Airplane Slide - 8/6/12

[h96s99]

We headed west from the Kagel lean-to, across the first brook. Ten minutes later we were on the second brook, heading SW. We followed it for roughly 20 minutes until the tributary we needed entered from the right (at about 280 degress). We wanted to confirm it was the correct tributary so we followed the main brook left for a few minutes. We saw the rubble field in the woods to the right and knew were were in the correct place.

We climbed over the trees and rubble, and started following the brook/slide. Easy going over gorgeous terrain. Evetually, after maybe 75 minutes, we saw the remnants of a rubble field just to the left. We climbed up and confirmed it was the old rubble slide on Algonquin. From there we also saw the Airplane slide. We dropped back into the drainage and proceeded upward. 10 minutes later we hit a cairn and headed right, up a very small, dry brook. Less than 10 minutes up that little brook, we headed right at an intersection and a few minutes later we were at the base of the slide. Ascending the slide was easy, with spectacular views the whole way up (the angle and terrain reminded me of the Bottle Slide). Route finding required some minor care, especially along the angled headwall at the top (we followed it up and right, then climbed through easily at a small weakness about 90% of the way up). From the top of the slide, we crunched through about 100 yards of cripple bush and we were on the summit.

Total time (Heart Lake to Heart Lake) = 7.5 hours. That included an hour on the summit and frequent stops along both slides.

What an amazing day.