2008
(3 total photos, July 13, 2008) — Climbed "Red Shirt" on Yam with Brad. Very nice route. Some rat-shit on the first couple pitches, but mostly avoidable. The guidebook promises super-polished climbing, but most of the "polish" we found was mostly just the rock, not from other climbers. There were definitely some polished holds, but nothing too crazy. Not very many bolts on this one yet (2.5 of the belays, one protection bolt) -- nice to see. Although many of the "fixed" belays are pins, it was possible to back them all up with gear. Some people might like to take a hammer.
(12 total photos, July 04, 2008) — Dan, Peter and I stayed in Field for a few days for a self-imposed training camp. Craig came up for one day, too. Very good weather for riding, even if I do hate rain (but we only had a little). The cloud-cover helped keep temperatures reasonable.
May 31, 2008: Rocky Mountain House
(6 total photos, June 03, 2008) — My last qualifying ride for the Rocky Mountain 1200 put on by the BC Randonneurs every 4 years. Beautiful weather marred only by headwinds for two days (although light for the most part on Saturday). A massive south wind greeted us for the entire second day from Rocky Mountain House back, making for slow progress and minimal stopping time. Chester pulled us back from Cremona by himself...great work; should be good for that "fitness kickstart" he was looking for prior to the Cascade 1200 at the end of the month... Food: Saturday: Cinnamon bun + sandwich in Canmore; iced tea + chocolate milk at Castle Junction; chocolate, iced tea and chocolate at Lake Louise; 1/2 Cliff bar near Bow Lake; burger+fries, chocolate milk, Pilsner, apple pie, chips, 3 coffees at Castle Junction; peanuts, real fruit gummies, coffee at Nordegg. Sunday: ceral, toast+PB, banana, coffe, OJ in Rocky; iced tea, peanuts, ice cream cone in Caroline; footlong meatball sub, chips, coke in Sundre; Peter's burgers + onion rings in Calgary.
(8 total photos, May 17, 2008) — We had a pretty rugged headwind (30km/h forecasted; felt about right) on most of the trip out (except bits of the 1A after Banff), which probably helped the temperature feel reasonable. The other side of the pass was a little better, but pedaling down 4% grades is never fun. The ride home was much nicer, but I was in less and less of a state to enjoy it. After Castle, the evening ride down the 1A was pretty nice and I saw a black wolf (I'm fairly certain; miiight have been a black bear) at the first single-road section, and a bear scampered across the road a little further on. Even though it was only about 20 seconds in front of me, I couldn't see it at all as I rode by. From Banff on was more survival, especially on the Transcanada. A fair number of cars honked in a friendly fashion; perhaps people who saw us earlier? The 1A through Morley at night seemed quite a lot rougher than normal, probably because I didn't care about dodging stuff as much. Let me also say I was Extremely Happy to have a triple (30x26) for Big Hill. I finally rolled in at 03:30 and Esther picked me up. I had entertained thoughts before about riding home, but I was pretty happy to see the car at Crowfoot. Update: cool kids apparently include "nutrition" information about their rides, so here's mine. canmore: cappuccino, club sandwich w/ spinach soup + ice tea. castle junction: 2 beers, 2 cookies, iced tea x2, power-cookie, chocolate bar?. castle junction (on return): 2 beers, pizza sub, 1L chocolate milk, iced tea, salt+pepper chips, cinnamon bun. cochrane: chocolate bar. Lots of water, probably filled up a dozen times on the route. The Route.
(1 total photos, May 06, 2008) — Brad and I's first rock outing of the season saw us heading (predictably?) for the afternoon shift on the West end of Yam.
(1 total photos, May 06, 2008) — After reading the article, I was a little disappointed as it wasn't quite what I first pictured. Funny, still. (I bet they didn't shock him 3 or 4 times and then kneel on the back of his chest, though).
(1 total photos, May 06, 2008) — Esther, Brad, Eric and I headed out for a mostly-leisurely ride to Cochrane to meet Jenny and Meghan for coffee -- which ended up being Esther's longest ride of the year -- so far (about 45km). Woo!
