Carrie’s Ramblings

Here comes the sun1
Carrie posted in Recreation on February 8th, 2010

On Sunday I sat on the chairlift and felt warmth on my face.  Cuba aside, it was the first time I in many cold dark months that I consciously feel warmth from the sun.  Though the weekend was unseasonably warm in general, hovering around the zero mark with a little windchill thrown in there, the SUN actually felt like more than just a figure of speech.  Feeling that warmed on 10 square inches of exposed skin was like the promise of spring.  That sometime, winter would end and we could be warm again.

Ryan’s just annoyed because the warm weather wreaks havoc with his cross-county ski wax.  I have waxless, I won.

Office hockey0
Carrie posted in Recreation on February 4th, 2010

A bunch of people decided to build backyard hockey rink outside of our office this winter.  They diligently shoveled out a patch and got the city to come and flood it for them.  Now at noon on any given day you’ll see people out there on our lunch break skating around and playing pick-up.  Wednesdays is the official game day when certain sections challenge other departments.  Behind the rink is a steep (STEEP) embankment where we go tobogganing sometimes.  Like, it’s really steep.  You can hear people screaming from inside the office as they fly down the pitch.

This Wednesday we held a fundraiser for the family of a woman in my office, who’s daughter was in a bad car accident and is now paralyzed.  She had to go spend more than a month in Edmonton at hospital so Shelagh had to take off work and find a place to stay down there, put ramps in their house, etc.  It’s really expensive.  So as a fundraiser for the family Environment Yukon hosted a hockey game and BBQ.

Anyone with skates got on the ice at the same time, and there was nothing to distinguish the teams.  The 17 people going north were on one team, and the 14 people going south on the other.  Unfortunately the ice didn’t freeze well and there were lots of air pockets that we broke through, making giant craters.  We marked some with boots and orange spray painted some others but soon there were more boots on the ice than free ice.  But it really leveled the playing field because no one could be a good skater on this ice.  You’d take 2 steps forward and then trip and fall.  You’d pass the puck up the ice and it would come to an abrupt stop in some hole.  Which means we spent more time laughing at everyone falling on their faces than playing hockey. Skates and sticks flying everywhere, people wiping out into you, and no one in control of the puck at all.

There were several media there and someone from the department was taking photos.

ACES bike trip0
Carrie posted in Recreation on May 24th, 2009

Now I can understand why people actually go on long distance bike trips. Before it just looked like WAY too much work to me. I used biking to get from point A to point B and only on days when the weather was nice, and only because it was too far to walk or I was late. A bike had 2 wheels and that’s all I really cared about it. Ryan had his bikes out during our summer last weekend and was tuning them up for the season. He said to me, “Hop on this bike and see what you think.” So I got on the bike and rode down the street and back and had this earth shattering comment when I was finished, “Yep, it’s definitely a bike.” Sorry I couldn’t tell that it was a particularly expensive bike or anything because I find bikes rather uncomfortable and have no interest in spending a long time in the saddle.

So when Greig Bell who teaches the ACES programme asked me to chaperone the 8-day bike trip I had my reservations. But they’re a bunch of high school students, how bad could it be?

Fantastic actually. I get it. Why people go on bike trips? Bike around Spain or PEI or something cool like that, I totally see how that’s appealing.

First off, I got to use Ryan’s really expensive touring bike. Turns out bikes that cost more than Canadian Tire bikes actually ARE better for riding. This bike had such smooth shifting and brakes that actually worked and was so nice that I didn’t die when I climbed up a hill and I could cruise on the flats at 30 km/h easily. Furthermore, it was a true test of our relationship to have Ryan lend me his precious bike. When I asked him about borrowing his touring bike I think his exact words were, “I’m not sure if I love you enough…I’m really protective of my bike.” Well at least it was good to know where I stood next to inanimate objects. I think his real hesitation came from my lack of appreciation for a good bike considering my previous reaction to him “letting me try it out” which apparently was a big step in letting me touch it. Then he realised that if I crashed his bike it would be a good excuse to buy a new one. (”As long as you’re not hurt” he quickly added when I gave him a sharp look.) Love is in the air.

