From Summits To Surf - A Year In Review

So, another year has come to an end. Sure it's almost April and 2010 started nearly 3 months ago. But for me, the end of March marks the end of one year, and the start of another - my Scrambling and Mountaineering year. You see, my first ever successful summit occurred on the date March 28th, sure there were a few haphazard attempts before that day. A very erroneous Mt. Baldy winter attempt and an unprepared and late day summer Nigel Peak attempt come to mind, both thwarted by severe inclement weather and lack of necessary gear). Amateur mistakes really. I guess practice makes perfect.

So as the '09-'10 year came to an end this past weekend, I found myself staring at 24 summits and 19 mountains, all ranging from easy 7900' to demanding 11400' that took all will power to continue. I also came to the realization that m '10-'11 year will come no where near that total. Several things make this difficult: much of my free time lately has been taken up by my training for the Texas Water Safari, many co-climbers are in the midst of exams or waiting for avalanche conditions to abate, and the fact that the Bow River open. I've decided to put away the crampons, ice axe, climbing helmet, rope and dedicate the next few months of my life to canoeing. But before we get to there, I would like to look back a bit on The Year of The Orogeny.

For me, I think '09-'10 will always be known as the Year of the Orogeny. It was this year I decided to venture out of the realm of scrambling and enter the realm of mountaineering. Taking a Snow and Ice long weekend course at Yamnuska Climbing School with some good friends (and partner for the SDKC and Texas Water Safari) opened a whole new world for me. I never thought that I would be standing on top of a technical mountain, using ice screws, belaying people, being tied in with a rope and crossing crevasses. This is stuff of the IMAX, of Vertical Limit (which is a horrible movie btw) and extreme sports. But here I was, August 3rd 2009 standing at the summit of my first technical mountain, Mt. Athabasca. A mountain that pretty much fought us most the way. Being very enthusiastic, we asked (bugged might be the other word) our guide to see if we could go up a route called the Silverhorn as opposed to the novice North Glacier ascent. Now to put it in perspective, every route up Athabasca involves a glacier crossing which puts it in the realm of mountaineering, but the North Glacier Route is no more of a moderate scramble once you cross the glacier. Having done Mt. Temple and Nigel Peak the two previous weeks and spending two days with in depth training, we were all wanting a little more...technical. A little more is what we got.

The day started with a extraordinary mountain storm. What should have been a 1 A.M start ended up being delayed til 4 A.M. During the approach we were with another group of about 10-15 that were heading for the Glacier Route. Before diverging from them, due to a miscalculation in rope slack, I ended up falling into a crevasse and having to climb out (thankfully it was a smaller one only 15' - 20' deep). As we continued and split from the other group (we exchanged "good lucks") we began post-holing. Eventually we were standing at the base of the Silverhorn. The Silverhorn is a 400m high 50º ice slope which involves a technical crossing of a bergschrund and being susceptible to serac fall and as put by an experience mountaineering friend "a very ambitious route for first-timers".

Save you a description of the ensuing 4 hours of climbing, anchoring, belaying and having your life literally depending on a rope and two screws in the ice...rinse and repeat, we finally, exhausted and wondering how much further, crested the Silverhorn and headed along the summit ridge to the true summit. Ten minutes later, there we were, on the 20th highest peak in the Canadian Rockies and second 11'00oer in as many weeks. So excited/tired were we that no one thought to take a summit photo...believe it or not, we do not have a summit photo of us on our first technical ascent. I decided to stand on the summit a little longer than my team, looking over the Columbia Icefield with no sound but the light wind and my breathing, I decided that I was going to go for all fifty-one 11'00ers in the Canadian Rockies. A lofty goal for someone who has just started mountaineering, but a goal none the less. If I make it, I succeed in a very difficult , if I don't, I will get to visit some of the most beautiful and rugged places on the world while trying. In fact, such a hard goal is this, that only seven people have done it to date, each one taking several years to do so, many took decades. After that I joined two groups. The University of Calgary Outdoor Adventurers and the Calgary Scrambling and Mountaineering Club, both of which I am now an event organizer.

During the next few months with both groups, I scrambled such mountains as:

1. Midnight Peak
2. Mt. Allen
3. Vermilion Peak
4. Snow Peak
5. Middle Sister

The vast majority being winter ascents in varying conditions. From blizzard caused white-out Midnight Peak with a summit temperature of -42ºC to a solar-warming caused class II avalanche on Snow Peak I had the opportunity to experience the mountains in ways that very few people have. And it is my goal to help share those experiences with you all via this blog, as well as answer questions that people may have.

So it's understandable that it is with a bit of a heavy heart that I put my mountaineering gear away as the conditions improve. But alas, it is only temporary as this year I have at least 2 more 11'oooers on the list....Mt. Willingdon and Mt. Joffre, both with epic approaches. Stay tuned for a video of my 19 mountains and 24 summits of '09-'10, I will compose one in the not to distant future.

