Nine years ago I took her up the East End of Rundle for her first scramble, thinking it would be a piece of cake. But like baking your first cake, it was a lesson in uncertainty, took significantly longer than it should have, and there were surprisingly a lot of tears and cussing. I thought we'd never hike a mountain together again. Fast forward nearly a decade later, after we'd scrambled close to a dozen mountains together, I brought her back to her first peak and proudly watched her redeem herself on one her biggest defeats in life. It was a fiercely windblown day, and there were a couple of moments where she looked Rundle square on and the unease of memories past crept back in, but then she summited and proclaimed victory at the top, like a boss.
![Scrambles - East End of Rundle-17](https://farm1.staticflickr.com/655/21481342134_9ae89098b0_z.jpg)
Anita poses victoriously on the East tip of the summit. You can almost hear an audible, "Take THAT Mt. Bitch!"
![Scrambles - East End of Rundle-1](https://farm1.staticflickr.com/629/21483060893_eaa872e11e_z.jpg)
![Scrambles - East End of Rundle-2](https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5832/22091669132_39bdff3528_c.jpg)
Anita's favourite stalling tactic when she's tired: stopping, and "surveying" the trail ahead. Half the time, she's looking at the wrong mountain.
![Scrambles - East End of Rundle-3](https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5806/21916306838_a85e07e673_z.jpg)
The only way to escape the wind yesterday was to hug up against the rock face.
![Scrambles - East End of Rundle-4](https://farm1.staticflickr.com/584/22078006666_2af13eb6c6_z.jpg)
More trail surveying.
![Scrambles - East End of Rundle-5](https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5761/21917277949_e739d21984_z.jpg)
About two thirds of the way up.
![Scrambles - East End of Rundle-7](https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5710/22078002816_519f51ea71_z.jpg)
The view backdropping our day included Ha Ling, Lawrence Grassi, and the Three Sisters.
![Scrambles - East End of Rundle-6](https://farm1.staticflickr.com/701/22078004336_c461ae5a63_z.jpg)
Final push towards the summit. Anita does a little bit of technical scrambling.
![Scrambles - East End of Rundle-9](https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5721/21917272999_4d144e7f1f_z.jpg)
Me on the East tip.
![Scrambles - East End of Rundle-11](https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5827/22114245911_eee30bde29_z.jpg)
View of the south side of the Canmore Corridor's peaks.
![Scrambles - East End of Rundle-15](https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5740/22104184915_cc3c72c0e5_z.jpg)
The summit ridge.
![Scrambles - East End of Rundle-16](https://farm1.staticflickr.com/696/22114240201_268f7bf4b3_z.jpg)
Anita chilling in a beautifully constructed windshelter on the ridge.
![Scrambles - East End of Rundle-18](https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5656/21481341094_37b2f2213d_z.jpg)
![Scrambles - East End of Rundle-20](https://farm1.staticflickr.com/773/21491932273_2288e3305c_z.jpg)
Me on the next major summit tip to the Northwest (look close, I'm that speck at the top).
![Scrambles - East End of Rundle-12](https://farm1.staticflickr.com/767/22104188105_060dd55536_z.jpg)
![Scrambles - East End of Rundle-19](https://farm1.staticflickr.com/760/21915998610_91d2912417_z.jpg)
And finally, our descent back to the car.
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