Blue skies, beers, and ... a buttplug

This weekend's summit adventure featured bright blue skies, beers, and ... a buttplug? More on that in a second. We took advantage of the still relatively snow-free conditions, and headed up Porcupine Ridge in Kananaskis. The approach to the summit was a relatively straight forward, but interesting hike with some minor bits of scrambling. Once at the summit, there was an interesting looking extension off to the south, that involved crossing a really narrow exposed ridge. Naturally, I couldn't help myself, so went to investigate. Thinking about the most difficult scrambles we've done over the years, this ridge was probably the most exposed one I've crossed yet. See the photos, and decide for yourself whether you'd have the cajones to cross it.

Anyways, back to the buttplug story. A dude we follow on Instagram has been putting up unofficial summit register containers on various peaks in the Rockies, and they usually contain a notebook, a mickey of Fireball cinammon whisky, a magnum condom, and some other random odds and sods. Well this particular summit box had those, plus a tube of pre-rolls (joints), and what appeared to be a gently used buttplug. Call me immature, but we guffawed for a lot longer than we should have. All in all, this was an awesome outing.

That little red dot in the middle of the spine is me, gingerly making my way back down. (photo taken by Keith)


This is what the ridge looked like from a highpoint to the east of the summit.


The ridge was thin, with steep drop offs to either side. With the intermittent wind gusts, I sat to take in the views before slowly making my way back across to safety. (photo taken by Keith)


This is what it looked like from my vantage point, as I was making my way back across.


The low winter sun created some beautiful flaring around Keith.




Looking towards the summit.










Summit brew: Snake Lake Brewing Company's Brighter Horizons Tropical Pale Ale.










We saw one other character decide to climb the tower. He made it to the top, which is more than I could say. I opted to turn around just below where he is in this photo, knowing that ascending this section would mean having to downclimb it after.








And finally... here's the aforementioned butt plug. Pro hiking tip: always bring sanitizer for mountain adventures. You never know what you may end up coming into contact with.

Peer Pressure Printing

During a recent video call, a colleague pointed out that for a person who takes as many photos as I do, I surprisingly had a blank wall behind me. And my rationale for this was that I don't look at the wall behind me in the office... but I succumbed to the commentary, and selected a bunch of photos to print anyways. Because there's no motivator quite like peer pressure and judgement.

So a couple hours, and 30 odd bucks later, I picked up these 8x12 enlargements, and all I can say is... print some of your photos. There's nothing quite like holding large physical prints, and collectively displayed as a set, they can look pretty awesome together. Even if you did get them done at Costco, and the quality is as mediocre as a Michelob Ultra.

For those that are interested, this random assortment of photos includes scenes from: Ottawa, Zanzibar, Taiwan, Uzbekistan, Japan, Beijing, Newfoundland, Chile, Tibet, and the Canadian Rockies.

And this is how the images look as a set, hung on the wall.

First summit, sunrise, and summit brew in the books

Turning 40 in the midst of pandemic restrictions meant a low key new year's eve for my birthday. But we kicked off the new year with a 4:15am departure to greet the first sunrise of 2021 from atop a mountain. The colours were spectactular, and owing to the wind, we were the only ones on the actual summit during the sunrise. Dropping back to below treeline, I cracked an 8% Imperial IPA for my first brew of the year by 9:00am.

So 9 hours into 2021 and I'd already bagged my first summit, first sunrise, and first summit brew. What can I say, it may be a new year, but it's definitely the same old(er) me. Happy new year everyone!

The colours as we approached the summit, whilst also seeing the city lights of Canmore.








Soaking in one last glimpse of the sunrise before hastily making a retreat back down to escape the wind.








Summit Brew: Cabin Brewing Super Duper Saturation Imperial New England IPA.


This chubby little bird was hoping we would drop some food.