Swift Water Rescue

One of the last tickets that we get is the Swift water Rescue certification. We learned how to ferry ourselves across a river, how to catch an eddy while swimming, how to perform rescues and lots of practice with throw bags. There was usually a couple feet of snow on the riverbanks and the occasional snowstorm rolled through while we were doing our course and it got COLD in that water but it was still fun.

Below is a video of our group trying a few methods of wadding across the river in a group.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCF_PT83nuU

Wapta Ski Touring

Wapta Traverse. Finishing up the ski mountaineering portion of our course with the Wapta traverse was epic. Spending five days on a glacier and setting up camp each day at 8000 feet is something I hope to be doing again very soon.  

Rogers Pass Ski Touring

One of my new favorite places in the world. Rogers pass was a hell of a trip. We started the trip with a short tour into the Wheeler hut where everyone was base camping. Each group got to hike up to the Asulkan hut (2100m) and spend a night there. It was something else to wake up surrounded by massive peaks at 2100m. Bluebird days, really nice snow and amazing views sum up this trip nicely. Now off to the Wapta Glacier for a 5 day ski touring traverse starting tomorrow!

Last leg of a climb up Youngs Peak

Touring up the Asulkan Glacier

This run is called the 7 steps of paradise 

SPRAY!

Steep!

The Asulkan Hut

7 Steps of paradise

Ice Climbing in Canmore

Early Mornings

We just got back form a week of ice climbing in Canmore. The guides were fantastic and the venues breathtaking. There is something that is very majestic about a frozen waterfall and there is something very bad ass about climbing it. We stayed at a motel for the week and it was wonderful to be able to jump into a hot tub and then sauna while your gear dries at the end of the day. Since we are a large group we split into two for most of the days. On the last day both groups went to Haffner Creek to climb. It was a sunny day with lots of routes to climb so no one was

waiting around much. Will Gadd even showed up clad in his Redbull gear.

gettin' there

School supplies

Haffner Creek

Fortress of solitude 

Hard route

Me!

Ski tour intro

Before we set out to slay the backcountry on our new expensive touring setups, we had to learn how to use them. We spent a few days in the side country of Fernie Alpine Resort learning how to transition into walking mode, how to set an up track and how to generally be more efficient while out there.
Here is a short video of some stuff we were doing that first day. 

Last day of Ski Touring 1 - Dropped off by a Heli

Second group on the way up

Steve shredding the first line

So after the morning mayhem of getting to ze chopper the real fun began. Our group was the last to get to the drop zone in the backcountry. As we were arriving the first group was already at the top of a ridge and the second group was almost to the top. Just as we were getting ready to skin up the first group started riding down. It is pretty awesome to see your buddies shredding fresh lines in untouched bowls as you are hiking up to the same line. Once we got to the top of the first ridge we rode down, loved the line so much that we hiked back up and rode it again on the other side. After touring around in the backcountry for most of the day we skinned up one last time to our exit, the Mt. Fernie ridge. After waiting for what seemed like hours for jock to get his skins put away we rode one of the avalanche chutes down Mt Fernie all the way to our vans.

Almost missed my flight

Towards the end of the week of ski touring everybody was starting to feel a little rough, myself included. Personally I had a blister on my foot the size of... well, it was big, and painful. I decided that because of this newly formed behemoth of a blister I would save my group the trouble of lugging around dead weight and take the last day off to heal up. After calling and letting my group know that I would not be making it I went to go get a coffee and work on some assignments for class. After getting settled and opening my computer, I did what every person my age does, I checked Facebook. Boy was I glad I did. Once opened, my page jumped to life with notifications galore telling me to GET TO SCHOOL, IT'S A HELI DROP DAY! I immediately called my group only to hear a helicopter in the background thinking it was already to late. I thought that I would go for it anyway, told my group to stall and that i would be there in 5 minutes. So I started driving to the heli-pad (I had no idea where it was other then, "dude it's behind some condo's somewhere, by the Stanford Inn"). I drove to the condos by the Stanford Inn only to find that there is a BIG ol' snowy field standing between me and the heli-pad, and I can see the chopper starting up. Thinking that I only have mere minutes to get on that flight I ran across the thigh deep snow field with my all my gear in arms. I arrived frantic, out of breath and relieved that i made it.

Well we just finished up our Ski Tour 1 week and I think we are all super stoked and a little sore from the experience. There is nothing like earning your turns on nameless peaks in untouched backcountry. Here are some photos from the week.

      On January 20th at 8:00 we departed for our winter survival night. We spent a few days in class researching different types of winter snow shelters and divided into groups of two, each with a different type of shelter to build. The types of shelters included quinzees, igloos, snow trenches, and snowcaves. We started the day at the ski hill and from the top of the chair continued to skin up to Lost Boys Pass (1800m) where we started our shelters. Some shelters were easier then others to construct but all kept us warm and protected from the elements. The next day as a peered out of my shelter I could not believe how much of another world it was outside. Inside the shelter was calm, noiseless and very soundproofed. Outside it was howling wind and snowing and you would have had no idea if you were inside. After some warm tea and breakfast we packed up camp and rode down the mountain back home. What a great day!

Photos by Amanda Goodhue