It finally has stopped snowing and it's a perfect, cold, blue sky day out.
Mt. Washington bathed in the morning glow.
We should be getting the snow plowed out of our drive way today! The Cats have been so swamped that they did not have time to come and plow us out last week. Thankfully, the groups that are booked in this week had only a few cars and we were able to squeeze them in between the 3m banks.
The view looking southwest
Again, some photos for Christolla to show that snow can be piled higher than a person's head.
These are just too good not to share. This recipe my take on the one found in "Vegan with a Vengeance" (one of the best cook books out there, highly recommend for Vegans and Non-vegans alike). They are dangerously good and no where near healthy as cupcakes always are! You can make them vegan, or not - which ever you like, however I know they are great vegan and I cant say what they would taste like with animal things in it. Hope you like them!
Lemon Frosting:
1/4cup margarine (Vegan or not) 1/4cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (soy, rice or regular milk would do as well) 2 tbsp lemon juice 2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
This makes a lot of frosting. When making just 12 cupcakes I would recommend halving the recipe... that or just make 24 of 'em instead.
Whisk margarine till fluffy, then stir in milk and the lemon juice and mix. Then add in the confectioners sugar and mix till smooth. Put it in the fridge till you need it!
For the cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 1/2cup coconut oil, melted (or any mild tasting oil like canola) 1 1/2cups coconut milk 1 cup sugar 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 1 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
Preheat the oven to 350 and line a 12-muffin tin with paper liners.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, soda, and salt. In a separate bowl combine melted coconut oil, coconut milk, sugar and vanilla. Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix together until smooth. Fold in the shredded coconut. Fill each of the muffin tin about 2/3full and bake for 20-22min; the cupcakes should be slightly browned around the edges and spring back when touched. Remove from tin and allow to cool completely before frosting them.
I have to put this recipe up... these are the most amazing cupcakes!! I have been making these more then is probably good for me. This is a bit a variation of Isa Moskowitz recipe from her book "Vegan with a Vengeance" (one of the best cook books out there... highly recommended). I hope you like them!
For Cupcakes (makes 12):
1 cup all -purpose flour 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 1/4 coconut oil (melted) or 1/4 canola oil 1 cup coconut milk 2/3 cup sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
Lemon Frosting:
1/4 cup nonhydrogenated margarine, soften 1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or soy, or rice) 2 tbsp lemon juice 2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
With a bit of jumping, sawing and a lot of shoveling Paul managed to bring down the massive cornice! The roof is now free from its load and our door is almost completely filled in. Now there is really no escaping out that way!
I have to admit, I am overwhelmed!!! I can't keep up with the snow. We are buried. We have had 2.5 meters since Monday, 60cm overnight last night, 95cm in the last 24hrs and our snow base jumped to 480cm; That means that we are already half way to reaching the annual snowfall and the hill has only been open 21 days.
The snow today is heavy, wet and you sink waist deep, if not deeper, when you are trying to swim through it. There are massive cornices hanging over doorways and walkways dangerously that need to be brought down. Sadly as soon as they avalanche the snow gets into packed heavy piles that then need to be shoveled away. I am hesitant to leave the house through the door because the "serac" off the roof is extremely unstable and slowly dropping mounds of snow down on to the doorway. The door way itself is under a balcony which, instead of protecting the area, creates a really bad trap if the serac was to slide fully when someone was standing there. Unfortunately, our alternative exit (a trap door into the Elkhorn breeze way), is practically useless until I can manage to dig out the Elkhorn Entrance way. I have already spent 2 hours shoveling this morning and I easily have another 2 hours to go on that alone.
This was the dig-out fun on Wednesday morning. Got all the vehicles out, had the cat clear the parking lot completely (down to the gravel) and the new guest showed up that afternoon.
We warned them that we WOULD be digging out cars and that they needed to park in tight rows 2 or 3 cars deep so that we could do as little digging to get as many vehicles out... they told me today they they didn't actually believe us...
Then, it snowed and snowed and snowed...
They believe us now! The arrows point to the guest vehicles in our parking lot! I am standing on the snow pile beside the front door of the Golden Hinde and you can faintly see the pathway leading to the road.
One of the guest dug to the back of the his vehicle. You can see that the drift is much taller then the car itself.
