New Love

Yesterday my Mom and I spent the day taking an Introduction to Photography class through Capturing True Emotion (Thanks for the great deal Groupon!). I bought a DSLR camera back in January and have played around with it but basically had no idea how to use any of the features other than the "green box", or automatic mode.  I've always been interested in photography and have always wanted to learn how a SLR camera works and how to use its setting to take great pictures. After 6 months of playing with my camera it was clear that I wasn't going to learn those skills from the camera instruction manual, so I finally got off my butt and took a class. It turned out to be one of the most useful ways I've spent a day in a long time. The course was intense and at times  a bit overwhelming, but it covered everything I've been wanting to learn and the instructors were informative and entertaining. We learned about lighting, metering, ISO, Aperture, Shutter speeds and composition during the 4 hour classroom time in the morning and then we spent the afternoon putting it all into practice. It's crazy how just a few hours of instruction have completely changed the way I think about photography. I feel way more confident about taking photos and even know how to use all those random settings on my camera. Bye bye "green box" , hello "manual mode"! It'll be great to practice on some of our hiking trips this summer and have a solid understanding of my camera settings a before we head out on our South American traveling adventure next spring. I'm very excited to try some "Blurry background" shots and some "Silky Water" stream scenes (both technical terms, of course!). I can't wait to get out there and practice some of these new learned skills!

Spring! Where are you?!?

So, the title is going to be my only rant about the unseasonable cold, wet weather we've had this spring. Despite this dreary, chilly spring I've managed to get out and enjoy the season with a variety of awesome activities.



After getting back from Mexico at the end of March, we declared the official start of climbing season. Last year was a bit of a down year for me with regards to climbing. I had been climbing 3x per week consistently for 5 years and last year I became burnt out and needed a break. I started question why the hell I was even bothering with the sport; what was the point!?! I took a step back for the season and only climbed when groups of friends were going, more of social outings than real climbing trips. And after a relaxed season and taking the fall off completely, I have a newly revived love for climbing. I've renewed my climbing gym pass to get strong again and have jumped back into lead climbing. It once again feels fun instead of exhausting to get out on the rock for the day. Although, trad climbing is still not high on my priority list (I'm starting to think that I'm more of a sport climber, Trad has just never done it for me), Im getting way more comfortable with lead climbing and actually sort of enjoying that too.



Since March I've been out to Squamish a handful of times when the weather has co-operated and I spent 4 days at Frenchman's coulee to kick off the season. Its been a great start to a summer full of climbing adventures.



Apart from climbing, I've also been ramping up the trail running. I didn't get into knee knacker this year, but since several friends did, I've been training with them just for the fun of it. I'm signed up to do the Iron Knee 25km Trail Race this weekend and am going to sign up for Comfortably Numb 27km Trail Race at the end of June, which should be fun since I've never run those trails before. It's been a great experience to get out and run just for the fun of running minus the stress in the back of your mind of the upcoming Ultra. I would like to run knee Knacker again soon in the next few seasons, but I'll take the enjoyment, stress free running that I get to experience this season anytime!


Finally, a few weeks ago, I celebrated the big 3-0! It was a great weekend of adventures. Mike and I took the Friday off of work and started the day with breakfast at Chef Big D's in Squamish and then went zip-trekking in Whistler. It's so much fun! One line is over a 1/2 mile long and you get going up to 80km/hr. The free-style line where you get to zip upside-down is pretty cool too!
After our zipline adventure we went to the Salmon House in West Vancouver for dinner with my family and an evening of celebrating with them (mmm.....Savory Island Pie!). On Saturday, after a morning run from Grouse to Deep Cove, Mike and my Parents and I boarded the Sapphire Princess Cruise Ship for an overnite cruise to Seattle. The lines getting on the boat were a bit brutal, but once aboard it was a fun experience; something completely different to try out and a fun night of dinner, drinks and pop-artist impersonations!

Now, come on Sunshine, I want to play outside!!!

Sun and Sand in Mazatlan!

Sunset Stroll down the Beach

A few weeks ago Mike and I, along with his parents and Dyan and Mark went to Mazatlan to celebrate Dave and Debbie's 30th Anniversary and enjoy a few days of sun and sand. We rented a beach side townhouse, complete with a pool right out the back door, and spent 10 days relaxing and exploring the town of Mazatlan.

