Willett - August 7

Had another go at Mt Willett yesterday.  I'd been up there a couple of times before, but Catherine hadn't and when another couple indicated their interest in the peak, we decided to give it a try.

To give us more time, given the long approach and lengthy hike, we drove to the trailhead the night before and camped.  Just after dark, we were treated to a raging lightening storm with wind-whipped rain, making it almost too noisy to sleep.  We were up early, however, and clear skies promised a nice hike.

The summit was reached just at noon, after following the route through alpine meadows and over a ridge, appreciating a new trail section recently constructed by the Community Forest trail crew.  Views were great in all directions and we had some fun identifying peaks in the area (Loki, Cooper, Brennan, etc) before starting the descent.  A 10-hour day with the elevation gain and loss made for some tired bodies.

Saskatchewan Section Mountaineering Camp - July 20-27

The annual Sask Section ACC mountaineering camp visited a new area this year: the Adamants in the North Selkirks, northwest of Golden.  The Alpine Club has a hut in this area (look closely in the trees at the lower left), the Bill Putnam Hut at Fairy Meadows, situated at around 2000 m, with easy access to the Granite Glacier (shown in the photo) and the Gothics Glacier.   It's quite a spectacular place.

Although the hut isn't all that far from the West Columbia FSR, the terrain is rugged and the trail (which does exist) is much overgrown with slide alder and devil's club, so the most sensible access option is helicopter.  With 4 flights of about 5 minutes each, we were able to ferry 19 people and their mound of gear to the hut in under an hour.

The week was spent exploring the area, providing instruction on glacier travel, knots, crevasse rescue techniques and other topics related to travel in the mountains.

It was a great week although the sun and heat made it pretty warm on the glacier.

Pictures can be seen at: https://plus.google.com/photos/106717482826961530532/albums/5905871919361023969?authkey=CMCf88WG65qU0wE

Exploring the Koots 07/07 - Mt Jardine

 On Sunday we did a hike up to Mt Jardine, one of the peaks at the end of the Schroeder Creek Valley.  This is a peak I've seen from a distance but never actually been to.  Access is via the Rossiter Creek FSR, blocked a few km in by a stream/bridge washout.  The trail is an easy hike with the usual Kootenay Valley elevation gain, along a well-defined trail for these parts, right up into the sub-alpine below Mt Jardine.

From there is was 15 minutes up the final ridge seen in the photo, where views opened up in all directions, even as far as the Bugaboos to the northeast.

After a 2-hour hike back down to the vehicles it was a short drive home and then supper out with friends visiting the area.

Snooping on Citizens in a (supposedly) Democratic, Free Society

There have been some recent revelations about the extent of government spying on it's citizens (and everyone else, to be fair...).  The most egregious reports have come out of the USA, but I really wonder what is going on here in Canada?  I suppose the stories will come out at some point....  We've already had the talking points from Vic Toews but I hope we've moved past the "with us or with the pornographers" stage of the discussions....

The argument is often made that "...if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear...".  One prescient comment I saw put it this way: "If you say you have nothing to hide, you probably lie about other things too."

The Washington Post had an article which it called "Five Myths About Privacy".  It addresses that "nothing to hide, nothing to fear" mantra that's thrown out there far too often.

As the Washington Post article put it:

 "Even if a person is doing nothing wrong, in a free society, that person shouldn't have to justify every action that government officials might view as suspicious. A key component of freedom is not having to worry about how to explain oneself all the time."

Exactly.

Tools of the Trade

 Had a bit of an upgrade here on the hacienda the other day.  I'd been cutting down some big trees that were shading the garden and threatening the house and vehicles (as well as the usual dead tree cutting up that I'm always doing...).  Anyway, my trusty, but old, 1980s-era Homelite saw quit.  Actually the saw runs fine but the tip sprocket on the bar seized, and it's almost impossible to find a replacement for a saw that old.

Within an hour or so I'd made up my mind to upgrade to a new, efficient Stihl chainsaw and came home with the model shown above.  Used it to cut down the final tree in the trio.  I have to say that I'm impressed at how well it works and how fast it cuts.  Has safety features that didn't even exist when my old saw was made.  Should last me the rest of my life.

Today, Catherine and I finished filling the woodshed with split wood, pieces that we'll be using in the winter of 2014-15 so it has lots of time to dry and cure.  It's so nice to get that job finished.  My chainsaw work for the season isn't over yet, though.  I have lots of downed trunks to slice up and pieces to stack, ready for next spring when we go through the process once again.

Taxing Problems

A recent post from Wonkette reminded me of a recent vote here in our area.  Ours was about whether to authorize borrowing funds to build a new regional fire hall to replace the run-down, dilapidated, inadequate building currently "tacked on" to the side of the historic city hall.  In advance of the referendum, comments against the plan sounded familiar: "never a basement the fire department couldn't save...", "building legacy monuments...", "showers and a kitchen??  WTF are you thinking - waaaaay too fancy...", "how about a metal Quonset structure..." and so on.

Thankfully, sensible heads prevailed and the vote was positive by almost 2 to 1.  What I had trouble understanding is how a subset of society seems to believe that there are NO minimum levels of services that should be part of communities in developed countries.  I include here treated water, centralized sewage treatment, fire and police services, libraries, primary health care....all have had their time in the spotlight of local discussion.  Sound familiar?

Back to Oregon, where voters refused to raise their (incredibly low) property taxes so they could afford to have police services available outside regular business hours.

One comment following the story made the following observation:

 "The libertarians have themselves an awesome vicious circle going on. No or very little taxes -> low services, which means you can point out that the government isn't doing anything to help you, so why pay taxes, let's cut 'em more! -> lower taxes mean cutting necessities like police, fire, road maintenance, etc -> OMG, the society is going to hell in a handbasket! Government can't control anything, this justifies my hoarding of guns, gold, and supplies so I can take care of myself -> etc, until non-libertarians step in and behave as frickin adults."

Amen, brother.

Kootenay River Paddle

 A group of us decided to canoe part of the Kootenay River from Canal Flats to Wardner, which is at the top end of Koocanusa Lake, not far from the USA border.

The plan was to be on the water earlier than the mosquitoes and before the rush of snow melt hit the river, making it much faster and more dangerous.

It took most of a day to drive over to the East Kootenays and do the vehicle shuffle, but we were on the river by 5 pm.  The first bit was fairly fast and exciting, but the water was clear and cold and the weather prospects were good.  We only paddled about an hour the first afternoon.  The next 3 days were spent paddling south under absolutely clear, hot skies.  Stretches of calm water followed by sections of fast.  It was excellent.

Pictures are at: https://plus.google.com/photos/106717482826961530532/albums/5875368938986209073?banner=pwa