Monday, November 30, 2009
Alright, I hope you are all sitting for this one haha, I have a suggestion for 2 years from now. I read an article on Castanet back on Nov. 16th and I have decided I'm going to do this and I'm hoping all of you will be joining me. The mountain is Mt. Aconcagua and it is in Argentina. It is the highest peak in the western hemisphere at 23,000 ft., the good news it is totally hikable without aids such as ice axes or ropes.
The article I ran across to get me peaked (hahaha) about this trip, was a fund raiser to eradicate polio by the Rotary Club here in Kelowna. I'm not suggesting we do the climb for that but it is a good cause. The group of 7 doing this trip has hired Laurie Skreslet, the 1st Canadian to reach the summit of Mt. Everest and one of the guys going along is Finbar O'Sullivan who apparantly teaches mountaineering and climbing as well as avalanche safety right here in the Okanagan. I plan on contacting Finbar to discuss this after they get back from the trip. (they are down in Argentina now and start their climb on Dec. 5th) Obviously the biggest challange will be the elevation and altitude sickness so I am beginning to research that now. So that's it for now but I do intend on making this trip and no I did not fall on my head recently.
Anyone else finds any interesting info about this mountain or about altitude sickness feel free to post it here and we will see where this goes
Cheers
Rob
The article I ran across to get me peaked (hahaha) about this trip, was a fund raiser to eradicate polio by the Rotary Club here in Kelowna. I'm not suggesting we do the climb for that but it is a good cause. The group of 7 doing this trip has hired Laurie Skreslet, the 1st Canadian to reach the summit of Mt. Everest and one of the guys going along is Finbar O'Sullivan who apparantly teaches mountaineering and climbing as well as avalanche safety right here in the Okanagan. I plan on contacting Finbar to discuss this after they get back from the trip. (they are down in Argentina now and start their climb on Dec. 5th) Obviously the biggest challange will be the elevation and altitude sickness so I am beginning to research that now. So that's it for now but I do intend on making this trip and no I did not fall on my head recently.
Anyone else finds any interesting info about this mountain or about altitude sickness feel free to post it here and we will see where this goes
Cheers
Rob
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
The Poll
I just picked names of areas, if you have an idea on where to go, please choose the closest area described........ those who have voted, NO need to vote again..... not sure if you can vote twice...
Thanks
Thanks
Friday, October 16, 2009
2009 Report Card
Now that time has passed on allowing us time to remember and reflect/ forget and move on.. whatever the case may be.... but never the less time ticks on and 2010 approaches rapidly.
I myself like to remember and reflect; Elfin Lakes was one of our best trips yet! in all sections we scored relatively high.
Planning: B
Execution: C+
Food: A
Trip Cost balancing: C
Distance/time ration: B
Equipment: B
Planning: B
I do feel we had a pretty decent Plan for 2009, which in fact went off without to much of a hitch..
Never the less there is always room for a little improvement
* Every year we pick a spot and go for it..... and 1/2 of the time there seems to be a bloody Forest fire either blocking a route, threatening the area we are going to... there is always something..... either way..... 2009 opened my eyes a bit.... and i ask the Group What would we have done if Garabaldi Park was closed when we got there? where would we have gone? would we have even went on some sort of hike? we will never know the answers to these questions. the past is the past and we can't change that; granted it worked out, but perhaps we might want to make a contingency plan for next year. We do not have to actually make a full on plan with maps and blah blah blah, but at least being aware of other parks or other mountains nearby if something does go wrong.....
Execution: C+
There is two parts to this section, Personal and group execution
As far as personal execution goes, you can give yourself whatever grade you feel adequate, I can't say anything for sure about anybody else; But I got a D- .... lets face it i was packing the morning of, and shopping the night before. that is unacceptable.... granted i mean i have been hiking for years....... i have all my equip. always together ready to go for a spur of the moment hike/wife kicks me out... j/k... either way my personal faults effected the group as a whole, which is why i scored so low. I made the group wait outside of my house while i smoked my travel doobie.... i forgot about some of my clothes, which made the group have to wait while i shopped in squamish.... either way these are my personal faults.... we all know where we ourselves can improve in this area....
