ACC Sask Section

Adventure Racing in Saskatoon

2012-01-08T21:30:00.005-06:00

by Howard Hemingson

Race Director

This summer saw the ACC Sask Section and Prairie Dog Racing hosting two adventure races in Saskatoon. The Urban Adventure Race was held on Saturday, June 11 and the Gopher Chase was held on Saturday, September 17.

This was my third year organizing the Urban AR, which has been occurring off an on for the past decade or so. The Urban Adventure Race is a rogaine-styled race during which teams have a set time to find as many checkpoints (CPs) as they can. The race was based out of Gabriel Dumont Park, which is located on the East side of the river in Saskatoon. I had hoped for a canoe leg this year, but it was not to be since the river level was way too high. Twenty-three racers making up ten teams entered the race. Entries were lower this year, but I’m blaming the Bridge City Boogie, with its 6000+ entries, that was the next day.

The race started off with a 2 hr running leg which sent teams looking for CPs along the East riverbank, in the neighbourhoods of Exhibition, Buena Vista, and Nutana, and downtown. There were several strong running teams in this race with one team (Interrobang!?) reaching all of the running CPs and several others only missing only one CP. Teams then started a 2 hr bike leg that took them North to the trails in Sutherland Beach and along Whiteswan Dr. The bike leg proved to be more difficult than the running leg, since fewer CPs were reached.

Team Interrobang (Scott Theede, Kyle Gunderson) built on their lead and went on to win the race. Krat’s O’Shay (Jay Stark, Sheri Stark) finished second, which makes three podium finishes in row for them. Third place went to Strueby Sandwich (Shanna Strueby, Drew Bell), and Drew continued his tradition of losing a place due to accrued time penalties :-) .

The inaugural Gopher Chase adventure race was held in the fall. I’m hoping the Gopher Chase will be a stepping stone for bringing the Prairie Pitch back. The Gopher Chase was a point to point race with running, biking, and paddling and was meant to take between 7 to 9 hrs. Unfortunately, I've never organized a race like this before and the winning time was 9 ½ hrs. Some teams were unable to do the last running leg (I think some were OK with that). The race was based out of Victoria Park and had 11 teams consisting of 25 racers (there was even a solo racer!).

The race started with teams biking to the Arts tower on the U of S campus where they had to run to the top floor. They then continued on bike to the West riverbank on the North end of the city, where a repel challenge was set-up on the river bluff. From there, they biked back to the U of S campus where they did a trail run along the river. Teams then biked around campus and then returned to Victoria Park. From Victoria Park, teams paddled downstream, going ashore at the Bessborough for an obstacle course challenge, and then returned to Victoria Park. Racers then biked up to the Sutherland Beach trails and then through the city’s Northeast neighbourhoods. The racers then completed a mini-orienteering challenge in the Varsity View area before biking back to Victoria Park. The second paddle stage then took the racers upstream to the South Train Bridge and back. At this point, the race turned out to be much longer than planned and so the last leg was varied for some teams. The top two teams proceeded on foot to Diefenbaker Park where they played a few rounds of disc golf and then they ran back to the finish at Victoria Park. The next group of teams traveled to Diefenbaker Park on bike, while the last group of teams got an early head start on the post race BBQ!

Team Carbon Fibre (Barret Dunbar, Scott Theede) won the inaugural Gopher Chase, and this was Scott’s second win this summer! Dribzz (Geoff Meinert, Dan Guenther) came in second, while Lion’s Roar (Kristen Seimens, Andrew Jahsen) were third.

All in all, the Gopher Chase was a success. I had a few set backs, primarily making the race too long, but the racers didn’t appear to mind too much (or at least they complained behind my back). The paddle stages and the challenges, especially the repel were highlights for a lot of people.

Results from these two races can be found on the ACC Sask website and pictures can be found here. Planning is already underway for the 2012 race season, with the Urban Adventure Race and the Gopher Chases both returning. A winter race is also in the works and will coincide with Wintershine Festival this February.

See you on the trails!

Mountain Film Festival - January 16, 2012

2011-12-02T09:39:00.006-06:00

Some, but definitely not all, of the films set for the two and a half-hour show coming to Saskatoon on January 16th, 2012 , are described below. As always, there is the possibility that the lineup can change based on recommendations from the Banff Centre. We usually also include some shorter clips in the lineup as time permits. Keep in mind that our contract with the Banff Centre imposes strict limits on how many minutes of video we are allowed to show, otherwise we would probably just keep the entertainment going on all night :-)
On The Trail of Genghis Khan (Adventure, exploration, culture)

People’s Choice Award
Australia, 2011, 46 minutes
Classification: General
On an epic journey of truly historic proportions, Australian Tim Cope, his band of horses, and his dog Tigon travel overland 10,000 km from Mongolia to Hungary, following the footsteps of legendary warrior and nomad Genghis Khan. Cope visits distant parts of the world rarely seen, places on the cusp of modernity yet proud of nomadic traditions. The Last Frontier captures the culmination of his stunning three-year journey, the crossing of the Carpathian Mountains.

Seasons: Fall (Kayaking)

USA, 2010, 4 minutes each
Classification: General
Fall: Deep canyons with steep, spring-fed creeks provide Kate Wagner with a soul-session in this paddling paradise.

Towers of Ennedi (Rock Climbing)

USA, 2011, 14 minutes
Classification: General – coarse language
The Ennedi Desert of Chad is a hot, sand-scoured and unfriendly place. But from its vast belly rise clusters of breathtakingly lovely spires, towers, and rock formations. Veteran climber Mark Synnott – known more for his far-flung adventures than his technical accomplishments – brings young climbing stars Alex Honnold and James Pearson to the Ennedi to explore its untouched landscapes.

Cold (Mountaineering)

Grand Prize
Best Film
USA, 2011, 19 minutes
Classification: Parental guidance – coarse language
Experience Gasherbrum II in the middle of a deep, dark winter as seen from the raw, honest perspective of alpinist Cory Richard’s camera. This film deftly captures the interwoven roles of pain, fear, and doubt – and reveals a harrowing descent that amplifies their isolation and exposure.

Tickets should be available by mid-December. Information about prices and where to buy your tickets is available on our website.

People attending the Film Festival should be aware that some videos may be rated Parental Guidance and/or may contain Coarse Language.

Avalanche Transceivers - Recommendations from the Safety Committee

2011-11-02T11:29:00.003-06:00

The Safety Committee of the Alpine Club of Canada recommends to the Board of Directors the adaptation of the following policy:

Participants on all mountaineering, skiing and ice climbing trips, camps and courses of the Alpine Club of Canada in avalanche terrain are required to use a modern avalanche transceiver, as recommended by the Canadian Avalanche Centre. Recommended avalanche transceivers are digital, multi-antenna transceivers; analog and single-antenna transceivers are no longer acceptable. This policy becomes effective with the winter avalanche season 2011/2012, as of November 1, 2011.
ACC members are advised to take note of the manufacturer’s recommendations for the expected useful service life of avalanche transceivers.
ACC members are encouraged to upgrade avalanche transceivers to digital, three antenna models such as the Tracker 2, Ortovox 3+, Barryvox/ Mammut Pulse, Pieps DSP…;digital, two-antenna beacons (Tracker DTS, Ortovox X1…) are still acceptable.
ACC members are also advised that the usefulness of any transceiver depends on the familiarity of the user with the transceiver. Regular practice throughout the season is strongly recommended.

Backpacking around Skoki

2011-10-30T15:58:00.002-06:00

Skoki Mountain, carrying a 42lb backpack, scrambling, blisters and taking in the raw beauty of the mountains…this was my first backcountry adventure!

A few things I learned along the way:

 Ensure the new hiking boots are well worked in! Hikes around the Meawasin Trail in Saskatoon will not do the job…as Alicia, one of our leaders said “the words City and Hike don’t really go together!”

 Bring lots of blister bandages and tape to keep the feet in good shape! Luckily our group was well prepared and willing to share with me.

 Two hiking poles are better than one! I didn’t realize the importance of the poles and thought I’d just bring one in case I needed it…I know better for next time!

 Preparing dehydrated ‘gourmet’ meals is the way to go…it’s one thing I did right! No need to settle for processed packaged noodles!

 Scrambling means climbing to the PEAK of the mountain….I’m not sure what exactly I thought it meant, but was excited and leery to realize (while climbing) that I really was going to the top of a mountain! It was very cool! We enjoyed a break for lunch and took in the incredible sights from the top of Skoki Mountain!

 Scree….is fun! Coming down the mountain on the back of my heels, flying through the scree definitely made the climb worth it!

 A 2-person tent can actually fit 7 people in it for a game of cards!!

 You can’t bring enough bug spray! The bear spray on the other hand didn’t get used, even though we did see a cub, luckily from a distance. He looked friendly to me?!

 It’s important to have good leaders who are knowledgeable and patient and are happy to share all that they have learned from their own experiences….I was happy to have Alicia and Eric lead the way!

All in all, it was a great experience - challenging, inspiring, peaceful and breathtaking too! I am happy I found this group through the ACC and was able to take part in the adventure! Hopefully I can take away what I learned and encourage my friends to join me next time!

Lana Stark

Annual Mountaineering Camp

2011-07-29T14:19:00.002-06:00

by Dave McCormick

From July 21 to 26, the Section held its Summer Mountaineering Camp, this year at the Peyto Hut on the Wapta Icefield.

Every imaginable weather accompanied us during the week, from rain to snow to solar furnace.

A total of 18 participants, some new to any kind of mountaineering, spent the week learning and practicing knots, rope techniques, safe glacier travel practices and putting it all to use by leading rope teams and climbing many of the peaks in the vicinity of the Hut.

We expect more stories to be posted here in the coming days and more pictures posted to the Camp's photo album, located here.

A good time was had by all.

Thrashers 2011

2011-06-12T21:14:00.005-06:00

by Don Chodzicki

The annual Thrashers Rock Climbing trip took place during the May long weekend. Roughly 30 section members gathered in the Wasootch Creek area of Kananaskis to test their climbing skills on rock slab.

Morning of Day 1 participants started with a refresher of proper belay technique followed by warm-up climbs on "D" slab. This was one of larger groups in recent years and with an abundance of trip leaders and 10 ropes on the go plenty of climbing challenges were offered. As particular routes lost interest our leaders did a great job of setting up new routes. Throughout Day 1 other leaders shared their knowledge of setting and cleaning anchors and teaching rappel technique. Luckily the worrisome rain that had been forecast in the days leading up to the trip never materialized and the energy levels of participants was high until 5 or 5:30.

Day 2 our leaders once again headed out early to set ropes before the rest of the group arrived (thanks guys!). Wasootch was extra busy due to a climbing course being taught there that day, but luckily both groups were able to achieve what we wanted. The forecasted rain finally appeared a strong possibility around 2pm and a decision was made to start taking ropes down. As the group drove back to Canmore in the rain I think we all agreed the right decision was made to head back.

Overall the trip was a big success with 3 or 4 new ACC members and everyone looking forward to their next climb.

Backcountry Skiing Camp - February 2011

2011-03-25T16:38:00.001-06:00

The Section just completed its second Backcountry Skiing Camp in Canmore. The camp was led by Bette Boechler with five ACC SK members attending. The camp is intended to introduce members to backcountry skiing and gear with a focus on safety and route finding, The group included two new to BC skiing and two with limited experience.