From on the pathway, looking back towards the chalet. A bit of window and car exposed. You can see the path is sitting at just over door handle height on the buried car and when your one the path the snow around you is still waist deep
This is the "serac" on the Elkhorn roof that is threatening to come down and bury our doorway! This photo is taken standing on the snow bank, level with the second floor balcony.
Here, you can see the same balcony and that rabbit hole down underneath it is the way to our entrance way. Needless to say, the guest are letting me go through there suite to get outside.
Stop Sign I remember having a conversation with my Dad about how funny we thought it was that all the signs were up so high on posts... well, they are not up high enough.
The road is progressively getting narrower and the banks are getting deeper.
The camera was pretty foggy at this point (its super wet snow), however if you really look carefully you can see that the height clearance on this parking lot door says 7.5'.
This ended up taking me 3.5 hours to dig out! The snow had filled in the stairway completely and was about 1.5m deep on the top stair. The bank is too high (about 2.5 -3m) for me to throw the snow up and over it, so I actually had to haul the snow to behind where this was taken from. To keep that bank small enough I was actually climbing up on top of the bank and shoveling it level.
The past week and a half here at the chalet seems to have been very busy. To begin,we arrived on the 9th of December and the first order of business for me was to find a job on the ski hill. I was pretty worried after talking with the human resources guy on the first day; he told me that there were currently no job openings at the hill, and that my best chance for a job would be in January when the "house cleaning" of the different departments usually occurs. As luck would have it I got a call that same afternoon asking if I would be willing to begin work the next day in the "Public Services" department.
I can't honestly say that working in "Public Services" is my dream job, as the department is the result of the amalgamation of the custodial and security staff. Security guards with mops, wonderful. The weird and wonderful reality of this marriage of departments is that the supervisor is the only one there who deals with security issues, and most of my day is spent shoveling snow and replacing empty rolls of paper towel in the bathrooms. So I really have nothing to do with security, and I have to do very little actual cleaning. Bizarre, but I'm not complaining. Working on the hill has some perks too; I get a seasons lift pass, I get discounts on any thing I buy at the hill (food, clothes, etc.), and I get three day weekends too.
Once I had the full time employment thing figured out it was time for Ashley and I to get the chalet ready for the first guests. This all went pretty smoothly, but between working away in the chalet and working at the hill the days seemed to fly by.
Yesterday we finally got the chance to go snowboarding. The conditions were really good, certainly one of the best day of resort skiing that I've had in a long time. The snow was falling quite heavily, so there were fresh tracks to be had all over the place.
Today It was back to work again though, one set of guests left and some new ones came in. Of course there was more snow to shovel as well. The next week and a half will be the busiest time of the season for both of the jobs here, but we seem to be settling in and figuring out what we have to do. It looks like we'll have a great winter out here though, with many more days like yesterday!
After a great snowy day of riding. (I had Paul stand outside while I got the camera so that I could get this photo without his beard melting first!)
This photo and the next one were taken for Christolla, who could not believe that snow could pile up taller than a person. However, outside of our lodge it most certainly has!
Shoveling in the snow; It's a game that cant be won.
This is the "before" picture... taken just shortly after we got home from Strathcona Park Lodge, so I would of been only about 5 weeks pregnant and still in good shape from the summer of playing outdoors!
Then all of a sudden....
Bam! Its a baby bump starting!! Not much yet... but the difference is certainly noticeable to me! I have only gained a about 7 pounds so far (and I am pretty sure most of that went straight to my breasts) but i am also far less active then I was 2 months ago (plus I have been cooking these coconut cupcakes with lemon frosting - vegan, an sooooooo good!!). I am having to unzip the second lower zipper on some of my sweaters and my jeans are not comfortable for sitting without undoing the button.
That's all for the baby update for now! Going for an ultrasound Jan 20th.
A few pictures of our winter home up at Mt.Washington on Vancouver Island...
Pauls truck in front of the Chalet. Its been snowing here steadily making shoveling a losing battle... We got about 20cm overnight when this photo was taken and since then we have had equal or more amounts of snow (last night we got 26cm). There is now a base of 230cm on the hill, the snow banks around the lodge are taller then I am and the forecast is call for much, much more in the next few days!
At least we have a really nice snowcat driver that comes and plows our driveway for us (when there are no cars in the way)! The snowcats seem to run 24hrs clearing roads and grooming the hill. Mt. Washington gets an average annual snowfall of 1050cm (the record was in 98/99 when they got 1848cm - it was an La Nina year like this year!).
