Check out this handsome bloke

Oliver is 3. This was the first visit that I have had with Oliver. A very friendly and lively young lad he is as well. It was a pleasure to spend some time reading and playing with Oliver. Well mannered and fun loving as they all are. I look forward to seeing them all again soon.

Tegan

Tegan is Cynthia and Peter's first child. The last time I met Tegan I think she was 3 years old - a little older now at 8. Very helpfull to her Mum and Dad and her younger siblings. Currently learning piano with my Aunt Rosemary. Tegan is also very busy with school, chinese dance and parties with friends.

Peter and Toby

My sister, Cynthia had the good fortune to marry Peter and have three awesome kids together. In addition to being a great father Peter is a teacher in Bendigo, a heck of a good golfer, kicks ass at "Call of Duty" video game, and gives his wife a run for the money at who's the boss in the kitchen. Toby is the handsome bloke helping out his Dad at the barbie.

Australia

For the last two weeks I took an airplane with my Aunt Rosemary to see an Eye Specialist in Australia and to visit my family. It's been awhile. I met Catherine, my brother's wife who both live in Melbourne. We walked all over town enjoying the winter weather, good chinese food and the various architecture and street art of Melbourne. Things have changed in the last 20 years.

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.

We got married in Cuba too.

Went down to the beach and said our vows. Beautiful sunset and Full Moon. Beautiful bride and handsome groom.

Trinidad

We rented a car - no, not this one - and visited Trinidad on the southern side of Cuba. Lots of adventure driving on the local roads. The classic car is a 58 Chev. I think it's the newest of the old american cars to get down here since the American - Cuba standoff. The revolution is still popularized with postcards and t-shirts of Che Guevera and Fidel Castro at every tourist station.

Historical Havana

Lots of History in Havana. Old buildings which look unchanged and still a busy port. This photo is taken of an artist's rendition of the port of Havana in the 1600 or 1700's. It was pretty neat to be in The City of the Caribean.

Havana

Sara just loves to go on guided day tours ( just like tailguiding at Wildhorse ) and taking photos. We spent two days in Havana which was very cool, stayed on the 24th floor of the old Havana Hilton, went to the Tropicana for the show and saw all the sights.

Snorkelling from Jibacoa

We got up early a couple of days when the sea was calm and walked right down to the beach put on snorkel equipment and swam with the fishes and the coral reef. I think we had the fish for dinner too.

After Snow there is Sun

Sara and I zipped down to Cuba for two weeks for fun in the sun. Sara surfed the internet for a last minute deal at an all-inclusive resort at Jibacoa. You can see the resort in the background of this photo. Quite a different scene from last spring when I was on a 2 week ski tour through the BC Interior....

The Winter Blur

Wake up at 6, get hot drinks ready, get lunches ready, safety equipment. Breakfast and a coffee. Review. Check. Greet the days skiers. Paperwork. Radios. Check. Guide, TailGuide and Driver. 12 skiers - everyone accounted for. Drive 4km. Unload. Load Snowmobile. Snowmobile 30 minutes. Start SnowCat. Safety Talks. Load Cat. Unload. Ski Powder. Load. Ski Powder. Repeat 10 times. Load snowmobiles. Drive home. Go to Ymir Hotel. Drink Beer. Eat Dinner. Clean up. Check. Sleep. Repeat.

Great Winter.

Second Ascent for the Season

I walked up Wildhorse Peak once in December when road building preparing for the season just to get away from the sound of machinery. Chris, Gordon and I walked up yesterday to ski the south face. Beautiful knee deep powder through 2,400 vertical feet. Sunny skies and -12C. Only skied this one once before. We skied a few other lines and then came up to this point and skied back down to the valley bottom from where the photo was taken.