Day One (Friday) had the group meet at Bow Summit on the Icefields Parkway, about 40 kms from Lake Louise. The idea was to get used to the gear and get used to plowing through powder again. The Bow Summit area is ideal for a first day on new gear. It is easily accessible by car and there are good slopes within 2 kms of the parking area. Though there is some avalanche risk on the upper slopes, the lower slopes are gentle with good tree cover so pose minimal risk. The weather was warm with light snow flurries. The first activity was beacon practice in a small open meadow. The group spent the remainder of the day skinning up and skimming down through the lighted treed slopes. Day One ended with the obligatory stop in Lake Loiuse for pastries.

Day Two (Saturday) saw the group head up the Spray Lakes road to the Burstall Pass area. It had snowed all night continuing through the day. The wind also picked up through the day. As on Day One, the day started with practice in the beacon pit. The trudge up to the pass is about 5.5 kms starting with a narrow fire road up to Burstall Lakes then along the lake to the outlet of Burstall Creek. From here the trail winds up through the trees to the meadow below the pass. Unfortunately, the snow and wind reduced visibility to under 500 m and, given the exposure on the slopes, the group decided not to advance. A quick lunch then off with the skins and back to the Burstall Creek gully. The trail though the gully can be challenging as the ski-out can be polished smooth by all the skiers. This time there was soft powdery snow, thigh deep in places, making for a slow descent. Day Two ended with the obligatory sore toes and blistered feet. Apparently this is the price you pay with rentals.

Day Three (Sunday) again saw the group head up the Spray Lakes road, this time to the Black Prince area in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. The road was an adventure as almost 300 mm of snow had accumulated over night. Despite that, an amazing number of cars were in the parking area showing the popularity of the area. The clouds moved off leaving beautiful blue skies but still lots of wind. The group split up with two members taking snowshoes to explore the surrounding slopes. The other four headed up along with numerous other groups enjoying the fresh snow. Coming down to the cirque was tricky as the snow got deeper as the trees closed in. But careful route finding and a vigilante Bette kept everyone safe. The day ended at 1:30 pm in the parking lot as the group dispersed to return gear rentals or to go off to more adventures in the Rockies.

Thanks to Bette and Bob for sharing their mountain expertise. No plans yet for next year but, blisters notwithstanding, there is strong interest to go again.

Pictures can be viewed here.

Beginners' Ice Climbing - February 2011

2011-03-20T16:23:00.009-06:00

The ACC Sask's annual Choppers Ice Climbing trip took place in February 2011. 20 participants headed out to Nordegg, Alberta for ice climbing combined with hot tubbing as a recovery.

Day 1 had the group head out to Balfour Wall to accommodate an unexpected Adventure Race at one of our planned locations. The day started with a 1 hour drive west and a hike in minus 30 temperatures up to the wall. Thanks to our rope leaders 6 or 7 ropes were already set up for us and after a safety briefing we were able to get climbing fairly quickly to stay warm.

Balfour Wall offered a beautiful sunny exposure with excellent views, truly a treat. A number of people also explored 2 small ice caves and a few even attempted "dry tooling" and mixed climbing where climbers use their ice axes and crampons on rock. One climber unfortunately ended up with a cut on their forehead when an axe slipped off a rock and hit them.

Day 2 the group went to 2 o'clock falls, just west of Nordegg. This was another fun day of climbing, though the ice sits in the shade throughout the day making for slightly cooler temperatures so participants generally stayed bundled up. The ice was a bit crumbly on certain routes which resulted in a few people chopping a fair bit to get to the good stuff and also resulted in some significant piles of ice around the belayers.

Once again Choppers proved to be an adrenalin filled activity that left no one with regrets other than it had to end so soon.

More Reflections on the Mountain Film Festival

2011-03-19T17:27:00.005-06:00

[comments from Myrene, our Film Festival Coordinator...]

"We had over a thousand people in the theatre (hey, we're halfway to my goal of filling it since a TCU Place staffer tells me it holds 2000). The audience comprised our usual mix of about 1/2 university/college students, with the balance a more or less even mix of young and mature adults along with families (not that many kids, but enough to know it's still popular with family groups).

This year a number of films featured somewhat different subject matter than we've seen previously, aimed more toward adventure. This is a direction the Banff Centre staff tell me they have been heading with the festival film parameters to broaden the film experience for audiences; they're including films that follow the spirit of the festival without necessarily being set or focused on mountains, and this year added an award category (Adventure or Exploration) to reflect that. One of them was Crossing the Ditch, at 55 minutes our longest film, an involving story of two young men who decided to cross between Australia and New Zealand in a custom built sea kayak. They started with no background or knowledge of kayaking, just a drive for adventure, and the film followed their efforts as well as the family dynamics. It was a hit at Banff, and equally so here in Saskatoon.

The subject of caving was covered in the shorter film Into Darkness. This was some serious caving, with dramatic shots of the cave interiors. A number of the audience were doing some real squirming right along with the cavers in some places in the film where their route was tight.

One of the mountain-themed films, The Swiss Machine, followed Swiss climber Ueli Steck who, to quote the film description on the tourhost site, "tells of his record-breaking ascents in the Alps, accompanied by stunning aerial footage that captures him racing up 2500-metre alpine faces." Our audience certainly enjoyed this one, and I can attest to the impact of both the sweeping photography of the mountain peaks and the intensity of the action (they filmed him speed climbing The Eiger, in 2 hours 47 minutes).

Our sponsors were out in full in the display area, with some great equipment there for people to see and touch. Along with the usual gear displayed, Escape Sports featured a paddle board and slow sled, Eb's had a bright red kayak (I think whitewater, but I don't know enough about them to be sure) propped up against a pillar, and Bike Doctor brought in three bikes, one with innovative fat snow tires that had everyone gathered round for a look-see. All the usual sponsors had table displays, and there was one again from Parks Canada who is one of the major film festival sponsors for the second year now. CPAWs was there this year, as well as a local Kayaking Club who will likely become full sponsors next year. In fact, I expect that next year we'll have to reconfigure the display area to make more room for set up, and they certainly are a hit with the audience who made good use of the pre-film and intermission time to circulate--the place was packed.

The venue is a hit, too, and given our numbers we had people up in the balconies this year again. Here are the 10 films they saw (although not necessarily in this order):

Rush Hour Dream (paragliding)
Into Darkness (caving)
Crossing the Ditch (sea kayak adventure)
Swiss Machine (alpine climbing)
Kranked (humourous kids mountain biking)
Life Cycles (an exploration of off-road cycling)
Chimaera (photographic perspective on skiing)
Stones Into Schools (mountain culture and humanitarian work in Afghanistan)
Still Motion (wildlife environment)
Dream Result (whitewater kayaking)

An excellent evening. Many thanks to our local sponsors and to everyone on the crew who worked to make this evening a success. We'll be back next year.

Another Successful Film Festival

2011-02-03T11:06:00.005-06:00

January 17th was the day the Banff Mountain Film Festival entertained another audience at TCU Place in Saskatoon. According to our Section bean counters there were about 1000 people in the audience. Those of us who have been in on the Film Festival for many years will recall our earlier shows on Broadway with audiences of around 300. The event has certainly grown.

As usual, there were many comments about the selection of movies. Probably the most popular was the story of the kayak trip from Australia to New Zealand. The Swiss Machine also received many favourable comments.

The date for the Film Festival showing in Regina is coming up on April 28th, 2011. The date for the next Film Festival in Saskatoon, in 2012, will be announced shortly.

The Section's Film Festival Committee is already discussing plans for next year. If any readers are interested in getting involved, there will be, as always, a need for volunteers. Contact the Section at info@accsask.ca to find out how you can help.

Finally, many, many thanks to our volunteers, organizations who set up pre-show displays and, especially, to our local sponsors who have supported this event. Visit our Film Festival website to see our local sponsors; support these local businesses and organizations and tell them how much you appreciate their assistance in bringing the Film Festival to Saskatoon.

Mountaineering Camp - July 2010

2010-07-24T20:56:00.003-06:00

by Dave McCormick

The Section just completed it's 3rd Mountaineering Camp, held this year out of the Stanley Mitchell hut in the Little Yoho Valley of Yoho National Park.

A total of 21 people, many beginners to mountaineering, attended this camp and had fun meeting new people, learning new techniques and skills and getting a tremendous amount of exercise climbing up and down hills.

Pictures are being added to our web album space, where you can see what happened during our 4 days of activities. We hope to have more stories sharing individual perspectives about the camp posted here in the coming days.

A couple of notes: Access to Mt President and Mt Vice President is becoming increasingly difficult. The bergschrund near President Pass increases in size annually and this year the small route remaining was threatened from overhead by 2 large snow cornices. There appears to be a possible route near the left side of the 'schrund, but it remains problematic for large groups.

The circle route around Mt McArthur and Mt Pollinger was lots of fun with no serious issues other than the short climb near Mt Pollinger. It was a relatively long day, but the route and the conditions were nearly ideal this year. Everyone enjoyed it.

Mt Kerr remains an enjoyable scramble and this year we had good conditions for lots of glissading (ie: bum sliding), crevasse rescue practice, self-arrest practice and a bit of excitement caused by some lightning arriving late one morning. Nothing like being able to lose elevation quickly!

Thanks go to Joel for taking on the Camp Manager's role. Also to Jesse and Mark for sharing the leadership and instructional tasks with me. Kobus helped us understand details of sunscreen chemistry and Mark explained maps. Thanks go also to some of the more experienced participants (thanks Jeff and Greg) who helped by knowing where to be when some assistance was needed. And finally to everyone who helped carry ropes, set up ropes, clean the hut, chop wood and all those little things that make an activity like this possible.

Plans for another camp next summer are already in the development stages. Stay tuned.

Race Results - 2010 Urban Adventure Race

2010-06-21T21:44:00.004-06:00

The Saskatoon Urban Adventure Race was held on Saturday, June 19th. By all accounts it was fun and the results are now available. To see these results as an Excel spreadsheet file, go to the Race webpage and follow the link given there.

Pictures have been added to the Section's Picasa pages.

Mountaineering - Training & Preparation

2010-05-31T15:39:00.003-06:00

Mountaineering - Training & Preparation. Cooke, Bunting & O'Hara (editors)

review by Dave McCormick

[The Section received a complimentary copy of this new mountaineering book awhile ago, one which will find it's way into the Section's library shortly. Until it does, here is a short review.]

If you've ever considered organizing (or being part of) a mountaineering expedition, or just wanted more information about training, leadership and trip preparation to support your outdoor aspirations, this new manual should go a long ways towards answering your many questions and providing some useful guidance. The book's editors and contributors (over a dozen) have drawn from research and personal experience to put together this extensive and comprehensive manual on the topic.

The book first deals with expedition planning and considerations of how to select members of the expedition team. Included in this section are extensive descriptions of equipment selection, basic articles on first aid, medical kits, the effects of altitude, and even how to use bright lights to help the body adjust to time zone changes. Although specific training is covered later on, there is one chapter on physical preparation, including developing cold tolerance and hypoxic training.

Almost half of the book, not surprisingly, deals with conditioning and nutrition. There is advice on all the fitness and endurance training that is important in expedition preparation and the section finishes off with nutrition advice while training as well as what nutritional needs will have to be met during the expedition. Some of the contributors were part of the 2006 Everest West Ridge expedition, so there are examples given from their experience. These include sample menus, caloric requirements, and energy content of certain foods. The examples given have a definite UK "flavour", but it should be possible to find North American substitutes that would match the samples given.