(23 total photos, April 03, 2008) — Neil, Brad and I drove out to Vancouver to meet Florian (who recently moved there) and Rene (who flew there) for a bit of a spring ski adventure. We did a day trip up the Duffy Lake Road, then headed in to Keith's Hut for a couple nights. We liked it enough to come out for burgers, beer and more food and go back in for another couple nights. Let me say for those who haven't tried: 5 dude's ski stuff in one hotel room "drying" out isn't the freshest scent in the world...
(1 total photos, March 25, 2008) — There's a great sunny hillside out in Bearspaw for loitering on. Typically, it is also near a recycling container but that won't be there until the golfers start staggering around the course...until then, the winter collection becomes a Beer-a-mid.
(1 total photos, March 23, 2008) — One gong led to the next on this outing. First, we forgot the ropes and didn't realize it until the weight scale on the Transcanada. Our original plan (Coire Dubh Integrale) didn't look to be in shape, mostly because we couldn't really see it very well through the fog -- so for some reason we thought "Professor's! That's a great idea without bikes!" About 100m from the gully coming down from the climb, Brad asks, "Did you see me put my harness in my pack?" He demonstrates the sling-harness he made when the answer turned out to be "no".
(2 total photos, March 16, 2008) — Esther and I were finally successful in tagging along with Kyle and Aliah on a cougar capture -- they are doing cougar research near Nordegg (Kyle's PhD) which (partially) involves finding, capturing and GPS-collaring cougars. This is the part we came along for. The GPS collars come off when the batteries are (close to) dead. Kyle, Aliah and (volunteer) crew collect data off them via VHF radios, analyze it (for example, by clustering it [I helped with this software]) and then doing field work looking for kill sites, dens, feces, etcetera to see where the kitties go, what they eat and how they die. There has been no cougar research done in Alberta. In the zones near Nordegg, 29 cougar hunting tags are issued per year.
(3 total photos, March 11, 2008) — Some shots from some recent rides with Steenbergen. This is, apparently, "winter" cycling now -- sunny days, warm weather and narry a facemask or frostbitten finger to be seen.
February 2, 2008: Valley of the Birds
(5 total photos, February 04, 2008) — Went into the Ghost with Rene, Kev and Sarah to Valley of the Birds. Rene and I did Yellow Bird and Seagull and then followed Kev up The Eagle. Great fun!
(19 total photos, January 25, 2008) — Neil and I had a great four days of touring and turns in Farm Pass (up the Bostock Creek drainage near Roger's Pass).
(4 total photos, January 20, 2008) — Tried out some of the cold-weather gear for one of the few times this winter (-16 or so) for a couple-hour loop in the northwest of Calgary.
(1 total photos, January 19, 2008) — Esther's first skiing attempt since breaking her ankle. Success!!!
(4 total photos, January 06, 2008) — A beautiful spring-like ride to West Bragg, including some good sitting-in-the-sun. Also a "Sun Dog" special coffee w/ lunch and some quality malted BEvERages by the river.
2007
(4 total photos, December 17, 2007) — Looking for some turns in the currently-grim Rockies we actually found a few up Burstall Pass, which was a nice bonus as we were expecting a "training" day instead. First day skiing in the Rockies and first time in several years with Eric...
(2 total photos, December 11, 2007) — Went looking for ice in the South Ghost; found Green Angel but weren't quite up to climbing it in the condition it's in now.
(2 total photos, November 29, 2007) — First ice-climb of the season: went up Rogan's Gully in fairly thin conditions with Brad. Beautiful day!
(8 total photos, November 24, 2007) — Brad, Florian, Neil and I headed to Roger's for a Saturday to Monday ski trip for Florian's birthday. Some rad turns and awesome snow (especially for early season).
(6 total photos, October 22, 2007) — First batch of pictures from our honeymoon bike-trip around the Cabot Trail. More to come later.
(36 total photos, October 09, 2007) — Our honeymoon on the East coast; stage one was bike-touring the Cabot Trail (Cape Breton Island) and then stage two was borrowing my Aunt's car and driving to Halifax, Lunnenberg and PEI.
(11 total photos, September 16, 2007) — After a leisurely start, Brad and I got up the NW "ridge" of Wasootch Tower (in "Kananaskis Obscure"; see TABVAR site) which is really the NW face, mostly (very little ridge climbing). Nice summit. The rap on the Col route has the bolts in a stupid place; putting them on the face a couple meters over the edge (easy down-climb) would make pulling the ropes less of a struggle.
