Brother/Sister Bonding

I just spent the last week back in the States. My little sister, Cory, dun growed up and gradumacated college, so I had to go down and see her make the walk across the stage. It was great to spend some time with my family again as the whole gang was out there supporting Cory. I stuck around in the States for a few extra days so I could help my sister get her car back to California. Road Trip!

Cory and I had an unusual companion accompany us on our trip. Meet Snowmie the Gnomie. He was a graduation gift to Cory.



"Just the three of us" ready to start the journey.



Cory and Snowmie leaving school and moving on to brighter horizons. I think I feel a tear coming on.



Snowmie in Kansas City, Kansas.



Snowmie and some dragsters along the endless road through Kansas.



Snowmie in Topeka, Kansas.



Snowmie and I just chillin' at a historical site in Kansas. This sign probably should have read, "In some long forgotten year, Kansas was made a state and given endless borders in order to cause thousands of automobile drivers to go insane due to the never ending monotony of driving across our beloved flat state." I guess it sure beats riding across the state on horseback.



Cory, Snowmie, and Gorilla. Grrr!



On this road trip I learned that Cory always sleeps with her mouth open. This provided a lot of entertainment for me as we drove across Kansas.



A funny license plate.




This is Kansas. Oh and it looks like this for 430 miles. Sweet.



Yes Dorothy, this is Kansas. Fake Palm Trees and all.



Snowmie the Gnomie keeping up with Foreign Affairs now that we've safely arrived in Denver, Colorado.



Finally some topography! God Bless Colorado! Wish I hadn't left my skis in Canada...



Loveland Pass. Lots of good skiing still left in mid June.



Snowmie providing moral support while I take care of business inside.



Snowmie the Arborist.




Snowmie and Cory in Utah.



Snowmie in Vegas.



The green man trying his luck.



Gas prices in the California desert finally catch up to what I've been paying in Canada for the last six months.



"Snowmie, I think we need a coffee break after all this driving."



Mission Accomplished.

Life in the Boreal

Here's a few photos from life in the boreal forest. A beautiful sunset from the front yard.



Rufus and me on one of our nightly walks. Oh yeah, the sun does not set here until after 10pm right now.

Little House in the Boonies

I thought I'd throw up a few pics of the new place in Alberta for the summer. Also a few pics of Rufus! France and I are fostering a puppy with the potential to adopt him. He's darn cute. He's a yellow lab/golden retriever mix, with a little bit of husky too. We're having a great time with him. He sure likes to sleep a lot though!

La casita with the fire tower behind. I have to put on my harness and climb up there to work and make phone calls since that's the only place we get enough reception.



Rufus in his snow patch (it's melted now).



A view of the flat, endless forest from the tower.



Rufus snuggling with his Tiger.



Our potable water storage.



Generator on the left, storage shed on the right.



Solar Showers baby!



France's Garden.



El Bano.



Our Horseshoe and Bocce Ball Court



The shower. It can get a bit breezy!


La cocina.

Transitions

It's been a little bit since I last blogged, but there has been quite a bit going on. France and I moved out of Nelson, which has been a whirlwind of not so much fun since we both love the place. However, reality sometimes dictates life and the reality is that with no Canadian Work Visa and with France not being able to find helicopter work for the summer, it is, sadly, time to cast the net in other waters. So, we've plunked down in northern Alberta for the summer, an odd place for me, where France can make some money and we can get free rent. After that we'll be headed down to the States, probably Washington, so France can get her helicopter instructor's license. Meanwhile, she's saving for that program by working as a fire tower attendant in the boonies of AB (Alberta).

However, lets back track a little. Once I got everything in storage, moved out, and packed out in Nelson, I had to make a trip down to Washington state to get some warranty work done on my Honda. As I haven't really done any rock climbing outside since December when I was back visiting family in California, I thought it would be fun to get out and do some climbing in Washington. My friend Jen from Colorado, who is now studying in Vancouver, drove down to meet for two days of climbing. We climbed the first day at Frenchman's Coulee and then the next day in the rocktropolis of Leavenworth. Both places were great, but Leavenworth was incredible. There is so much rock it's crazy. However, because of the vast amount of rock, it's also a little challenging to find some of the routes and we ended spending most of our day in Leavenworth hiking around, trying to find routes, and then getting lost, oh, and then it started raining. Needless to say we didn't get a lot of climbing done in Leavenworth, but the climbs we did do were fantastic, especially Classic Crack. A fantastic splitter. Just what I wanted!

A view of perfect Mount Rainier from the road near Vantage, Washington.



A view of the Feathers at Frenchman's Coulee where we climbed for the first morning of our two day climbing trip.



Jen at the top of the second climb warm up climb we did.



Jen preparing to rappel.




A lovely view from around Leavenworth.



A fun 5.8 crack we climbed at Leavenworth.



Me at the base of Classic Crack after leading it.



Classic Crack. The gorgeous 5.9 handcrack in the center.

Videos from Evening Ridge Trees

Here's a few of the videos we took from Friday's tree skiing at Evening Ridge.

Westies

Yesterday was one of those perfect days in the mountains. Steve, Tim, and I headed up for a last tour before I move out of Nelson. The morning dawned completely clear, the sky that deep, rich blue that is so beautifully amplified by the contrasting snow draped mountains. We got an early start because the freezing levels were supposed to sky rocket to 2500 meters by the afternoon, but we skinned up in perfect 20 degree (-6 Celsius) weather. The glide of our skis made the refrozen snow crunch lightly underneath our feet.





Our plan for the day was to ski a line in Prospector's Bowl. Tim had never been there so we thought we'd let him taste what he'd been missing all season. However, when we arrived at the top of the chute to enter the bowl, it was obvious that today was not the day for it. The winds, which normally come from the southwest, had come from the northwest and had scoured and distorted the normally beautiful entrance. It looked like an avalanche waiting to happen, or at best, terrible skiing. Only 10 minutes away from the entrance to West Ymir, we decided it was best to look over there. When we got to the saddle we looked into the bowl and it looked perfect. The sun was just beginning to touch the North facing slope fueling our desire to sky it even more. There were 2 tracks in the bowl from some people who had skied a different line, but there didn't appear to be any movement within the snow. We quickly deskinned and dropped in. The snow was perfect. Hero snow. The winds that had scoured Prospector's had actually helped pull the moisture out of the snow, which was so heavy yesterday, making for effortless turns. I don't think I stopped smiling until hours after we were finished. Oh wait, I feel a grin coming on. This was definitely one of the most memorable times that I've skied West Ymir. Great visibility, great snow, and great friends. A perfect day.

Tim





Joshua





Steve