Winter is here

Sara and I skied at Whitewater on the groomers for Christmas Day. Skied three exploratory runs at Wildhorse and then the 29th and 30th of December in epic powder conditions. It was good to let the powder pour over the goggles and let the thoughts of snowcat maintenance, chainsawing, deisel tanks, clearing snow, shoveling snow, snowmobiles, invoices, credit cards, bank balances, safety equipment and a myriad of other thoughts slip into the past. Powder keeps ones thoughts simple, pure and present. Happy New Year.

Less Blogging more Working

OK. So, I've been out chainsawing new roads, driving deisel up to Wildhorse Pass, tradeshows, invoicing, emailing and on the phone. Yeah and sold the ROCA shares from the previous posts big pump up - actually just a fun bike ride, mostly up but the descent was good too. Actually we got escorted off the property...
It looks like snow is thick enough now that the roads are closed and the snowmobiles are being pulled out and checked over. The new Wildhorse aluminum snowmobile passenger trailers are in final stages of construction. Probably will be starting work on snow roads by the end of November. No pictures.

Ready for winter

Most of September and October has been raining and snowing. Managed to fly out the toilet barrels from the Yurts and cleaned them out. Loads of fun that one. Otherwise been working on extending the snowcat trails higher and further. I've hiked into Qua Yurt a couple of times working on replacing the roof and adding a deck. It was a little touch and go getting a helicopter through the weather and getting a team of 5 together on standby to get the job done. Ready for winter. Here's a new map for the yurt and catskiing with some of the updates.

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.

The Roca Mine

After getting the inside scoop at the Bar we took a tour of the mine site. Lots of guys getting the job done. It appears that they will be ready for production in the fall. The tailings pond is nearing completion and they have moly on the ground ready for processing.

Hot Stock Tip - Roca Mines

We had to make a little side trip up to Trout Lake to check out a hot stock tip. We dropped into the Windsor Hotel to get a little inside information. We found the Roca Mines office next door after testing the local beverage and listening into the hot gossip in the bar. Lots of people working up at the mine site and they are gearing up for production in the fall.

Incomappleux Valley Road Closure

I first visited the Incomappleux valley fifteen years ago doing some exploring for ice climbing. The canyon has been paddled once for sure and looks like mostly class III with a short section of class IV. The upper and lower river seem to be nice class II with some sweepers and cold water. It is a cool entrance to a valley that extends 40 km north and widens considerably. CMH and Selkirk Tangiers ski up here. The road has been closed since February. No current plans to reopen.

Incomappleux valley

Jim and I had the good fortune to visit Patrick at the Mountain Hostel in the Incomappleux valley over the last couple of days. We heard that a rock fall had closed the road into the valley from the canyon so it sounded like the Incomappleux was remote once again. We drove through Nakusp and past the Galena Bay Ferry and turned off before reaching Trout Lake. 15km of flat mountain biking up the valley brought us to the Hostel. It sounds like Patrick had a few adventures building the beautiful lodge. The following day we got a ride up into the hills for a look around the surroundings. The Incomappleux valley was apparantly named after a french phrase for land of lots of rain.... The headwaters of the valley are the glaciers at Rogers Pass.

Desiderata

I found this interesting document in the summit register on Mt. Reco. See more about this ride. Have a read.

There was also a checkbook, very old headphones, a note of great things in life and a bunch of mangled pennies.

Lots of great views too.

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.

Slocan City Logger's Day

This event is not to be missed. I think it was the first weekend of July and is an annual event. More info at Slocan City. Tree climbing, Underhand Chop, Chainsaw, Bucking, Axe Throw, and much more. Competitors coming from all over the world and a real demonstration of the skill and history of this area.

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.

Birdie on the 9th Hole

I shot my first Birdie. Yahoo. It's was a bit of fluke. We don't keep score yet. Scoring was going to start when we could hit a par on 9 holes. Well that had not happened yet.... But this photo is of Grace, my niece when we were playing.