(12 total photos, August 29, 2007) — Spent six days with Esther and Dad sea kayaking in the Broken Group.
(24 total photos, August 20, 2007) — Four days of climbing with Brad and Kev. Despite mixed weather, we got up some incredible routes (the harder ones thanks to Kev).
(17 total photos, July 28, 2007) — An awesome climb with Florian up the Gmoser Route (III, 5.8) on Mt Louis. Almost perfect weather (if a little hot at times) with sun all day and very little wind. Very dehydrating. Some inconsiderate fool (turns out it was guide Mark Klassen) has bolted every single anchor, alas.
(4 total photos, July 23, 2007) — Esther's first overnight bike tour. We headed out to Little Elbow from the 22/highway 8 intersection and then back the next day. Perfect weather. The walk-in sites at Little Elbow are very nice; almost reminiscent of a backcountry campsite arrangement (minus the 600lb giant-tents, beer and coolers of course).
(7 total photos, one video, July 15, 2007) — A fun evening ride with a very spectacular thunderstorm ending.
(5 total photos, June 30, 2007) — A longer version (150km) of the Madden loop; with Eric + Neil to Cochrane and just Eric onwards. The 262 west of Lochend has been repaved and Wheedon Trail from Horse Creek to the 22 is also paved (looks gravel on maps). Great long loop! (maps of both loops)
(2 total photos, June 22, 2007) — Having done this route twice in the last week, I am reminded: this is one of the best routes around Calgary (even if I do say so myself). Incorporating many of the good roads northwest of the city (with multiple variations possible through Bearspaw), the northernmost extent of the route features the Madden golf course (beer! picnic tables!) and the entirety of Symons Valley Road. Awesome scenery, great roads, limited traffic and largely smooth blacktop. I challenge anyone for a better 100-130km loop starting and finishing in Calgary. The approximate route is on bikely.com and locally.
(5 total photos, May 30, 2007) — A quick afternoon road loop on a gorgeous day. The route is on Bikely.com.
(6 total photos, May 26, 2007) — A new Alberta Randonneur member (Martin) came with me (the only "actual" member) to do the "Rocky Mountain Ripper" (see the Alberta Rando site for more information). I've got the route on Bikely.com.
(12 total photos, May 20, 2007) — Brad, Kev, Florian, Linh and I headed into the Ghost for the first time this year. Brad, Kev and I headed up to Grey Ghost wall while Florian and Linh decided on Boundary Bluffs. My first day on rock this year.
(3 total photos, May 16, 2007) — My bikes. Click on the pics for more details from the Flickr pages.
(4 total photos, May 15, 2007) — My Ultimate team's (Too Drunk to Huck) first game vs. Lickety Flick. Although we lost 15 - 9, it was a great game.
(4 total photos, May 05, 2007) — First rando ride with the Alberta Randonneurs, this one called "Kananaskis 200" (Cochrane to Peter Lougheed interpretive centre and back).
(5 total photos, one video, March 30, 2007) — Absolutely incredible. Terrific views from the top. I had visions of me kick-turning/down-climbing the entire thing but after the first couple sphincter-puckering turns, it was pretty fun.
(5 total photos, 2 videos, March 28, 2007) — Neil, Joel, Florian and I skiied up to the Niblock/Whyte col on an absolutely perfect Tuesday: the sun was behind thin clouds, keeping the snow very skiable and bright. Joel and I also scrambled up Niblock. Great fun!
(7 total photos, March 23, 2007) — Great day out on The Professor's with Shaun. The bike ride was undoubtably more entertaining for him since he didn't take his commuter-slicks off his mountain bike.
(4 total photos, March 10, 2007) — Got Ren&eacut; to come out ice-climbing — we went and did A Bridge Too Far near Galatea in the Kananaskis. The ice was a little sun-leached, but the pro was decent and the climb was great fun. p.s. the approach as less than 45 minutes, not the 1.5-2 hours promised in the guidebook...
(7 total photos, March 03, 2007) — Ryan and I rode out past Elbow Falls on what felt like the first spring ride of the year, even though technically that should be some weeks from now.
(5 total photos, February 27, 2007) — Had a great day near Blackprince with Brad, Florian and Neil.