Group execution: as a whole we did okay..... but again room for improvement...... it is hard for me to remember exactly what went wrong with this area. This is in part because the group is obviously a group built from individuals..... the only thing i can say is it took us WAY to long to get out of dodge.....
Food: A
Well Done, I really have nothing on this category to critique.
well a couple things; Jonothan thank-you, the bed of fresh potatoes, and fresh broccoli with the stoginoff.... mmmmmmm, that was so f'n good......
there was something about the rice that did not work.... Jon, you might be able to enlighten me on that.
Trip costs balancing: C
Unfortunately this doesn't "really" happen. I do believe that in a sense things did balance out a bit..... but not equal i think. I don't really have much for suggestions on this..... we came close this year, but i still have not seen any receipts for gas Ainsley..... perhaps for all the time we took to get out of West Side, we really could of all stoped and got cash out of the machine... we should maybe anti up at the pump.... Either way i think group input would nice on where to go on this topic. It gets complicated with somethings, like picking up Morty at the ferry, how much gas to charge him? if at all...... I would not like it if some one ended up stop coming on theses trips because they felt they got the short stick one to many times..... that is all
Distance/Time Ratio:B
I don't remember our times and all that.... it does not really mater; it's not a competition after all.
Great job everyone for completion, we all should be proud of ourselves!
one thing maybe to suggest, when and if you a training for the next one... Remember it is a round trip.... last year wasn't 11 or 12 KM's it was 36 KM's +/-... bit of a difference eh?
Equipment: B
Last time i checked, Rob still has not won the lottery yet, so we are not all rich or have a lot of spare money....(If the first point is untrue please inform me...... for accuracy of the blog... yeah.. thats it) I mean it was Morty's second time participating, the first time being well, the first time. it is not expected that we all are outfitted with top of the line shit and what not.
this is a category that each person has to evaluate for themselves.... usually sooner after the trip.
We know where we can improve.
tid bit: Me and Jon would have been Fucked if it rained the slightest....
In Review and Overall Score: B-
We definitely have some areas to improve... but we get better every year consistently.... well starting from Lucifer....... anyways the glitches we had were minor and in the end i felt it was an excellent trip! It was to bad that Jeremy B could not make it this year, but that is the cards that were dealt isn't it? after writing all this i am geared up more than ever! i can't wait to see where this takes us next, i truly love exploring this Beautiful Province with each of you every year! (I count the Rockies as a whole as BC... the rest is bullshit politics i am sure! ;) )
thanks for taking time to read me dribble on... i would love this to open up discussion for next year, maybe stimulate some thoughts in this "busy" time.
In past years it was hard to describe our group... many phrases were descriptive..... out of shape, Near Death, City Slickers, Drunks, one word was always present; Unique......
2009 Dare i say it, we looked like a group of hikers
Thank-You
Joel
I myself like to remember and reflect; Elfin Lakes was one of our best trips yet! in all sections we scored relatively high.
Planning: B
Execution: C+
Food: A
Trip Cost balancing: C
Distance/time ration: B
Equipment: B
Planning: B
I do feel we had a pretty decent Plan for 2009, which in fact went off without to much of a hitch..
Never the less there is always room for a little improvement
* Every year we pick a spot and go for it..... and 1/2 of the time there seems to be a bloody Forest fire either blocking a route, threatening the area we are going to... there is always something..... either way..... 2009 opened my eyes a bit.... and i ask the Group What would we have done if Garabaldi Park was closed when we got there? where would we have gone? would we have even went on some sort of hike? we will never know the answers to these questions. the past is the past and we can't change that; granted it worked out, but perhaps we might want to make a contingency plan for next year. We do not have to actually make a full on plan with maps and blah blah blah, but at least being aware of other parks or other mountains nearby if something does go wrong.....
Execution: C+
There is two parts to this section, Personal and group execution
As far as personal execution goes, you can give yourself whatever grade you feel adequate, I can't say anything for sure about anybody else; But I got a D- .... lets face it i was packing the morning of, and shopping the night before. that is unacceptable.... granted i mean i have been hiking for years....... i have all my equip. always together ready to go for a spur of the moment hike/wife kicks me out... j/k... either way my personal faults effected the group as a whole, which is why i scored so low. I made the group wait outside of my house while i smoked my travel doobie.... i forgot about some of my clothes, which made the group have to wait while i shopped in squamish.... either way these are my personal faults.... we all know where we ourselves can improve in this area....