But biking though the Yukon down into Alaska at the end of April could have been disastrous. I mean, it had snowed on us during 2 of training days and I could not keep my feet warm in that wind. Turns out the weather-gods smiled on me once again and we had 8 glorious days of hot sunny weather. The students all suffered from some weird sunburn patterns as they realised that just because the wind is cold as they bike over the Haines summit, it doesn’t mean the sun isn’t shining. That and the reflective power of the snow (or albedo, as they learned on the trip) meant that were right crisp by the end. I guess that’s another point: though we cooked dinner in shorts and t-shirts after biking 50 km that day, we had to dig our campsites out from under several feet of snow. Winter was still holding on.

Our route took us from Haines Junction and up over the Haines Summit (1070 m above sea level) and down (17 km of down hill in one go!) to Haines, Alaska on the Pacific coast. Cruising down that hill was so much fun as we could just coast for 20 minutes without doing any work and leave the cold alpine climate behind cross an invisible barrier (literally got smacked in the face with warm air when you hit it) and were suddenly surrounded by the rich coastal rainforests of Sitka spruce trees and Western hemlock. We camped right on the coast and walked along the beach learning about coastal ecosystem and watching a sea otter in the surf and a humpback whale feeding out in the bay. We then took the ferry up the fjord to Skagway and camped right downtown watching the cruise ships come and go and doing some history lessons in the down town parks and historic buildings. We hiked up to Reid Falls where Ryan and I had gone ice climbing this winter and enjoyed some fresh food after 5 days on the road. Then next day the students did an amazing push up the White Pass (yeah, the same one that the prospectors did in 1898) and all the way to Tutshi Lake (70 km total distance with 3000 ft elevation gain) in one day. Again, no rain, only sun and spectacular views. Our coastal wildlife sightings were by far the most spectacular and the only other megafauna we saw were a cow and calf moose walking across the street in downtown Haines. Over 400 km trip spread across 8-days. The students were super pumped about their achievement, the few annoying ones narrowly escaped being pushed off the side of a mountain by me, and I had a great time. I can totally see why people like going on bike trips now.

As usually, pics on Facebook or found here.

Skaha climbing0
Carrie posted in Recreation on April 14th, 2009

Ryan and I just got home from an 11-day road trip to Penticton, B.C. where we climbing on the popular Skaha bluffs.  On our way down we picked up some friends (Gary and Brianne) from Calgary and then the 4 of us had 5 days to climb in this mecca.  The trip down was a little hairy as Ryan and I were forced to pull over to the side the of the road and spend the night in the car in a blizzard just outside of Watson Lake, but it worked for the best.  In the morning it was clear and beautiful and we drove a couple of hours to the Liard Hotsprings were we made some coffee and breakfast while soaking in the gorgeous natural pools.  Because arrived at 6 am on a weekday, we had it to ourselves and it was like our own private getaway.  It was really cool to walk down the boardwalk with snow piled up on either side (whatever you do, don’t step off the boardwalk or you’ll never get out) and there was fresh snow on the trees and beautiful sun on the mountains around us.  That day we made it as far as Jasper when ANOTHER snowstorm forced us to find a hotel for the night. After finally making it to Calgary we bought a roof rack (Gary and Bri need to look up the definition of “pack light”), bought new tires for the car (apparently we almost died), and then took off to BC.
Penticton is a smallish summer tourist town famous for its lakes and vineyards locatedin the Okanagan.  The waterfront streets are lined with motel after motel charging exorbitant rates waiting for the summer tourists who will pay it.  I can’t imagine the city in the summer: it would be so congested and so hot…We find a sleezy motel though that was still charging off-season rates and set up of camp for the week (the campground wanted $50/night!…for an extra 20 we took the motel).
The Skaha bluffs however are just a 10 minute drive out of town and overlook the 2 lakes. The scenery was fantastic and weather, once again, just perfect.  It was ideal for us because were climbing mid-week when there was no one else around and essentially had the place to ourselves.  I mean, by Yukon standards it was crowded (meaning we actually saw someone else somewhere in the crag) but compared the normal capacity of the mountain, it was deserted.  We explored the crags for 5 days using a really horribly put together guide book and managed to figure out a few good places to climb.  We also chatted with some other climbers out there and shared favourite routes and made recommendations to each other. We were so fortunate with the weather and glad to get out of the on Friday, as the holiday weekend was expecting 200 cars a day in the tiny little parking lot. It was insanely full of people on Friday and somewhat like a climbing gym with people lined up for every route.  We got in, did what we wanted to do, and got out quickly. We had been climbing for the whole week already and were pretty tired.

