This trip involves a fair bit of elevation gain and it did not disappoint.

We were off at 8:30 in the cool morning air with a stiff climb up the Rambler's own Centennial Trail(North end). We had met Tom in the parking lot, who was interested in joining us and finally caught up to us about two thirds of the way up the trail. He was to stay with us for the length of the trip (as our guest - unofficially of course) and will provide us with photos. Where the meadows begin on the north ridge of Collembola we left the trail to climb straight up the ridge. After quite a bit more of vertical we arrived at the cliffband with the scramble 5/6 section. We all made short work of that arriving at the summit of Mount Collembola at 12:30 for lunch.

After lunch it was on to Mt. Allan. Between the summit of Collembola and the Collembola/Allan col there is a small summit with what appears to be major cliffbands.

However, Rita and Sim were able to show us a scramble route over this so we wouldn't lose any elevation. This was perhaps the most fun scrambly part of the trip. We continued on to the col for a while in a brief rain shower

and then up, using a rough trail that connected to the Centennial Trail along the south ridge of Mount Allan. We arrived at the summit around 2:15.

Here a second lunch was convened. This summit seemed to be a little colder than the first.

From here it was mainly downhill and most of this trail was new to all members of our party except Rita. It is quite a spectacular walk traversing most of the alpine section of the north ridge of Mount Allan.

It eventually drops into the valley between Collembola and Allan where we encountered our second shower. Soon after this the loop was completed at the Collembola meadows. The trail down was nice but it did seem to go on forever especially after it flattened out. We were all glad to see the creek crossing bridge, knowing it was only a short distance back to the cars. The last of us were at the parking lot by 6:15, where we said our goodbyes to Tom and suggested he checkout the Rambler website. It was a fairly quiet ride back into town, especially in the back seat.

Thanks to Sim, Rita and Chau from Bob - Coordinator and Scribe - for joining me on a rather spectacular loop close to town. Even with the tiredness at the end of the day it was worthwhile, eh?

As a footnote to this trip: Tom took a little longer than he planned in getting photos to me, because he went mountainbiking the next day. While mountainbiking he took a bad fall and broke his hip. He underwent surgery in Calgary and his wife came down from Edmonton to get him back home. All the best for a speedy recovery, and thanks for getting photos to us in rather adverse circumstances. Bob