Black Tusk

We just got home from three days in Garibaldi Provincial Park. It was a big trip - 40 km of hiking - but we had gorgeous weather and went to some beautiful places. The highlight was our ascent of Black Tusk, an iconic peak visible from up and down the corridor. It was a big hike with a little rock climbing at the end, and Elise did exceptionally well. Afterward we hiked through some of the most lush wildflower meadows I've ever seen. We bumped into a ranger who said we'd arrived at the absolute peak. Lucky us! A few pictures from the trip...

A hoary marmot. As I was descending from Panorama Ridge in the late evening, I heard a very load and piercing "whistle" that seemed to come from the lake far below. I was certain that Pam and Elise were using the emergency whistle to call me down, so I hurried along. Turns out, they didn't make a sound - it was the marmot! That's how the resort "Whistler" got its name.

Sky pilot. This is the first time I've seen this flower, and I was above 2,000 m. Not an easy one to stumble upon.

The trail between the Black Tusk Junction and Helm Creek.

Black Tusk as seen from Panorama Ridge.

Elise on the summit. Pam carried BK, her precious stuffy, to the top much to Elise's surprise. She was delighted!

 Garibaldi Lake from Panorama Ridge. What a place...

Sky Pilot

We hiked up to the shoulder of Sky Pilot last week for a beautiful evening in the alpine. I snapped this picture of Elise sitting in a yellow cedar shrub on the edge of a glacial morraine. I thought it was such a nice photograph of her I had to post it...

Last Day of Grade One...and Hiking

Elise finished grade one today. How time flies! She had a nice year. I think she'll be looking forward to seeing her friends in the fall.

Here's a bunch of pictures from a nice hike we did last weekend. We climbed Slhanay Mountain behind our house with Eric and Gab. It turned out to be a little longer than expected, but we enjoyed each other's company and the rain held off until we finished. Let the summer vacation begin!

Enjoy the long weekend...

Bambie at Horne Lake

On Monday morning I was driving to Horne Lake on Vancouver Island to climb for the day with a friend. It was fairly early and we were on the dirt approach road when a mother deer and her fawn ran in front of the car. We stopped and the mother dashed into the brush, but the baby froze. As we watched, a truck sped by and almost hit the fawn, who was cowering in the ditch. I got out of the car and tried to "shoo" it into the forest, but it lay down in the ditch and froze.Unsure of what to do and worried the baby would get hit by a passing vehicle, I opted to carry it into the forest away from the road and leave it, hoping the mother would return. A lady who works at Horne Lake Caves stopped and snapped these pictures:

When we returned in the afternoon I stopped to check on it. The fawn wasn't where I left it - I hope that was a good sign.

End of the School Year

There's only one week left in the school year and both Elise and Pam (!) are counting the days until  summer vacation starts. We had a recent visit from Elise's cousins, which was quickly followed by a visit from Grandma Bourdon and "Ahnie" (Great Aunt Anne). Needless to say, the last few weeks have been full of activities.

Sports day at school was sunny and warm, perfect conditions for playing in the schoolyard. The kids had a great time participating in various races and games. Elise and I did well in the water balloon toss; we got second place!

Next came the school bike rally followed by a trip to Vancouver to participate in the children's festival. Elise made a sock puppet, the highlight of the day.

Elise's good friend, Josie, turned seven this spring, and the party was at the local art school. The kids had a grand time and spent a couple of hours doing artwork together.

She's had a number of sleepovers in the past few weeks, including her first "slumber party", a night with four of her friends who are boys (note that I didn't use the term "boyfriends?"). Here she is with Aidan at the Smoke Bluffs. We took them climbing after dinner to tire them out before bed.

Elise did her second 5.10a clean on a top-rope, a popular climb called Flying Circus. She did it on her third try. After she climbed through the hard section on her successful ascent, she looked down at us and said, "Have I done the hard part yet?". We laughed. They got gelato afterward, of course.

We received some climbing gear in the mail that came in a big box.  Elise made a "play house" in her room, complete with an attic, bed and bookcase. She's very creative, we think. Afterward, she fell asleep inside.

We took the cousins climbing in the Bluffs and hiking up the Chief. Here they all are on the bridge over Olesen Creek. From left to right: Elena, Jason, Elise and AJ. It was a nice visit and there were a number of hotly contested games of croquet.

 

Elise and Elena on the First Peak. They get along really well. Kind of like sisters. It's cute...

All that visiting tired Elise out. Here she is asleep with her "Jasmin" cat stuffy across her face.

I had a very nice Father's Day and Elise made me this note the night before all on her own. It says: "Dear Dad, You are the best. You are awesome and awesome because you are the best. Love Elise". That's a positive endorsement, I'd say ;)

Finally, we've been doing lots of outdoor activities (as usual) and rode the Sea to Sky Trail from Whistler to Brandywine Falls one weekend on our mountain bikes. We encountered a very aggressive grouse on the trail, likely guarding a nest. We left it behind, but, amazingly, it followed us and caught up to Elise. This is what happened (despite Pam's posturing, we can assure you the grouse was not harmed).

Tooth Fairy Inquiries

While we were driving home from a short hike at Murrin Park last night, Elise asked me what other types of fairies might exist besides the Tooth Fairy? I didn't know, and told her as much, so she decided to leave a note for the Tooth Fairy at night to find out. This is the note...

I think it reads:

"Dear Serena,

Do you know the types of fairies because I was very interested in fairies?

Your Friend,
Elise"

I love her writing! I find these things so cute...

Low Impact

On the last day of our very active four-day weekend, we decided to climb and asked Elise where she wanted to go. She said, "I want to go to the Forgotten Wall and try my project". About two weeks ago I'd hung a rope on a route for her to try and told her that if she managed to climb it at some point this spring without resting on the rope, I'd buy her a gelato afterward. A climb that takes multiple days, weeks, or even months is what we typically refer to as a project - something you have to work on over an extended period of time. Elise is familiar with the term and often asks, "Did you do your project, Dad?"

That first day she only tried the climb once, and it went pretty well but she wasn't keen to try again...until yesterday for some reason. So we drove to the wall, set up the rope and let her have a go. She did pretty well again, but had to hang on the rope and struggled to climb the hardest moves. She eventually did them, but struggled some more up above. She came down and took a break to build a fort in the forest while Pam climbed. She eventually went up for her second attempt and huffed and puffed at the start - not a good sign - but then miraculously started firing through the harder moves above. She made it through the crux and then hung on for the ride to the top. I made a point of not giving her a tight top-rope at all during the climb.

Pam and I were visibly excited for her as she neared the top and called out encouragement. When she got to the anchor, she turned and called down to us, "Did I do it?" "Of course" we both yelled! She grinned and said, "Then I guess it's gelato time." We all laughed...

The climb is called Low Impact and it's rated 5.10a, her hardest climb (without resting) on a top-rope to date. I was very happy for her, but told her I'd have to find her a harder project. That one came together far too quickly...