Group execution: as a whole we did okay..... but again room for improvement...... it is hard for me to remember exactly what went wrong with this area. This is in part because the group is obviously a group built from individuals..... the only thing i can say is it took us WAY to long to get out of dodge.....
Food: A
Well Done, I really have nothing on this category to critique.
well a couple things; Jonothan thank-you, the bed of fresh potatoes, and fresh broccoli with the stoginoff.... mmmmmmm, that was so f'n good......
there was something about the rice that did not work.... Jon, you might be able to enlighten me on that.
Trip costs balancing: C
Unfortunately this doesn't "really" happen. I do believe that in a sense things did balance out a bit..... but not equal i think. I don't really have much for suggestions on this..... we came close this year, but i still have not seen any receipts for gas Ainsley..... perhaps for all the time we took to get out of West Side, we really could of all stoped and got cash out of the machine... we should maybe anti up at the pump.... Either way i think group input would nice on where to go on this topic. It gets complicated with somethings, like picking up Morty at the ferry, how much gas to charge him? if at all...... I would not like it if some one ended up stop coming on theses trips because they felt they got the short stick one to many times..... that is all
Distance/Time Ratio:B
I don't remember our times and all that.... it does not really mater; it's not a competition after all.
Great job everyone for completion, we all should be proud of ourselves!
one thing maybe to suggest, when and if you a training for the next one... Remember it is a round trip.... last year wasn't 11 or 12 KM's it was 36 KM's +/-... bit of a difference eh?
Equipment: B
Last time i checked, Rob still has not won the lottery yet, so we are not all rich or have a lot of spare money....(If the first point is untrue please inform me...... for accuracy of the blog... yeah.. thats it) I mean it was Morty's second time participating, the first time being well, the first time. it is not expected that we all are outfitted with top of the line shit and what not.
this is a category that each person has to evaluate for themselves.... usually sooner after the trip.
We know where we can improve.
tid bit: Me and Jon would have been Fucked if it rained the slightest....
In Review and Overall Score: B-
We definitely have some areas to improve... but we get better every year consistently.... well starting from Lucifer....... anyways the glitches we had were minor and in the end i felt it was an excellent trip! It was to bad that Jeremy B could not make it this year, but that is the cards that were dealt isn't it? after writing all this i am geared up more than ever! i can't wait to see where this takes us next, i truly love exploring this Beautiful Province with each of you every year! (I count the Rockies as a whole as BC... the rest is bullshit politics i am sure! ;) )
thanks for taking time to read me dribble on... i would love this to open up discussion for next year, maybe stimulate some thoughts in this "busy" time.
In past years it was hard to describe our group... many phrases were descriptive..... out of shape, Near Death, City Slickers, Drunks, one word was always present; Unique......
2009 Dare i say it, we looked like a group of hikers
Thank-You
Joel
Friday, August 7, 2009
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
sickness
ok this year the goal is not to have anyone sick.... so no eating strange foods, hugging sick kids, drinking milk to settle an upset stomach,etc.... we can do this. Also i'll try not to toss anyone from the truck and keep it rubber side down.
Mortey's input
If you guys can give me an ETA, I can be there at any time; BC Ferries has extra runs on Friday. The Upperlevels Hwy. runs right past Horseshoe Bay. Also, I can make room in my kit for beer. I figure between booze and first aid, everyone will have an interest in my well being. Question: has any one thought to call the park to see if reservations are needed? If not, bring alot of batteries for flashlights, cause campfire ban is in effect pretty much everywhere on the coast and in some cases that includes those tire rims they use for firepits in the parks. If anyone can think of anything else they want me to bring or make room for, let me know.
sleeping arangements
Joel Ang and I got together a little while ago and talked about some things.
#1 Tent pads are limited, so it might work well like this... Jon & Rob in Rob's tent, Ang & I in Joel's tent, and Morty, Joel, & Jeremy in Jeremy's 4 man. I want your opinions on this...
