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The Red Lobster Journal for 2000
Manning Park Ski, Manning Park Again,
Tonquin Valley Ski, Southern Rockies Bike Tour, Fissile with Eric
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Manning Park - January 4, 2000
Chuck and I went for a ski in Manning Park
in early January and ate the rest of Terri's New Year's Eve chicken
cordon blue for supper. Thanks Terri :-) We camped on the knoll
just to the west of the end of the road on the way up to the
Three Brothers (beginning of the first burn). The knoll could
be a windy spot but it was a great spot that night. Powder snow
and a friendly trail finished off the trip.
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Lobsters Randy and Ryan had a dandy trip into the dark outer reaches of the Three Brothers area this past weekend (Feb 19-21)...
There was a huge "Rover Quest" jamboree
in progress (Scouts, Guides, Rovers,Explorers, Teamsters, etc.)
in the Cambie Creek parking lot when we arrived about 0930 hrs
on Saturday. As usual, Ryan had some sort of connection with
one of the organizers and before long we were sipping java in
a heated tent and going for our BS badges. Apparently the temperature
hit minus 20 the night before. Ryan said that it would likely
be even colder where we were going and if it hit minus 30 our
survival would be dependent on us sharing a sleeping bag. He
was smiling and I was scanning for some insulating cirrus clouds.
Eventually we headed up the well known Lobster winter migration route towards the Three Brothers. Fine, sunny skies. Firm, not crusty snow. Large, heavy packs. Like some form of terrestrial, winter salmon we arrive at old lunch spot. Whilst basking in the mild February sun we went through the time tested (and pathetically transparent) Lobster ritual of trying lighten our loads by "sharing" food with each other. We chatted up a cute French couple out for a day ski. Aside from them, the only others we saw was a group of three guys planning to ski to Blackwall that afternoon. They did not realize it was not track set.
We pulled in to our campsite, on the ridge
just below Big Buck, around 1530 hrs and feeling spanked. Glorious
sun and about minus 10. Popped up the tent and Ryan got down
to some serious cooking while I held the tent down. By sun set
at 1730 hrs dinner was over, pipes with three year old no name
tobacco fired up and we each had a couple of hefty rusty nails
under our belts. As Ryan and I go back two and a half decades
and have not seen much of each other lately we had a good time
swapping yarns and free advice. We unfortunately underestimated
our Scotch and Grand Marnier consumption and we made a serious
dent into Sunday's supply. Ryan was very pleased with his new
generation Thermorest. The temperature hovered around minus 15
so I was not required to try the new mattress. No wind, full
moon - first class peescape.
We piled out of the tent around 1000 hrs on Sunday and by 1100hrs we headed off with day packs to check out the route to Blackwall. Another fetching day. Dandy ski down into the pass between Big Buck and Blackwall. Bushwacked around until we eventually reached the ridge just below Blackwall peak. It was a hot slog back to our camp. Soggy snow in the trees iced up our skins. It clouded over and started to snow around 1600 hrs. The second night was very mild. As it was Sunday and the Rusty Nail ration curtailed we partied less hardy.
Wet snow falling on Monday morning so we packed up a headed out with about 200 m visibility. We detoured directly down the valley below quinzee village to the lunch spot. We were pretty wet and as usual the final climb up from the creek crossing with no wax (and too lazy to skin up this close to the parking lot) sucks.
All in all, a fine trip.
Randy
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Tonquin Valley Attempt - Jasper Area
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April 20, 2000 - Here I sit hunched over and cross legged sitting in Ken's tent with some spiced apple resting precariously on my thermorest. I have a slight headache and my leg muscles are uncomfortably tight.
We left Calgary at 5:00 a.m. mountain time and headed for Jasper. Our plan was to ski up Portal Creek and over Maccarib Pass and down the other side.
The trail started out awful. Giant bollards of ice that had formed from the melting snow higher up littered the trail forcing us to drag our soon to be abandoned sleds off into the bush. The sleds were worse than useless. They flipped over numerous times, and when we had to ski off the trail to avoid the class 3 ice, they were like bloody anchors, catching on branches, and of course, flipping over some more.
I was soon reminded by the trail I was in poor shape. I found things especially draining though, even for the shape I was in. Was I fighting something? Or was the fact that I was 50, overweight, and out of shape all there was too it? After 2 or 3 kilometers I realized that there was no way I was going over Maccarib Pass, some 12 kilometers up the valley and 2400 feet higher. I felt frustrated. I talked to Ken about my state and felt badly about lowering our sights. I decided to trudge on and camp overnight.