The final section of the book addresses an essential part of any extreme physical adventure, the part that takes place in your head. Psychological pressures and attitudes, how well one can stand up to those pressures and how to motivate and support your fellow team members, will almost certainly have an important, perhaps critical, impact on the success of your expedition. There are even comments relating adventure training like this to other aspects of a person's life. As one trainer puts it: "...accepting and dealing with levels of punishment or levels of poor outcomes ... tells you something about yourself".

Most of us have been involved in at least some level of mountaineering and have almost certainly followed or read about various notable mountaineering expeditions. If you're looking for more information, this book would be a good source.

Wilderness First Aid Course (3 days)

2010-05-18T08:57:00.003-06:00

Dates: September 27 & 28, 2010 with the 3rd day in October to be determined

Time: 8:30 am - 5:00 pm each day

Cost: $275

Instructed by: J & T First Aid Consulting

Classroom sessions will be at 1375 Lorne St, Regina with the outdoor session location to be determined.

Note: If you already have Standard First Aid/CPR, including AED, and have re-certified within the 3 months prior to the October date, you may only be required to take the outdoor portion of the course (at a cost of $175) in order to attain your Wilderness First Aid certification. Please contact Colleen at J&T First Aid Consulting at 347-1020 or email j&tfirstaidconsult@accesscomm.ca for more information or to register for the course. Note that personal cheques are not accepted. Payment can be made by cash, debit, Visa or Mastercard, Monday-Friday 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

The SK Section's contact person for this activity is Brenda Desnoyers who can be reached at vertical@accesscomm.ca if you have questions about the course.

Stylin' With the Sask Section

2010-04-25T09:35:00.003-06:00

The Saskatchewan Section is, after years of pleading from members, finally coming out with a NEW Section T-Shirt.

You can order your new Tee until April 30th, 2010, so don't delay.

All information is available by following the link to the Section Stuff webpage. An order form and all other essential information can be seen there.

Wilderness and Remote First Aid Course – December 2009

2010-03-29T19:57:00.002-06:00

by Wendy White

In December 2009, the Saskatchewan section of ACC organized a 20 hour Red Cross Wilderness and Remote First Aid Course that was put on by First Aid for Life Saskatoon. There were twelve participants with diverse interests from diving to climbing to backcountry skiing.

My husband Dick and I both took the class and found it to be very valuable. The instructor provided a wealth of information in a variety of formats that kept everyone engaged. The course included an evening at Diefenbaker Park at -10 C with a brisk wind that reminded us of the challenges that weather adds to dealing with any wilderness injury. Many of the participants had taken first aid courses before and there were often comments on the changes that have been made to suggested procedures to deal with some conditions. Obviously, the course evolves over the years and this highlights the importance of obtaining recertification. The certificate from this course is valid for three years. Participants receive a course manual as well as a handy field guide that can be tucked into a first aid kit.

Taking the course confirmed many of the things that we were already doing to prepare for backcountry travel but also added some interesting changes. Our medical kit is now updated, we feel more prepared to handle an injury, we made more concrete plans for potential bad weather conditions and put more thought into how we might evacuate a person if necessary. As always we planned for how we would communicate within the group and make contact with emergency services if needed (e.g. radios, satellite phone).

Stanley Mitchell Skiing - March 11-14, 2010

2010-03-25T22:23:00.005-06:00

by Bette Boechler

On the evening of March 10, Bill Wotherspoon, Bob Hawboldt, Dave McCormick and I met at the Alpine Centre in Lake Louise before skiing in to Stanley Mitchell Hut. Stanley Mitchell (SM) is located in Yoho National Park, and in the summer, is accessible by the 13 km drive up the Takakkaw Falls road and then a 2 – 3 hour (9 km) hike into the hut. However, in the winter the road to Takakkaw Falls is closed so access to the hut becomes somewhat more difficult and longer. All four of us had skied into the hut before so we knew it would be a long day.

One of the ACC Facilities staff from Canmore planned to go into SM that day so Dave asked him if he could tow us on the skidoo as far as Takakkaw Falls. We weren’t sure if we were actually going to get towed so we started up the road at 7:45 a.m. The big debate when starting up the road is “skins off or skins on?” As usual we each had our own preference so Bob used kick wax while the rest of us used skins. After about 40 minutes we heard the sound of a skidoo and we ended up getting a ride/tow as far as Takakkaw falls. Although the ride was snowy and a bit chilly (mental note: always wear ski goggles and very warm clothes when being towed behind a skidoo), it cut about 3 hours off our time.

The up-track going to the hut was icy and quite difficult. Unfortunately, we somehow managed to go off the summer trail so we were on icy and steep terrain. We all arrived at the hut by 1:30 in the afternoon, and because we were the only group there, the rest of the day was spent getting wood, water and heating the hut. It was wonderful to have the whole hut to ourselves.

The next day was very snowy and we saw a number of avalanches, some quite close to where we were skiing. We were aware that the snowpack was becoming more unstable mainly due to the 10 cm of fresh snow that fell that day. We stayed in the trees and had a good day. Bob and Bill dug a pit which showed a very unstable layer about 50cm below the surface.

On Saturday morning we woke up and saw slides on almost every slope surrounding the hut. The pit from the day before was a good indication of what was actually happening. We initially thought we would be safe skiing in the trees again but when we looked at what had happened overnight, even that seemed too risky. So…. what to do? Bob, Bill and I decided to try and ski to Kiwetinok Pass. On the way there Bill set off a small avalanche (see photo) and although he managed to get to the trees, we decided the snow was too unstable to spend time on any slopes. It was a beautiful sunny day so we toured behind the hut to the bowl below Isolation Col. We also did a 3 hour tour through the trees to the east of the hut and came back to the hut via our up-track from Thursday. Dave had gone out for a couple of hours in the morning and re-tracked that part of the trail.

On Sunday we left at about 7:30 a.m. and were back at our cars by 12:30. The trip out was slower than expected, mainly because of the new snow.

Overall how was the trip? Bob and I have been backcountry skiing for about 12 years and this was the first time the snowpack was so unstable we really couldn’t ski anywhere. As we drove back to Saskatoon we heard about the avalanche in Revelstoke that killed two and injured 30. However, if the sun is shining and the weather is good, there’s more to backcountry skiing than doing turns.

What did I learn from this trip?

- The importance of taking avalanche courses, digging pits and practicing with beacons. Most of us have taken at least one avalanche course and practice regularly with our beacons. We made good decisions. All of us have been to this area many times in both the summer and winter and on this trip, we saw avalanches on slopes that we never thought would slide. You just never know.

- If one person in the group is uncomfortable with going somewhere, the whole group needs to listen.

- You need to be strong and fit to get into the hut but you don’t have to be a particularly good technical skier. There is lots of terrain that will suite every skier.

For another story about this trip, look at Extreme Backcountry.

Ice Climbing Adventures - Choppers Weekend Jan 2010

2010-02-16T10:45:00.002-06:00

Ice Climbing Adventures

by Robin Silver

When I was first asked by my friend Drew to go on the ice climbing trip I immediately had two thoughts...

1. There is no such thing as ice climbing, it’s just a fancy way to ask me to help him clear snow from his roof

2. You should never use the word "trip" when talking about climbing

After Drew convinced me that it was indeed a real sport, and could actually be a lot of "safe" fun... I was intrigued. A little bit of research and a little bit of reassurance that anyone could do it and I was in. I then spent the next 3 weeks planning, and reassuring my wife (and myself) that I would be fine.

Finally the weekend had arrived! Drew and I both had Friday off work so we would be departing Friday morning early. Funny thing about climbing... can't really do it that easily on the prairies... so off we go on a “short jaunt” to the Mountains by way of Calgary. Calgary took a "bit" more time than we had anticipated... but of course you have to have an obligatory drink with friends that are nice enough to lend you gear, and are unable to come climbing right? So needless to say... 14 hrs later we arrived in Nordegg, AB! First thing I was greeted to was a large group of enthusiastic climbers and the appropriate level of heckling of Drew (hey... he was driving!) for being the last ones to arrive. (Already I was liking the group!) Introductions were given, gear was sorted, and the new climbers (4 of us) were introduced to “crampons”. Nifty little devices they were!

The next morning we awoke and began to gather. Greg and Karla, our fantastic lead climbers took off with an advanced group to set the lines. We would be climbing 2 o'clock falls... which is located about 1 hr west of Nordegg. After a 15 minute hike into the falls I was quite immediately blown away. The falls were a series of cascading rises, each about 20-30' high. If the ice wasn’t spectacular enough, all you had to do was turn around and see a magnificent view of the Abraham Lake valley and surrounding mountains. C’est magnifique! We donned our gear and were given basic instructions on how to walk on ice with the crampons. For us newcomers, the first few steps were mostly the same... tentative stomps back and forth across the ice shelf learning how to balance and walk without tripping. That gave way quickly to confidence walking... so how hard could climbing be?

We were taught the basics, tied in and told to climb. Being 240lbs roughly, I first eyed the rope... looked strong enough.. I then eyed my belayer... looked a bit light....thank goodness they were attached to the ice also! I began climbing and after 5 furious minutes of kicking and chopping with my crampons and ice axes I hoped that my climbing friends would not be too amazed and envious by how far I had gone... I then looked down. Well to be more precise... I looked mostly to my left.... my belayer was still not more than 10’ below me. Hmmm... little bit harder than I had thought! So back to it I went! I spent about 10 mins climbing my first pitch. By the end I was near the top, about 25’ up and my forearms were cooking! I was taught to use my legs but it was hard telling my brain that my feet were more secure than my ice picks. I could “see” the picks in the ice after all ;).

The entire day was spent at 2 o’clock falls. We all took turns climbing, belaying and heckling. A few really interesting notable events happened that day! First, the safety rope stretched along the bottom came in handy. An unnamed climber dropped his axe but it was caught by the rope as it tumbled down the slope! It was all good though... he bought us some beer because of it. Another cool event was Solange, another beginner climber, persevering to crest the top of the water fall. Her rope was getting caught in some ice and she was tiring at 25’ up approximately. Despite this, she managed to get over the top with a lot of determination. In a subsequent climb, her crampon came loose TWICE on a challenging pitch. Both times she just came down and re-attached her crampon and tried again! Very fit lady! Finally, one of the coolest sights was Greg climbing a pitch that was part rock, part large icicles. He managed to scale it with ease...even stopping to do a Figure-Four for the camera!

Exhausted we returned to the Hostel in Nordegg. Right away I won a nice prize... Drew offered to do the gear if I would make us nachos for supper. DEAL! (lot easier to drink beer making nachos than sorting frozen wet ropes and gear). During supper preparation we got to talking with the Edmonton climbing crew that were there also and had some good laughs with them. We had a lot of good food, drank a few drinks and spent the better part of 2 hrs relaxing in the hot tub. Well... it was more of a warm-tub. Apparently having upwards of 15 folks in there doesn’t play nicely with the fuses.

Sunday we were up and off to Cline River for a few hours of climbing before getting back on the road. There was an amazing waterfall area in there that was much more challenging than 2 o’clock falls. Unfortunately, I had left my boots back at the Hostel so spent the day watching them climb and driving back to get my boots. But the group definitely had a fun time based upon their cheer at the end of the mornings climb. It was more challenging and unique pitches this time around... I was jealous!

Overall it was an incredible experience that I would recommend to anyone to try! A big thanks to Drew, Greg and Karla for organizing and leading the climb! It is definitely a lot easier to climb when you have such skilled leaders guiding and coaxing you! I made a lot of good friends that weekend... and I have to say once more... VERY sorry for being the snorer in the room!

Introduction to Backcountry Skiing

2010-02-11T10:10:00.004-06:00

by Don Chodzicki

On Feb 4 to 7, 2010, ten ACC SK members took part in the first Introduction to Backcountry Skiing trip offered by the section.

