Kelowna Trip

We just got back from our trip to Kelowna to visit my mom and dad, grandma and papa to Nathan. We left on Friday morning and arrived at 1:00 PM, Nate slept the whole way! The first night my parents, Tash, Nathan, and I went to the White Spot for dinner. My dad loves that place. That evening we relaxed in the hotel room and went for a swim in the pool.

The next day we went to Chapters so we could shop for books for Nathan. Later on that day we went down to the playground by the floating bridge. Everyone had fun at the park, even dad. See dad risking his life in the photo below. For dinner we went to Earls and then back to the hotel for more swimming and relaxing.

The following day we went our separate ways, mom and dad back to Lions Bay and us to Nelson.

New Years in Canmore

For New Years this year we went to Canmore to visit with Colin and Jo. Canmore is the ice climbing capital of North America. The drive out of the Nelson area was terrible, slushy, snowy, and foggy conditions. For those of you not accustom to winter driving in the Kootenays, this is the norm. Once we got to the Rocky Mountain Trench things cleared up and it was smooth sailing all the way to Canmore. That night we hung around their place and got ready for the next few days. The following is an account of the daily ice climbing adventures that I had and our wild New Years Eve.

Day One

The first day of climbing was our biggest day. We got up fairly early fuelled up on caffeine and
sugar and headed into Banff, so that I could rent some ice axes and boots. After that we drove the five minutes to the base of Cascade Mountain. On previous trips Colin and I climbed the predominant icefall, aptly named, Cascade and the one to the lookers left, called Rougans. This year we were on a mission to climb “The Urs Hole”. This climb has been on my to-do list for years but avalanche conditions had prevented us from doing it.

As usual it was an ordeal trying to keep up with Colin as he races to the base of the climb. I don’t think he takes into account the fact that I’m a good foot shorter than him when he is setting the approach pace. After 15 or so minutes we were putting on the crampons and harnesses and roping in. The first part of the climb consisted of multiple short ice pitches and caves tucked in the bottom of a tight canyon that seemed to have walls that went up forever. After about an hour and a half we reached the upper portion of the climb. Here there was a 30 meter waterfall that extended up to a tight area which was usually the end of the climb. Due to usual temperatures in the Rockies this year, ice has formed in places where it usually wouldn’t so with this in mind (I’m assuming) Colin pressed on and we discovered a waterfall that he hadn’t seen before, so of course we climbed it.




Day Two

The second day we had planned to do a full on mixed climb on the outskirts of the Rockies, but unfortunately the temperature had risen to a point that made the climb too unsafe. Instead we went to “The Grotto”, an area ideal for sport ice and mixed climbing. The climbing area is east of Canmore and is located behind a large mine. The approach takes ten minutes passes some pictographs along the way. For that reason many tourists were also at the climbing area. We did a few short pitch climbs and called it a day, it was New Years Eve after all.





New Years Eve

For New Years, Tash, Nathan, Colin, Jo, and I went out for dinner at a flat bread pizza place down the street from their place. I was nervous about bringing Nathan to this fancy restaurant but it worked out well because there was an imitation wood fire stove, similar to the real one that was cooking our pizzas, for the children to play with. Nate played through dinner and we had a great time. Our plan for later on was to go ice skating at the local outdoor rink and watch the fireworks that were put on by the city, but Nate fell asleep and we lost our motivation. We watch TV and talked until about 12:30 AM at that point we went to bed. Unbelievable, simply unbelievable, we must be getting old.

Christmas 2005

Christmas was spent in Nelson with the Kootenay relatives. Things were very busy leading up to the big day, but it all came together in the end. Around our home Christmas shopping begins Dec 26 and occurs through out the year. Natasha cannot pass on a deal, needless to say Nathan received about 600 presents this year. Speaking of Nathan, his favorite way to pass the cold wintry days and the hustle and bustle around the house was to try and find and than take down all of the hanging balls on the Christmas tree. Note to self: Next year hang all decorations out of reach of small humans.



The Big Day

Christmas morning was spent at our house opening presents and this year was very exciting because Nathan was starting to really get into the festive season. He learned to open his own presents, which made him very stoked. His other big Christmas moment, which happened a few days prior at Cathy and Rick's house, was when he got to meet the "big man" himself. At first he was a little apprehensive, but when the presents started flying, he came around. After opening the presents, we went up to Mandy and Ryan's for breakfast. This year the men were put in charge of cooking, I smelt disaster but surprisingly things went well. Mandy usually cooks however this year she didn't. I guess having a child a few days earlier is a good enough excuse to take it easy. After breakfast Ryan, Jamie, Rob, Perry, and I went up to the local ski hill, Whitewater. Rob had made some snowskates, so we took turns careening out of control down the hill. That evening we went to Heathers for a fantastic turkey dinner with all of the fixings.

Here is a photo of us taken in January 2005 below Shannon Falls near Squamish, BC. We were on our way back to Victoria after spending Christmas in Nelson.

This is another photo taken of us in the forest above Matheson Lake in Metchosin.
Family Photo