Best Mom Ever! - Rafting the Grand Canyon

My mom is awesome! For her 60th birthday, she wanted to do something special so on her request, the whole family met up in Las Vegas. This was not to hit the strip, but to venture down the Colorado River in a raft for three days with Western River Expeditions. Let me put this in a bit of context. My mom is very outdoorsy and the opportunities Angela and I had to spend our childhood skiing, camping, hiking, and at the cottage in Northern Ontario significantly influenced my passion for my current outdoor pursuits. As a kid, mom taught me how to J-stroke a canoe, run rapids, windsurf and waterski. She is definitely the water lover in our family! When she suggested rafting the Grand Canyon for her birthday, I was surprised, but not shocked. She wanted to do something special that the whole family would enjoy and remember forever and try something new at the same time!

Running rapids on the French River with my mom back in 2007

Crowfoot Glades and Narao Shoulder

Instead of skiing the Wapta over Easter, we checked into the Mosquito Creek Hostel at the last second and did some day trips around the Icefields Parkway. We had brilliant sunshine and frigid temperatures on Saturday and made out way out to Crowfoot Glades.

Mosquito Creek Hostel

Rejected by the Wapta

The Wapta Traverse is a classic Rockies ski traverse that I have been wanting to do for a while, but there was always something else going on and it just never happened. This year, it wasn't in the plan but thanks to an awesome friend, we ended up with the Bow, Balfour and Scott Duncan Hut booked for 4 people over the Easter weekend! Unfortunately we didn't get to do the traverse. We didn't even make it into the Bow Hut...

When I think of Easter, my mind conjures up images of bright sunny skies, stable spring skiing and long, warm days with slushy snow. This year, winter is still in full force at the end of March as Kyle, Alan, Adam and I were getting ready to head out on the Wapta traverse. The word "bail" had been tossed around as the departure date neared because the weather wasn't looking super stellar for the weekend. The idea of spending the weekend navigating the glacier with a GPS in a cloud wasn't that appealing especially because the main draw of the Wapta is the amazing views. I was still keen to give it a shot despite the forecast. Maybe it wouldn't been that bad up there and if it was, we could always turn around.

Gearing up to hit the trail to the Bow Hut

Elizabeth Parker Extravaganza

The annual Elizabeth Parker Hut trip was a definite success. It was a bit of a quieter trip this year due to the smaller group, but the snow was excellent and it was fun to reconnect with Emily and Trevor's friends. Thanks to some decent stability, we were able to make a trek up to the top of Schaffer Bowl and ski some fantastic turns right down to the lake. So good in fact, that we lapped the lower bowl all Saturday afternoon and returned on Sunday for some more fresh turns.

Touring up towards McArthur Lake on our approach to Schaffer Bowl

Lightning Strike Hut - Kootenay Pass

Two weeks ago, we bailed on a trip to Fernie because it was raining to the top of the headwall. As a result, expectations were low for our trip to the Lightning Strike Hut in Kootenay Pass the following weekend. The hut had been booked for the Alberta Family Day weekend over a year ago so we were going regardless of the conditions but as the weekend drew near, snow started to fall. We arrived in Fernie Thursday night and spent the next day skiing the resort. It snowed 20 cm during the day and we skied stayed just ahead of patrol who was slowly closing down the mountain, skiing refill pow laps until we finally had to hit the road for Kootenay Pass. We arrived in the dark and skinned up the mellow logging road 3 km to the hut. There was significantly more snow than last time we skied the pass in awful conditions the same weekend 3 years ago.

Lightning Strike cabin - Photo Phil Tomlinson - click to see Phil's blog mountainwagon.com

Daddy Cool and Puff Daddy in Rogers Pass

Does it ever stop snowing in Rogers Pass? I doubt it. I have never been up there on a clear day, its always dumping. With over 100 cm of storm snow on the ground and 70 cm in the forecast through the weekend we somehow managed to sneak in two amazing days with surprisingly stability. We took advantage of our good fortune to bang out a couple of laps in the Puff Daddy area with Heath and Alan. Jordan, you missed out big time buddy!

Stoked on the skin track

Escape from Winter - Joshua Tree California

It was -27 degrees when as we drove down Highway 2 heading for the USA border at Sweetgrass Montana. This terrible temperature confirmed that we were making the right choice, bailing out of winter for two weeks of rock climbing in the desert. The highway was empty, it was Christmas Day and nobody was on the road. There was a line up at the border crossing however. We waited for almost an hour without moving before turning around and heading west to the next closest crossing, Del Bonita. The internet and phones were down at Sweetgrass and there was no estimate on how long we could have been waiting. Our detour added another 45 minutes, then we crossed into Montana. Soon, the pavement turned to gravel and we were driving down range roads with deep snow drifts. Needless to say, it was not a very efficient detour. Even when we finally reconnected with the I15, the main interstate that we would follow all the way to California, it was slippery and snowy. We drove through the blizzard for hours and into the darkness.

Butte Montana at 7 pm on Christmas Day - not a soul in sight, or an open restaurant!