Catherine and Craig

A few more shots from Catherine and Craig's wedding last week, I hope you enjoy..

The decisive moment.

Italian Wedding Soup, Albertan Style.

I was just in Edmonton this weekend where I had the opportunity to take photographs at a friend of my sister's wedding celebration. A wonderful gathering culminating in the joining of two seemingly wonderful families in the small hamlet of Villineauve, Alberta. There is just something to be said for small towns and weddings.

Tomorrow I am back for a short time before loading up the car and blasting West once again for the next series of work instalments, mostly for patagonia. I really look forward to travelling through my territory; meeting up with my friends and enjoying the variety of culinary, climbing and cultural adventures that it provides.

Well, here is to family and weddings- The oldest of traditions.

Fall and Times

Well friends it is basically Autumn in the mountains these days, winter in the big peaks and occasionally summer here in the valley bottoms of Canmore. Town is quiet and in the morning the air bites and you know that soon the first storms will arrive and winter will capture the landscape for a few months. This is also one of my favourite times of the year. Nursing a bit of a shoulder injury, I have been taking it easy in the climbing department. I find myself focusing on biking, cooking and preparing for my next trip out to the coast later in the month. Recuperation is on the front burner, hopefully in time for a winter climbing trip to some warm locale.

Yamnuska. THE crown jewell of trad climbing in the Rockies
Skunk Cabbage, Lake Louise.
Eeor (East end of Rundle)

6 Months

It has been 6 months since my very good friend Mike passed away. I usually think of him everyday, sometimes I miss a day or two but most days I think of something he did or said. Mike was a really great person, one of the best I have known. He was a great climbing partner, he would say things like "what a great lead" or "Man, you made that look sooo easy" all the time, even when you looked like a drunk sailor! I remember a trip, recently broken from a rather nasty time in my life where we drove to Yamnuska from Edmonton for a day on our favourite cliff. We started up and I couldn't bring myself to climb, I was too bummed out and I felt terrible about it. Then Mike offered, "Why don't we head down, grab a coffee and go for a drive?". It was exactly what I needed, even though this was Mikes one day all week to climb, we ended up walking, coffee in hand up a creek, Mike playing therapist. It was one of the best days.

Here is to good friends.

Cold, Cold World.

Every year around this time I get lusty. For ski season that is. The nights have been cold in Canmore lately and after a rather frosty trip into the Valhallas last week the worm is turning and I cant help but think of winter things and the encompassing magic that is sure to come. Around October when the nights get longer and the cold runs into the bones I like to pull out the maps and guidebooks, pour a nice scotch and dive into it with stoke on the brain and endless adventure at the fingertips. I cant wait.

Rogers Pass, 2008.

Here is to warm fireplaces, winter storms, snowy roads and powder snow.

Hope all is well friends.

Valhalla

I had the great opportunity to join my good friend Drew for a successful outing to the Valhalla range in the southern Kootenay's this past few days. We have been hearing about Mt. Gimli for years and it was a great feeling to finally pack up, load up the car and make our way to BC. Finally catching a first glimpse of the beautiful South Ridge of Gimli was a great thing.

On the Shelter Bay Ferry to Nakusp. On the return trip, under a full moon and cloudless sky I couldn't help being introspective and quiet, watching the ripples in the placid water and marvelling at the wonder of it all.
Mt. Gimli, the object of our desire. Valhalla Provincial Park. S Ridge is the obvious edge.
Drew and I on the big ledge at mid height on Gimli's South Ridge. The wind and cold let off enough to remove the jackets hood from time to time but little else.
"Here on the ridge-crest, climb perfect cracks and corners on perfect rock in a spectacular position. One of the best 5.7 pitches in the world" So the North American Classic Climbs website goes on to say after describing the already stellar climbing below. Indeed, this is the best 5.7 pitch I have ever done and I can best describe it as 5.7 climbing in 5.10 terrain, the whole while the 300m north face of Gimli draws you in to the right.

Drew on the descent back to camp.

Drew immersed in the wonder of it all.
All the while, maurading bands of goats graze around the camp in an endless pursuit for salt. A very fitting companionship for this park given that Valhalla is supposed to be home for Heidrun the goat.

