Shout Out!

So what I didn't mention in my last post is that on our way out from Aemmers we bumped into Barry Blanchard and two of his Black Diamond friends on route to climb the Sphinx face on Mt. Temple. We all stopped and casually chatted for a bit before heading our separate ways. Anyways, Brent pointed this out to me today and I had to post this because its kinda sweet! Barry gave us a little shout out in his blog! ahah sweet!
Check it out! Its the seventh paragraph down.

http://www.barryblanchard.ca/node/36

Hey Davie, its not quite Greg Hill but I'm getting closer! haha

A million kick steps!

It was the middle of the week and I was surfing the web looking at the beautiful weather forecast for the weekend. I began pouring over my guide books, trying to decide where the best climbing would be when an MCR (mountain conditions report) email popped up and informed me that the Mt. Stanly head wall had just been skied and conditions were beautiful. There was no need to think twice, I began calling people who I knew would be interested in a non-climbing mission. I originally had plans to go climbing with Brent but after a quick run down of the "revised" plan he was still in. When I first told Dave about the "revised" plan he told me that I was pretty ambitious, he quickly followed with a "fuck ya, lets fucking do it!".

"Revised" Plan- Saturday morning, head into Aemmers couloir and check it out, if it goes then we ski it, rest up and hit 3/4 couloir on sunday morning. This is all based on the fact that conditions should be roughly the same in each couloir. If it doesn't go then we turn around, arrive back at the car before 6am and unfortunately have to go climbing... Win/win!

After a million kick steps and some gnarly/scary turns, the ultimate weekend warrior mission was a success! I lugged two friggin cameras up each of these bad boys so there are alot of photo's. Joel, one of my top followers suggested a slide show set to music, I asked him if he had checked out my "A life of snow" slide show which I posted a few weeks ago? He hadn't, now Davie is my TOP follower and Joel must earn his way back up! haha, Enjoy.

Aemmer Couloir, Mt. Temple. 2,300 ft long. 

One of the definitive couloir's in the Canadian Rockies.

The down side of alpine starts; inhumanly early... the plus side: your back at your car before most people wake up and you have the rest of the day to enjoy!

Dave getting pumped for 2,300ft of step kicking!

Halfway...

Pushing 58 degrees... the last 100ft pushed 60+

 

All smiles, but a bit nervous about the first turn.

Dave making it look easy, thanks to his year of skiing hard pack at Castle Mt.

6 years of looking and dreaming become a reality for me!

Happy hour!

3/4 couloir, Moraine Lake, Valley of the Ten Peaks. 3000+ ft. of glory! 

A classic, but dangerous couloir not to be taken lightly.

My good ol' ARV's, these skis have seen alot of action in there time! Alot of good snow has passed under these bad boys!

Jump on board the gay train, woo woo! (inside joke)

Weekend Warriors!

Hell ya, blind roll over! Remember the first turn is the hardest!

In memory of our good buddy Anton.

Here is a little slide show set to some tunes provide by FC kahuna. Enjoy.

Snow Shoes

Its been one hell of a spring this year! 50+cms of pow in Kananaskis last week, rain and snow in Calgary and a forecast that nobody can figure out. Normally I wouldn't be disapointed with that much snow, except for the fact that I was stuck in the city sitting on my ass waiting for the go-ahead on my new playground construction job. I guess I have had a winter of freedom and now its time to pay the piper, aka: Visa.  By the time the weekend rolled in the forecast looked shaky but it was decided that there would be climbing regardless of weather. Dave, Nate and myself headed out to Barrier Lake on saturday to make the best of it. We were rewarded with a crazy day of sun, fat snow flakes, sun and fat snowflakes at the same time and eventually heavy snow and cold wind. All and all it was a good day out, and despite having my camera with me I missed out on some cool sun/snow shots, by the time I remembered to take a photo we were packing up to drink beer in the comfort of a pub. I was able to snap this quick shot.

A little recap of the last few years

Just a little recap of the last few seasons, if you have ever skied with me you may recognize a few of these shots. Hope you enjoy.