Kentucky Climbing and Squamish Ski Touring

I just returned from a rock climbing trip to Kentucky. As always, we climbed at the Red River Gorge, one of the top sport climbing destinations in North America. The weather was fickle, but that always seems to be the case out east. I came home to a glorious week of weather in Squamish, a nice treat for mid-November!

Pictures from the trip:

The sunny weather in Squamish was a great welcome-home present, but the mountains need snow. Whistler is open, but the snow pack is low. Regardless, yesterday I did my first ski tour of the season into the south end of Garibaldi Park with my friend Jay. We worried about not finding enough snow to ski, but the terrain was very skiable, much to our surprise.

View of the Tantalus Range on the skin up.

Passing a couple heading out, not far from Elfin Lakes.

View to the east of Pyramid Mountain, Trick Peak and Mamquam Mountain.

Our objective for the day, Columnar Peak, the rocky mound on the left.

Atwell Peak as seen from The Saddle with Mt. Garibaldi just poking out from behind. The snowy pyramid right of the ridge line is The Tent.

The final ski up to the summit of Columnar Peak. We descended the slope in the shawdow on the left of the peak.

On the summit!

Great light during the descent.

First Day of Skiing

Whistler Blackcomb opened a couple of weekends early this year, so when I got back from Kentucky Elise and I took advantage of the nice sunny weather and spent a day on the mountain. Elise had new skis which were longer than last year, but she took to them immediately and skied well, better than I was expecting. She also has new ski boots, ones lined with pink fur much to her delight. We're in a bit of a drought right now, which is good for hiking and climbing but the mountains need more snow. Hopefully, it will be a good year...

Elise just finished a round of swimming lessons. Here she is goofing with her instructor Tyler on the last day. That girl loves to swim!

Four weeks until Spain!!!

Silver Star

Pam and Elise went to Silver Star ski resort near Vernon for this past weekend with some friends from Squamish. There was plenty of snow and Elise had a great time sledding, snowshoeing and making maple syrup candy! Here are some photos of her playing in the snow.

Ski season is just around the corner!

Halloween 2013

Here are some pictures from Halloween 2013. Elise dressed as a witch and had a fantastic time with her friends. The event started with pumpkin carving at Tavis and Anita's house.

The witch is ready to trick or treat!

The kids and the parents head out. It was nice it wasn't raining for a change!

The loot! I might have to help her with that...