Olympic Peninsula - 04/27/08

I helped Lauren with her field work on the Dickey River. No pictures were taken.

Canon Mountain Circumnavigation BC Ski - 04/26/08

Matt, Ben, Tim, Dan, Jim all convinced me to join them on an adventure in the Enchantments to ski off the summit of Canon Mountain. I swore I would never hike the rode again, but here I am again hiking the road. This would be especially difficult because I just got back from South Africa and haven't exercised in a month. The road was not to bad, but the skinning up to Colchuck Lake killed me and I was totally wrecked by the time I got to the lake. I knew this would be a long day and offered to bail and meet them back at the car. Nobody wanted to hear that and soon I was skinning up to Aasgard Pass. Jim and I were in the back and made it up to the pass while the others were waiting for us. After a few minute break we were skiing down to Inspiration Lake. Dan went first and after two turns, he was caught in a slab avalanche. I have never witnessed one before it was extremely terrifying. Luckily it was not that big and he was able to stay on the top of it. We all were able to follow him down and soon after we went down to him. He was ok, besides being shook up and I guess we all were. Now we were planning on skiing a huge line with the same aspect and obviously decided not to ski that line anymore. We had two choices, the first being to head back the way we came and the second being to ski around Canon Mountain. We decided on the second choice and it turned out to be epic with many miles of terrain to traverse and much elevation to gain and lose. After facing many times were we thought we would have to spend the night we finally made it to the top of the ridge above the road. Now we just have to ski the 5000 or so feet down to the road before it gets dark. Of course one of Tim's bindings breaks, which adds to the experience. Eventually we were down to the road and hiking back to the car. The total tour was approximately 8000 feet of elevation gain and between 20-30 miles of distance covered. What a long day, but at least everyone was ok. Pictures can be found at http://alpinenapping.com/main.php/v/mountains/2008/canon-04_26_08/

South Africa - 04/01-19/08

Lauren and I spent three weeks traveling around South Africa. Pictures can be found at http://alpinenapping.com/main.php/v/travel/2008/southafrica-04_01_08/