The view off of the Elkhorn balcony.
Although the first picture makes the chalet seem pretty small it rambles down the hill for 5 floors (and 2 lofts) and we can sleep 24 people between the two suites! Each suite comes with a full kitchen, a sauna (one suite has a hot tub as well), and gas fireplace.
The summit of Mt.Washington is 1588m and our Chalet is at the base of the Green Chair and the Hawk Chair at about 1100m. There is 1600 skiable acres, with over 60 runs and glade skiing. Plus 55km of total cross country skiing trails.
Paul and I arrived save and sound to the Chalet on Mt. Washington a few nights ago and have been busy getting settled in and getting a feel for the Chalet. Paul was able to get a job with the Mt. Washington resort and has already worked a few shifts and I have been starting to figure out what all needs to be done before the guest show up on Thursday.
The weather here has been a bit everywhere, but in general pleasant and sunny! Yesterday was a bit of windy white out and this morning there was rain and then a hot (+8) day on the hill (ew!). There is lots of snow already (hopefully it doesn't get washed away with the rain they are calling for tomorrow) and it looks like there is more on the way later this week (we're going to dip down to -1 for a few days!!). Its perfect. I have always dreamed of a warm but snowy winter....
We are off to see the midwifes here in Courtney tomorrow morning. I am going to have to get them to weigh me as I have certainly been gaining weight lately - I even have started to need to utilize the bottom up second zipper on some of my hoodies and let the baby bulge poke out.
We are going to be taking lots of photos (probably tomorrow) and will post those so that you can see what are new home and surroundings are like! If you have free long distance we can receive called on our land line (250.334.8161) and it would be really great to hear from you!
Some interesting things have happened since we left the lodge a last week. The first is that we did get the job working at the Mt. Washington ski hill! We are still working for Strathcona Park Lodge, and will be managing their chalet/ski lodge at Mt. Washington. The chalet is located about fifty yards from one of the chairlifts at the hill! The job is meeting and greeting guests and taking care of the place. I've also started applying for various jobs at the ski hill as well, and am really hoping to get on with the ski patrol.
The other big news is that we're now expecting our first child in June. Ashley is about 8 weeks pregnant now, and we are very excited! Having a baby will (obviously) be a big change in our lives and we're really looking forward to this new adventure.
We're back in town for the next month and a half until we head back to Vancouver Island. Our job there will run from the middle of December to the end of March. We expect to be back in Calgary at the beginning of April, at which time we plan to settle in here and wait for our new family member to arrive.
Yesterday was officially our last day of work here at SPL; we said goodbye to our last group of girls (an amazing group all around - the perfect way to end things off), did a lodge clean up and then had our end of contract talks with the boss man. Its seems that he is pleased with our work here and recommended us for a position over the winter working as managers at Chalet on Mt. Washington. It sounds like a pretty awesome gig - meet and greet guests, do the housekeeping, potentially get another job on the hill (to get the free lift pass) and do a whole lot of snowboarding, cross-country skiing and playing in the coastal mountains while living for free! (Check out the Chalet at... http://www.strathcona.bc.ca/accommodation/washington.html) It would be pretty exciting if we get it, and we should find out by tomorrow for sure!
There was a surprise group today and so Paul get one more day of work (sadly its pouring buckets so it will be a hard day's work) and I am getting laundry done and starting packing up the gobs of gear that seem to have taken over our room. As sad as it will be to leave here there is certainly some things I am looking forward to like cooking for myself, toilet seats that are not cold when you sit on them, and not waking up to mice gnawing on something in the walls. It will be good to be home! Most of all though, it will be great to see you all!!
As our second last week at Strathcona Park Lodge is coming to an end, I think we are both looking forward to not having to run about at mock chicken always being uppity and high energy while dragging (sometimes unwilling) students through various activities. The upcoming stint at the Ashram will be well earned peace and quiet. What a change that will be, eh? Student madness to yoga/mediation retreat; couldn't be more extreme.
Thanksgiving dinner was amazing; stuffed butternut squash, stuffing.. vegan pumpkin pie!!! Not to mention that they did the mess hall up beautifully with fancy things like table cloths, those nice wine glass like water glasses, matching silver wear.. even harvesty centre pieces. Fantastic. Ate too much, as required by north american tradition, and really enjoyed the chance to hang out with some of the people that were leaving this week.