Day 0 was primarily a travel day from Saskatchewan to Canmore with minor diversions to pick up alpine touring skis and avalanche safety equipment. Three members were the first to arrive at the ACC’s Boswell cabin and as we settled in we were immediately impressed with the accommodations. We were uncertain when the other members would arrive and since it was too early to go for supper we decided to have a drink while we practiced with our avalanche beacons.

With 3 beacons at our disposal we decided to hide one in the area around the cabin and perform a practice search with the other 2. After having some degree of success we decided to hide 2 at the same time. This scenario proved a little more challenging but I think it helped build our confidence in using the equipment.

Morning of day 1 we visited Sunshine Ski resort for normal skiing on various groomed runs. We also gained more experience using the avalanche beacons in the beacon practice area. Despite not having fresh snow to thoroughly cover previous users "rescue digging" this practice environment proved quite fun and educational. There were multiple beacons buried throughout the area some of which were deeper than others which also justified our practice using the avalanche probes.

In the afternoon we started our official backcountry experience by touring away from Sunshine Ski resort into a far more beautiful and natural environment. We used our "skins" to move over horizontal and uphill terrain and spread ourselves out as we crossed one potential avalanche zone. Eventually we arrived at the top of what would be our first run and all around us we were faced with beautiful sparkling white snow. The more experienced skiers picked their steeper lines downhill and through trees while the less experienced skiers discovered that the snow plow technique of skiing still works in powder. Most people did 2 runs in this environment before we skinned back to the resort area and returned to the hostel.

On Day 2 we drove to the Burstall Pass area near Spray Lakes in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. We started our 16km round trip by skinning across the Burstall Lakes and Burstall Creek area, eventually entering the forest and starting our uphill climb through the trees. After about 500m of vertical we reached the area where we would start "yo-yoing" from. Apparently yo-yoing is the term used for going up and down and on this trip most of us had 2 trips to the top and down and a couple were quick enough to squeeze in a third run.

The view of the snow and how it settles on the surrounding mountain areas was mesmerizing to someone who has never been in such a winter environment. It became easier to understand why people are lured into potentially dangerous terrain every year. At the same time it was reassuring that there are agencies that offer avalanche awareness courses and avalanche forecasts, technology such as avalanche beacons existed, and volunteers with back country experience that are willing to share their knowledge with other individuals for moving safely in such terrain.

On Day 3 we drove to the Tent Ridge area, again near Spray Lakes. This morning was slightly colder than the last couple, but skinning up the mountain we quickly warmed up and removed many layers. Our path was once again through the forest till we came to an area that had the look of an avalanche run out zone with smaller trees than the surroundings. At this point we really started to gain in elevation as we skinned up through a gully and eventually decided to create our own switch back through sparse trees. At one point the group took a short break for a snack and water. The view and powder was once again visually stunning but underneath the snow was a bit of a crust which for me (a beginner powder skier) made things even more challenging. I decided to take the easier method down via a gully while the more experienced skiers gained a little more vertical before they turned around and made their single run down through the trees. The tour back to the vehicles was a little easier this time consisting primarily of easy downhill skiing on paths through the trees. In the end we completed a 6km roundtrip with 400m of vertical.

Reaching our vehicles we celebrated our successful weekend of adventure by consuming the remainder of one participant’s birthday cake and slowly accepting we now faced an 8 hour drive home.

Big thanks to Bob Hawbolt for arranging and leading the trip.

Pictures of the trip are posted on Picasa.

Film Festival - Another Successful Evening

2010-02-09T11:00:00.003-06:00

The Banff Mountain Film Festival's World Tour had another successful evening on it's stop in Saskatoon on January 18th. The final results aren't completed yet, but it appears there were close to 800 people in attendance, some even spilling over to the upper balconies.

Comments indicate that attendees enjoyed the videos on the evening's lineup as well as the displays set up by our local sponsors. Parks Canada (a National sponsor) was in attendance and people seemed to have a good time looking at the displays and talking to the sponsor reps.

Once again, we would like to sincerely thank our local sponsors because without them, hosting this show simply would not be possible. Our local sponsors were:

Eb's Source for Adventure
Climb 306
Outter Limits
Table Mountain
The Bike Doctor
Escape Sports

In addition, we had several media sponsors who designed and/or sent out advertising. They were:

CFCR Radio
Deanna Miller Design
Saskatoon Fastprint Ltd
Planet S

Finally, thanks to the many volunteers who planned and organized this event. It takes many meetings and a lot of work to coordinate this one evening and planning begins months in advance of the showdate.

We have booked the date for next year's Film Festival already - Monday, January 17th, 2011. There is always a need for volunteers to help organize this event so if you are interested in getting involved, let us know and you can be part of the action. Contact us at accsaskinfo@accsask.ca

A Rope Awakening

2010-01-13T15:33:00.003-06:00

One of the blogs we occasionally follow is The Mountain World. A recent post of theirs told the story of some rope testing results.

The story should serve as a reminder to all of us who use ropes for climbing (I have an old one I use only for winching down trees, so it doesn't count!).

The message is: ropes wear out and need to be retired, probably more often than is actual practice.

It's a short story and interesting reading. See if your ropes qualify to be withdrawn from active duty.

Tis the Film Festival Season

2010-01-13T15:19:00.005-06:00

Yes, it's that time of year again. The Banff Mountain Film Festival is coming, once again , to Saskatoon.

Hosted by the Saskatchewan Section of the Alpine Club of Canada, this year's Film Festival will be held on Monday, January 18th, 2010, at TCU Place. (That's the place that once was called Saskatoon's Centennial Auditorium).

Doors open at 6 pm and the show starts at 7 pm. A selection of videos (see a tentative list here) lasting about 2.5 hours will fill out the evening's entertainment along with door prize draws during the intermission.

Tickets have been available for a couple of weeks now from all the local sponsors, TCU Place and even Table Mountain. For other related information, ticket prices and such, you can visit the Section's Film Festival page.

In past years, and there have been quite a few, the Film Festival has provided a great evening's entertainment with videos featuring outdoor adventure in its many forms. Join in the fun on Monday, January 18th. See you at the Festival.

Introduction to Backcountry Skiing

2009-12-30T10:57:00.004-06:00

by Bob Hawboldt

[This post has been updated on January 14 from the original post]

This trip is intended to allow people new to backcountry skiing a chance to give it a try, and allow more experienced skiers to get out and do some skiing.

Preliminary Itinerary:

Wednesday, January 27, 1930h – 2100h

Presentation and Gear Review

Location: at the U of S - exact location to follow

Thursday, February 4

Travel to Canmore

Pick up rental gear in Calgary if renting there

Accommodation: Boswell Hut at the ACC Clubhouse location.

Friday, February 5

Pick up rental gear for rentals in Canmore

Ski at Sunshine

Morning: learn how to use gear and get some turns in

Mid-day: work in avalanche beacon basin

Afternoon: Some tours/turns within or just outside of ski area

Saturday, February 6

Tour to Burstall Pass - there is a beacon basin there for extra practice

Sunday, February 7

Tour in Kananaskis (Black Prince or Tent Ridge)

Return rental gear

Return home

Requirements:

Must be ACC member to participate.

Reasonable fitness (we will be moving most of the time).

Reasonable alpine ski ability (can ski Blue runs at a resort). Backcountry conditions are highly variable, and you will require a higher fitness level if you are a novice skier. It takes energy to dig yourself out when you fall.

Alpine touring or telemark ski gear (details below)

Avalanche safety equipment.

Detailed gear list provided at presentation.

Ski gear:

Alpine touring or telemark ski gear are recommended. Snow boarders might find the terrain frustrating in that there are often flat areas. If you have used alpine skis while resort skiing, then use alpine touring gear for backcountry skiing. If you don’t telemark, don’t start during this trip.

Gear rental:

Ski and avalanche safety gear can be rented at Gear Up in Canmore or at MEC in Calgary.

Cost:

Gear rental for three days (based on info available on web sites)

MEC Gear Up
Ski Equipment $81 $125
Avalanche Safety $35 $54
Total $116 $179

Accommodation for three nights: approximately $125

Lift ticket at Sunshine: approximately $80

Other costs will include travel, food and beverages.

Travel:

It would be worthwhile to carpool, particularly for those who would like
to rent gear from MEC in Calgary. You could stop on your way to Canmore
for gear pick-up, and we would arrange our Sunday tour so that you could
be back in Calgary prior to MEC closing at 1700h for gear drop off.

Contact Bob at: training at accsask.ca

Section AGM - November 24, 2009

2009-12-01T20:28:00.000-06:00

Minutes of the ACC Saskatchewan Section Annual General Meeting: November 24, 2009

Present:

In person -- John Howland, Kendrick Hamilton, Angela Spence, Don Chodzicki, Joel Bruneau, Bob Hawboldt, Ivan Hitchings, Glen Phillips, John Mollison, Myrene Mollison, Audrey Doepker, Deanna Miller, Bette Boechler

Via Skype – Brenda Desnoyers, Logan Grauer

1) Welcome

2) Agenda:

3) Minutes: available on the website, and filed with the Chair; motion to adopt will be deferred to the next meeting to allow those who didn’t realize the minutes were available electronically to access and review them.

4) Officer Reports

a) Secretary: the minutes of the May 13, 2009, meeting were entered on the website in summary form as per the resolution at that meeting.
b) Treasurer: a summary spreadsheet was circulated and reviewed.
c) Activities:

General Mountaineering Camp. Joel reported on the camp scheduled to be held this past summer at the Stanley Mitchell Hut. Unfortunately, a small fire in an adjacent valley was of enough concern to the park staff that they refused permission to use the hut. There was no “Plan B” so to speak, and in general the group dispersed. Ivan and Kathy took a small group to Wasootch and on two different scrambles, but had only 3 tents and 4 sets of cooking gear so couldn't accommodate the full group of 24 signed participants. After discussion of the issues involved in leading trips, it was determined that a trip leader process for planning and organizing trips would be of benefit; Bob and Joel will develop that, likely in January next year.

d) Membership & Website. Angela reported that we have 95 members, slightly down from the last report of 100. The reduction is likely due to non-renewal of members who joined for the PPAR which we will not be continuing.
e) National Report. Angela was unable to attend the fall meeting. The minutes of the national meeting have not been posted.

5) Information/Discussion Items.

a) Banff Mountain Film Festival. Saskatoon—John & Myrene are coordinating, and all activities are progressing well. The Banff Centre has included a new item in their contract: a requirement that we provide copies of all promotion material we use. They require us to request approval from them prior to making changes to the graphic materials they provide, and are very concerned with tour hosts being consistent with the branding they have developed. We will use the Banff Centre poster this year for our posters and tickets, as well as for advertising on the Saskatoon transit system through exterior side boards on two buses, and discuss using other pictures in the spring next year if we prefer to do that. The bus ads are a new promotion venture for us, and we’re hoping it will make a noticeable difference in increasing attendance. We’ll also advertise through the U of S Plasma boards, another new venue. Doug’s Spoke ‘n’ Sport will not be sponsoring this year, but all other traditional sponsors have signed on, and we have two new ones: Escape Sports, and Table Mountain Ski Hill. The core movies should be determined with the next couple of weeks so we can update the website.
b) Urban Adventure Race. – Howard did a great job organizing the urban race. He hasn’t said if he would like to organize one next year. There were some comments that people would like to see more than just running and biking.
c) Leadership Development – the committee has met a few times. We are waiting for more information from National on the program they are developing.