I meet Grace and Will

Grace is 9 and Will is 7 and they are my niece and nephew. I had never met them until the other week when they came up to visit Sara and I with their Dad, Ian. They are awesome. We spent some time at Slocan Lake and just generally hanging out. A little golf at the slocan lake golf course and horseriding and hiking around to different beaches. Thanks for coming up and visiting us. Love Trevor

My Brother, Ian

I was fortunate to spend two weeks in the fall of 2005 with my brother Ian. I had not really seen Ian for 15 years. I was completely broke after having my bank accounts drained etc. Ian was heading to Munich, Germany for a Vetenarian Conference where he was speaking and he invited me to head along. I had vowed years ago to never go to Europe but hey it seemed like a time for new beginnings. I spent a couple of days exploring Munich and their museums etc and then we did a few adventures like climbing to the top of the Zugspitz - the tallest mtn in Germany and doing a quick hike above Lake Konigsee. Amazing places. It was good to spend time with my brother again. It got exciting later on when Ian, who is working as a specialist vet in Ventura California but under a temporary work permit got temporarily denied entry and I ended up in LAX with no money, no credit cards..... Ian showed up 2 hrs later on the next flight.

Nahanni

I just got word from David Hibbard of Nahanni Wild that our guide from last summer, Adam Burrell will be canoeing the Nahanni from Moose Ponds to Virginia Falls this summer including the hike to the Cirque of the Unclimbables. Sara and I did this portion last summer ( see our trip ) and it was amazing. Adam is currently up on Mt. Logan as part of Exploration Live

Thanks

Forgot to say thanks to everyone. Sara for looking after the fort whilst I was away. Gloria Fliorello at Patagonia down in Ventura for sending up a few sample items including an awesome lightweight jacket which weighed nothing and was perfect when it was sunny as it did not weigh anything and when it was a little inclement it kept the wind, rain ( yes there was some of that ) and snow off my poor beaten body. Also, thanks to the team at Voile mail order for getting me a pair of ski crampons to my local post office just minutes prior to my departure.

Fly the Google Earth Rogers Pass - Mica Creek Tour KMZ file

Skiing Centurion Mtn

We could hear the 212 helicopters from Adamant Lodge pounding the sky above us as we approached the Centurion Col. Instead of climbing up Bachelor Pass as indicated in Chic famous book "Summits and Icefields" we ascended the drainage further east and gained the pass directly. Nice route. Traverses are not famous for great skiing but we managed to get a good powder smile going on this one. We were a little surprised to see a skin track coming up from Moberly Pass gaining the peak. 100km from the nearest road and the run is still skied. Lots of room though for Dan to spread out and lay down the snowboard.

Winter Camping and Traverses

Stewart has done one of these big traverses every winter for the last couple of years. Andrew joined him on the Rogers Pass to Bugaboos last winter for a slog fest. The lesson learned is go light and fast as possible. A megamid is as basic a tent as possible. Two ski poles strapped together over a light nylon fly create a roof and then shovels dig into the snow to provide a cooking and eating platform. Lots of space for cooking and easy to set up but a little cooler and you are sleeping on snow. Dried foods in a boil bag from backcountry pantry were awesome and then a couple of quick snacks like cliff bars and guu shots completed the meals. We managed to camp beside water most every night so minimal fuel required. Keep the backpack as light as possible makes those 5,000 ft days possible. I managed to fly out a bunch of stuff with a crew at Fairy Meadows - Yeah!

Great Cairn Hut

An incredible mountain cabin in a completely remote location with just a few visitors every year. We skied over from Moberly Pass in the afternoon after traversing Pyrite Ridge in the morning and descended down the glacier in the twilight for another monster day but with perfect weather and incredible scenery. Dan and I took the following day as a rest day as the plan to ski Sir Sandford fell apart due to extensive exposed ice on the route. Andrew and Stewart skied the Guardsman Glacier on the left of Sir Sandford. As we were admiring the view at around 3pm a slab pulled out from below the hourglass on our proposed route down Sir Sandford and filled the valley below with debris. Nice.