This week all the students have been really young - a big change from the highschool groups earlier in the season. It's been interesting adjusting to the lower maturity level and the more chaotic energy.... sometimes just explaining simple games is a task and a half. However, they have gotten into the grove of things and are learning to work together and even are showing some good leadership qualities! I got to paddle with my group to Rainbow Island for an overnight camping trip and Paul was on canoe day trip to False Echo yesterday. All the groups leave tomorrow and then we are on our weekend till Sunday when the final group shows up!
More canoe/sea kayaking on the lake in store for us next week. Keep your fingers cross for us to have good weather. (We just had a storm blow in this afternoon and there is a dusting of snow at higher elevations... eeee!!! Its going to be winter soon!!)
It's thanksgiving weekend and we are both feeling fairly home-sick; We miss you all like crazy.
Living here a Strathcona we have fallen into an interesting community of people that act as a sort of stand in family since we all are kilometers, provinces and even countries away from those we love. I have to say, it is one of the most incredible communities to be apart of; there is a mind-set of self sufficiency here - in their own way everyone has something to contribute to an off the grid, do-it-yourself way of living. There is also an amazing diversity of people coming from all types of backgrounds and experience. Finally, there is the common tread of love for nature and outdoor sports that connects us all.
Strathcona as a organization runs mostly off-the-grid as we said in early posts, but its really the people within the organization that show the true nature of self-proficiency. Every day I am amazed but the amount and diversity of knowledge that is available here; There are people who are making their own bow and arrows, well practiced at tracking animals (there was two people that even had their group of students track and find a small herd of elk as part of a "survival skills" weekend), and then smoke the meat and work the hides of the animals they kill. There are people canning and preserving the fruit they pick off of the trees on-site (all done outdoors on portable propane burners). There is wood being milled on-site from trees stolen from logging sites or fallen selectively from the forests around the lodge and building being made from them. On the weekends it is not uncommon to find groups of people together knitting, working on hand-made looms and doing crochet (there is probably more toques then people kickin' around). On upper property there is a massive garden with everything from turnips and green beans to quinoa is planted and have cared for all summer by staff (there are gardens that are grown just for use by the lodge as well). The list of skills and knowledge goes on and on - its truly amazing how much there is to learn just from the people around us. Its so compelling being part of a place that could stake it out on it own if need be.
The diversity of people here adds so much character (and a lot of entertainment) to the lodge. There are Germans, English, French and French Canadian, Kiwi's, Aussies, a half dozen languages able to be spoken and lots of world travelers. The East coasters are quite the group of people to hang out with; they certainly know how to party and can be overheard yabbering nearly uncomperhensively about lobster fishing and making screech; I learnt that "Git cho' marble out o' cho' mouth, boay" [get your marbles out of your mouth, boy] means "stop swearing", various entertaining swears in french, and "havin' a time" is an appropriate response when someone asks you how you are. I also found out that things I say like, "give'er" (as in we will really have to give'er to get there in time) give me away as an Albertan. Go figure.
As far as proficiency in outdoor sports there is so much skill and talent here. Most people are strong in the water sports - kayaking, canoeing, and even some people that can sail. However there are still a lot of people that are strong in the mountain sports- climbing, hiking, ski/snowboarding. No matter what you love to do above all, everyone just loves to be in nature and to find that intimacy with it through the sports we do. This is a community of people that gather around bugs and get excited about rainbows and thunderstorms- It is so wonderful.
So know, as much as we are missing our friends and family back at home, we are learning so much and are surrounded by a great community of people. We are in a great place. Happy Turkey, and we are looking forward to seeing you again soon.
Well two weeks have passed, and two more schools have come and gone. Last week both of us got to work on "Adventure Programs"; that means spending most of the week around the lodge, and only doing a short overnight trip down the lake. That was a nice change since we could eat at the lodge, sleep in our own bed, and enjoy all the other comforts afforded by being on site.
This past week Ashley was back to rock climbing camp (her third time thus far), and was very pleased to find out that next week she will get to do a hiking program. Last week I got to instruct a hiking group on a trip to Mt. Myra, a mountain that the two of us climbed a few weeks ago on a day off. The weather this past week has been perfect; warm, sunny, cloudless days that came just as the entire staff began to fall into an overcast and rain induced depression. Hopefully it lasts!