After 8 pitches of dreamy alpine wonder-stone and taking it all in for hours, we were full of contentment and grateful for such a great day. Thanks Drew!

Sḵwxwú7mesh aka Squamish

Just arrived home from a great and relaxing trip out to the coast, namely the Squamish and Vancouver zones. The former for the excellent rock climbing and the latter to see my good friend Leigh for some good food. We were lucky enough to have 4 days of climbing with one day of relaxing and many nights of socializing with friends new and old. I get to travel to this part of the world for work but it is not often where I can enjoy the surroundings without submitting to a phone call or a meeting. This trip however the phone was mostly away, the flip flops were out and a vacation was had by all!

I want to make the most of our summer road trip, how can I do this Canadian Tire? Oh, with the help of low priced camping supplies! We picked up a tarp here, now on with the road trip!
Linus the dog, Erin's best bud. He fasted for most of the trip but came to stirring life when presented with steak leftovers...
Every night we ate well, here is a lemongrass pork salad with pear.
Peasants Route, on our first day we managed a great 8 pitches at the base of the Grand Wall culminating in this route. A great one at that, this picture captures the crux pitch.
Our camp at Alice lake, we spent 4 nights here cooking, drinking nice wine selections and enjoying good company. I feel like I could have stayed there for another two weeks easy.

Erin enjoying life on peasants route.

Update for Mom.

I dont have a lot of time to write this morning but here are a couple of photos of a recent work trip to Salt Lake City to view. Having also just arrived home from an amazing road trip to Squamish with Erin, I will have a few stories and photos of that soon..

Garlic peeling and Pabst. A combination as good as gold and chest hair.
I know its a bit cheesball but this rainbow viewed from the garlic farm took our collective breath away.

Ghostly Daydreams

I had the luck/good fortune/joy of joining some friends on a climbing adventure in the Ghost River Wilderness area on the eastern slopes of the Canadian Rockies. We had an excellent time...

The Owen's, Very good company. Dinner was an amazing pasta with bacon, sausage, spinach and other goodies. A nice organic Malbec accompaniment was also enjoyed by people wearing patagonia.
Erin on the super-ultra-mega-classic, "Consolation" on the Wully Wall, Ghost River.
Ms. Urton making the moves on the arete look easy.
After Consolation, Rob and I teamed up for a 2 hour car to car ascent of the classic Cyclops. We literally ran up the trail in spots, racked up in 5 min and did this amazing almost pure crack climb. Both pitches delivered and we were pretty stoked to get this in that night! On the way down to the car while trying to slam a beer and again running I must have slipped a dozen times. The ladies had an amazing dinner and campfire waiting for us when we came back.

The next day we slept in, lounged around and did a couple of sport pitches in the area before driving home.

A very good time.

Home and Away Team

Well it is great to be home. I have had the chance to revel in the vastness of it all over the last few days time. Doing some climbing, going on a great solo road ride, being with friends and partaking in thunderstorm espresso sessions. A couple of things have come up that may or not be of interest to you, dear reader:

Claw-Hand

I had the great pleasure of having a Back of the lake day with Drew on the weekend. It was a high motivation day where our goal was to climb 10 routes in the hallowed halls of quartz climbing. All was going well, the standard "re-onsighting" of known routes and classics, getting pile driven on moderately thin clip ups and generally having a reeeealy good time. The moment came to do one of my favourite pitches of all time, "Duck of Death". I tied in and casted off. By the 3rd bolt my thumbs started to conjure mutiny on the high seas as they locked into my palms and refused to budge, save for my efforts of forcing them open by pushing them against the stone or leg. Yikes! after a stormy battle with the claw on route, I clipped the chains and lowered. After a small rest we warmed down on an easier route where I once again enjoyed the subtile nature of the claw. Drew found this all very entertaining and as he was also pretty much done from a great day, we ventured forth to Lagaan's and the awaiting espresso and baked good combo. After a bit of net research it appears that dehydration is the key factor. I hadn't had a lot to drink that morning and the day before I had an hour long hill session on the road bike. I will be more cautious of this mysterious condition from now on! 8 routes completed.

