Paragliding at Mara Lake

For some inexplicable reason I decided to enroll in another paragliding course - on advanced maneavours this summer. For the last couple of years I get out for about 5 flights a year. Glenn at Paraglide Canada I met way back in Canmore flying 15+ years ago. The idea with the course is to have an instructor in a boat on a lake giving directions over radio to deal with situations that may occur in flight. Create the incident and then solve the problem. Land and do it again. We did a few full stalls - stopping the wing flying by reducing airspeed - and then getting it started again. Here is a youtube video of someone else doing it.

Aunt Betty Climbs Idaho Peak

My Aunt Betty and the cousins ( Ann, Elizabeth, Mary and Christine with their husbands and kids ) visited in July and did the usual fun things to do in New Denver. Lots of old stories of relations and as much dirt on my father as possible. Most of the stories related to Aunt Betty feeding Dad mud pies. We hiked up Idaho Peak, went huckleberry picking, out on the boat on Slocan Lake, riding the Galena trail, Dennis Creek Ridge for wildflowers and of course swimming.

Floor On

Yes, we did get the floor on a long time ago and put a tarp over it all for the summer. It was a hectic couple of weeks getting it all done before our guests for the summer arrive. Now that fall is approaching the walls and roof will go up.

Sara looks happy to see the floor joists installed. The hole is gradually being filled. We will stop for the summer when the plywood is installed and will use it as a large deck before the walls go up in the fall.

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!

2 out of 3 women think it's an alien

Sara has been looking a little rounder in the last month or so. We are having a baby due in early October. We are very happy and healthy and looking good. Thanks to all of you for your support.

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.

Skiing Baldy Cliffs

I'm not a big cliff hucker but I like to ski all kinds of terrain. I love the feeling of carving through soft cream cheese powder and hitting perfect rock pillows and the turns becoming effortless.

It is awesome to see some of our guests at Wildhorse hurling themselves off the cliffs and sometimes crashing spectacularly. I need to ski tomorrow and the next day, and the day after that. I'm chicken.

Skiing Wildhorse Peak

It has been an awesome winter. Lots of great skiing. The shallow snowpack this winter has made the steeps steeper and bumps and drops outstanding. I always find it interesting to search a little harder for fresh lines. Here we are dropping off Wildhorse Peak.

North Face of the Eiger

Ok. I could not resist posting this photo that Sara took of me approaching the North Face of the Eiger. A couple more centimeters and I would be standing on top.

Skiing at Wildhorse Catskiing

The winter was a little late in coming and our first day of catskiing was New Years Day 2009. We had some awesome early season turns and then a short avalanche cycle where we closed down for two days. There were 6" glide cracks in the trees where avalanches had tried to initiate but lacked the momentum to continue. Every year is a little different. We are nearing the end of dry spell now and we finished skiing the steeper lines on Mustang Bowl, Mustang Face and Wildhorse Peak.

Cassis, France

On our return to the airport in Nice we spent two nights in Cassis. Sara took about 1000 pictures. We strolled around and walked out of town along the rocky bluffs and inlets. It was a great way to finish another awesome visit to France.

Avignon

When in France we always stay at the Chateau Rainford. This picture is not it, although Avignon is under an hour away from the tiny little village of St. Romain en Viennois where Sara's parents have a small and rustic place. We explore the little village markets, historical places, vineyards and the mountain roads like Mt Ventoux which is one of the classic climbs of the Tour de France.

Zermatt - Scott and Alex

Sara has some good friends who operate a small hotel in Ausserberg, Switzerland just around the corner from Zermatt. It is a beautiful place with great hiking in the mountains above the village. We took a quick visit to Zermatt although a little while after this photo was tekan it started pouring rain. We left the next day and over the next couple of days it snowed heavily for the start of an epic winter season in the European Alps.

Grindelwald - Eiger

When in Switzerland visit Grindelwald. I remember reading The White Spider and a host of the other early mountaineering books about climbing the North Face of the Eiger. It was pretty amazing to finally see this mountain. We strolled around pleasantly in beautiful Fall conditions chasing chamoix and taking photographs.

Cinqua Terra

Sara and I spent a day hiking the Cinqua Terra coastline of Italy. Needless to say it was incredible. We were quite surprised by the number of people hiking. What a contrast from hiking in the backcountry of British Columbia. The train stops in every

town along the coast so you just keep hiking and easting and drinking and sleeping and photographing.

Swiss Alps

In the Fall my parents met Sara and I in Italy for a car tour of Southern Europe. We spent two weeks travelling through Italy, Switzerland and Provence, France. We were travelling through thick fog in the valley and started up this valley ( I think it's near Andermatt ) and popped out of the clouds into a glorious day.

Sara's Photos at the Whyte Museum

On October 17th Sara and I went to Banff for the opening of the Whyte Museum's Out There: Adventure Photography Exhibition. Four of Sara's photos were chosen to be exhibited. The photos included mixed climbing, skiing over a cliff at Wildhorse, kayaking and rock climbing. There was a beautiful mixed assortment of photos from an earlier era as well this generation.

The exhibition will be on until the end of January 2009.

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.