- Backcountry Skiing, British Columbia (and nearby), Duffey Lake Road, Trip Reports, Varsity Outdoor Club (VOC)
Caspar Creek: Winter Camping at -30 Degrees
Last weekend we headed out on an Intro to Backcountry Skiing trip with the VOC. I volunteered to help “lead” the trip. The approach to Caspar Creek is mostly along surprisingly flat logging roads. Looking forward I could see a seemingly never ending ant line of backcountry skiers. There is something overwhelmingly satisfying in this sight, although I’m not sure what it is exactly. Olga was having some trouble with her boots, a common occurrence on beginner friendly trips. Richard valiantly offered to sacrifice his feet – apparently he had skied up here once with boots that were three sizes too small. In this case it turned out that they had…
Phelix Hut: Goodbye Lisa and Jules
Our friends Lisa and Julian returned to Austria. Just before they left, they organized a slew of excellent parties. One of the parties involved skiing up to a backcountry hut belonging to the outdoor club (VOC) and spending a weekend there. Maya and I stayed for three days with some of the others. It was a great combination of beautiful sun, blue skies and excellent snow. Here are a few photos: In the afternoon we broke out into the alpine and it got chilly. Anne apparently measured -22c, and it wasn’t even dark yet. No wonder Maya’s hair froze. In the evening we had a bit of a party in…
Mexico: November Sun – Cycling in Baja California
September was already rainy, October wasn’t much better. The famous “Mamas and the Papas” song “California Dreamin’ ” kept on going through my mind. The skies were indeed gray and the leaves were brown. As November was getting closer, “November Rain” by “Guns N’ Roses” was now stuck in my head. I had just submitted my thesis and the question “what to do now?” was looming from every direction. This time the band “Queen” had the answer, “I want to ride my bicycle”. Combining “California Dreaming”, “November Rain” and “Bicycle” resulted in a November cycle touring trip in Baja California, Mexico, which is even better than the American California. We…
- British Columbia (and nearby), Kayaking and Canoeing, Metro Vancouver & North Shore, Trip Reports, Varsity Outdoor Club (VOC)
Indian Arm: Kayaking Right From the City
Some highlights: – Indian Arm is located just on the other side of the city. It’s quite amazing how close it is – One literally leaves from town and ends up in this somewhat wild (albeit inhabited location). Many of the locals are supposedly somewhat weird (reclusive?), and many of them have outrageously huge houses. On the way back we saw a float plane land at one of them. – Kayaking right up to Silver Falls felt magical. Maybe it’s the fact that the falls are located within a niche, somewhat hidden, so that you don’t see them until you are close. – We saw a few seals. One of…
Pebble Creek Hot Springs: and Mushroom Picking Too
On the way in we stopped to admire the devastation of the Capricorn Creek drainage by a huge slide (2nd biggest in recorded Canadian history) a few months ago. The section of road through the slide debris consists of a deep a trench cut through these mounds of mud and broken trees. We spent hours and hours of sitting in the hot springs. They were so hot that we couldn’t use the upper pool and had to add cold water from the river all the time. The location is very impressive, right on the side of a raging river. On Sat evening it rained like crazy, and we watched the…
Tomyhoi Peak: and Yellow Aster Butte too!
Some things are different in the US. The cars are bigger, the people are fatter, and the trails are much wider. We still had fresh memories of our eight day traverse on Vancouver Island where we seldom saw a trail, people, or any sign of humans at all. So we actually enjoyed the wide trails and excellent signage – no need to wonder if we’ll manage to drive up this rough gravel road to the trailhead, whether we are at the trailhead and where this particular trail goes. This was our first trip in years to the North Cascades, and we were dumbfounded by the beauty of the mountains and…
Dickson Peak: Yet Another Stormy Labour Day Weekend!
Over the long weekend we headed to Dickson Peak with our friends Jan and Warrick Whitehead. We were looking for a destination with some solitude, and we certainly found it. The lengthy drive, around four hours from Vancouver, the long bumpy logging road (the Hurley) and the fact that this peak is not well known, must deter people. At the Jewel Bridge trail head we had breakfast, and I made sure to tie up our left over cornflakes in a mesh bag hanging from the ceiling of the car – when we got back we found that the dreaded mice had managed to find their way in. We hiked up…
Broken Group Islands: First Multi-day Kayaking Trip
A four day trip to the Broken Group Islands on Vancouver Island. Some highlights: – We were a group of 10 on a trip organized by Lisa, mostly since her parents were visiting. We met the evening before at a campground in the fishing camp at China Creek. This was the start of the huge Sockeye Salmon run. Maya and I bought four fresh and cheap fish for the group, which we then cooked on our new portable BBQ. – The next day we caught the Lady Rose ferry up the Alberni Inlet, to Sechart Lodge. It took us a surprising amount of time to load up the kayaks. –…
Elk-Westmin Traverse: Serendipity Strikes Twice in Strathcona
I love those funny coincidences that make so much sense and yet are so surprising. On the first day of this eight day trip, while hiking up the Elk River Trail, we met a group that had turned around from a similar route to the one we had planned. They spoke of huge amounts of snow and a narrow gully with truck sized boulders, partially covered with snow, making for treacherous footing, where any moment one might fall into the creek. They had roped up, which sounded weird to me. The guy in the front noticed a piece of paper I was referring to, and said “that’s my trip report!”.…
Lytton to Lillooet: A Loop Along the Mighty Fraser River
The plan was to cycle from Lytton to Lillooet along a gravel road running up the west side of the Fraser from Lytton to Lillooet, and return via highway #12 on the east side, in two days. We had meant to leave early, but were tired and the days are long, so in the end only left Vancouver at 9am. The previous time we had driven to Lytton it took us two and a half hours, but due to traffic and lots of construction it took us three and half hours this time. We parked our car near the information center and got organized. Finally we were on our bikes…