The big news now is that the lodge has asked us if we would want to stay on for an extra two weeks of work, which we both agreed to. So now we are working here until the twenty-second of October.
Not really too much else to say right now, still having fun and enjoying our time here; even more so now with the sunshine!
Although we've been unable to communicate with the outside world for awhile now, we are still okay... really! The lack of recent communication is partly due to the fact that there is only a slow internet connection at the lodge (no phone), but the biggest factor is that they seem to keep us very busy. So far we have had two school groups come to do programs, both for five days each. The first school came in on the 9th and left the morning of the 14th, the second school came the afternoon of the 14th and left this morning. That left us instructors about four hours to prep for the next outing.
For both of the groups Ashley has been instructing at the "rock camps"(taking the group out to the climbing bluffs and teaching climbing, rappelling and whatnot). This seems like a pretty good gig; they set up a huge basecamp, with huge tarps, a big fire pit, and all of the spare gear that you can fit into a 15 passenger van! For the first group I lead a trip up "Kings Peak", one of the taller peaks in the area. It was a four day backpacking trip with ten high-school students. On our summit day we ran into 50 foot visibility, and horizontally blowing ice pellets; we turned back short of the summit, but I think it was a good experience for the group. The second trip was leading a trail building crew; the school seems to think that this is a good character building activity for it's students. I guess this may be true to a certain extent, especially if you also consider millitary service or being in prison to be character building activities. All in all it went very well though.
Now we both have a few days off until the next group come in.
On the North Glacier of Mt. Myra
Our House, Room 57
of the Annex.
The Outdoor Center where the dining room is.
The black piping on the roof is part of a passive solar
Awwww... Sorry Dudes - I tried.... for some reason its just not working.
Another non-photo update on what is going on...
Hiking training was just peachy; Every hike/climb out here is a hell of a grind uphill the whole way and just incredibly beautiful. Unlike our Mt. Myra adventure, this hike was lush with unspoiled nature, however we had 20 people in our party so we probably ruined the "peace and quite" aspect of the mountaineering for all the other people up there that day. We made summit the first day then came back down to a hanging meadow to spend a raining/misty/
damp evening learning how we set up camp/cook with students. Despite that sounding a bit drab, I couldn't wipe the grin off my face - being in the mountains is just too awesome. How awesome you might ask? Well, on the way down the next morning whole group posed in front of this massive fir tree at the side of the trial (... I am so bummed that we cant post photos...) and later that day Paul and I figured out that by its diameter (approx. 14ft) that it was likely around 1300 years old! From sights like that to alpine meadows, white granite rock outcrops, glaciers and snowfields... This island living this is pretty sweet!
Yesterday we were out on the Burman River sea canoeing trip (the one day version - usually its a 2 or 3 day trip with students). We casted off out into the Matchalat Inlet - a massive inlet that stretches from the west coast of the island (just north of Tofino) all the way to Gold River (which is pretty much in the middle of the island and only an hours drive from the lodge). We paddled along the coast line up into Muchlee Bay and then up the Burman Rive and were super lucky to get not only calm conditions but all got to see tons of wildlife including eagles, a black bear, salmon, and a sea lion! The boats we used are huge Voyager canoes that we crammed 10 people into, are super tipy but can really cruise! It was a really neat experience and something that neither Paul or I had ever tried before.
The schedules for the next few days are up and the students are arriving tomorrow (eeee!) Paul and another instructor are kicking things off by taking a group of students up Kings Peak and I get to go rock climbing at Crest Crags with my group! We will be out in the field with our students for three days and they will be leaving early monday morning. The next group shows up monday afternoon.... and so starts the madness! We are going to be going solid like this for the foreseeable future... well that is, till our contract ends. Can't wait.
Long time since the last post, and already a week into our stay here at Strathcona Park Lodge; we've been keeping busy (as always)! From Squamish we made the journey to the other side of the Rocky Mountains, took some time to unwind (or work in Paul's case) and visit with friends and family. On our way back out this way we spent a few days with Jason in Sicamous, slept on a beach in Naniamo, and picked up another new staff member to carpool with us out to the lodge.
