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

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)

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.

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.

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.

Flow/Fartlek workout - awesome

Tonight, we did out usually 11km fartlek workout backwards and something amazing happened. While at the running room I peeled off my running tights and decided to run bare legged. We set out running along the bike path that runs next to the canal. The speed demons took off midway through the run. Somewhere along the way they took a wrong turn while I stuck to the normal course. They would eventually catch up to me near the end of the workout and surge by. This happened at Dow's Lake. I was running at a good clip at this point and knew that if I stopped then the workout would be over. I went flying by the speed demons who were catching their breath. They didn't take nicely to me surging by. Rather than slow down, I sped up, it would take them 1,500 meters to catch me. They would surge and I would respond with a burst of speed. We surge back and forth a couple of times. My final kilometer was done in 3:42 which works out to a 5:57 mile. I didn't know I had such running speed in my legs this late in the season. It was an amazing experience to be running this fast. It sort of felt like being a pronghorn whose top speed is 61 mph (98 km/h).

Rattle Me Bones 2007

This morning I violated my Sunday morning-sleep-in rule. I got up at 6:00 am to eat breakfast for the Rattle Me Bones 10km road race. As I was leaving I could see my breath in the cold morning air. I donned a pair of REI polar fleece gloves as the temperature was 0C/32F. Once the sun had risen it started to warm up a bit but it still would be a race in chilly conditions. This is the seventh time that I have done the race and it is always an interesting experience as this year was no exception. Due to logistical problems half the racers (250) started the race without timing chips. I decided to wear a short sleeve coolmax shirt and a pair of running tights. Much of the race was done against a biting cold wind which forced most folks to run faster than normal just to keep warm. At the finish line I was in 57th out 500 finishers and with a finishing time of 42.46
1km 4.04 | 2km 4.07 | 3km 4.19 | 4km 4.15 | 5km 4.20 (21.07) | 6km 4.16 | 7km 4.23 | 8km 4.15 | 9km 4:15 | 10 km 4:17