(13 total photos, February 23, 2007) — Went out for a great three-day weekend of ice-climbing with Kevin. I thought I was sore on Saturday, but was quite wrong: Brad joined us for Sunday in Field for Carlsberg Column and Pilsner Pillar. Friday Kev and I went into Evan Thomas Creek and Saturday got Steve a little way into the Ghost and walked to Valley of the Birds.
(12 total photos, February 06, 2007) — Trucked into the North Ghost with Craig and Brad and did Beowulf, billed as similar to This House of Sky except harder, which is approximately accurate. The day was weird: wind from the east, very foggy and lots of frozen-slush-like ice over top of the good stuff. Great climb, though!
(2 total photos, February 03, 2007) — After a 4am night at the HiFi, it seems appropriate that Brad and I went to Field to do one of the "beer climbs". With a late start and a desire to avoid too much snow-wallowing, we were lured up the descent trail for our original objective (Guiness Gully) and instead ended up doing the above 2 pitches known as "Guiness Stout".
(3 total photos, January 27, 2007) — Went out ice-climbing for the weekend in the Ghost (and stayed at kevin's place). Awesome times! Great to get dragged up the hardest ice I've climbed in some of the best surroundings available. The company wasn't too bad, either ;) We had a couple entertaining days driving, too (good work by Kev). Getting a Subaru Loyale into the north Ghost isn't a cake-walk.
(18 total photos, January 24, 2007) — Florian, Neil and I had a great three days of camping + turns in an undisclosed location juuust inside Banff National Park. The three meter snowpack with boot-covering pow-pow was a pleasant surprise given that we were expecting wind-hammered boilerplate...!
(2 total photos, January 16, 2007) — Digging through the archives, I noticed these shots by Brad Cooke from when we climbed Athabasca's north face (with Manuel, August 12, 2003). Brad convinced us to toss some beers in our packs, which we did. We didn't actually end up drinking them until we were almost back at the car since we were concerned about the sun rapidly warming the descent route (I think it was about 11 or noon when this shot was taken).
(6 total photos, January 07, 2007) — Brad and I met Neil and Rene in Golden (at Robin's "Bunky") and had a couple days of skiing in sketchy avi conditions which confined us to the trees. Skiied with M. Toft and friends above Kinbasket Lake on the 6th and near West Louise Lodge on the 7th.
(8 total photos, January 02, 2007) — Great day ice-climbing in the Ghost with Brad. Stressful (yet uneventful) drive in with the Subaru, hiked to This House of Sky and did a couple of the smears up above. Snowy on the raps down. Met the owners of a Spacestation (giant base-camp-ish tent) who were staying out near there on the way out and nearly got the car stuck in snowdrifts about four times. Great fun.
2006
(4 total photos, December 19, 2006) — Skiing in the basin north of Pope's Peak with Neil and Scott. Cool terrain and some surprisingly good turns both in the basin (which was largely just wind-hammered boilerplate) and through the trees.
(2 total photos, December 10, 2006) — First day ice-climbing this season. Craig and I went into Valley of the Birds in the north Ghost. Main creek pretty slushy, with some boot-filling pools in places (Craig found a few of these). We did Albatross and something else on the west side of the drainage (not Seagull; middle looked very thin).
(3 total photos, December 04, 2006) — Florian, Neil, Brad and I skied into Moraine Lake. The next day Brad skied out while we skied up Wenkchemna Pass and then out.
(8 total photos, November 26, 2006) — Neil, Tanner, Shaun, Diane, Kira and I skied Surprise Col in cold (-28) conditions. Great snow!
(8 total photos, November 16, 2006) — Brad and I flew down to Palm Springs to hit up Joshua Tree for a few days (we got 4 days of climbing). Great weather and a great time.
(5 total photos, October 28, 2006) — Florian and I did the "other" South ridge of Lorette (i.e. not the one in Selected Alpine Climbs) on Saturday. Quite fun! About 4th class.
(8 total photos, September 05, 2006) — Esther and I had a great few days up at Hermit Meadows after bailing on the Valhallas and got up Tupper's West Ridge, which is very fun. The trail up to the meadows wasn't as steep as I remember from last time, probably because my pack was about 15 pounds lighter...
(10 total photos, August 03, 2006) — See the the Trip Report. Esther and I had success on the Northeast Ridge of Bugaboo in about 20 hours round-trip (although we had to line up at the base for about two and a half).