CR2014: Not the Day We Planned

On July 31st Joan and I drove from Delta Lodge Kananaskis to tackle the Wasootch Ridge hike. But we hadn't even reached the highway when the TPMS (Tire Management System) went off again, just like yesterday morning.

This meant that we didn't have a very slow leak that had taken two weeks, since renting the car, to trigger the TPMS. We had a new leak that took fewer than 24 hours to raise the alarm. Joan and I were heading for a day-long hike whose trailhead might very well have no cell service. We turned around. The receptionist at the Delta Lodge was helpful and gave us a pass for the underground parking garage, where there was an air hose. On arrival we saw that the hose had no pressure gauge. A maintenance guy showed me how to use the hose (not necessary) but had no idea where there might be a pressure gauge (usually necessary). I gave the tire a shot and Joan and I returned to our room to sort things out.

Joan began by using her Verizon prepaid cellphone to call Hertz, the rental agency. Or, she tried to. When she turned it on she received two text messages welcoming her to Telus, a Canadian wireless carrier, but she couldn't place a call out. She could call customer service, but that connected her to Telus, not Verizon. All other calls yielded a fast busy signal. I could call her from my T-Mobile prepaid phone, roaming with Rogers Wireless, but she couldn't call. This blow shattered our already shaky relationship with Verizon, which will be the subject of another post.

The Hertz help line, reached via the T-Mobile phone, wasn't helpful at first. She told us that if we had an auto club membership we could have them come out and change the tire for the "doughnut" spare, at our expense. Or she could have Hertz come do it, again at our expense. Such a shame we hadn't paid for 24 road service, she said. Argh. We weren't going to ride a doughnut spare on the mountain roads and all the way back to Calgary.

The closest Hertz agency was in Banff, the agent reported, but it was in a hotel and therefore must be very small and probably couldn't help us. Well, give us the number, please. And what is the hotel? The Fairmont Banff Springs, a high-end resort hotel with hundreds of rooms, boutique shopping, and a huge conference center. We smiled. The odds were good.

We called, and Kane answered. He had a car in the same category as ours that was to be turned in at 2:00, and we said we'd be over asap to turn in the damaged-windshield and leaking-tire car.

The first structure of the Fairmont hotel sits on one side of a large traffic circle,

opposite the conference center.

The entrance to the Hertz agency is just beyond the circle. Kane was very helpful with the paperwork for the current rental car, and then it was time to wait for the 2:00 return car. Joan and I explored the shops in the hotel, and then walked a while down the Spray River Loop trail. There we saw glimpses of an elk,

and noshed on the snacks we'd brought with us. We returned to Kane at the appointed time.

The 2:00 car hadn't been returned yet. We waited a few minutes while Kane worked with a customer that wanted to rent a car one-way to Toronto, a very expensive proposition. Then our turn arrived, and Kane gave us a low-mileage Toyota Camry. That car came with an annoying Hertz NeverLost GPS that would loudly announce "updating" at random intervals, but we were happy for a solid car.

Joan and I can't say enough about Kane's helpfulness, friendliness, and energy level. We aren't alone in our opinion; see what happens if you google him. I was confident that he was a caffeine addict, but no, he said, he didn't touch the stuff. When the Hertz office closed at 4:00 he had some time off before starting his second job as a night accountant at the Fairmont!

The drive back to Delta Lodge Kananaskis in the Camry was pleasant and uneventful (except for the NeverLost). At dinner that evening we reflected on the day and realized that perhaps having a non-hiking day (it's hard to call it a rest day) was a good thing, for tomorrow we would tackle the Centennial Ridge Trail, the highest maintained trail in the Canadian Rockies.

Tonight there was a prerequisite for the Centennial Ridge attempt: food. The Delta Lodge Kananaskis restaurant and deli schedules do not cater to hikers who wish to make an early start, or grab a trail lunch the night before, so we had to stock up on snacks from the deli before it closed and stash them in the pocket refrigerator in our room.

Tomorrow would be the renowned relentless climb towards Mount Allen. The round trip is rated at 10 hours, so we'll see how far we can go before reaching a turnaround time, as with our earlier hike on the Windtower.