The National

Recently bought another National Album, the Virginia EP. It is blowing my mind with the thoughtful and captivating lyrics over the usual melodies and sweet guitar licks from this talented band. It has been my soundtrack over the last few days.

Mastering the Art of living

I have been thinking as always about this, some recent thoughts:

- Focus completely on your conversation's with people, I find I never regret this. It is easy to be distracted. A hard one.

-Simple things are the best. Dog walks with your significant other, the perfect shot of espresso, moonlight on your arm while driving in the desert...

-A good Mary Oliver Quote that resonated:

"To live in this world, you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go"

Hope all is well friends.

Range of Light- A week in the Sierra's

Wow! Just back this evening from an amazing week of climbing with my good friends G and Jon in the storied "Range of Light", the Sierra Nevada mountains of California.

We loaded up the venerable KIA for its last voyage, filled up on espresso and hit the long road. 24 hours later we were loitering around Bishop, drinking yet more espresso, eating Mexican food and securing a spot for a Mt.Whitney climb using the parks "Lottery" system. We received a lucky break from the friendly park service and were granted a quick and easy pass into the region for 4 days, first try! The rest of that first day we packed our bags, collected the necessary accoutrements for adventure and settled into a campsite at Whitney Portal. We read, ate burgers, told a few bad jokes and wandered around taking photos and scouting for animals. We were on free time and our minds were ablaze with the thought of high alpine granite!

On top of Cathedral Peak, a really stellar and classic peak in the Tulomne zone. Yosemite high country is a place to find your inner power animal.
Ever sat at a sub alpine campground sipping rare micro brews while enjoying a view like this one? Check!
Granite hallways on the super-cool East Buttress of Mt.Whitney, AKA Peewee Route.
The terrain unfolds into ledges, splitter cracks and neat-o terrain. All the while the sky is a mysterious dark blue colour?
Near the top of Whitney. Engulfed in the wonder of it all..
The Whitney Zone. Day Needle, Keelor Needle and Mt. Whitney. I get goosebumps thinking about climbing here gain- SO much fun to be had..
We awoke early one morning and I ran off with camera in hand to try and capture this daily event. The sun exploded from the east and painted the landscape..my words can't express..
Whitney camp. Marmots actually rule the show here but with enough trickery-pockery, you might end up with most of your food intact when you arrive back from a day of climbing! or not...
Jon and G, two very good friends and very smart guys (approximately 2 x smarter than me) that always have interesting anecdotes, scientific facts, obscure movie trivia and philosophy to share with me.
"Put your hands on the wheel, let the golden age begin"- Beck Hanson

What can I say, every time I go to this range I am left with a fuzzy feeling and I am always wanting more, more, MORE! Thanks for the great trip fellas!

Vancouver NOW redux

Land ahoy! I just arrived home from 11 days in the Vancouver zone. Working, playing a little and enjoying the company of friends both new and old. Photos say it best...

Patagonia?
North Vancouver beach bouldering and beer tasting session.
Although short, this boulder problem delivered the pump monster. What resulted was "t-rex" arm...
I work with a really great surf shop in Victoria called HTO, we co-oped on a film screening that went off like 1999! What a great event and showing, over 200 folks came down..and lots of patagoniacs!
The mobbing is imminent...!

Although work filled, I managed a couple of good road rides, a full day of climbing with friend and colleague Julian of ROI as well as a nice morning in the boulders. I camped under the chief for a few nights and it really reminded me of my summers there as a young fellow. Chasing shadows in the forest, trying really hard to climb hard and living out our dreams..

Road Sounds

What I am listening to on the road right now..updated from the starbucks in Kamloops.

The National- Boxer
The Roots- Dilla Joints
Beck Sea Change- I have listened to this album more than any other. Love, loss, introspection, anger and contentment are covered by Beck as he wrote this in the turbulence of a long overdue breakup.
2 Pac- All Eyez On Me- Say what you will about Gangster Rap, the talent of the man in his prime as one of the most driven and respected rappers of the nineties is apparent in this, one of the best selling hip hop albums of all time. A good and guilty pleasure...
Neelix- You're under control- A good sci trance specialty.