Fairy Meadows

From the Great Cairn Hut at Sir Sandford we ascended the Silvertip Glacier and traversed right on a nice bench towards Azimuth Notch. When the traverse starting to look really hairy we climbed directly up about 100m on steep snow slopes to gain the ridge about 150m before the Azimuth Notch. This put us in a great position to ski down to the Adamant Glacier and start our ascent up Thor Pass to the Gothics Glacier. The Pass was more like a couloir which we boot packed up and were thankfull we were over early in the morning. We climbed most of Pioneer Peak and then Dan and I skiied the easterly portion of Pioneer Pass whch is steep with a roll over at the top that just keeps going. We were stoked.

Stewart Spooner

Stewart is always keen to take the sharp end of the lead. Nice to have that on a team: kicking steps up couloirs, releasing slabs, ascending cornice filled passes, testing snow bridges on crevasses and endlessly breaking trail. This photo is taken near the 9,200 ft pass on N.E. Mountain after about 6,000 ft of climbing from the valley bottom. We have another 10 km of skiing to go for the day - fortunately most of it is a pleasant descent down a glacier.

Andrew Gross

This man is a trail breaking machine. Andrew has a reputation for steep skin tracks and the deeper the powder the better. We climbed up from the valley bottom from 8am-11am and still have 3,000 ft to go of climbing before we get to go down. The Adamants are far off in the distance on the left side. Just mention something about training and not slip streaming and Andrew busts out in front for another marathon session. Seemed to work quite well. Andrew - I couldn't have done it without you.

Dan Morton

Probably the first splitboard traverse of the Northern Selkirks was completed by Dan Morton. Last winter Dan completed the Rogers Pass to Bugaboos traverse and the Jumbo Pass to Bugaboos traverses on his Prior Splitboard. You can also see Dan in the spring 2007 Canadian Avalanche Association Newsletter accepting the Craig Kelly Scholarship. Dan completed his level 2 avalanche training and worked last winter at Retallack. Skiers over the last few years at Wildhorse Catskiing will remember Dan as our trusty tailguide and mechanic. It was a pleasure to tour again with Mr. Morton.

Back from Northern Selkirks Traverse

We cruised through the traverse in 10 days. Lots of very wild country and some pretty remote valleys. I must admit now to have only done two half days of ski touring this winter.... We put in some good solid 12 hours of touring and covered 15-20 km per day with some days having 5-7,000 ft of vertical. Beautiful touring weather with lots of cool temperatures and sunny days. Cruised through big mountain valleys and over high peaks and had a few helicopter from CMH buzz us. Dropped into the ACMG Assistant Ski Guides course at Moberly Pass where they looked like they were having some fun. Spent a night at the Fairy Meadows Lodge and two nights at the Great Cairn Cabin. Then it was up and over two big mountain passes and out to Mica Creek.

Fairy Meadows

The route passes through Fairy Meadows which has been a renowned ski touring destination for years.

This picture was taken about fifteen years ago on my first trip to the area.

Sir Sandford

This is the crowning jewel of the Northern Selkirks. Hope fully the weather co-operates and we can knock it off too.

The standard route climbs the glacier and ridge on the right side.

More miles to go

Fom this picture on the descent on Iconoclast the route goes to the horizon.

Mt. Iconoclast

If we can knock off a few ski descents on the way that would be icing on the cake. The pleasure of removing the big pack and whooping it up will make up for the miles of slogging. This is Mt. Iconoclast in firm ankle deep powder a couple of years ago.

Sorceror Lodge - Nordic Mountains

I was at Sorceror Lodge a couple of years ago and skied some of the route. This picture shows the crest of the climb out of Mountain Creek and Rogers Pass would be out to the left of the picture.