#2 Drive down as early as possible on fri... Morty what times can you get in to van?, then we go to squamish pick up something to bbq (joels bringing a bbq for the parking lot) and camp in the parking lot or somewhere close to it (bush camping) for fri night. Drink, talk, eat, etc... then hike up very early on Sat. We'll be rested and in good sprits for the hike.. That gives us plenty of time to setup camp in the daylight and check out the local trails.
#3 Bring cash... we'll need to pay for camping maybe for parking. Plus food on Fri.
#4 Food... Ang and I are buying food for breakfast (oatmeal) and dinner ( rice entres and beef strogonoff hiking packs ((tried some different ones this should be pretty good)) . I could use some ideas to fill out the meals. Snacks/lunch are up to you to bring for yourself as we'll be eating on the trails. Coffee, milk (canned), suger, we don't need to hike up 7 copies so we'll bring some with us. (300g enough?).
#4 Booze who's bringing what....
#5 camera's are one of the ways we can cut down on weight. who's bringing one. one aor two should be enough for lots of pics. I vote Jon as he's got a good camera and seems to know how to take good photos.
#1 Tent pads are limited, so it might work well like this... Jon & Rob in Rob's tent, Ang & I in Joel's tent, and Morty, Joel, & Jeremy in Jeremy's 4 man. I want your opinions on this...
#2 Drive down as early as possible on fri... Morty what times can you get in to van?, then we go to squamish pick up something to bbq (joels bringing a bbq for the parking lot) and camp in the parking lot or somewhere close to it (bush camping) for fri night. Drink, talk, eat, etc... then hike up very early on Sat. We'll be rested and in good sprits for the hike.. That gives us plenty of time to setup camp in the daylight and check out the local trails.
#3 Bring cash... we'll need to pay for camping maybe for parking. Plus food on Fri.
#4 Food... Ang and I are buying food for breakfast (oatmeal) and dinner ( rice entres and beef strogonoff hiking packs ((tried some different ones this should be pretty good)) . I could use some ideas to fill out the meals. Snacks/lunch are up to you to bring for yourself as we'll be eating on the trails. Coffee, milk (canned), suger, we don't need to hike up 7 copies so we'll bring some with us. (300g enough?).
#4 Booze who's bringing what....
#5 camera's are one of the ways we can cut down on weight. who's bringing one. one aor two should be enough for lots of pics. I vote Jon as he's got a good camera and seems to know how to take good photos.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
The final countdown....
Now its officially less than 1 week away, is anybody getting excited?
I know I am, this is gonna be good! I got my bag packed, and I'm
ready to go. See y'all Thursday night....
I know I am, this is gonna be good! I got my bag packed, and I'm
ready to go. See y'all Thursday night....
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
I need to know what to bring, other than the obvious stuff, tent, bag, clothes....
What about cookwear and stove? I was planning on getting one of those press
coffee mugs, Joel, is this the one you have?
http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524442543365&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302696295&bmUID=1245725170730
Anything else?
What about cookwear and stove? I was planning on getting one of those press
coffee mugs, Joel, is this the one you have?
http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524442543365&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302696295&bmUID=1245725170730
Anything else?
Monday, June 1, 2009
Back Road Map Book
click to enlarge
I have more to post but.... i have to go back to work
I suggest going to the link i added on the side for vancouver trails.....
Saturday, May 30, 2009
So, Joel, Ainsley & I got together last night and made some corporate decisions;
Ainsley & Ang are going to do all of the shopping for the food etc and we will split the costs and divide it up to haul into the campsite. This will make it alot easier when it comes to cooking for everyone, rather than 4 or more different meals all the time, we can all eat the same meal together. Suggestions for meals should be posted here sooner than later
From Kelowna we are planning on taking 2 (Joel & Ainsley)vehicles on the Friday (July 31st) morning, stopping at Horseshoe bay to pick up Morty along the way from Van towards Squamish. Of course we are assuming Jon and Jeremy will make it into Kelowna Thursday night. 6 hour drive to the parking lot with a possible 1/2 hour or more stop when we are picking Morty up. Morty can you check into ferry schedules and let us know what works, sometime around 11:00 AM is our thought for now
Pack light as the hike into the camp site is just over 11 km, 1 1/2 times what Kokanee was. We need to plan for 5 - 6 hours hike in. Depending on how many breaks we take etc
We are looking at 4 tents, I will bring mine, Ainsley says he will bring his smaller one, Joel, Jeremy and Morty all have so lets figure who is bringing a tent.