The last couple of kilometers were rather awful. I was running on batteries and going very slowly. You had to make sure you stayed on the packed trail, for if you got off into the fresh snow, you really wallowed in bottomless powder.
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| Ken and I both decided that we should get
a spot well in the trees and far away from any avalanche paths.
As I came around a corner grumbling about why Ken had pressed
on farther than I felt like going, I saw him stamping out a tent
platform beside a thicket of trees. The bottom layer of snow
was pure sugar. It simply wouldn't pack. It made me want to stay
away from any steep slopes.
We put up the tent, threw the gear in, spread out our ground insulation, and I changed into warmer clothes. Ken, meanwhile, continued digging out our kitchen area and firing up the stove for a hot brew. We had beef stew with a dash of curry (sorry Ken, I couldn't resist), soup, hot chocolate, and a bit of scotch. :-) Tomorrow? I thought that with a day pack I could go up to the pass and get a view of the Ramparts.
Tuesday, April 21 6:55 - It blew hard all last night. It's snowing and still blowing. Ken got up, and without even a hot drink, headed up the valley. It is really uninviting out there. Most of the snow is flying horizontally, some of it is flying up, with only a small amount seeming to fall enough to stay on the ground. I'm in my sleeping bag and have little or no desire to get up.
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 I got up around 9:00 and made myself some breakfast. I put together a day pack and headed up to Maccarib Pass. I was within about a kilometer from it when I met Ken coming down. He had been knocked down a couple of times by the gusts while going through the pass and hadn't seen anything of the Ramparts, even after skiing 3 or 4 kilometers beyond the pass in a gentle descending traverse to the north-west. When he had come back through Maccarib Pass, the gusts pushed him enough that at certain times he just had to keep his balance while the wind pushed him ever so slightly uphill!
Needless to say, without any view as an enticement, I turned around and skied back to the camp with him.
We decided to ski out and head back to Calgary.
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Southern Rockies Loop
Chuck and Ken did a great bike tour this summer. They started from Banff and went south through Peter Lougheed Park and south to the Crow's Nest Pass. They then went to Sparwood and Wasa Lake, then north through the Rocky Mountain up to Radium and then back to Banff. Ken has a great write-up of their trip.
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Fissile with Eric - August, 2000
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| I had been wanting to take Eric up to the Himmelsbach hut again with the intention of going up Fissile with him. I have had such good times in the mountains that I wanted to try to share them with Eric and hopefully he would have some of those same feelings. |
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Lynn and I had got back from our anniversary trip to France in early August, and I still had time to hike before school started up again so off we went.
We had to park the car in Whistler Village and walk up the old road that follows Fitzsimmons Creek for about four kilometers. Evidently washouts and unstable banks have forced the parks branch to close the road. Gone are the days when the hike was significantly shorter.
I used two ski poles on the hike up and I'm sure that they really help. Perhaps it's because I'm getting older and heavier and my knees aren't the same since Nepal.
We got to the hut in the cool of the evening and had a meal. There were campers but the hut was empty.
In the picture to the left, you can see Russet Lake and Fissile just above and to the left of Eric's head. Whirlwind is in the upper right hand corner of the picture. Entering this wonderful mountain world with my son meant a lot to me.
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| The next morning dawned clear and it was an enjoyable hike up Fissile. The snow slope had a couple of steepish bits, but it didn't provide any real problems. |
In the picture above, you can just see Russet Lake in the middle of the picture on the extreme left. The hut where we stayed is just on the right hand side of the lake. Eric's hat is blocking the view of Blackcomb Village, where we started our hike. You can just make out some ski runs on Whistler in the upper left corner. A number of very dark bottomed clouds greeted us when we got to the summit so we didn't linger too long.
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| It was great getting up to the top and remembering when I had brought my dad to the same point back in 1974. |
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| After I got home and had a shower I realized how sunburned the top of my head was! You'd think I was developing a bald spot! I now have a Tilley hat. Lesson learned. |
Ah, the joys of a good snow slope!
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We spent another night in the hut - a luxury of my summer holidays - being able to spend time in the mountains and not feel that I have to rush back. In the course of a year, we spend so little time actually doing the things we love. It's great being able to linger in that spot and just soak in the view.
I hope Eric enjoyed the experience. Hopefully he felt a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. I know I certainly did. I was able to share this wonderful mountain world with my son.
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