Sea-Side Cerveza

Some of the highlights of the trip included: a driving tour of the Mexican country side to a tequila factory and old hacienda, exploring the touristy "Gold Zone" markets, hiking the hill to check out the El Faro lighthouse (one of the world's highest lighthouses) with a rewarding view of the surrounding city, the tasty food of local sea-side diners, visiting the "Shrimp Ladies", lounging at "Pedro y Lola's" while enjoying the live music in Plaza Machado, visiting the exquisite Immaculate Conception Cathedral, browsing the Mercado Pino Suarez where they butcher entire cow carcasses on the spot in the market aisles and of course enjoying the beaches, swimming, suntanning and laying about.

Check out the pics below for a photo tour of our vacation:

Live Music at Plaza Machado


Happy Hour at Playa Bruja

Meat Stand at Mercado Pino Suarez

Shrimp Ladies

Fruit Truck

Immaculate Conception Basilica

Hacienda

Small hill-top church at the Hacienda

The pool & Beach as seen from our Townhouse

Click Here for Full Photo Album

Roger's Pass 2011

A few weeks ago Mike and I, along with friends Daniel Leidl, Charles Chataway and Steve Oliver, headed to Roger's pass for 4 days of backcountry bliss with mountain guide, Tom Wolfe. We had an exceptional and challenging few days playing in the mountains with Tom's guidance and his excellent tail guide (and ski instructor) Brandon Reid to keep us safe.
We lucked out with the weather and avalanche conditions and as a result got to experience a bit of everything the Selkirks have to offer. Here's a quick trip summary:



Day 1 (Friday Feb. 25): High alpine traverse; skiied to the summit of Little Sifton peak and skied out through Hermit Meadows. Approx. 5200' elev. gained; 15km traveled. Long, physically challenging day but well worth the amazing views from the summit and getting to see Hermit Meadows in the winter. Beautiful, clear, cold (-25c) day.


Day 2 (Saturday Feb. 26): Coulier Extreme! Today it was a bit warmer (-20c), over cast with a few centimeters of fresh snow. We skied up into the alpine in the Flat Creek area to the NE avalanche path of Mount Smart (Peak 2205). This was by far the most mentally difficult day of the trip. going up was fine, skiing down pushed my limits for sure. The top of the chute was 48 deg. where the boys skied and 44 deg where I skied down; The steepest line I've ever skied in my life by far! Survival skied down till the slope mellowed out and then it was fabulous! 3500' elevation gained; 17km traveled.


Day 3 (Sunday, February 27): Skied the Flat Creek Avalanche Paths today. Cloudy with about a foot of fresh pow, ~ -15c. Skied up flat creek (similar area to yesterday) and skied for a super fun and mellow (compared to yesterday), 35 deg. avy chute. Big, open terrain with nice soft, awesome snow! Traveled about 15km, 3500ft elevation gain.


Day 4 (Monday February 28): Skied Teddy Bear Trees in some epic fresh powder. Over 2 ft of fresh from the night before. Still about -15c, snowing, cloudy skies all day. We skinned up high and did the first run through some steep trees (again, testing my limits) and then did a second lap, about 2/3 as long, in some mellower trees. Super fun, awesome skiing in a perfect powder day! Traveled 10km, 3000 ft (?) elevation gained. Finished off the trip with beer and "avalanchos" at the Roger's Pass Summit Lodge.



Click here for all Photos

For ski videos and route maps check out my facebook page

Back on the Wagon

After 2 1/2 weeks of fighting off a cold/flu/sinus infections and generally feeling horrible, I'm finally feeling 100%, just in time to be back on the outdoor bandwagon for a beautiful Vancouver winter weekend. Friday night wasn't too exciting, we spent the evening packing gear and organizing food for our upcoming backcountry ski trip to Roger's Pass, which I'm completely stoked about.

On top of the World; Roger's Pass 2009

Saturday I woke up to a chilly, but amazing, sunny morning and headed out for a 20km run with Mountain Madness Trail Clinic to train for the Dirt Duo Trail Race coming up on March 12. The run clinics are always a blast. The group of ladies that Lara and are running with this session are awesome and inspiring and I look forward to hanging out them every Saturday morning. Our little group ended this weeks run with coffee and Pastries at Moja. Yum!