If we can find some info on trails to Garibaldi Peak that will be the goal for Saturday, Diamonhead on Sunday and break camp Monday
Feedback would be great, sooner than later
Cheers
Rob
Ainsley & Ang are going to do all of the shopping for the food etc and we will split the costs and divide it up to haul into the campsite. This will make it alot easier when it comes to cooking for everyone, rather than 4 or more different meals all the time, we can all eat the same meal together. Suggestions for meals should be posted here sooner than later
From Kelowna we are planning on taking 2 (Joel & Ainsley)vehicles on the Friday (July 31st) morning, stopping at Horseshoe bay to pick up Morty along the way from Van towards Squamish. Of course we are assuming Jon and Jeremy will make it into Kelowna Thursday night. 6 hour drive to the parking lot with a possible 1/2 hour or more stop when we are picking Morty up. Morty can you check into ferry schedules and let us know what works, sometime around 11:00 AM is our thought for now
Pack light as the hike into the camp site is just over 11 km, 1 1/2 times what Kokanee was. We need to plan for 5 - 6 hours hike in. Depending on how many breaks we take etc
We are looking at 4 tents, I will bring mine, Ainsley says he will bring his smaller one, Joel, Jeremy and Morty all have so lets figure who is bringing a tent.
If we can find some info on trails to Garibaldi Peak that will be the goal for Saturday, Diamonhead on Sunday and break camp Monday
Feedback would be great, sooner than later
Cheers
Rob
Thursday, May 28, 2009
first aid
Unless someone else has fairly recent First Aid traing (like a WCB 3), I'll volunteer to take on the role and pack the kit. I've got a half-ass decent kit in my work van that's nice and portable. Plus I've been doing lots of first responder training @ the fire hall, lately.
Monday, May 18, 2009
mortey's two cents
If we are doing Garibaldi, I just need someone to grab me from the ferry, since you'll all be driving past it anyway. As for gear, I still have a tent that'll accommidate two without being "cozy". We can just let Ains pack everything else like he did the first trip! Everyone else will have more room for beer that way.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
travel
What are the travel plans? Who is car pooling and who is being picked up by whom on the way? I think Jon is being picked up by Ang and I, but what about the two jeremy's...
gear
We should start talking about who's bringing what... ie: stoves, tents, first-aid,water filter, etc.
I've got an outdoor first-aid pack and a water filter that we can all use.
I've got an outdoor first-aid pack and a water filter that we can all use.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
So is this the plan then, the hike into the camp ground will be the tough part especially fully loaded, only 2 to 3 hours to the peak, relatively easy ascent. Have we heard from Morty, hope he can make it. Joel have you talked to your bro Jeremy yet about this years hike, if not better get on it haha
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
If we go to Squamish we can drive into the Red Heather Day Shelter, from there hike into Elfin Lakes on the Diamond Head teail. Camp there and go for Diamond Head the next day. Everything looks like this would be a good hike, peak is about 2620 m or just over 8600 ft. Downside is 6 hours to get there from here, alot more for Jon, after I'm sure it will be no problem finding some hot springs for the day on our way out.
It's a start and Joel and I were talking about Mt. Garibaldi earlier today, Diamond Head is the first mountain south of Garibaldi but easier to get at from my very limited research so far.
Let me know any thoughts
Rob
It's a start and Joel and I were talking about Mt. Garibaldi earlier today, Diamond Head is the first mountain south of Garibaldi but easier to get at from my very limited research so far.
Let me know any thoughts
Rob
I'm still in Drayton and will be for the foreseeable future. Where west of Hope? around Harrison? Did you check out the links for Cathedral and Black Tusk? I think a peak would be cool, but may be too strenuous for some of the older folk in the group :) Unless we can get close by 4X4, like Cathedral. If you have a place in mind post up a link for us to check it out.
Places to go
Rob has been thinking about west of Hope. Would that be close enough for you morty to make it?
On another note... If you are still getting this Jonny thong let us in on some details such as were you are, etc. Are we thinking of a trail/ridge or a peak.
On another note... If you are still getting this Jonny thong let us in on some details such as were you are, etc. Are we thinking of a trail/ridge or a peak.
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