BC Premier Speaks - Yawn....

Over in Lotus Land (aka: The Island and the Lower Mainland), the Premier has finally made a statement about the Gateway Pipeline Project.  


Gateway pipeline risks exceed rewards, B.C. Premier says - The Globe and Mail


I hate to appear cynical, but my feeling is that Ms Clark is playing to an upcoming election here in BC, now only 9 months or so away. This is an election she and her duplicitous party is sure to lose. Ms Clark, however, is perceptive enough to realize that most people in BC are against this project, hence her present "stand". I'm trying to feel interested in her comments, but it's just not working. Maybe I'll wait for a couple of months and see how the political winds are blowing and then I'll make a statement.

Climate Change - Another Perspective

Not that there is really much debate about this any more, but this short video does make a very quick and graphic point.


Watch 131 Years of Global Warming in 26 Seconds | Climate Central


It's also worth reading the comments that follow.  Some are quite well thought out.

Old Baldy Bushwhack

When Gerald told us that he'd spent 30 years looking at this peak from his classroom window, how could we not be a part of fulfilling his desire to stand on it's summit?  There is, however, always a risk wandering around in someone else's dreams....

Hindsight being what it usually is, Stu and I agreed to be a part of this and picked up Gerald on Wednesday afternoon, caught the ferry across the Lake and spent nearly 3 hours driving up the Kootenay East Forest Service Road and up the logging roads to the "trailhead" at 1400 meters where we camped for the night.  The lights of home twinkled just across the Lake several km away and 800 meters below us.

Morning came at 4 am.  The day was expected to be hot (+30C) so we wanted an early start.  Once fed and watered, we headed up across the upper part of the clearcut at 5 am, shortly encountering the first bit of forest and bushwhacking.  In about an hour we reached the first ridge where walking was fine and breezes cool.  We had determined earlier from our maps and a study of Google Earth that we would have to hike far to the north to avoid ridiculously steep gullies so we ended up gaining much of the elevation of the first "hill" only to lose all that elevation by descending steep avalanche slopes just to get to the base of the peak we had traveled to climb.

After a snack and cool water from the stream, we thrashed and pulled ourselves up a heinously steep alder and rhododendron gully (mercifully short) to reach the SE ridge which we plodded up to the top.  A quick measurement showed that this was a nearly 40 degree slope, but it wasn't scree at least....

The summit ( at around 2570 meters) was excellent, as most summits are after your uphill labours.  Views in all directions, home now even further below us, sunshine, a light breeze, the occasional blackfly....  After some repairs to my glasses which I managed to partially crush (note: it's good to wrap some duct-tape to your ski pole, just in case), we headed back down.  Slowly.  Managed to find the turn into the heinous steep bush, where we practiced more of what I refer to as West Kootenay aid climbing (aid climbing, for the uninitiated, is where you pull, hang or stand on gear attached to the rock), where you pull, hang or stand on any bush or tree that will help you get up or down.  There is NO style to this kind of climbing....  Results are all that matters,

Another rest at the stream, then back up the avalanche slope (now in full, hot sun), a traverse across slopes around to the ridge, back down that, off into the trees for more bushwhacking (much longer than we remembered it from morning) and then, the coup de grace, 200 meters of the worst possible thrash down the clearcut - chest-high bushes, hidden logs and holes, all in the hot sun.  Back at the truck in 11 hours round trip.  Thankfully the cola was cool.  Nothing left except the drive home and the ride back across the Lake to Home Recovery Base.

More pictures of the day are at: https://picasaweb.google.com/dave.mcc51/Baldy

The lesson from this story is when someone tells you that they've been thinking of some trip for 30 years, sometimes it's best NOT to know what you're getting yourself into.

The Earth Moved

People in this area have been absorbing the news of a major landslide on Thursday that crushed part of a small community located along the shores of Kootenay Lake.  The settlement of Johnson's Landing has been cut in two and it appears that 4 people area dead after mud, huge trees and other debris roared down the mountain.  One of many news reports is available here:


http://www.globaltvbc.com/global+news+crew+caught+up+in+second+bc+landslide/6442678872/story.html


We were out last night with a number of friends and the slide, of course, was the major topic of conversation.  Sobering news, indeed.  

Season Opener - Mt Brennan 9500 feet

 Although the amounts of snow up high would seem to preclude hiking, three of us decided to climb Mt Brennan today, at 9500 feet, one of the "big peaks" around here.

Temperatures were forecast to be +30C so an early start was called for.  Accordingly, Gerald drove by my place just before 5 am, we picked up Stu and were out of town shortly after.  At the trailhead by 6 am and  on the summit by 10:30 am.  After enjoying the views and some food, we took out the crazy carpets we'd brought along and used them to slide back down to Lyle Lakes in 35 minutes (what took us 3.5 hours to climb).  It was cooler being on the snow slopes and as we descended into the forested slopes below the heat wave was back in full force.  A few cool ones in a stream were appreciated before we headed back home.

Flood Waters

 One of the consequences of the unusually high water levels in Kooetnay Lake is all the floating debris in the Lake.  Even in this picture, looking south, you can see the trail of logs and other floating wood that has either been washed into the Lake from the rivers or set free from whatever shore it was stranded on.  Certainly a hazard for boaters.

The Monsoon Ends

 The rain gauge says it all.  In the last week of the West Kootenay Monsoon, this is what was collected by the trusty rain gauge.  That week marked the end of at least a month of cool, cloudy, foggy, rainy weather and left garden plants shivering in their beds.  I resolve to double the size of the greenhouse for next year.


We've now had a few days of hot, sunny weather and already things are drying out.  Won't be surprised to see burning restrictions in place soon.  The cool weather has left a huge amount of snow higher up in the mountains so it may be weeks before we can hike and travel up there.

Raising Kain

 As part of my regular volunteer activities with the Alpine Club of Canada, I spent 9 days at the Conrad Kain Hut in the Bugaboos, in the Purcell Mountains south of Golden.  The main part of the project was to replace the siding on the front and back of the hut and install 9 new windows.


The crew of 11 people included 5 volunteers and 6 ACC staff.  The weather didn't cooperate all that well; we had rain/fog most days, but little that really prevented us from working almost non-stop for the 9 days.


I've posted elsewhere about how these ACC work parties operate http://accsasksection.blogspot.ca/2012/07/acc-huts-another-way-to-have-fun-in.html so my only other comment is that we were fed so well that I gained about 4 or 5 pounds.


There was lots of snow still on the ground, making it impossible to find the various parts of the micro-hydro system that provides the hut's electricity.  Maybe in a couple of weeks, if it stays hot....


Pictures are available at: https://picasaweb.google.com/dave.mcc51/ConradKainHutProject


The Conrad Kain Hut is named after mountain guide Conrad Kain who climbed many of the peaks in the Bugaboos and elsewhere (Mt Robson, etc), in the early 1900s.  A real mountain legend.


(Thanks to Guido Mennes for the group picture.)