On Saturday night Mike, Ramona and I went to the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival for the Finale and climbing night and enjoyed some great videos and presentations for the evening. My personal favorite was a presentation by Jasmin Caton, a hard core woman climber, skier and aspiring mountain guide who did a great presentation and was uber inspiring. We also went to Skiing Night and Alpine climbing night of the film fest earlier in the week and say some excellent videos and speakers.

The Lions from Cypress Mountain Today

Today Mike and I headed up to Cypress Mountain with our friend Christian to enjoy a day of downhill skiing in the amazing weather. The ski conditions were surprisingly soft and good and the mountain was incredibly quite. It was a fabulous day! There were a few moments when I may not have felt that way as I followed the boys onto runs that we're a bit over my head; but all in all, it was still and excellent day of cruising the mountain and it has me stoked to head to Roger's Pass on Thursday for 4 days of backcountry skiing with Tom Wolfe and ripping up the flanks of some magnification Selkirk mountains.


Livin' the Dream.

AKM

Vancouver and Beyond from Cypress Mountain Today

Roger's Pass 2009

Anticipation

One of the best parts of going on trips is the anticipation, planning and excitement leading up to actually going. In some ways, I find looking forward to a new adventure is almost as good as actually being on the trip. We've been busy recently planning a few upcoming trips and adventures in between trying to get out and ski & run.

In a couple weeks we're off to Roger's Pass to ski tour with 3 of our friends and a mountain guide, Tom Wolfe, who we've hired to keep us safe out there . We did this trip back in 2008 with Tom and it was exceptional. Can't wait to go back and check out some new areas in the pass and play in the crazy amounts of snow they get there. We're all excitedly organizing gear and planning the road trip out to the Rockies for our 4-day ski adventure.

We are also booked to escape winter a few weeks later and relax down in Mazatlan, Mexico in March with Mike's Family to celebrate Dave and Debbie's 30th Wedding anniversary. .I've never been to that part of Mexico before and am checking out website and travel guides to find soem cool stuff to do while we're there. It looks like there's lots to do down there and lots of cool areas to explore. Any suggestions? We're staying in a town house, not at a resort, so we'll have lots of freedom to roam around. I'm already day dreaming of Sun and Sand.

and Finally we are getting our summer vacation plans off the ground and trying to nail down some logistics. We've decided to helicopter into the Tantalus Range this summer and spend 8 days mountaineering out of a backcountry hut. We are thinking of staying at the ACC's Tantalus Hut which is in a valley between tonnes of awesome mountains and right on an amazing lake (complete with canoes and fishing gear to play with). It's been pretty exciting trying to get this trip off the ground. It'll be a sweet week of experiencing my first flight in a chopper coupled with 8 days of playing in a new area of wilderness that not many people get to explore. Doing it all in relative comfort by staying in a hut instead of a tent is also an added bonus. If anyone has been there before, we're open to suggestions on things to do, places to stay, routes to climb, logistics, etc. Im looking forward to the trip itself as well as the excitement of the planning stages and daydreaming for the next 6 months.

Winter has Arrived!

The last few weeks since we made our way home from the Caribbean have been great. We have been getting out playing in the snow and fully embracing winter. We've lucked out with an early snow year this year and all the ski hills open in November; it's been fabulous. We got out for our first day of skiing on November 20, so early in the season. For our first day we headed into the back country and skinned up to Paul's ridge in Garibaldi Park with the Alpine Club. It was an excellent first day out with light, fluffy, fresh powder and clear skies. Click Here for Some Pics. Click here for some more.



Since then we've headed up to Mt Seymour to do a few laps of the Brockton Point Trail. It's been a great way to get some exercise and play in the so close to home. This coming weekend we're heading up to Whistler to go for a ski tour to Cowboy Ridge in the backcountry. We're also getting back into climbing at the Edge after Mike's finger injury and have been keeping up with running on a fairly regular basis. Having the opportunity to play outside and enjoy all the things we love to do has been amazing. This is why I moved to North Van and love living here! Check out Ski Pics here.



On another note, we've been enjoying some Christmas outings with family and friends like my work Christmas party and the Brights Lights Train at Stanley Park. It's getting to be that season; let the overabundance of food and drinks begin!



My Christmas Photo Album (Click Here)