Megawatts - 5.8 Sport Multipitch in Castlegar, BC

Megawatts
5.8 sport route
8 pitches
280m
Megawatts Topo

Megawatts is a 280m sport climb located on Brilliant Buttress in Castlegar, BC. It was a fun, leisurely morning with awesome views of the confluence of the Kootenay and Columbia Rivers.

Great views from the top of Megawatts

Baseline Mountain Bike Club Poker Rally

A few weeks ago, Kyle, Bryce, Steve, Kyle Duran and I made our way out to Baseline Mountain for the 3rd annual poker rally. Baseline is south-west of Rocky Mountain House and pretty much in the middle of nowhere but there is a very dedicated crew of mountain bikers that have done an amazing job of trail building. We rolled in on Friday night after work, a few hours after a massive hailstorm had dropped about 10 cm of hail and dropped the temperature by about 15 degrees. The creeks were swollen and roads were wet but it didn't dampen anyone's spirits. People were camped all along the road so it was an easy drive over to the sign in on Saturday morning. We got ourselves registered, and armed with beef jerky and iced coffee, hit the shuttle road for our first lap.

Shuttle procession up the road

Skaha Climbing

Penticton is a long drive from Calgary but when its too wet or cold in the Rockies, Skaha Bluffs is usually the place to be. Every spring, climbers descend on the bluffs, only to return in the fall once the heat of the summer is past. Its a shoulder-season paradise! Kyle and I spent 6 glorious days in the Okanagan climbing, biking and catching up with some old friends. Thanks to his amazing wife, Dave Mai escaped from parenting all week to show us around and shoot some photos. Check out his amazing work at DM Productions. We also hooked up with Caillum Smith of Preserved Light Photography

Lake-side campsite at Banbury Green

How Not to do the French-Haig-Robertson Traverse

Springtime is for ski traverses and other such trips that wouldn't be appealing at other times of the year. I got it in my head that I wanted to do the French-Haig-Robertson traverse, a loop around Mt. Burstall and Roberson in Kananaskis. This route is known for its excellent views and mellow glacier travel over a distance of about 22 km (20 km in Summits and Icefields) with 1000 m of elevation gain. As the weekend drew closer the weather wasn't looking so great but I had my mind made up, we were going to give it a try. 

Our track and elevation profile

Climbing in Cape Town, South Africa

Rappelling down after some Table Mountain cragging

Cape Town is an amazing place. Steep mountains that rise straight up from white sand beaches are easily accessible from the City Bowl by a quick Uber ride! During our month in South Africa, we explored some of the local climbing areas that featured old-school trad multi-pitches on Table Mountain and steep sandstone sport crags at Silvermine. With limited time, we opted for day trips out of the city but only scratched the surface of what the region has to offer. Other areas that would deserve their own dedicated trips include visits to Montagu and Cederburg (home to Rocklands) but also require a rental car and camping gear if you really want to do it right!

Touristing in Cape Town, South Africa

One month in Cape Town, South Africa sounds like a long time, but I feel like we only scratched the surface in this vibrant city! We arrived at the beginning of February without our luggage. This was not surprising because when we showed up at the airport in Calgary 28 hours earlier, the first leg of our journey was canceled due to snowstorms in Vancouver. As a result, we scrambled to change our flights and connections. We actually ended up with a better schedule, arriving 1 hour earlier in Cape Town than our original itinerary. Arriving in a new country after dark is always an interesting experience, especially when the South Africans sitting across the isle from us on the flight had been horrified to hear that we were traveling on our own. Despite our assurance that we were going to be staying with some locals (not actually the case) the woman warned us about the dangers of Cape Town enough for us to start wondering if we had made a mistake about this trip. Most of the information we had found seemed to contradict this woman's concern and stated that although Cape Town has a violent reputation, it is easy to stay safe and out of trouble.

Once we learned we would be leaving the airport without our luggage (or any of our climbing gear that we had checked), we took an uber to the Air B&B we had rented for the month. I had printed out instructions on how to get into the building but we didn't have any way of contacting the owners if we couldn't get in. Our plan was to pick up a SIM card the next day so we were relying on WiFi and everything looked pretty closed. The uber driver dropped us off on a deserted street outside a condo complex encircled by a spiky metal fence and drove away. It was well lit but unnerving nonetheless. When we couldn't get through the security gate we started to panic, but after 4 attempts the caretaker finally answered the buzzer and let us in. What a relief. 

The bachelor pad - our home for a month

Cape Town Hikes

Cape Town South Africa is probably one of the most beautiful cities in world thanks to its stunning ocean, beaches and mountains. Kyle and I had the opportunity to explore the area close to town by ticking off some of the top hiking trails, most of which were different ways up the predominant feature in the city, Table Mountain. I have included a small write up and photos for each of the hikes that we did:

1. Kasteelsport (Table Mountain)

2. Skeleton Gorge (Table Mountain)

3. India Venesters (Table Mountain)

4. Lions Head (Signal Hill)

5. Disa Hike (Hout Bay)

The view of Cape Town from the top of Table Mountain (near the cable car station)