Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

Our Dec. 03, 2011 adventure took Dennis, Dee Dee and myself west from Cochrane, Alberta along Highway 1A then turning onto Highway 40 through Benchlands and Waiparous Village to the south end of the Forestry Trunk Road. Here we headed west again on the TransAlta Road into the Ghost Forest Land Use Zone. There wasn’t much snow on the roads at that point and conditions were good and the weather relatively clear.

Here we are pictured between markers 21 and 23 looking up the valley of the Ghost River… Our adventure was to first take us into this valley to the Banff National Park boundary but we first had to descend down Big Hill to marker 23. Pictured here, Dennis begins the descent… At marker 23 we drop over the bank and onto the dry river bed… We would later head up another valley to the right but first we headed left up the valley pictured earlier.

There are a number of berms on the river bed to negotiate. Dennis gave me a glimpse of his undercarriage as he dropped off the end of one of these… Reaching the park boundary we parked to take in the scenery… There are many hikes and climbs here and this time of year ice climbers like Dennis and Dee Dee frequent the area to pursue their sport. It is difficult to convey the scale of what is around you as you stand and look at the scenery. This picture does some justice… At the lower center of the picture you can see one of the many frozen waterfalls popular with the climbers.

Continued on next post...

After our stop we headed back out the way we came then up the next valley to the north into an area known as the Don Getty Wildland Park. There are a number of river crossings that form part of this trail… The valley beyond marker 39 is only open in the winter months, opening Dec 01 and closing again Mar 31. The trail is surrounded by huge mountain peaks and outstanding scenery. I got to see some wonderful sights before the weather came in and it began to snow. We stopped at another popular ice climb. If you look closely you can see a climber near the top right side of the falls… Looking back down the valley, Dennis and Dee Dee’s rig is dwarfed by the surrounding mountains. Our previous stop at the end of the other trail is over the back side of the peak to the left… Another shot of the falls shows a climber ascending the left side. The giant single ‘icicle’ in the center of the picture stands off the rock face by a number of feet. You can actually climb in behind a lot of the ice face. Amazing… We continued further along the winter trail until we hit the end, crossing the river a number of times. A couple of the crossings were a bit tricky because of big ice shelves that have formed at the edge of the water. I can attest to how slippery the ice is as I went down hard after my feet mysteriously left the ground. On the way back out, Dennis was to discover the slipperiness too but in a much different way… He had approached the shelf head-on but as soon as the wet front wheels hit the ice his van pivoted 90 degrees and precariously came to rest pointing down river and diagonal high-centered. What followed was the ceremonial dunking of his brand new axe into the river while retrieving it from the roof of the van and subsequent wading to re-retrieve said axe in order to try to chop away some of the shelf to get the wheels back on the ground… In the end, I carefully towed him back through the river for a second (successful) attempt. We traveled together back through all the water crossings then parted ways for the day as they camped overnight so they could climb the next day. I made my way back out the rest of the way solo as the roads were relatively easy knowing there were others behind me should anything happen. Was an awesome day and an excellent adventure. I hope you enjoyed the story.

Cheers!
Ian

Awesome, just simply awesome. I'm very jealous, but in a good way. In my opinion, the last 3 pics epitomize the Delica in Canada.

Looks like an amazing trip! I love snow driving.

very nice

Fishtank wrote:Awesome, just simply awesome. I'm very jealous, but in a good way. In my opinion, the last 3 pics epitomize the Delica in Canada.

You mean, stuck in a river?

Great post, OP.

Stuck, or not. Does it really matter?

Wow looks like you guy's had a really good time out there.

Thanks for all the replies! It was an amazing day for sure. I spent the whole day oohing and ahhing over what I was seeing. Not sure I even said anything intellectual the whole time.

Falco... it's only a 12 hour drive away... actually, less because it's an hour west of Calgary.

The last three pics are fun for sure. Yes, he was stuck but not too badly. If he was alone it would've been more difficult as the snowy section his front wheel is on is very smooth (and slippery) ice - I have the bruises as testiment to that. It was an easy tow back into the river and neither of us got wet feet despite having feet in the water. Getting stuck is really part of the adventure as mentioned.

I have video too but have to wait till tomorrow to download then edit as the editing computer is out of town with Linda. We are set to go back again on the 17th too. Can't wait!

Cheers!
Ian

wow. good show men,
wonderful trip. happy that the Delica L400 make it thru with more power.
glad your guys enjoying the trip ian and your friend.
cheers;
Mardy