And stay tuned for Team Chinook and the Texas Water Safari...updates are about to come streaming in as we transition from Summits to Surf.

How's The Water Up There?

So I'm going to pose a question to you. What do you do when you are 2 months behind on training and counting with one of the hardest endurance and adventure races in the world looming less than 3 months away?

While our southern counterparts have been canoeing in preparation for the TWS for the past few weeks, or in some cases months, we've been in the grips of winter with an average temperature from December 16th 2009 to March 16, 2010 of - 11C. Mild by winter standards, but still cold enough to freeze water fairly quickly.

In fact, up to three weeks ago, the Bow River running through Calgary was fairly covered in ice, but over that time temperatures have been well above seasonal, setting record highs three times now we are seeing some quick progress in the thawing process. Unfortunately, not all rivers are at the same stage of opening up.

This past weekend my wife and I drove up to Edmonton to relocate a domesticated painted turtle to a co-worker. Along the way we drove over the Red Deer river. Now, Red Deer is a mere 150km north of Calgary, yet the river showed no signs of thaw. Ice coverage was 100% and I could have probably walked from one side to another without much worry of breaking through. This poses a bit of a logisitcal hurdle for our training as the Red Deer river is to be the staging ground for our endurance training, the reservoirs being flat water are still further behind the rivers.

So you might be thinking to yourself, what about the Bow River? Why not do some paddling in there

and get out sooner? I can't say that hasn't been ruled out yet, but what we have to remember is that the Bow River is a mountain fed river, meaning that even though it is open, its flowing at a quick pace, in some places I'd estimate the flow to be close to 10kph (7 mph). Add to that an average temperature of likely less than 2C (5F) and abrupt ice bridges we have a recipe for disaster. It gets really frustrating knowing that you are doing all you can in the gym, but reading about other teams who are in the water already. This makes you question how your performance will stack-up, but I remain optimistic, I've been sticking to a regimented work-out, increasing my endurance, and testing my body in different states of fatigue. But cue Yoda to remind me "there is another."

Lake Okanagan, nestled in the beautiful Okanagan Valley of B.C. is a large, deep, glacial relic of a lake. It measures 145km (90 mi) in length and in some places 5km (3 mi) in width...and it never freezes. Okay, maybe not never, but I think it has only frozen over twice in the past 150 years or so, and the lake is only 600km to the west. Yes, sadly, the only place that is paddleable is a 7 hour drive through the Canadian Rockies. Now for the good news, this month ends in a long weekend and I already have confirmed free room and board in Kelowna, so the only hurdle that exists is finding a canoe to rent at this time of year. With the weather in Kelowna being above normal this year and the water being fairly calm, the lake becomes very enticing.

Whatever happens in the next little bit, there are signs all around that dry-land training is slowly coming to an end. Both my partner and I have agreed that when the waterways of Alberta become navigable, we'll have to be out every weekend to compensate for our glaring major disadvantage...a below freezing winter.

Now my answer to the original queston: Train harder, keep positive and don't sweat the little things. When the time comes that you get into water, you'll find your other training will have helped dramatically.

The Road To Texas - 3 Months To Go

Last spring I announced that I was going to participate in this years Texas Water Safari, a 421-kilometre (262-mile) ultramarathon canoe race from central Texas to the Gulf of Mexico. That was 292 days ago, and now today, the Texas Water Safari looms a mere 3 months away, a paltry 92 days.

For those unfamiliar with the Texas Water Safari (TWS for short), it is, as stated above a 421-kilometre (262-mile) ultramarathon canoe race. The race starts in the central Texas town of San Marcos and follows two rivers (the San Marcos and Guadalupe) to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the course, paddlers will encounter and have to negotiate around venemous snakes, venomous spiders, alligators, carniverous fish, fire ants and portages through poison ivy infested foliage. T hat doesn't include the battling of physical and mental exhaustion, capsized canoes, log jams upwards of 1.5 kilometres (1 mile) long and paddling through the summer Texas sun.

Did I mention that the TWS is ranked as the 6th toughest race in the world by Peak 100?

So the realisation that there isn't much time left has finally set in, other teams in our division have been canoeing or even racing for the past few weeks or even months. But with our waterways finally beginning to open, hopefully out dryland training will be coming to an end. Being out in the mountains all winter workin on cardio can only get you so far, you need that water component, soon, we will have it, and then training will really take off.

Stay tuned everybody, only 92 days left until the Texas Water Safari. Go Team Chinook!

Unveiling Of An Adventure & Resource Blog

Today I am unveiling a new blog, a piece of cyberspace dedicated to my musings and thoughts chronicling my adventures on this great planet. A blog that will be a diary of my adventures from start to finish, no matter how big or small, alpine or aquatic, short or long. It will also be a resource to those of you that choose to read.