When Sisyphus met Zeno: Tantalus Digressions
I have a bit of an obsession with the Tantalus Range of Mountains. Most Mountaineers who live near Mountains will let you know that their local peaks that are visible from their work or home can offer more allure than even the high ranges of the Himalayas. For myself, the Tantalus Range has been visible from every place that I’ve lived in the little town of Squamish. It’s peaks are striking, its lakes are pristine and even though it is located close to large population areas you can feel completely isolated when exploring there. What adds to this allure is that it is not easily accessed. A wide and fast river with no legal bridges cuts off most of the central and southern area of the range. If you have the wallet you can fly in via helicopter or float plane or hire a boat to get you across. If you have the stomach you can walk the cables for a locked cable car. I’ve never done the latter myself but heard it is spicy and most people recommend finding another way to cross after they’ve tried it. Alternatively, you can walk in from the North, starting at pretty much sea level. On Canada Day Weekend 2013, myself and Spring planned to walk in from the North and try and access the crown of the Tantalus Range, Mount Tantalus herself. If you’ve driven Highway 99 from Vancouver to Whistler, BC under blue skies your jaw has likely dropped at the sight of Mount Tantalus. An impressive vista opens up and you get to look right into the heart of the Tantalus Range with all it’s most impressive peaks laid out before you. On a clear crisp day the pullout for this viewpoint is usually chock full, from dawn till dusk, with tourists snapping pictures of themselves against the backdrop. After some research about ways to reach this summit I decided to take the road less traveled to try and reach it on foot, accessing the summit via the North Ridge. The consensus online appeared to be to save your energy and fly in to the base of the North Ridge, but I wanted to at least see what the approach would be like. We’d hike in from the North via the Sigurd Creek trail, hike up and over the shoulder of Pelion Mountain (we’d been here before) then follow a ridge that drops a ways down to the South of Pelion and ascend to a col. between Zenith Peak and Mount Tantalus. To reach this col. is no great distance, it’s only about a 15km hike. What puts a...
Skins, Skis and Aching Knees
“I’m concentrating on Ice Climbing this Winter, not Skiing” I foolishly uttered those words to myself last Fall believing I would hold fast in my convictions. I truly believe that if you want to get good at something, not just passably capable, you need to pick one pursuit per season. I’ve consistently broken my own rule in this regard. I’m like that dog in the film “UP” that has all the intentions in the world of doing one thing only, until SQUIRREL! I see a SQUIRREL! Coming into Winter last year I wanted to work solely on my Ice Climbing. It was all going well for a while, we took a 5 day ice climbing course in Canmore, Alberta and we tried to go Ice Climbing near Lillooet, BC for a few weekends but the shiny new skis of my friends kept glinting in the corner of my eyes. You see, when I’d chosen to focus on Ice Climbing, my circle of friends had not received the memo. They’d all chosen to focus on learning to backcountry ski. I staved off looking at that Squirrel for a few trips, whilst I wallowed through the powder in my démodé snowshoes. But eventually I couldn’t take it any more. I caved. MEC, our outdoor gear mecca, was clearing out of all their Ski gear for their Spring stock and had slashed their prices. Myself and my other half went in and bought everything we needed; skis, skins, boots and bindings. We already had ski poles and avalanche gear but still, it was a big chunk of change to get going. After the dust settled and we had our newly acquired Alpine Touring Ski setup laid out in our spare bedroom cum walk-in-gear-closet we wondered “now what?” Our friends, who had been touring on their skis all winter, invited us on an overnight trip to attempt a couloir on the East face of Atwell Peak. We wouldn’t be skiing this gully, only skinning up to it and then boot packing our way up to the summit. Nevertheless, just getting to the campsite below the base of Atwell, ~32 kms return with ~2000m’s of elevation gain, would be a big undertaking, seeing as this would be our first time in the backcountry on touring skis. We were apprehensive but I knew that the first half of the route is a common trail for beginner backcountry skiers, leading to the Elfin Lakes Hut. If we felt like we were way out of our depth by the hut we could always temper our plans, stay at the Hut for the night and spend the next day practicing our backcountry...