Stathcona Park Lodge is certainly an interesting place and beautiful place. Established 52 years ago it still is practicing some of the same things it did back then. One of the great things this entails is the menu which strives to be 80% "colours" and is generally low on meat and high on veggies and all very healthy. There is no mac'n'cheese with hot dogs here.
The buildings are also quiet unique; most were build by staff (with little to no carpentry knowledge), with wood stolen off of logging areas and milled here on site. They even have a system set up where they allow staff to build their own cabin, and then will buy it off of them for the same cost of building it when the staff member leaves. As a result there is a variety of building types from timber frame to domes, most without water or electricity. Some of the buildings were purchased and moved here, like our current home - the Annex.
Moved here across the lake via boats the Annex was the staff accommodation for a logging operation some 50 years ago. It boasts both running water and electricity and we really didn't understand why people seemed to make fun of it... until the first night when it was bitterly cold in there (there is no amount of heating that would keep that building warm...) and the mice scurrying in the walls, floors and ceilings woke us up. It still seems pretty luxurious to us (coming from a tent in the bush) and besides, the mice are pretty cute.
Set along the East shore of the Upper Campbell Lake, Strathcona Park Lodge offers a long list of outdoor activities; kayaking (flat and white water) as well as easy access to sea kayaking, canoeing (both flat and white water as well), a beach volleyball court, wood heated sauna, swimming area, beaches, soccer field, tree climbing (up a massive old growth fir), 2 zip lines, high and low ropes courses, and even rock climbing (3 private bluffs). Only a few minutes down the road from the lodge, Strathcona Provincial Park offers a variety of hiking and mountaineering trips.
The lodge tries to be as eco-conscious as possible; It makes its own power from a water wheel, buys locally grown food whenever possible (and even grows some food on site), uses a solar water heating system, composts, and teaches/practices "Leave No Trace"ethics.
A typical day on site starts at 730am when the breakfast bell rings. At about 815-830 the first 3 hour activity block starts, then it's lunch at noon and a second 3 hour activity block in the afternoon. The dinner bell rings at 5:30, after that a two hour activity block wraps up the day and you promptly go to bed.
The past week here has been great; We finished up our training on Thursday afternoon, leaving us the evening off to go to Campbell River (the nearest town) to pick up some things we are going to need in the next few weeks, and take it easy at the lodge. Yesterday we decided to climb one of the peaks that we potentially are going to take students up, Myra Mountain. Usually done in 3 days with students via the hikers trail, we thought we should try something different and approach by the NW ridge and do it all in one day. We calculated it all out and figured we were in for a 13 hour round trip, so we set the alarm clock for 5:45am and tried to find some food for the day.
The hikers trail (and the first part of our hike) is a bit of an unfortunate situation and we are both a little confused as to why they the lodge has decided to use this particular peak as the ascent starts at a strip mine, then follows a road to a power generator then takes an old bulldozed cat road up the mountain side following a pipeline. You finally get a taste of unspoiled nature 10km from the car at Tennet Lake. We branched off the hikers trial at about the 4km mark, took a bearing for a destincive drainage and began whacking and grovelling our way through the brush up to the NW ridge. We finally gained the crest and found ourselves in the (much easier to navigate) alpine. After some interesting route finding around cliff bands and some decent elevation gain we were out on the North glacier and making good time up its steep slopes.
We hit the summit by 1pm, took in the views, ooed and awed over the peaks in the distance and then decided to take the hikers trail back down to avoid re-whacking and the slippery slopes we had come up. The upper part of the hikers trial is beautiful, there is some safe snow crossings and amazing alpine lakes and meadows, but it is way longer of a trip- about 8km just to the lake from the summit! We were making good time though and despite feeling fatigued and pretty damn thirsty by the end of it we made it back to the lodge for dinner. Total trip; about 21km (around 10km longer then we calculated for) in 10 hrs and 40 min. Go us!
Today is a day off to catch up on some of the things that we haven't had time to do (laundry, blogging...) and tomorrow we are starting "hike training" and taking off on a 2 day trip up Kings Peak - a mountain that we have been wanting to climb anyways. Unfortunately, we wont be doing any of the technically routes - just hiking for us. After that we have the choice between two water trips; Burman River (a sea canoeing trip where we would be observing bears catching spawning salmon) or a white water kayaking (or canoeing?) trip. Then there is a "refresher day" with all the staff to go over anything that may be unclear. The day after that the students arrive!! We have lots to look forward to, and hopefully we will be able to keep you updated on all of them!