6) New Business

a) Wilderness First Aid – In Saskatoon there are courses available. Brenda had some questions on how to organize something in Regina; Bob indicted they should be able to contact a local provider and arrange for individual club members to attend with such a provider—as long as the club is not providing the course there will be no liability to the club for members who choose to attend a course provided by another organization.
b) Avalanche Course – People’s scheduling didn’t work out for the December 5th weekend. Will look into taking the course at a later date. Brenda talked about organizing one in Fernie area.
c) Regina Report. Brenda indicated they have approximately $1900 in an account from the 2009 Film Festival there. There was some discussion of the legalities of holding funds outside of the general section bank account, and the executive will pursue this separately. The Regina group requested the purchase of some winter equipment (transceivers, etc.), and will ask Drew to look into needs and costs. Brenda agreed to take on equipment management for the southern Saskatchewan members, and will work with Drew to determine what items of the current equipment inventory should go to Regina.
d) Training for the coming year – Kendrick will work with the executive to develop a budget for this by January 1, 2010.
e) Climb 306 – Kendrick reported that Mark has sold the building to a developer and is in the process of selling off the business.

7) Elections

a) Angela advised that she was stepping down as chair and nominated Bob Hawboldt, who accepted. Nominations continued with all positions filled by acclamation; the results are presented here although the item was deferred to later in the Agenda during the meeting.

i) Chair – Bob Hawboldt
ii) Secretary – Myrene Mollison
iii) Treasurer – Kendrick Hamilton
iv) Activities Coordinator – Shelley Ballard-McKinlay
v) Website – Dave McCormick and Allan Janzen
vi) Membership – Ivan Hitchings
vii) Equipment/Library Custodian – Drew

b) There was discussion on the role of members at large, and whether such members should hold specific responsibilities. This will be further discussed at a meeting of the executive to be called by the chair in January, 2010, where this item as well as the club constitution and mandate will be reviewed.

8) Photo Contest. Don reported that there was limited response but he feels it`s worth continuing next year. We'll discuss it at the spring meeting, but maybe we could consider something more than the $25 gift certificate for the four categories, possibly a year`s membership. He presented a slide show with the entries, and all enjoyed.

9) Meeting adjourned, 21:00.

Wilderness First Aid Course Proposed

2009-10-22T15:34:00.003-06:00

The Section has organized a Wilderness First Aid course, a 20-hour program that will prepare participants for unexpected problems in the backcountry,

A total of 8 participants are needed for this course to run.

For more information, contact Bob Hawboldt at training@accsask.ca

Deadline for registrations is November 2nd.

Sask Section's Fall Meeting

2009-10-22T15:27:00.003-06:00

The Fall Meeting of the Saskatchewan Section will be held on Thursday, November 5th. As a bit of a departure from the usual venue, the meeting will be held this time in the Auditorium of the J.S. Wood Library on the corner of Landsdowne Ave and Taylor St in Saskatoon.

In addition to the "meeting", photos from the 2009 Photo Contest will be shown and elections for the various Executive positions will be held. There are two positions that will be vacant, that of Chair and Activities Coordinator. Volunteers for those positions will definitely be needed.

Coffee, juice and desserts will be available.

Everyone is welcome to come out, attend the meeting, volunteer for a position on the Executive and enjoy an evening of socializing with other Section members. The meeting starts at 7 pm.

Thrashers Reloaded 2009

2009-07-31T17:20:00.005-06:00

by Kendrick Hamilton

This year the Sask section hosted the second "Thrashers Reloaded" rock climbing trip. We tried moving away from a long weekend as an experiment this year, the idea being there would be fewer people if we climbed during the week. So this year we tried Sunday July 19th to Tuesday July 21st. Saturday was left as a day to drive out to Canmore. Five people signed up including
the leaders which was unfortunately a pretty small group. One of the members of our group had to drop out prior to starting due to a biking injury so we were down to four. Good things come in small packages and we took advantage of our small group. Accommodation was at the ACC clubhouse in Canmore.

The first day had a brief stop at Gear Up to get climbing shoes then off to Wasootch Slabs. For Darrell it was a chance to practice belaying a leader (his first time doing this) while Allan set up anchors for top ropes. Darrell also got introduced to cleaning anchors. Solange got reintroduced to belaying with an ATC. She had used a Grigri prior to the trip and many years earlier a figure eight descender. Later that day Darrell learned to clip into carabiners for lead climbing. He did a simulated lead with Solange belaying the lead rope. Unfortunately for Solange the lead rope Darrell was using for a simulated lead was a thick old rope that is now only used for setting top rope anchors. Darrell was pulling it up to build another top rope. This thick old rope made it harder for Solange to pull in and feed out. (Note: in a simulated lead climb, the climber climbs up a lead route setting quick draws and clipping the rope in, but the climber has a top rope that they are being belayed on. If the climber falls, the top rope catches the fall). Soon enough Darrell did his first real lead. If that was not enough for Darrell and Solange, they both learned to do a switch over into a rappel and rappel off the wall. I got a few leads in as well. We also took a few moderate breaks between climbs as to not wear ourselves out the first day, a pattern that would continue the next day.

The second day we drove off to Lake Louise. Ordinarily, with the larger groups, the spring Thrashers Weekend avoids Lake Louise. With only four of us we did not need to go to a place with a large number of adjacent routes or worry about monopolizing the entire climbing area. We went to the outhouse area, chatted for a few minutes with some other climbers doing the route we wanted to start on. I lead up "Men with Brooms" a 5.6 with a star (really good route) and set a top rope anchor. I also lead up "School of Rock" (5.7) and "Neverland" (5.8). I only missed one clip (the bolt was the last prior to the anchors and I spotted it as I was rapelling). Darrell got extra practice belaying a leader by belaying me on some of these climbs. He also lead "My Little Pony" and got more practice cleaning routes. After this we hiked up to "Blob Rock". Here I lead
up "Castle Anthrax" a two star 5.8+ route. I used a couple of takes to rest and look for my route. The gym routes are somewhat shorter and a lot better marked than outside. I guess I should do more laps in the gym just to get in better shape for the real world. Darrell climbed it on top roped followed by Solange. She had only a little concern about whether she would be able to do it. Off she went up this 5.8+ having only once having done one in the gym. Though she had a couple of takes she made it to the top. It was left to Allan to climb and clean the anchor.

Instead of taking the #1 highway back to Canmore, Allan took us back on the 1A, a slightly slower route but more scenic. He regaled us with a tale of ACC Sask Section members spending a night at the top of Grillmair Chimney with what he thought were ants crawling on him. We also stopped at Castle mountain lookout for a few pictures. Allan, being a graphic artist, was disappointed he did not have his camera (the bag he forgot to bring) but was able to give hints for taking better pictures.

The third day we decided to do a scramble with Allan leading us up Yamnuska. The hike started briskly through forest but was quickly slowed down as many opportunities to get wonderful flora photos presented themselves. As we hiked up the mountain we ran into a group of four guys
also doing the same scramble. We took a rope and harnesses to assist with the crux of the scramble. When we got to the crux, Allan discovered a wire cable had been placed. It acts as a hand rail and the rope was not needed. Harnesses were optional. After crossing this highway (as Solange put it) with the hand rail we sat down for lunch and watched the guys explore the different options for the crux. After lunch we proceeded to the summit for many pictures. After we took the scree slopes down. For those who are not familiar with this descent route, you take a couple of steps down in the scree and soon are being carried down by the sliding rocks. Every step you take is incredibly soft.

Once we returned to our cars, it was time to go. Allan and Darrell were driving home that night. We left all looking forward to our next climbing adventure.

A Long Day on Mt Brock

2009-07-22T21:53:00.003-06:00

Nothing like a good (long) day in the mountains. An excellent story about Andrew & Shelley's 19-hour day climbing - read about it here.

Section Spring AGM Meeting - May 13, 2009

2009-06-11T18:43:00.007-06:00

According to reports received, 17 members were present for the Section Spring AGM Meeting, held in Saskatoon at Amigo's. A few items to report from that meeting:

At the time of the meeting, there was discussion about the upcoming move for the Section's website. By now, of course, the move has happened and we're considering changes and updates to the appearance and functionality of the website. We hope to have a few of those changes ready in the not-too-distant future. One item being discussed is how to post information from Section meetings. For the time being, we will probably just write up a summary as a blog post, like this one.

A reminder: The Section's website is found here.

Our developing photo archive is found on Picasa. Contact us if you have Section-related photos that would be of interest.

Activities, both past and upcoming, were discussed. Given the popularity of the Ice-Climbing weekend, there was talk about offering a second event. This idea will be explored as there are a number of practical considerations that need to be worked out. The XC Ski evenings were impacted by the unfavourable weather this past winter, but there are plans to tempt fate once again and organize similar events this coming winter. Social nights were poorly attended and, given the cost of room rental, etc., there seems little point in trying to continue with them. Climbing night hasn't been well attended either, but it has no cost implications for the Club so they will probably be continued. A backcountry ski trip at Roger's Pass had to be canceled because of avalanche hazards. The Summer Mountaineering Camp is going ahead and appears to be fully booked. Since the meeting, the per-person costs have been determined and the final participant list is being organized.

There was a report about the two Banff Mountain Film Festival screenings held a few months ago. The previous blog entry noted the success of both events.

The Urban Adventure Race is going ahead - information has been posted on the Section website for some time now.

The Prairie Pitch Adventure Race will be organized by J2 Adventures for this coming fall. There will be a discussion later in the year to consider what should happen after that.

Watch for information about an upcoming photo competition.

Section membership is holding pretty steady at somewhat just over 100. Executive members were asked to consider ways to attract more members and how to get new members involved.

Finally, some executive members are investigating leadership development options and looking into resources and information from the National Club.

As always, the Section exec is happy to receive comments and/or suggestions from other members. We hope to have our new e-mail lists and contact e-mail addresses available soon, once we get them set up at our new webhost's locations. Watch for information about this.

Film Festival Results

2009-06-11T18:33:00.003-06:00

The Sask Section hosted two screenings of the Best of the Banff Mountain Film Festival this year. Both were successful.

In January, the location was Saskatoon's TCU Place. According to the report discussed at the last Section meeting, attendance was nearly 800. Plans for the next Film Festival, probably next January, will be starting up soon.

At the end of April, the Regina people hosted another show. The venue there is much smaller, although it IS free! The theatre at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum was filled to capacity at just over 300. The same location will be used for next year's showing, although there is a search for a larger venue to meet the apparent growth in demand.

Good to hear that both events were successful and looking forward to next year's shows. Thanks to all the many volunteers and sponsors who, once again, made this event possible.

The Times They Are A-changin'

2009-05-31T20:57:00.002-06:00

It's been a few years, but the Saskatchewan Section is about to undergo some changes to it's "web presence".

As of June 1st, our website is being hosted on a different server, one powered by 100% green power. We have decided that it's probably a good time to do a website makeover. We're trying out ways to include our blog posts as well as other blogs of possible interest, also links to the beginnings of more photo albums and a possible host of other improvements.

So, for the next little while, bear with us as we start the design process and put those changes into effect. In the meantime, we hope you find our "welcome page" more informative. If you have suggestions that we might be able to include, contact the web guyz at webmaster@accsask.ca

A Century of CAJs on DVD

2009-05-29T09:35:00.003-06:00

The ACC's recently completed DVD entitled Ever Upward: A Century of Canadian Alpine Journals has been produced and sent to members who subscribed to the 2007 Canadian Alpine Journal.

The DVD is available through our online store and you will find a link to purchase it on this webpage too.

