is pretty straight forward. The whole upper valley was covered with huge snow patches which made it easier to ascend than scree. The Mangin glacier itself was covered with snow so cravasses were not a big issue. Just as we roped up to ascend the North Face, clouds replaced the blue sky and engulfed the entire face. Visibility was really low and with white snow, and grey clouds all around it was kind of confusing to the brain. The face itself is in excellent condition and the shrund is hidden under alot of snow.

After about ten minutes on the summit with no views, we descended the Northeast Ridge with little difficulty. The described gully we used for descent was pretty icey so we set up a rappel. My memory of the walk out is not so good because I think I was half sleeping for most of it. I reached the parking lot at 8:30PM making it a 16 hour day. A bit too much for my first climb of the season.

Trip Paticipants: Marc Santarre(Trip Leader), John, Sandy, Mike, Jason, John Paul, Phyllis and myself.

Dates Summited -June 14/15,03

Elevation -3450m(11,319Ft.)

Elevation Gain - 1700m

Location - Kananaskis Lakes