"W" is for Whiteouts and Whiskey

You would think that after the first experience on the Columbia ice field we would have learned a few lessons... the most important being; unless there is a big ass high pressure system in the area you are going to get screwed! But we hoped a little luck would be on our side and remained optimistic despite the poor weather forecast (often all a weekend warrior can do...). We were shooting for a small one day weather window and a second attempt at Mt. Columbia. Our secondary goals were to not get lost in a whiteout again, have to preform a crevasse rescue again, and get a good nights sleep in a tent that doesn't somehow let snow pass effortlessly through its walls. The pictures really tell the story of this mission, but basically we drank alot of whiskey, sat in a whiteout and some how emerged on the summits of two 11,000ers, both of which were not Mt. Columbia. Attempt number three is being organized as I speak, at least we accomplished our secondary goals. Oh, and drank alot of whiskey... always important!

Getting ready for another round.

 Ahh, Nature...

Doesn't look promising... 

Just a friendly reminder that the seracs never sleep...

So far it looks pretty good!

Joel said his metis roots and facial hair would protect him from the sun... he also wanted a base tan... ended up with a wicked burn, haha

All down hill from here...

Camp, Version 1

A glimpse of our objective.

Mt. Columbia, 3747m (12,293 ft)

second highest peak in the Canadian Rockies

Cozy tent for two big boys, at least its not a piece of crap like the last tent we had.

Its 7am, and yes thats a bottle of whiskey in Joels hand.

 Besides drinking whiskey, we did manage to get on a few summits. 

Snow Dome, 3451m

 Now we just need to find the camp again...

Camp, Version 3. 

We decided to head off, but we would at least try for another summit.

Sometimes you make the right choice, and sometimes your wrong... but its all part of fun. 

We will be back...

But despite the choice you make, its always an adventure!

At least we got a better view then these guys!

Pushing to the second summit of Mt. Andromeda, 3450m (11,319ft)!

Joel McLay, Mountain MAN

We emerged from the whiteout out-of-focus, perverted looking and somehow on the summit of the wrong mountain... (there has been some confusion generated by this... this is a joke, we did mean to be on Andromeda).

The best part of ski mountaineering, going down is fun!

Innocent looking turns in a sea of crevasses.

Smile for the camera! Tourists eat this shit up!

Dont even worry about it, were so bad ass we dont even read warning signs...

Its an amazing place!

The flying Dutchman, Joel's new wheels. 

Defiantly a Kootenay boy.

 85' Silverado, Camper addition. Classic!

Then a slap in the face. Stuck for 4 hours outside of Banff. Long weekend + road construction... I hate AB.

Another slide show I put together. Enjoy, oh, and just a rant... thanks to the blazing fast speed of my amazing CPU this whole post took me at least 3-4 hours to put together... so if you want to see more posts, please help find me a better computer!