Friday, November 30, 2007

Small Victory

Tonight at the climbing gym, I did something I’ve wanted to do for a while, climb onto the platform which is a structure in the middle of one of the bouldering rooms. The room is circular and has an “X” shape climbing wall in the middle. When you climb the X or any of the walls it takes up to a platform on the next floor. I had been climbing the “red” route for a while and decided it was time to go over the edge. I used brute force at the end to pull myself onto the platform. My first victory can a little cost, a white chest as my black t-shirt rubbed on the floor of the platform. I was stoked and climbed the wall a couple of more times each with a little more flare. Hmm, this to find a new color marker…

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Stamps and awesome workout

When I was growing up my father would sing a famous Flanders and Swann song called, "Mud, Mud Glorious mud." I did a quick google search and found this video. I guess you could ask what does this have to do with stamps. For the past little while I have been singing my own variation of the song, "Stamps, Stamps, Glorious Stamps." I recently volunteered to put stamps on membership cards for my honour society. Tonight, I finally finished after putting stamps on 700 envelopes. The chore started out with 300 envelopes but I volunteered to do some more. So, once I had put on a couple of hundred stamps I started to sing the song to keep my focus. It is a relief to get the chore finished.

Tonight, I had an awesome workout. The conditions were a crisp 15F/-9C with a windchill of 3F/-16C. It was the coldest conditions that I have run in this year. I was cold walking down to the canal. Once at the waters edge I started at a fast pace to warm myself up. After two miles I was starting to sweat. For the next five miles I was able to maintain a pace of 85% of my aerobic threshold. The workout felt great.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Snow...wet and not enough

Overnight, we got our first dose of snow (two inches). It came in the form of wet snow which melted during the day leaving wet slush. I was hoping for more as I'm eager to go skiing as well to start snowshoeing but this will likely have to wait until after Christmas.

Tonight, I had an awesome run, it was one of those "flow" experiences when you run very fast and smooth almost as if you are on auto-pilot. This was unexpected. Earlier in the day, I got my annual "flu" shot and was starting to feel under the weather. Things continued to feel iffy as I was heading down to meet the running group. Once we started out on the run at a brisk pace I quickly moved in the grove and was able to spend most of the workout running very fast which sort of felt effortless.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Badlands of Cheltenham

One of the many highlights of my recent trip to Toronto was a drive by of the Badlands of Cheltenham. On the drive up to the retreat the bus driver made a point of driving very slowly along the road to give us an amazing view of this geological phenomenon. She said that it was one of the main tourist attractions in the area. From the road they looked really cool. I’m hoping to convince my father at the end of the month or over the Christmas holidays that we should drive up and see the undulations first hand.

Youtube video of the badlands

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Golden Key Leadership Retreat

On the weekend I headed down to Toronto for a leadership retreat associated with the Golden Key Honor Society. We met at Hart House on the University of Toronto campus and then took the bus up to the Hart House farm which is about an 45 minute drive north. I came representing the Ottawa chapter, and a couple of people came from Alberta with the majority of the people coming from Toronto. Over the weekend we went hiking, played capture the flag in the dark and did a couple of leadership exercises. Our first task was to split into two teams and come up with a team name and chant. My team was called “Mas cash” which was based on the first letter in our given name while the other team was called “the Wonka Nerds.” During one of our breaks we hiked around the property and explored the caves/cliffs as well as take some novel pictures (people arranged by height). We each took the Myers-Brigg personality test and determined our leadership styles. It was fun adventure and gave me a chance to network with people from different chapters.

(main photo gallery)

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Virtual Reality Climbing

On Thursday night I went to, Virtual Reality, a climbing place very close to where I live and did an hour of bouldering. It was neat when I arrived as the guy asked why I had climbed sooner living so close to the place. They have a couple of bouldering caves some having padding on the floor and others with fresh gravel. They also have an area where you can boulder up the side of the wall and then climb onto a platform on the second floor. Some of the faces are marked with color tape (difficulty ratings) and there are others with different size mounts. The top-rope area is smaller than Earth Treks. It was a great night and I’m looking forward to my Thursday night bouldering expeditions.

Monday, November 5, 2007

Noonmark and Hopkins Peaks

Late on Friday night I got a call from Chris MacDonald to say that he was organizing a last-minute weekend hiking trip to the the Adirondacks. The plan was to climb Noonmark (3491 feet) and Hopkins (3150 feet). This would be my third hiking trip with Chris Mc this year so I knew what to expect. After catching my breath, I replied that I was eager to go. The plan was to meet at 7:00 am on Saturday morning. I headed over to the 24 hour grocery store to get some last minute supplies.

On Saturday morning, we met at John Galbraith's house and headed over to meet Kerry McDaniels at her house along the way out of town. Our next stop would be Lake Placid where we bought lunch for Saturday and Sunday. We registered at the Adirondack Loj and then drove south to Keene Valley to start our trek up Noonmark. Before heading out we registered at the sign out box a, b. As we started to climb the temperature started to drop. Ice crystals were visible in the soil and we would find ice at the summit. Along the way we had to climb a couple of neat ladders. I was the first to reach the summit which was cold and windy. I was under-dressed for the conditions having left my polar fleece jacket, gloves and hat in the car. Before we heading back down the trail we took a picture in the lee of the wind. It would take about 30 minutes before my hand warmed up. Chris Mc, Kerry and I were the first to reach the trailhead and I took a picture of the sunset while waiting for John to finish the hike. Once we were all together we headed into Lake Placid for a meal and headed back to the Loj.

I was up at 6:30 am on Sunday and had a quick shower. The cook would bang his breakfast gong at 7:15 am and I wanted to hit the shower before the masses did so. Breakfast took the form of all-you-can-eat pancakes and oatmeal which were a welcome sight. After checking out we headed back down into the Keene Valley to summit Hopkins. Along the trail I snapped a picture of myself while catching my breath. As I was getting closer I noticed a rock face off the trail and wondered if Jason would climb it if he was here or here. Chris Mc, Kerry and I had lunch on the summit of Hopkins and I showed Kerry how to sight a bearing with her compass. When the sun was out it was pleasant to sit out on the rocks and catch the rays. Once the food has settled in our stomach we started our reluctant slow descent back to the car. As the sun was setting we bid the Adirondacks goodbye and started our trek north.

Friday, November 2, 2007

Ts'yl-os (pronounced sigh-loss)



When I was growing up the premier of British Columbia announced that he was forming a new provincial park called Ts'yl-os. The newspaper gave the subscribers a chance to request a poster of hikers at Chilko Lake with the mountains in the background. I took up the offer and the poster is on the wall I pass by each morning. Ts'yl-os is located 250 km North of Vancouver. The url of the park is http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/ts.html. One of my goals over the next couple of years is to camp, and hike in Ts'yl-os park as well as to hike up one of the peaks.