The Ghost - Orient Point and Valley of the Birds

The driving access to the North Ghost opened this weekend. To celebrate, we set up camp at the bottom of the Big Hill and spent two days ice climbing. Kyle and I met Connor early Saturday morning to make our way into the Ghost with the trailer. We had to chain up for a few icy hills on the TransAlta road but made it in without any issue. We dropped the trailer then drove to Orient Point where we were able to get Kyle's truck all the way to the top of the road. The drive was an experience on its own. That was the steepest road I have every been on as a passenger! Kyle made it seem easy but it was exciting.

Orient Point ice (L to R: The Joker, Hooker, Candle in the Wind, Candlestick Maker)

Jumbo Pass Nov 17-19

Early season touring can be hit or miss. This year we nailed it up at Jumbo Pass. 

We left Calgary just after 5 am to meet Emily and Trevor at the Petrocan. From there we drove west to Invermere, stopping at Kicking Horse Coffee for some caffeine on the way through. Then it was up the road to Panorama and beyond. 

Emily catches some zzz's on the drive out to Jumbo

Puzzle Peak - Remembrance Day Ski Tour

Snow came early to the Rockies this year and it seemed like everyone was out enjoying the novelty of October turns while I was stuck in Red Deer. Patience paid off however. A quick trip to the Icefields Parkway on Remembrance Day for some powder on Puzzle Peak was the perfect way to start the season! I left after work Sunday night and drove out to Mosquito Creek Hostel which we basically had to ourselves. I met Kyle who had been skiing dirt on South Hector that day. According to reports from friends, Puzzle Peak was in much snowier condition so we made that our objective for Monday.

Emerging from the trees for our first view of Puzzle Peak

The "Tit" Scramble

Distance: 11 km

Elevation: 1200 m

Time: 6.5 hrs

The majestic "tit" as seen from the approach ridge

Mt. Baldy Scramble

"Close to Calgary, close to the road, close to the ground"

- Alan Kane

 Distance: ~5 km
Elevation: 800 m
Time: 2 hrs 40 mins

Down climbing the crux of the scramble

Mt. Baldy is the peak across highway 40 from Barrier Lake which made it an easy half day escape from the city at the end of October. Not to be confused with Baldy Pass hike, Mt. Baldy is an actual scramble, much to the dismay of people commenting on trailpeak about how difficult this hike is. As far as scrambling goes, there are a few fun ridge sections with a bit of exposure and I feel that the moderate rating is appropriate. The majority of the scrambling is easy with a few short moderate sections.

Paddling the Yukon River - Whitehorse to Carmacks

Yukon River
Whitehorse to Carmacks by canoe
320 km - 6 days

Packing the canoe on the banks of the Yukon in Whitehorse

Whitehorse is the perfect staging area for a number of canoe trips through the Yukon Territory. Logistically, the easiest thing to do is to rent a canoe from one of the outfitters in town and put your boat right in the water to start your trip down the Yukon river! We rented a 20 foot (3 seater) canoe from Kanoe People in Whitehorse and only had to walk 20 meters to the bank of the river to get started. It doesn't get much easier than that! We booked the canoe a few weeks in advance and they were super friendly and flexible as we kept changing the number of days and number of canoes. We booked a shuttle through the same company so that we could get picked up at our end-point of Carmacks. We were able to time the pick up so that we shared the shuttle with another group which saved us 25% on the price. This gave us the most time on the river and saved us the headache of organizing our own drop offs and pick ups.

Mountain Hero Trail, Carcross Yukon

Mountain Hero - IMBA Epic

29 km, 1400 m elevation gain

5 km of descending, 835 m descent

5 1/2 hours

Dropping into Mountain Hero on Montana Mountain (Carcross, Yukon)

Somehow Kyle always finds the "epics," even in unlikely places. This is the 4th IMBA epic trail that we have done together and they always end up being a blast. As with all the epics so far, Mountain Hero was a long day. The common epic theme includes lots of pedaling and excellent scenery, without much in the way of technical riding (blue trail).