More information about the DVD is on the ACC's website at:
http://www.alpineclubofcanada.ca/news/EverUpward.html

Back in the Rockies

2009-05-04T20:09:00.005-06:00

by Dave McCormick

I managed to arrange a trip to Calgary to coincide with the ACC's Board Meeting on May 1 & 2. Since I moved to the Koots and handed over the Board Rep position, I hadn't managed to attend an ACC meeting in Canmore in over 2 years.

The main purpose of the trip was to have a planning discussion with the ACC's maintenance people about the upcoming Hut maintenance projects and what they would need for volunteer help. Members and others should know that the ACC has quite a number of volunteers who help out on various alpine hut maintenance projects each season. If you haven't ever been involved in this way, you might want to consider it. Past projects have involved complete hut rebuilds to log replacements to painting, roof repairs, interior makeovers, exterior painting, and so on. The Club provides the food and refreshments and often a helicopter ride in to the worksite. All of this and the opportunity to spend a few days working with other interested, talented volunteers and staff makes the personal effort very worthwhile.

I also have to point out the snow that was still plastering most of the mountains around Canmore. In the photo above you will see snow on Yamnuska almost down to the parking lot. It was still a ways away from spring here. Some of my old favourites like Heart Mtn, Baldy, Yam, the 3 Sisters and Rundle had more snow than there was at times during the winter.

I also sat in on part of the Board meeting just to catch up on what's been happening recently. We expect a report on the meeting highlights shortly. All in all, it was a good trip back out to the Rockies and I actually felt a bit of nostalgia seeing all the old, familiar "hills". It was good to visit with friends and catch up on the news and I hope it won't be as long until the next time.

Another Prairie Pitch Adventure Race Completed

2008-09-16T18:01:00.002-06:00

Despite numerous last-minute problems, many caused by unusual amounts of rain, in addition to the usual issues, this year's Prairie Pitch Adventure Race was completed.

There are several stories on-line about the Race:

The Shaunavon Standard has a nice writeup about the event.

Pictures are available on the Section's Picasa page.

Andrew has an interesting blog report on all the fun leading up to the race.

Section Pictures on the Web

2008-08-31T09:51:00.004-06:00

The Saskatchewan Section now has the start of photo albums on the Web set up on Picasa. The first album is pictures from the Beginner's Rock weekend way last May. Check out the scenes at:

http://picasaweb.google.ca/accsask

More Reflections from the SK Section's Mountaineering Camp

2008-08-10T11:37:00.006-06:00

by JJ Hodgson

When I agreed to go on this mountaineering camp, I didn't know exactly what I was getting into. All I knew for sure was that I would get to do a scramble...a feat which I had never accomplished. Then the trip started to get closer and I started hearing about ice axes and crampons, which for all I knew were medieval torture devices, and I started to wonder what I had signed up for. After hiking in to the Stanley Mitchell hut and meeting all the friendly people who were so excited for the next morning's adventures, I have to say I was even more nervous than before. Not only did I not know what half of my gear was supposed to do or how to put it on, I was surrounded by people who seemed to actually be looking forward to what I assumed would be a grueling day of being tired, cold, and possibly impaled by one of the foreign objects I had packed in!

We awoke the next morning bright and early. I felt sick. I was positive I wouldn't like the day, I felt like I was getting a cold (that prediction came true, and I don't recommend trying it yourself unless you've got lots of toilet paper!), and all I wanted to do was stay up in the warm bunk of the hut. Going through the motions of getting geared up for the hike, I could only look forward to the passing of the several hours that would bring me back to the cabin. After some steep uphill and lot of internal swearing and whining, I found myself staring up at what would be my first scramble. It stood there beside us, looking impossibly scary, while we practiced crevasse rescue. Note to everyone: do not rely on me to save you. My focus was spent ignoring the looming rock that I didn't want to climb.

As you can probably guess, once the lesson on rescue was complete, I climbed the rocks. I was short roped, and I stuck as close to Dave as he would let me, but I climbed them. I then found out that the top of those rocks was not even the top of Mt Kerr. That was a cruel joke. However, the top of Mt Kerr was eventually under my feet, and I have never felt more exhilarated than after making it to the top. The way down was even more fun. We practiced self arrests, and I did not kill myself with my ice axe. We bum slid down a few giant snow slopes, putting all of my past tobogganing trips to shame. We laughed, took pictures, talked about blisters, and scoped out the glacier that would take us up to the President the next day. Everyone was on a high.

I did not greet any other mornings with anxiety. The first day of the trip showed me what mountaineering was. I learned that I could climb a mountain without keeling over from the exertion. I learned that I forgot the pain of climbing the mountain once I got to the top. I learned that no matter how freaked out something made me, there were awesome leaders to make sure everyone got through it all right. The remainder of the camp flew by, with incredible hikes and new lessons each day. I still can't believe that my trip turned from being something I was worried about to something I enjoyed so much. I loved the trip, I'm still annoying my friends with Ivan's jokes and other stories from it, and I look forward to doing another one.

Reflections on the SK Section Mountaineering Camp

2008-08-10T11:31:00.003-06:00

by Bill & Terrye Bullers, Albuquerque, NM, USA

Little Yoho Valley, July 18-23, 2008:

Thanks go to trip leaders Dave, Bob, Ivan, and Jesse and to the other victims (er, participants) who so warmly welcomed Bill and Terrye, a couple of old folks from New Mexico. Terrye & I agreed that you “Saskatchewanians” are definitely in shape, the lack of many significant topological features in your province notwithstanding. We estimate we did about 14K feet of elevation in 5 days (now that’s 14,000 feet multiplied by .3048 meters per foot equals a bunch of meters gained as well). We both enjoyed being pushed beyond our normal hiking comfort level, but never with any trepidation about our safety (just a little trepidation about our stamina).

We’d like to thank Dave for his compassionate “guide pace” with his short-rope team up Mt. Kerr. We know it wasn’t necessary for Jeff and JJ’s sake, but Bill and Terrye appreciated it so we weren’t worn out the 1st day – that didn't happen until the 2nd or 3rd day. We’ll remember bum sliding down Mt. Kerr (and all this time we thought we were glissading – we now know the difference).

We’ll also remember Bob’s UTM graphic aids and the benefits of metric northing and easting coordinates for distance estimates. Now if only us yanks can get used to thinking in metric units rather than continuing as the last major holdout of English units of measurement. But whether the hike out from the Stanley Mitchell Hut is measured in miles or kilometers, we couldn’t match Bob’s time of 1:32.

We won’t forget Ivan’s comments at the Lake Louise Alpine Center after the camp was over. He’d encountered a staff member of the hostel who asked him in passing “how’s it going”. Ivan responded “4 summits in 4 days”. And when the staff member replied “holy s**t”, Ivan commented to us later “now that’s the kind of comment I like to hear!” We agree.

We hope that Jesse has been able to catch up on food intake since the camp ended. It seems he devoted most of his backpack space and weight to packing in climbing ropes instead of food. He needs to bulk up if he’s going to anchor a rope team with folks like Brenda, Dana, and Bill on future glacier crossings. After slowly inching our way across the traverse above the bergschrund on the President, Jesse became concerned about our slow progress beneath the huge overhanging cornice. So he instructed our rope team: “can we pick up the pace a bit, this cornice is popping and making funny noises”. So as Brenda, Dana, and Bill proceeded to quickstep down the glacier at that point, nearly pulling Jesse off his feet, Jesse added “not quite so fast”.

We definitely got to try some things out during the mountaineering camp, just like Ivan’s monkey in the bar. Now if only somebody can fill us in with the pirate joke, we won’t have to keep repeating “Aaaarrrrgh” about our time at the Saskatchewan Section Mountaineering Camp.

Camping Food

2008-07-25T21:12:00.005-06:00

Quite naturally after a hard day climbing and scrambling, camp participants' thoughts turned to food. There was a fair bit of discussion about what everyone else was eating, where they got their recipies and so on.

One book was mentioned several times - Lip Smackin Backpackin

Two recommendations from that book were "Tahoe Chicken Curry" and "Mountain Quesadillas".

Just because you're in the wilderness doesn't mean your menu has to suffer.

Guide Books

2008-07-25T14:58:00.003-06:00

Several participants at the recent Mountaineering Camp were interested to know where they could learn more.

There are two guide books that have been found very useful by many others.

First is Alan Kane's Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies.

Next would be Sean Dougherty's Selected Alpine Climbs.

Find a climbing partner or two, start off easy, and have fun.

Neat Knots

2008-07-25T03:49:00.003-06:00

People into climbing and mountaineering need to know a few knots. Animated Knots is a website that shows you step-by-step how to tie all those puzzling things. There are several categories and some knots are featured in more than one place. Highly recommended.

SK Section Mountaineering Camp - Overview

2008-07-24T10:50:00.005-06:00

A group of us just finished 4 days in the Little Yoho Valley participating in the Section's Mountaineering Camp. More stories, reports and pictures are forthcoming, but the short story is:

Day 1 - met and hiked in to Stanley Mitchell. Got organized, practiced knots, roped travel principles, discussed camp activities and objectives.

Day 2 - scrambled Mt Kerr, practiced crevasse rescue techniques, self arrest on steep snow slopes, roped travel and enjoyed some bum sliding on our descent.

Day 3 - up even earlier for an excellent climb to Mt President, passing over the narrow and ever-thinning access across the bergschrund and climbing to the summit. Great views from the top.

Day 4 - an "easy day" with only about 2/3 of the elevation gain of the previous day - hiked up to the Whaleback Ridge and traversed to its end, descending by a series of downsloping ledges to the Whaleback trail.

Day 5 - hiked up to Kiwetinok Pass, planned our route up to Mt Pollinger, practiced walking on snow slopes, kicking steps, etc. Checked out the route to McArthur but left it for another day.

Day 6 - up early for the hike back out and travels home.

Additional stories and links to pictures will be posted as they become available.

Kaslo Backpacker's Hostel

2008-06-30T20:41:00.003-06:00

by Catherine McCormick

Kaslo is a fine place to use as a jumping off point for some good hikes in the West Kootenays. You might even recognize the owners of the Kaslo Backpacker’s Hostel - Sarah and Darren. They both have worked at the hostels at Rampart Creek and Hilda Creek during the past decade.

A total of six rooms allows 17 guests to stay at the hostel. Most rooms will easily accommodate 5 people and there is one small private room. A private room will cost $50 for two people. Other accommodation rates are $25/person/night and children 10 and under are free.

Each room is named for a particular bird and one of my favourite spots in the hostel is the loft designated to be called "the heron’s nest" which sleeps two and has an additional nook for a couple of kids – perfect for a family of four. You’ll find a bathroom and separate shower room on the second floor, as well as a comfortable lounge area with a TV and VCR/DVD players. It will sit 7 people very well and you’ll find that you can use your own computer here as there is wireless internet at the hostel, but no extra computer.

Sarah describes her kitchen as the best kitchen hostel ever! It is fully equipped, including a coffee maker. The dining area will sit 10 at the large table and there is additional seating outside on the deck overlooking the garden.

There is no guest laundry at this hostel but those facilities are available in the village of Kaslo. A great feature for many tired hikers and skiers is the wood-fired sauna just off the deck. Other amenities include canoe rentals at $55/day, kayaks at $50/day and bikes at $15- $20/day.

The backpacker’s hostel is home to my favourite Kaslo garden. Sarah’s theme for her 2008 garden is "edible, incredible" and having observed the progress of the garden this year I anticipate it will be a fine place to try out some home grown fruits and veggies.