Arc’teryx Cierzo 35 Backpack Review
Size: 0.58kg/20 oz 35L/40L max Activity: Rock Climbing/Ice Climbing/Alpine Climbing See link for full list of features: Arc’teryx Cierzo 35 Daypack - Black Previously the only pack I owned and used was a 55lt Gregory Pack, with all the straps, pockets and loops you would ever need. Although I still love and use this pack, mostly in winter when I want a bit more comfort, it wasn’t always appropriate for light summer trips as it tended to be too heavy and bulky. Last summer we had a 3 day traverse trip planned that would have us bivying and traveling as light as possible, so I knew right then that my good ol’ Gregory pack would need to stay home that trip. I did a bit of research and spoke to a friend who already owned and used a Cierzo 35 and decided that would be the pack for me. This pack is as minimal as it can get while still offering some durability and a small amount of comfort. I have been using this pack for everything from crag climbing, multi-day mountaineering trips, ice climbing and even a 2 day back-country ski trip. Here is what I have found since using it: Pros: 1) Extremely lightweight. When researching this bag I came across this quote: “A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away”. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery~ This really sums it all up for me. There is nothing excessive on this bag. It “does exactly what it says on the tin”. It is described as being compact and nearly weightless, and I would have to agree. 2) Sits above your harness. Because of it’s compact & compressible design(no inner frame) you can push the pack to sit above your harness comfortably. This makes it easy to climb in and because it is not sitting off or your body due to a frame, it becomes part of you and your movement. 3) With 2 ice axe loops and velcro axe keepers it was designed with the climber in mind. There is also micro daisy chains sewn to the front of the pack which makes for easy attachment of other items with carabiners or add on velcro straps. 4) Durable. I am not overly rough with my gear, but when I am out in the mountains my comfort and safety always comes before thinking about getting a tear or stain on my bag. With that in mind I have found the Cierzo to be very durable for what I have subjected it to. 5) For a 35lt bag it can store alot! This...
Our first tent: The MSR Mutha Hubba
Back in mid 2010 myself and my wife knew we needed to bite the bullet and start buying all our camping and hiking gear. We’d recently moved to BC, Canada from Ireland and knew that we wanted to start exploring the mountains as soon as possible. The problem was we knew nobody and didn’t know anything about how to properly hike or camp in the backcountry. All our shirts were cotton, all our pants were denim, our shoes were bought for how they looked rather than how they functioned. We had never had reason to ever utter the words “Ice Axe”, “Crampon” or “Gaiter”. Walking into the popular Outdoor Recreation store, Mountain Equipment Coop, in Vancouver we were overwhelmed with how much stuff there was to choose from. We wandered around for close to 4 hours just reading labels, trying stuff on, trying to understand why we’d need one feature over another. Eventually we asked for help from an Employee. He was experienced in hiking and backpacking and guided us for over 2 hours around the store picking out everything from boots, to medkits, to finally a tent. He recommended the MSR Mutha Hubba. We took his advice, and with that we owned our very first tent. It came with us on every overnight trip we took for the longest time. As we grew in our understanding of how to be better hikers and campers our level of appreciation for this tent grew also. It’s simple and quick to set up, has a lot of space inside (you could fit 4 people in a pinch head to toe) and loads of storage in the side pockets. The dual vestibules are nice, especially on snow as you can dig one out and use it as your porch and then use the other one as your kitchen. It’s rated as 3-season only but we’ve comfortably used it through all 4-seasons. Eventually, as we got more comfortable with camping we started to move more towards sleeping in snow pits, under a tarp in a bivy sack, or a much lighter, but cramped winter tent. The Mutha Hubba still gets used occasionally, when we are car camping or when we want to sleep 3 people, but it sees a lot less use now. Every time we take it out though and have reason to use it, we look forward to it. So many memories are stored within those nylon walls, so many amazing views woken up to and perilous nights survived. It was and is an awesome tent. Buy (Canada): MSR MUTHA HUBBA HP 3 PERSON TENT Buy (USA): MSR Mutha Hubba Tent ...
Need Less. Be More.
“What are you willing to give up?” That was the response Sonnie Trotter, a professional Rock Climber, gave in reply to the prosaic question from the audience that asked “How can I have a life like yours?” I was sitting in the back row at the ACC Clubhouse in Canmore, AB. Sonnie had just given a demonstration on a recent climb and opened up the floor for questions. When he responded I could tell from the slumping shoulders of the individual who had asked the question that it wasn’t the response he was looking for. Giving up stuff sucks, especially our comforts. But I do agree with Sonnie. If you want to wedge a new way of living into your life then something else is going to have to get shunted out in the process. I say I agree with Sonnie, but I didn’t choose to be this way, it happened rather organically as a result of wanting to need less when camping high in the mountains. The more I climbed and the tighter my shoulders got from carrying heavy and cumbersome overnight packs the more I analyzed the contents of them to reduce weight. I’m not a true Ultralight Backpacking follower, but I do believe an individual should be critical of everything that goes into their pack. I ask “Why do I need this item? Can I replace it with something else? What happens if I don’t bring it?” I got into a rhythm of doing this and over time it became natural. What started to happen though was that the principles from it started to bleed into my everyday life. So, I’ve compiled some advice below on ways in which you can start to “need less”. “Being more” will come naturally as a result. What happens when you need less is that you have more time and money to put towards the things you really want to do. Will it be easy at first, probably not. Will you eventually love doing it, I guarantee it. This list of advice isn’t conclusive and feel free to comment with your own advice. I might revisit the subject in a while if I make additional changes that I think are worth knowing. But anyway, here goes First, you need to understand your needs, then understand which of them can be reduced or removed. If you’re like me you’ll soon realize that many of your “needs” were actually just “wants” all along. The easiest way to start is with consumables. Personal consumables in my life are: Food & Drink, Gas, Toiletries, Electricity, Heating, Other Stuff. Food & Drink: - The number 1 piece of advice I can give everyone...