The Golden Circle Route - Whitehorse - Skagway - Haines - Haines Junction

Alaska is a place that conjures up visions of remoteness, wilderness and adventure. My first exposure to Alaska was watching Eric Hjorleifson in Matchstick and TGR ski movies in the early 2000's. I would spend hours pouring over Powder and Skier imagining myself skiing the huge spines and deep powder in the Chugatch and Alaska Ranges. The names of Alaska heli-ski operations and mountain ranges have been a part of my vocabulary for years. Later, I revisited Alaska through Jon Krakauer's literature, "The Call of the Wild," and "Eiger Dreams" and the desire to visit this mystical place grew stronger. It was only natural to take advantage of my proximity to the border this summer to go see Alaska for myself! With limited time, we were only able to scratch the surface of this massive state, and it left an even deeper desire to return and explore (hopefully with my skis!).

Made it to Alaska!

The Alaska Highway - Dawson City to Whitehorse

Ready to hit the road!

The Alaska Highway. The words alone conjure up visions of pioneers, gold miners and adventurers exploring the "Last Frontier." It was built by the Americans in only 9 months during World War II in order to connect Alaska to the rest of the USA and the last section of the road was finally paved in 1992! Although it is a much smoother drive today than in past years, it is still a bucket list drive for road-trippers from all over the world because of the scenery, wildlife and remoteness.

Direttissima - 5.8+, 9 pitches (Yamnuska)

Grade 5.8+, 9 pitches, 325m

Bolted or piton belays

Trad (with occasional bolts)

Direttissima means "The Shortest Link" in Italian according to Wikipedia, and is an old climbing term describing the direct line to the summit. Direttissima on Yamnuska is just that. The direct line to the top of the mountain. It's been a few years since I have climbed on Yam, and just the thought of it gives me the butterflies. It's big, it's chossy, it's sand-bagged and it is always a full value day. I had always considered Direttissima to be a bit out of my league, but with Connor willing to get on the sharp end, I was happy to tuck in behind him and cruise up the route with Kyle at my side.

We left Calgary at 5:30 on Sunday to meet Connor at the parking lot for 6:30. We did not want to be below any parties on the route due to rockfall hazard. Nobody else was around as we packed up our gear and hit the approach trail. Hiking to the base of Yamnuska is a mission on it's own. After an hour of steep uphill, we reached the bottom of our route, right in the centre of the wall. We had to walk past it then scramble up the steep triangle of rock to the base of Direttissima.

Checking in at the climbers log

Ticks and Trying Hard in Stone Hill, Montana

It can be hard to make plans for May Long Weekend and we struggle with it every year. There are just so many options available; skiing, scrambling, mountaineering, climbing, mountain biking. The possibilities are endless. We came very close to joining the masses on the Columbia Icefield to finish off the ski season with some peak bagging, but with warm weather in the forecast we shifted our focus to the south and loaded up the trailer, bound for Stone Hill, Montana.

Kyle and I discovered Stone Hill not long after we started climbing. This little quartzite gem, only 4 hours from Calgary, was our early season destination for a couple of years but we hadn't been back in a while. It is a series of crags that line the road beside Lake Koocanusa on the Montana side of the border, not far from Eureka and the Roosville border crossing. The best part, besides the awesome camping, is the fact that there is literally no approach to the climbs. Some are so close to the parking that you can belay out of the back of your truck!

The main attraction - the Room With a View - a 5.8 sandbag

Red Rocks Spring Break

It was a long winter this year so getting away for a sunny spring vacation was just what Kyle and I needed. We planned to climb in Red Rock Canyon, just outside of Las Vegas, on either end of our rafting trip on the Grand Canyon with my family. We started the trip off with 4 days of climbing with Angela and Connor, who were in the middle of a climbing road trip through the western USA. We were also extremely stoked to meet up with David and Tyler! They had decided to drive out from San Fran to surprise us and climb for the weekend! 

We spent the first few days warming up (and getting sunburnt) on sport climbs in the Calico Basin and Calico Hills. Right away, we could tell it was going to be a good trip. All the gym climbing this winter looked like it had paid off and we were both pushing ourselves to get on some harder routes than ever before!

Day 2 crew - Vancouver reunion brought to you by Patagonia hats

River Run on Tunnel Mountain (5.10c sport, 9 pitches)

5.10c sport

9 pitches

Tunnel Mountain, Banff

Kyle having fun on River Run

Kyle and I enjoyed a lovely day on River Run in Banff. We camped at Tunnel Mountain campground so our drive to the parking area was about 3 minutes. A short 10 minute approach along the bike trails had us at the base of the route. 

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!