Twins? Ethan at 6 months, Jonah at 6 months.

Busy changing diapers

 

 

Landing at home in New Denver

I got two paragliding flights from Idaho Peak this summer. The road was closed due to snow until early August. Quality over quantity. Nice to keep my head in the game.

My parents make a visit to New Denver

My parents flew in from Australia and spent some good days in New Denver. A little rain and a little sunshine.

More excavators

It's been a lot of heavy equipment in the yard at Glacier View Cabins in New Denver. We have torn down trees, moved the parking lot closer to the street and laid down concrete sidewalks, topsoil for a large lawn and next will be fences to keep the little boy contained....

Ethan

I finish my day and head home to a little baby that is laughing and smiling. Sara is not sleeping as much as I am apparantly (???) but is looking good and doing a great job keeping Ethan healthy and growing. Ken and Jane came down to New Denver to visit Ethan just after his arrival in this world and again when he was two months old. We spent Christmas in Vancouver and Sara and Ethan stayed on for lots of Grandparent time which was loved by all.

Filling in the hole

We poured the foundation yesterday. In the next couple of days we will lay a floor over the hole and back fill the foundation.

Digging a hole

Here is a big hole we are digging in our backyard - actually - all of our yard. It will be great to have just a little bit more space in the house. Apparantly both Sara and I get our own office out of the deal and the baby gets a spot too!

It is Summer - not winter

I have not taken many pictures this spring so no blogging. Winter has been over for a long time. I spent quite a bit of time working up in the Wildhorse cleaning up but have been back in New Denver for all of the good spring weather. The Slocan is an incredible place to spend the summer with fishing, walking, boating, paragliding, biking, and lots more.

Last flight for the year

We had a great September with some beautiful days. I finally managed to make the most of it with a short flight from Idaho Peak in very quiet conditions. Landed in the school yard right across the street from Glacier View Cabins. Two days later the peak was dusted with snow and it looks like it will remain for the winter.

New Denver Mountain Biking

Last summer my goal was to ride up Idaho Peak from New Denver. That was fun last year and a couple of times this year. This year I wanted to ride from Retallack on Highway 31A over the Stinson/Reco Ridge and down in Sandon and then up the Idaho Peak road and down to New Denver for an awesome epic day. It was. Lots of good climbing ( 3000m ) and lots of good descents. I think I'm fine for next year. Andrew ( in the photograph ) is the willing participant.

Back in New Denver

Flying back to Canada I landed in Kelowna and met up with my brother, Ian and his entourage. Ian was on his way to visit Sara and I in New Denver so I caught a ride. We had the gang for the next three days and enjoyed the fine summer weather at the beach.

Idaho Peak Bike Ride

The Idaho Peak bike ascent from New Denver was my goal for last summer. I ended up doing it a couple of times and look forward to doing all of the trails again this summer. It's 6,500 ft of vertical from New Denver. 30 minutes or so on highway 3A up to Three Forks. Another 30 to Sandon on dirt road. I think that's about 12 or 14km. Then the grind really begins. The next 12km ( almost 2 hrs ) are up the forestry road to Wild Goose Basin and on up to the parking area right on the ridgetop. The trail then follows the ridge to the summit or alternatively drops right off the south side on the Wakefield for about an hour single track descent, followed by narrow wagon road, followed by the main logging road up Silverton Creek for a total of 1.5 hrs descent. Ride back to New Denver - 10am.

Idaho Peak Paragliding Video

I did not get a lot of flights this summer, but I did get some very pleasant flights. This video was taken by friends from Switzerland who were visiting in September. Nice ridge lift again on this day.

Idaho Peak North Ridge

I thought that this would be one of the ultimate mountain bike rides and I was not dissappointed. I started riding at 6am from New Denver climbing to Sandon by 7am on the roads and then started up the Idaho Peak Road. Once again it took me about 1hr 45 minutes for the climb to parking lot. I did continue up to the peak and then walked down the north ridge to protect the fragile alpine environment. I joined the single track following the ridge and then continued down and left from the towers to join with the wagon road. Then it was right and some crazy road traversing incredibly steep slide paths and then into the bowl with the Alamo Mine. The trail below the mine joins the Queen Bess Rd and then taking the first left which is signposted "Alamo" and becomes a very cool singletrack for another couple of thousand feet before the "Choices" turn ( left for Alamo and right for "Choices" ). Down through sweeping wagon road turns and then onto the old Sandon Wagon Rd. Yahoo. Back before 11....

My Yacht

"There's nothing . . . absolutely nothing . . . half so much worth doing as simply messing around in boats."

Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows (River Rat to Mole)

This boat belonged to a lady in New Denver whom sailed it in the evenings and was much admired. I bought the boat when she moved to the coast. I did paint it red - it was yellow. I finally brought it back to New Denver after a short stay in Slocan City. I think the boat loves it here.

Idaho Peak Paragliding

I first flew Idaho Peak about 13 years ago and have had many memorable flights including that time. This is my first flight this year. Saturday night ridge soaring. Perfect way to start the year. Photo by Sara Rainford.

Pedal Power up Idaho Peak

One of my goals this summer was to pedal my bike up to Idaho Peak. From New Denver it is a 5,500 ft ( approx ) climb over about 25 km. I have been riding a couple of mornings a week mostly doing the loop up to Three Forks and back down. There are a couple of neat variations as there are three possible trails to get to Three Forks ( the highway, the Galena Trail, or the old Sandon Rd ). It is about 30 minutes up to Three Forks and about 30 minutes down. From Three Forks it is about 30 minutes up to the old Mining Ghost Town of Sandon on a dirt road. Get up there early before the heat of the day. From Sandon the grade on the road cranks up a notch. It is 12 km to the ridge top. It seemed a reasonable 1 hr 45 minutes and I walked a few short steeper 10 meter sections. Incredible views. I left the New Denver at 5am and was on the peak before 8:30 and then descended the Wakefield singletrack which was a little exciting in some steep sections where it was all I could do to keep the brakes on full and the bike on the trail. The trail connects the old mines on the southern side of Idaho Peak and connects to an old wagon road and then follows Silverton Creek back to Silverton. Yahoo. Back in New Denver at 10am.

The attached photo was taken 1902 of the town of Sandon with a sub peak of Idaho Peak in the background.