Northern Selkirk Traverse

It's been a lot easier to "fly" the route on Google Earth. Searching for Rogers Pass and Mica Creek in British Columbia will give a rough idea on the route. There are a couple of variations depending on enthusiasm, snow conditions and weather. We are going to start at Rogers Pass on April 2nd and hope to finish at Mica Creek around mid April. We have a food cache at the Fairy Meadows Hut for 6 days. See you soon. Here is the link to a Google fly-over that I completed after the trip detailing the major peaks and campsites etc. It's pretty cool. Interesting way of doing a guidebook
http://www.kootenayexperience.com/whowhatwhere/Trevor/RogersPass-MIca.kmz

It's all about character

It's all about character. Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions, they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
Frank Outlaw

Heading out for Roger's Pass

Not too much ski touring this winter. I toured up to the snowcat early in the season, toured into Yurtopia Yurt before Christmas and did a run down Wildhorse Peak before the catskiing season opened up. Stewart Spooner invited me to join him and Andrew Gross on a tour from Roger's Pass to Mica Creek. Should be interesting. We are heading out on April 2nd and hope to complete the minimum of 100 miles and countless thousands of feet of vertical in a couple of days - maybe two weeks. Dan Morton heard this and said "I'd love to do that tour". He's coming too. The tour starts from Roger's Pass and cruises through terrain used by Sorceror Lodge, Selkirk Mountain Experience, Selkirk Tangiers Heli Skiing, Fairy Meadows CAC Hut and CMH Heliskiing. I hope it stops raining.

Picture is of Nordic Mountain in the vicinity of Sorceror Lodge

Blachford Lake Lodge

Upon our return to Yellowknife the long anticipated final conclusion of our northern adventure awaited at the Blachford Lake Lodge. A short 30 minute hop by floatplane took this weekend getaway crew along the shores of the Great Slave Lake and slightly north to a remote lodge in the middle of nowhere, with the horizon stretching out in all directions. A beautiful setting and incredible food with quiet activities for everyone. Sara was fortunate enough to get some amazing northern light photos - but you will have to wait to see those ones.

Great Slave Lake & Wood Buffalo National Park

Following the incredible journey down the South Nahanni River we returned to Yellowknife and had a rental car provided once again courtesy of NWT Tourism and we toured down to Wood Buffalo National Park and saw some of the sights along the way including the town of Hay River where we enjoyed the hospitality of Canoe North.

Cessna to Honeymoon Lake

Our trip on the Nahanni started with the flight from Yellowknife to Fort Simpson with First Air. We change plans and strapped the 17' canoe to the floats of a 185 cessna and flew for 2.5 hours with Simpson Air. Honeymoon Lake was our landing strip and then we looked around and realized we were on our own for awhile....

Yellowknife, NWT

From Inuvik we returned to Yellowknife courtesy of Canadian North and stayed at the Explorer Hotel. We walked around Yellowknife and checked out the Canadian Diamond Mines exhibits and tried to get a grasp of the size of the wilderness up here. Yellowknife is on the shores of Great Slave Lake with fishing, boating and mining exploration in all directions. In the winter I guess it's a little darker, but everyone seems to love the contrast of 8 months of winter and 4 months of spring.

Inuvik and Tuktoyuktuk, NWT

We were fortunate enough to fly to Tuktoyuktuk with Arctic Nature Tours in a Twin Otter and enjoy a tour of the Inuit settlement including a descent 30' into the permafrost where the fish and seal meat is stored. I also enjoyed the balmy 28C day and took a brief swim in the warm waters of the Arctic Ocean. I even have the certificate to prove it. It felt like we were on the edge of the world and thoughts of early explorers for the North West Passage and whalers as well as the historical lives of the Inuit make it a very rich place.

North West Territories

Our trip to the North West Territories was courtesy of NWT Tourism. Sara won the prize as part of the Canadian Geographic Photo Competition. We flew from Calgary to Yellowknife and then all the way up north to Inuvik. We stayed at the MacKenzie Hotel at the end of the Dempster Highway. Getting there in a couple of hours by plane almost felt like time travel compared to the week it must take by car. It would make a great round trip - fly up, and drive down.