Year: 2016

  • Snowy solo hike in the Sooke Hills

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    I went to one of my favourite places to hike when it’s snowing in Victoria: Sugarloaf.

  • Snowshoe on the Kludahk

    In one of the last wintery weekends before ski season began, Brianna and I organized a hike for the Alpine Club on the Kludahk Trail. Our trip filled up quickly, which was surprising for just a hike! But also understandable, as many people feel like there is a lot of mystery surrounding the Kludahk Trail. I think it’s hard to claim a trail is…

  • Thoughts on fear and climbing from 8 climbers

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    We had some really interesting and constructive discussions at the women’s climbing night last week about fear & lead climbing. I thought I’d keep the conversations by asking some friends how they overcome their fears while climbing. Conversations edited for length and clarity. 1. Kaitlyn: Some days I’ve got loads of confidence, others not so much. “I’ve often…

  • A hint of winter on Arrowsmith’s UnJudges route

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    A year ago, I went on my first trip with Alpine Club on Mt. Arrowsmith. Many great trips later, things have come full circle with another trip up UnJudges. The weather this year made the conditions a bit more exciting. Here’s a photo from late October 2015 at the same elevation as the photo at the top…

  • Return to trip leading

    A decade ago, I spent two summers as a camp counsellor. I took groups of teenage girls on four-day camping and hiking trips. I became very good at planning meals for 10, packing tents into tiny bags and scaring away rabid squirrels. (That’s another story…) And leading trips! I also got pretty good a leading trips. Since…

  • 5040

    Our original plan was to climb up Triple Peak. With an extremely wet forecast ahead, we decided scrambling wasn’t the safest plan. So we switched gears to a hike on Triple’s neighbor: 5040. The peak gets its name from its summit height: 5040 feet (or 1536m). I took this photo of 5040 while standing at the…

  • Returning to outdoor adventures after chronic pain

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    This year, I’ve had to turn around before reaching the summit far more times than I’ve made it to any desired destination. My friends carry even more of the gear than before. I often have had to lay down for long rests in inconvenient (but beautiful) spaces.

  • Staying safe outside

    I recently saw North Shore SAR’s post about “Top 5 Favourite Hikes (To Rescue People From).” In it, they challenged bloggers and photographers to share more outdoor safety information. Good point! The best place to get safety information is from the pros, such as: I also find it really helpful to talk with other friends about…

  • Castlecrag Mountain – Vancouver Island, BC

    This past weekend, I had enjoyed some relaxed backpacking and a long hike up Castlecrag Mountain. It is one of the four smaller mountains near Mt. Albert Edward, which is the most popular objective in this area. But a number of circumstances drew me to this lesser climbed peak. One was that it was a long weekend and thus it was…

  • Summer Camp with the Alpine Club of Canada

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    Definitely not Type 2 fun.

  • My first first ascent — Vancouver Island, BC

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    It was both of our first times exploring like this, just looking at the mountain and starting to climb with no idea what was up there. (Lucky for us, we found a route down too.)

  • Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota

    I do not usually like boats. Rivers and lakes… it’s just too flat!! But I do love checking out new wilderness areas. So when my sister asked me to spend some time in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, I jumped at the chance to go.