Check out the Kootenays as a vacation spot. It’s relatively uncrowded, offers fantastic hiking and skiing opportunities, and is home to a very fine hostel in Kaslo – the Kaslo Backpacker’s Hostel.

Mount Hector ONE, Steve ZERO

2008-06-26T20:37:00.008-06:00

by Steve McCartney

[Steve didn't send any pictures, and after reading the story you'll understand that his attentions were probably elsewhere. These pictures are from 2004, and show the summit in July and the great view from there.]

We were nearing 10000 feet and 100% focused on avalanche hazards. I mean 110% focused on avoiding avalanche hazards. My partner and I were below the last ski-able section of Mount Hector. The avalanche bulletin was considerable. On the way up I noticed the new snow was shearing 15-20 thick off an icy crust. I was 110% focused on not putting myself or my partner into a place we might regret. I was thinking about avalanches and nothing else.

There was another party on Mount Hector that day. We talked briefly when we stopped for a short break after skinning up a sustained section of a crusty icy windswept layer of white and discussed our options of getting to the top. I thought we could avoid the final steep face by boot-packing up the climber’s left hand side. The likelihood of skier triggered avalanches was considerable I remembered. Our route would follow a rocky ridgeline, hence no avalanches. The other group didn’t have any objections to my idea but decided to follow the standard route. We parted ways and continued on for only 15 minutes until we stashed our skis and put on crampons. Roped up I started traversing to my objective, a rock out crop maybe 20 meters away. I was 100% focused on reaching my destination now. I would be on the summit in about an hour I told myself.

When I began to walk, I noticed the crusty icy layer was gone and the snow was becoming soft and suspect. My location had all the characteristics of a snow bridge- but for some reason I shrugged it off and continued on telling myself that I’m probably wrong. My axe penetrated deep, with the same amount of force required to break through three or maybe four pieces of toilet paper. But for some reason I was only going forward; perhaps because I was only seconds from my objective. I took one more step and my foot kept going. I lay down immediately, trying to distribute my weight as much as possible. I called to my partner below me, "Dude, back up NOW!" "What??" he replied.

"Dude, go downhill – get the rope tight, I’m standing on air!"

"Are you serious?" he replied.

With every motion I made, my sense of security diminished like the snow disintegrating below me. I was able to get my axe stuck in a small piece of an ice lens maybe an inch thick. "Dude, where is my picket?" "On your right side" he said. I reached awkwardly trying to find it but it wasn’t there. "Where is my picket!?" I said. "Sorry, your left side" he said back. I remember thinking "why doesn’t he know left from right?" I pulled it off my pack quite easily. I learned many years ago to avoid attaching pickets to a pack with a ‘biner for this very reason. Had it been clipped on, I would have been screwed. An arm’s reach away I found some hard-packed snow and punched the picket in about half way, when I heard an eerie hollow sound. "Am I still on the bridge? What the heck is going on?" I wondered. From previous experience, I knew the sound was bad. It was distinctly insecure, analogous to an ice-climber swinging into sketchy ice and immediately a rush of adrenaline saturated my nervous system. I tied myself off to my "faith-stick" and then inched forward. I was mad at myself for being in this situation. I felt stupid.

With my foot no longer dangling in space, I found security standing on some really firm snow not far from the rocky outcrop that was my earlier objective. Pretending like what had just happened was not a big deal I said to my partner, "Just traverse lower, you should be fine". He began to move. My words almost became an epitaph. I just lead my partner to the gates of hell and knocked loudly at the door. "Steve, I’ve got nothing here man. What’s my move??" he said. "Uhmm, you gotta go two more feet- you can do it" I said as I laid flat on my axe. I muttered "don’t you dare fall in" quietly to myself. He inched his way to his perceived safety. He stood up and said "What the heck are we doing?" Just then to gain security from his crampons, he stamped his foot hard on the dense snow. I was still lying down and heard the thud and felt the vibration. We were at the devils front door - knocked once, and just knocked again.

"Dude, we are in a world of hurt if we don’t get out of here now. What’s our move?" I said. I remember thinking "if we can just get to those rocks, we’ll be fine". For some stupid reason I was still hell bent on going forward.

"Holy cow man, look at where we are! We’re on the stupid bergschrund. What the hell is going on?" I yelled, scolding myself. My brain had finally caught up to the gravity of our situation.

"I’m going to build a T-slot and we are going to rap over this mess, and get the hell out of here" I said. I started to probe around only to confirm that we were both standing on a time-bomb.

By some miracle I found a really dense section of snow and was able to build a good T-slot anchor. It gave us legitimate security. Slowly I began to lower myself but stopped at the edge of a "McCartney-sized" black hole. At that point I remember taking stock of our situation. Some thirty minutes ago my partner and I were about a 2 hour return trip from the summit of Hector; our year end objective. At present we were essentially in the middle of a mine field. I probed around my current location and found some relief in the marginal resistance of the probe going through the snowpack. With the anchor set and on rappel, I inched closer towards the hole. What I saw was unsettling. I managed to cross and my partner shortly thereafter.

Back at our skis we discussed how our decision making tree took us out to the weakest branch on the highest limb. I remember using a lot of curse words. We packed up our skis on our backpacks and proceeded to walk down our steep icy up-track. My partner was in front probing his way down when we found some more problems. His leg punched through the crust in three different locations in less than a minute and not because he was fat. We had unknowingly skied over these crevasses on the way up because our weight was distributed over a larger surface area. Not two minutes later he punched through again, but this time with both legs and up to his butt. His legs were dangling in space. By some freak stroke of luck the basket of his ski pole (that was strapped to his pack) got caught in the wire loop at the end of his probe. His weight arched the probe like the poles of a dome tent. He was literally sitting on the edge of a crevasse, like bait on the hook about to be swallowed by the crevasse. It was both frightening and humorous at the same time. The probe was stuck slightly behind him, arching over his shoulder with the wire looped around the plastic ski pole basket. I jumped uphill landing on my axe not knowing what was keeping him and potentially me from going over to the darkside; his butt on the edge of the crevasse, his probe tangled on his ski pole, or my axe. He managed to get back up on his feet and we both escaped yet another near-miss.

We put our skis back on and made a rapid and awkward exit. Skiing downhill roped together is not something I’ve done very often because it sucks and my partner was new to backcountry skiing and was much better going uphill than down. We "skied" towards what we knew was a safe spot but on the way we actually had to launch ourselves over two more small slots, all the while hoping neither of us would fall down while we were still tied into each other. I was still trying to figure out how I walked myself into the biggest gong-show of my climbing career. The whole ordeal took maybe an hour or two. From the time we ditched our skis on the way up to the time we felt safe again. The party of three had already been to the summit and were distant figures way down in the valley.

For some reason on this particular day all I could think about was avalanches and what I would have to do in order to avoid them. I wasn’t thinking about anything else. Somehow I convinced myself that any decision I made to stay out of avalanche terrain was a good decision. This is not always the case. My partner and I critiqued our day, and we both agreed our decisions seemed like the right ones at the time but back down at the truck they seemed like textbook rookie mistakes. We deviated from the normal route because of the new snow on top of an ice layer, and evidence of slab failure on the way up. However, we neglected to analyze the "big picture" and see that our deviation took us further up a glacier and into a very large and wide bergschrund. We were guilty of looking at our boots and not the mountain.

A few months prior I took the ACC Winter Leadership course; we both recently completed the Level 2 Avalanche course, and had been out almost every other weekend. In fact we just took 3 days to complete a ski traverse that is usually done in 4 or 5 the weekend before. We were confident but not cocky and we pictured ourselves on top of Mount Hector as a great end to a great season.

While discussing our day back at the truck we both clued in on a few factors that were different on this particular day. We were both tired, more so than usual. We are so evenly matched with respect to fitness that we are never more than 10 steps apart on the approach, and we hardly stop for more than a swig of water and a rude joke or two. On this day we were sucking wind, and we both could see it in each other but we kept on going because we can be stubborn sometimes. I remember not knowing where I was twice - thinking that my compass was wrong. Once when we were trying to start our day and another time higher up when I looked at the map. I’m usually pretty good with that stuff. I also remember being dizzy a few times and we both commented on how yellow our urine was. Working long days, climbing every weekend, and juggling domestic responsibilities finally caught up to us. We were simply tapped of energy and really, really dehydrated. All this culminated in some excitment that we feel was caused by the following. First, we deviated from the standard route. There is a reason why it’s called the standard route, a really obvious good reason. Second, we were roped up for glacier travel but we were only thinking about avalanches. Just because there is a lot of snow doesn’t mean the crevasses magically disappear. Mountaineering hazards are always present, some more than others at different times but nonetheless they are always present and thirdly, being dehydrated. It is clinically proven that dehydration can lead to a loss of energy, a loss of balance, and subsequently poor decision making. Things we were both symptomatic of. What was most frustrating was we both knew better.

My buddies and I climb to get home; we are not afraid or embarrassed to turn around. In fact we joke that we should write an "approach" book because of the amount of times we do turn around. This day was different and we found ourselves "in the suck" and it was not cool.

In conclusion I don’t have anything profound to say that we don’t already know but with the summer season underway maybe reading this might prevent someone from making the same mistakes I did. Don’t ever think "that won’t happen to me" because sooner or later it will. Drink plenty of liquid (and not just beer). Get adequate rest. Listen to your body. If you can’t tell east from west, if you start to trip because you are dizzy, or if you’re whizzing stinky yellow turpentine it’s probably an indication to go back to the tent. If you don’t like the standard route, perhaps you should reconsider. Ruminate on terms like "the big picture", "situational awareness", and "perceptual narrowing" and how they apply to mountaineering. Ignorance is not bliss.

I’m embarrassed about what happened to me on Mount Hector, but I think someone said experience comes from bad judgement. I was almost not going to share this story for fear of ridicule but I thought maybe it’s for the best. I did however purposely exclude my partners name because if his wife found out what I got us into that day she might not let him climb with me anymore.

ACC National News - Spring Board Meeting

2008-05-19T09:57:00.003-06:00

Section Chairperson Angela Spence attended the spring Board meeting in Canmore on May 3rd and 4th. For those of you who aren't familiar with how this part of the Club operates, here is a short primer: There are 19 regional sections from BC to Quebec with the National Office in Canmore, AB. Each Section sends one representative to 2 Board meetings each year. This Board of Directors discusses and approves the overall direction of the Club. Various interests of the Club are overseen by several Executive Vice Presidents (eg: VP Services, VP Facilities, etc.). All of these positions are filled by volunteers. National Office staff (the Executive Director and the various Directors of Maintenance, Facilities, etc) deal with the daily running of the Club.

Some highlights from the most recent meeting:

Financially, the Club is in good shape and is currently in a surplus position. Some of you may be aware that the Club has an equity interest in the Canadian Alpine Center (the Lake Louise Hostel) and this position contributes financially to the Club.

There was more discussion about waivers. Any of you who have taken part in Section activities will remembered being pestered to sign the waiver. This represents the Club's front-line defense from liability claims and covers the Club and members in the unlikely event there is an accident on a Club trip. The current discussion centered around the possible use of web-based trip sign-up and electronic waivers.

A small number of Sections, mostly from Winnipeg and east, have been wondering about the possibility of allowing route bolting work (retrofitting, repairing) as approved Club activities. The initial concern was how it would fit with the Club's liability insurance, especially if something were to happen on a route some time later. Our Section and probably most others in our region seem to donate funds to TABVAR, an organization in Calgary which works to maintain many of the bolted routes in our climbing area. It appears as though there will be an accommodation for those Sections interested in pursuing this activity.