Sadly, no photos - we have 'em but can't seem to upload them in the no communication zone (Strathcona). Big slide-show party when we get home?
Here's some photos from the day that Mom, Cher and the Kids came up to visit us in Squamish as well as a few from our last day of climbing.
Hiking at Shannon Falls
Mom and Cher
Mom and Nelson playing
Shy and Christolla
Christolla was up for the first climb of the day and did awesome despite never climbing cracks before!
Nelson was up next and also made easy work of the climb!
The Second climb of the day was a chimney system that proved to be a challenge!
Nelson trying the other (easier) side of the Chimney
Rappelling can be pretty scary some times and at first Nelson was really struggling with trusting the rope to get lowered. However, by the last climb he figured it all out and even was comfortable enough to show off his "pizza legs" skills for the camera.
Hanging out at the Lake
Swimming in Brome Lake
We got one last climb in before we packed everything up and came back to Calgary. Shy working the fist crack on pitch one of St. Vitus Dance
Paul on the second pitch... before the off width thrutching began
We are Thrilled to announce that we both were hired at Strathcona Park Lodge as outdoor instructors for this Fall season!! Our start date is Aug 30, so that means that our time here in Squamish is pretty much done. We are planning on heading back to Calgary to get organized this Saturday, take some time to rest and relax then head out to the Island. It really couldn't have happened at a better time; just this afternoon Paul and I were talking about how we seem to be getting burnt out from the summers worth of playing, camping and continually being outdoors. Its time for a change of pace and scenery. We're really looking forward to seeing friends and family!!
In other exciting news, its been a busy week with both my good friend Paul Adamiak and my mom, the kids and Cher coming out to see us! Paul was out for a few days and we managed to squeeze in climbing at the Bluffs, a few things a the Malamute and then a hike to the 3rd and 2nd summit of the Chief (Paul if you send me photos I will put them up!!). The rest of the crew came out for the day on Wednesday and we got a lot done! We started with a hike up to Shannon Falls from the climbers campground - lots of going up steep stairs, beautiful waterfalls and the wonderful cedar forest. Then we were off to Brome Lake to have a picnic and do some swimming in the freezing lake water. Between the wind and the water we didn't last long in there. To wrap up the day we went down to the Smoke Bluffs and set up some ropes for the kids - they did so good!! I was very impressed by thier crack climbing skills; they are naturals! Foot jams, laybacks... those kids are going to be my rope guns in no time!!
Wow, it feels like ages since we wrote last and we’ve been up to a lot!
Over the long weekend it was “Logger Days” here in Squamish; a neat festival for the towns #1 industry.There were events going all weekend and we managed to take in the chair making competition. It was pretty impressive how detailed and exact they could be with a chain saw! Noisy, but neat!
The next day we decided to try to escape the long weekend crowds and do a climb that sees less traffic.The “North North Arete” goes at 10a, 7 pitches and boasted having “more interesting climbing” than the popular (and heavily climbed) Angles Crest (which is one arete over) and its trial head was literally just across the forestry road from our casa! As we found out, “interesting” evidently means dirty and chossy... there was certainly was a great variety of climbing but it was badly in need of some love (and cleaning).It felt like we were alpine climbing in the Rockies; rambling over huge boulders, fighting with tree over growth... but all in all a super fun day!It would be phenomenal if it was all cleaned up.The guide book also was a little vague on how to get off the route once you got to the top.We easily spent a few hours on the Zodiac summit wandering back and forth on a trail that ended in either direction at an impossibly steep rock face that dropped down hundreds of metres to the gully bottom.We found the way off by sheer luck (and desperation as a thunder storm was roaring just up the sound) and hurried off the backside trails, through the climbers’ campground and back to the tent in a wonderful (and surprisingly big) 12 hour loop.
Lowell and Heather woke us up the next morning and took us to Chekamus, a sport climbing area where we failed about for a while and sent some interesting stuff.Paul even ticked off an "11b" lead.
