Stories from the Summit: Mt. Baldy in Winter

We spent yesterday scrambling up to the south summit of Mt. Baldy in Kananaskis. For late January, the front ranges are surprisingly bereft of snow. Some stories of note related to this latest adventure:

1) Friday night, Anita asks which mountain we're going to hike. I tell her Mt. Baldy, which we'd done 3 years ago, but in the summer. She thought about it for a while, unfamiliar with what I was talking about. Then, her only memory of that mountain came to her: "Ohhhh! The one where you tore a foot long hole in your shorts!" Yes, hunny, that one. :(

2) When we got to the summit, Jaspaul made his 360 summit video before I'd even had a chance to set my pack down, and without me seeing so I couldn't purposefully interrupt it with random bits of advice. I have nuggets of wisdom to share dammit!

3) When we'd gotten back down into Baldy Pass, we passed by a group that asked us where we'd come from. When we explained we'd gone up the South Summit, they questioned why we didn't do the full loop (North summit traverse), even though they'd only done a short hike to the Pass, and turned around. Innocent enough question I thought, but Jas and Anita were seriously offended, like we'd just been called a bunch of fatasses or something. LOL.

Enjoy the photos. My favourite is the one of the summit beers (plus one anomaly).




Views of mountains for days.


The beginning part of the trek in towards Baldy Pass.




















Three Summit Brews... and a soy milk?




It was a wee bit windy. In case you couldn't tell by the way Anita's bundled up.




Jas, showing us that he's some kind of special...


Back down in the pass, it was super warm.

The Magical Day in Calgary

The combination of cold weather, hoarfrost from the fog a couple days ago, and the light bit of snow overnight, made for an unbelievably pretty city yesterday... I spent an hour wandering suburbia getting my ass frostbitten, shooting these fleeting scenes that would be gone by the next day. If you were stuck working on Friday (like a sucker!) you missed out on the most magical day in Calgary.

Little Lawson (South End of Mt. Lawson)

Jas and I took a quick jaunt up the south end of Mt. Lawson (also known as Little Lawson) yesterday. 700m of gain and a whole lot of breaking trail up steep snow slopes would lead us to a beautifully warm, sunny, and completely calm wind-free summit ridge. There wasn't much to look at for most of the way up as we were slogging through the trees, but when we finally cleared tree line, it was a pretty incredible view.

When we reached the top, Jas was making a 360 summit video, but I interrupted it with some nonsense financial tips about buying produce. Seriously though, green peppers are $3.48/ lb right now at Superstore. So are orange peppers. Why the faack would anyone buy green peppers when the better ones are the same price, am I right? #finacialadvicebygeorge

Winter Wonderland - Snowshoeing to Rawson Lake

Happy 2019! We spent the first weekend of this year doing what we'd spent most of last year doing: chasing adventures in the mountains. With the avalanche risk rated as 'extreme' in most of the backcountry this past weekend, Anita and I took it easy and trekked up to Rawson Lake with our snowshoes. It was a beautifully mild day, with gorgeous snow covered scenery throughout. We're so blessed to live where scenes like these are but a short drive away. #winterwonderland