Work has been started to accumulate material for volunteer training (trip leaders, Section executive members, etc) and that should be available by 2009.

There were 18 applications for TNF/ACC Summer Leadership Course. Two of our Section's members applied - Mike Wild and Mark Rosin. We should know shortly who was selected to attend.

The Spring Board Meeting is usually shorter to make way for the Club's Annual General Meeting which was also held during the weekend.

If you have questions about other parts of the meeting, please contact Angela for details.

Making the Turns at Stanley Mitchell - March/08

2008-04-18T17:52:00.001-06:00

By Olivia Yuel

What an amazing trip!

Half of our group (Steve, Dave & Bill) travelled into the Stanley Mitchell hut on March 12, but Bette, Bob and I began our journey a day late because Bob was still recovering from a serious lung infection. The temperature was a bit cool at 7:30 in the morning, but it was very exciting to be starting out with head-lamps and, for me, no sense of what I was about to be asked to accomplish.

Bob had done this trip before so he knew what was ahead, not that he would say anything to discourage us. This day the trail was icy and therefore a bit slow and frustrating. Even with skins on, our skis slipped side to side every step.

The first 2 hours were great: breathing in the fresh air, getting far enough away from civilization that you couldn’t hear any vehicles. The sky was brilliant blue and the trees were a perfect colour of bright green. The snow was so clean and white. We slogged along at a steady pace, the usual dose of regular daily stress melting away. You can imagine with one big breath in of fresh air that all tension was replaced with peace.

I'm not sure at what point after that first 2 hours my thoughts turned to: "I will not stop, I will not cry, I will my feet to stop aching." Where was that peace I was feeling? Fortunately, not long after this point we reached Takkakaw Falls. The first 4 hours had gone by. Reprieve. I got to take my boots off, look at the beauty around us and was reminded of how much I loved doing this. My thoughts returned to: "AHH, I love this." Bette and Bob both appeared untouched by fatigue or discomfort and still seemed peppy and energetic. Thank goodness they shared that energy with me because we still had at least 4 hours to go, now seriously uphill and very icy. While I was resting, however, I felt like it would be no problem. I could do this.

Bette took her turn pulling the sled with our food. This was a good thing for me because that way I could almost keep up to her pace. Now, some weeks after the trip, I have almost completely forgotten how brutal this next portion of our journey was. All I have is a bit of a mark as a reminder about falling over on the icy trail.

Truly the path was gorgeous. There is no better feeling then being surrounded by forest. However it was quite treacherous. I am sure there is more to say about this section but all I remember thinking was, will I make it. I will make it. Left foot, right foot. Next thing I knew we were just minutes from the hut. Bette, like a forest nymph, floated ahead, dropped her pack off at the hut and came back to help me with mine (Bob had stayed back with me, probably a good thing because I might have sat down at some point and never gotten up).

It was very exciting to finally arrive. The hut is beautiful and the surrounding area is breathtaking. The infinite space to ski is unbelievable. Absolutely magnificent!
We were greeted by the other members of our group, as well as a group of 12 Japanese Alpine Club Skiers between the ages of 65-72. The hut was packed and full of laughter the entire time we stayed.

I can't say enough about the skiing. Bette felt it was the best backcountry skiing she had ever had. Bob felt it was a great location in terms of all the different types of skiing you could do. And I just felt blessed to be there. We experienced amazing skiing right out the front door. We skied open slopes on the first day and the next day stayed in the trees. Unbelievable skiing! There was enough space that we each picked a new route through the trees every time. The snow was thick and fluffy and the weather was warm. My memory says the sun shone on us most of the time but this may not have been really true since we didn’t ski on the glaciers because the visibility wasn’t very good.

We got new snow on Saturday, which made for another great day of skiing and was also welcome because we were skiing out on Sunday and it would cover all the ice on the trail out.
It’s always sad to leave when you are having such an excellent adventure, but I knew we still had the trip out to give us a complete experience. Fortunately, I was glad to be mostly unaware of what I was about to put myself through. I was determined that if a group of 65-70 year-old skiers could do it without collapsing, then so could I.

But, Oh my God!! What a trip out. I spent a lot of the 5 hours to the parking lot praying. Down a narrow twisting trail through the trees, past Laughing Falls, where we were convinced Birks had mined their jewels and then down the snow-covered road. It didn’t appear that anyone else was suffering or maybe I was just concentrating so hard not to have a tantrum that I didn’t notice.
Epic and Gruelling are the two words I will choose to describe the ski-out. I am proud to say I did not collapse or have that tantrum. I have the rest of the group to thank for that. They were always patient, supportive and happy. I especially have to thank Bette and Bob for inviting me to tag along.

This was the most exciting and strength building experience I have had in a very long time. I would highly recommend this trip to everyone wanting to push their body beyond where they ever thought it could go. Funny, it only took me until my first latte in Lake Louise to forget how overwhelmed I had felt.

Trip participants: Bob Hawboldt (trip leader & snow guru), Bette Boechler, Olivia Yuel, Dave McCormick, Steve Blackwell, Bill Wotherspoon.

Sir Edmund Hillary - A Tribute

2008-04-16T20:09:00.000-06:00

PHOTO: Sir Edmund Hillary's casket leaves his funeral service in New Zealand. Photo courtesy of Mark Watson/New Zealand Alpine Club.

A goofy but heartfelt tribute to the late Everest pioneer has been recorded by the New Zealand singer/songwriters Jody Lloyd and Tim Kelleher. Keying off the Hillary portrait on New Zealand's five-dollar note, the chorus of "Humble Mountain Man" goes:

You may be gone but you live on in my wallet
You'll never be forgotten in the bottom of my pocket
You've taught us by example, translated back to our inner fiber
And you leave behind a wealth greater than that within a fiver.

Truly, it sounds better than it reads.

See the video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xgIebk-zHE.

Fairy Meadows in Winter

2008-04-07T13:52:00.000-06:00

by Dave McCormick

I've discovered a new way to get to visit some great backcountry ski destinations.... It's the same strategy I've talked about before - volunteering for the ACC - you get to go to all sorts of great places.

I got this phone call on a Wednesday offering me a trip into Fairy Meadows for a week.... IF I could get ready in 2 days and IF I'd be prepared to do some mold cleanup and a general hut survey during my time there. And one other thing, because of a reservation mix-up, there would only be 6 people at the Hut rather than the usual 20. It only took me a couple of hours to make up my mind, a day gathering together food and equipment and a 4 hour drive to a staging area east of Rogers Pass. The helicopter picked us up around noon for a 20-minute flight north to the Hut.

The ACC's Bill Putnam Hut at Fairy Meadows is located in the Adamant Range of the Columbia Mountains, NW of Golden. The only real way there during the winter is by helicopter. Even in summer it's pretty difficult any other way than that, although I have hiked in once - the hike from hell, actually a bit wet and cold for hell, but that is another story.

The week fell quickly into a pattern. Up in the morning, mold cleaning and other work all morning, a few hours of skiing in the afternoon, a nap, supper, lots of reading and then off to sleep. The other 5 people there were experienced skiiers so they were off to challenging destinations each day. I pretty much stayed close to the hut on the practice slopes nearby. Generally, they were enough of a challenge for me.

The week passed and the helicopter came to pick us up and whisk us back to the parking lot. I think it's time to hang up the skis for the season....

Pictures of the area are available at:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=22704&l=e7e0e&id=566145837

Remind Me - Why Do We Do This?

2008-03-25T09:09:00.001-06:00

by Jesse Invik

[With the scrambling season approaching, we post this story from the last scrambling season]

Just what you need, another bit of philosophical glop about why we climb, right? Didn't Mallory already sew this question up with the famous quote "Because it's there"? Unfortunately it seems that we all are driven to contemplate this question for ourselves regularly. And given the damage an obsession with climbing can cause to our bodies, our relationships and the environment, it makes sense to give this some thought from time to time, contemplate if what we get out of it is worth what we put into it, or what we could potentially lose because of it.

My own reasons are a mystery to me. I'm not good at it. I don't excel at any one aspect of it. I'll never be a pro, as I once had fleeting ambitions to be. I'll never climb in the Himalayas or the Andes. I'm a gutless wonder when it comes to technical rock or ice, and getting more so with the years; just ask Shelley about that one. I made her back off Escargot Corner in perfect weather. That's right, a 5.6, how embarrassing! I tell my friends I'm going climbing but this usually means I'm going scrambling, or at best, low-end mountaineering. I've scared myself shitless in the past, and a dozen times or more I made deals with myself to quit, if I just survived the day. And yet the beauty, the wonder of it keeps me coming back. The sense of being strong enough and yet being humbled by my surroundings at the same time. And I have to face facts: it's the feeling of "wow, look at what I just did, aren't I cool?" that is most responsible for my return.

This summer, the last weekend in July during an incredible heat wave, I finally got the opportunity to climb Mt. Temple. I'd wanted to for years, but a combination of trail closures, bad weather or lack of a partner always prevented it. A few days before leaving I received an e-mail from Dave McCormick telling me the route was clear of snow, and that he'd gone solo, car to summit in 3.5 hours. Thanks Dave. I decided to aim for doubling his time, and was almost successful. Staggering out of bed in the dark, my group of three was the first to reach Sentinel Pass, though we were about 20th to reach the summit. That day we shared the mountain with about 150 people including: a seven month pregnant woman (who didn't miss an opportunity to impress that fact upon everyone she passed), a man and his wiener dog, several groups of foreign tourists clad in jeans, runners and polo shirts, and a father and son team (the son about 8 years old), also in jeans and runners, as well as the usual alpine club types. Only about 50% of the climbers were wearing helmets, and as rocks were kicked down by the dozen I envisioned numerous accidents, though we witnessed none. The rock bands were choked with people trying to weave past each other in opposite directions, and the whole peak seemed to emanate stress as much as it did heat.

Still, I felt proud of myself, standing winded and wheezing on the summit with a couple dozen new friends, all of us jockeying for a good position from which to take our photos. It seemed to me at the time a great achievement, standing at the highest point for many miles, breathing the thin air and taking it all in. And yet obviously what I had accomplished was commonplace that day. We had all helped to erode the mountain (a lot!), disturb and distress the local bears, and put ourselves at risk to do something that was not special.

Selfish perhaps, given the environmental repercussions, but I'm still glad I went. And I do feel a little special and I do feel accomplished. I have to be at least a little beyond average in fitness levels don't I? And now I'm sitting here wondering if I can fit one more trip in between now and the third week in August when I move to Ontario. Does it really make sense? All that effort and risk to get to the top only to turn around and come back down? I guess maybe Mallory had it right. There isn't a rational expression for why we do this. Perhaps next time I'll pick a less popular peak, so I can feel a bit more special.

Thanks to Deirdre O'Reilly and Claude Lapointe for helping me get up Mt. Temple.

A New Publication Medium?

2008-03-18T10:12:00.001-06:00

With the speed of communication these days, it seemed well past appropriate time to try blogs as a means of publishing trip reports and other news of the Saskatchewan Section of the Alpine Club of Canada. Our members are often off having fun in the outdoors: rock and ice climbing, backcountry skiing, adventure racing, hiking, canoeing..., the list is pretty extensive, and we can use this as a rapid way to pass on information about their experiences.

In addition, a new Facebook page for the Section has been created featuring up-to-date news, pictures, events, members, videos.... Check us out.

As always, we have our Section's website which will remain one of our primary sources for Section activities and news.

So, if you've been on a trip or have other Section news to pass on, let us know.