After a few days rest, we got it in our heads that we should take a whirl at “Strange Brew” a link up of “Cannabis Wall” and “Breakfast Run”, two fairly substantial and committing aid climbs up the impressive Tantalus Wall.The route description informed us that most beginners (ie: us) would need two days to complete Cannabis Wall and a third to finish up Breakfast Run, which seemed a little crazy since the whole climb is a total of only 9 pitches but as we found out, Aid climbing time is seriously fucked up.
Spending multiple days on the cliff side meant that we would need to devise some way to sleep up there.Being far too poor to afford a Portaledge (literally a metal framed ledge that you haul up the mountain behind you) and none available to rent, we took Dan’s (the climbing shop owner) half-joking advice and tracked down some hammocks.Then there is the issue of hauling all the food & water, plus other important items (ie: sleeping bags, clothing layers) that you will need... no small amount.Also not being able to afford a haul bag (durable, large, build to drag up rock faces) we stuff our day packs till they bulged at the seams, fastened them together and called it good enough.
We got our typical late start on the first day, slogged our stuffed packs and every piece of gear that we own (save one 3 inch and two 4 inch cams – the Big stuff) up the mercifully short approach trail.The Tantalus Wall starts off as a steep slab (about 60 degrees) and at about a third of the way up veers up to vertical with some slightly overhanging sections. It is an incredibly impressive looking wall.
Paul was up for the first pitch.A few hard hook moves off the ground gained a position in a tall but narrow flake arch which flexed visibly when you weighted the gear you placed in behind it.It was a relief when Paul reached the bolt line above, however the safety of bolts was short lived and ended with a contrived pendulum.
Starting the pendulum run...
At the highest point in the pendulum arch Paul had to try to place a hook before he was sent swinging back in the other direction. Silly.
Then I was up for my first ever outdoor Aid lead.With so much to deal with as far as the 20 pounds of gear, finding placements, etires getting tangled... etc. I was surprisingly too distracted to be nervous and slowly plugged my way up the left arching corner crack system.About half way up I took a moderate fall when the piece I was standing on popped to teach me that I need to more vigorously bounce test my gear before I trust them (Bounce testing has to be my least favourite part; wiggle and progressively weight and finally bounce on the gear that you just placed to see if it will hold you... it doesn’t always).About 3.5 or 4 hours later I was finally done and the sun was down behind the mountain across the sound.
A whole afternoons worth of climbing, only 2 pitches up and pretty hungry we decided to fix our ropes (Tie them off at one end to a secure point) and rappel, get pizza and a good night sleep and start off early the next morning.
We were back up at the top of pitch 2 at about 8am the next morning, and Paul was up for the third pitch – another left leaning corner crack with a neat move over a small ceiling to gain some vertical face climbing.Just as he got going it started to rain.
Nearly at the hanging belay.
Being good turn takers, I was up for pitch 4, an extremely thin crack system that ate up only the smallest of our small gear – nothing bigger then a 0.3 inch cam.
Graded as one of the easier pitches on the climb(at C1+) this pitch taught us that the Aid grading system really doesn't mean a thing - its all hard.
Pitch 5 was amazingly long and followed several different crack systems and varied substantially from tiny thin cracks to flakes and big fist sized (or larger) gaps, complete with a ledge traverse.Paul placed the majority of the gear and all of the 23+ slings & draws that we brought with us. By the time I had cleaned up all the gear and made it to the chossy dirty mound at the top of pitch five I was using my headlamp to see what I was doing. A whole days worth of climbing and only 3 pitches higher.
Sadly, there was no good place to string up a hammock nor lay or sit very comfortably.We tried to rest the best we could, but by 3 am we realized that we were not going to get any more rested and it would probably be better to try to get moving.Facing 1 more pitch to complete Cannabis Wall and 4 more pitches to finish up Breakfast run we realized we would be up there for two more days if we tried to continue on.If we had not already been utterly exhausted from the last two days of climbing, the fact that we were on our last few litres of water and the food we had packed had not kept well in the heat would have made us come to the same conclusion; we had to get off that wall.
Paul made a good attempt at pitch 6, but the daunting, descending, over a foot wide, chossy crack we were suppose to follow was just too much for us both.So, we set up a rappel line off of pitch 5 and bailed from there. By 8am we were back in the tent and incredibly thrilled to be able to sleep on our new air mattress.
We really got worked up there.We are both physically spent and will need several days to recover.However, it was an amazing experience and a great challenge.
It finally has stopped snowing and it's a perfect, cold, blue sky day out.