On the Friday night we drove north to Logan Lake where Gary’s parents live in the summer. They prepared a fantastic Easter dinner for us and were so excited to have both Gary and her sister home for Easter for a change.   They fed us until we exploded and we rolled into bed that night full of potatoes, broccoli, moose roast, homemade bread, and lots of alcohol.  The next day we got a late start (after another HUGE breakfast) and drove north to Fort Nelson.  The weather home was a bit better though there was some conflict on music choices, but we made it home safe and sound with one day left to spare.  Just long enough to clean out our basement that flooded with melt water while we were gone.

As usual, pics are available from this link.

Cross-country ski trip0
Carrie posted in Recreation on April 14th, 2009

At the end of March I joined this semester ACES class on a 4-day cross country ski trip down the Annie Lake road.  It was approaching spring at least so the temperatures were supposed to be a little more bearable that regular winter camping in Yukon. As it was, the weather was beautiful and the warmth from the sun just perfect.  There was a wind during the day that kept things a little chilly but that didn’t stop the students from laying out on their gear at camp and sun tanning.

The first night we stayed in tents after skiing in to the site.  The snow was so deep that you couldn’t walk anywhere without snowshoes and all of the tents sites, “bathroom areas”, parking lot of pulks, and fire pit were connected by a series of knee deep trails that could only be walked on with snowshoes. Step off the trails and you’d flounder around like you were drowning on dry land.   We had to dig a fire pit out so that we could cook and hangout without having snowshoes on.

That night the temp dropped to 20 below and I was worried about being cold, but I think the vigorous night ski that Mr. Bell dragged us on just before got the blood flowing enough for me to make it through the night.  I’m so proud of my little sleeping bag!

The next day we skied another 10 km up the trail to a set of cabins and outbuildings owned by the Department of Education.  The two sleeping cabins had long Swiss style bunks at the back with a powerful little wood stove that got the place…dare I say it, almost too hot!  The only problem being that the stoves did not do “simmer” very well and I had to get up several times during the night to add wood as they would burn out quickly.  The camp also came with a handy little sauna of which the students took advantage for the two nights we were there.  Here too, we needed to pack down trails with snowshoes and let them cinter before we could walk around anywhere but it was a cozy place with mountains all around us.  The students spent the afternoon suntanning and completing their schoolwork while I relaxed with a book and a tasty bag of GORP.

On the third we took a day hike up the mountain at the end of the road following a snowmobile trail, probably used for hunting mostly.  Once at the top we were nearly above the clouds and enjoyed a quick bite to eat before hurring out of the cold wind.  Most students had forgotten sunscreen as well and were crisping up with the intense solar reflection off the snow.  But now the best part started: we rode our pulks back down the trail all the way to the bottom!  The trails was at such a perfect pitch that you didn’t really have to worry about sliding out of control or going off the trail because the deep snow mobile track kept you in line.   It was so much to just sit back and slide down the mountain as though I was being pulled by dogsled or sitting in a boat.  I just sat there and crossed my feet and looked out the mountains around me.

The last day we skied 20 km back down the road to the cars.  The students were eager to get home and I was getting excited about a 10 day climbing trip coming up. After a quick shower and re-pack Ryan and I hopped in the car for a long long long drive to warmer weather.

See pics of winter camping at this link.

Reid Falls0
Carrie posted in Recreation on March 17th, 2009

2 weekends ago, Ryan, Scott, and I drove to Skagway, Alaska to do some ice climbing at Reid Falls.  If you’ve been to Skagway, it’s the waterfall just outside of town above the Gold Rush cemetery where the notorious con-man Soapy Smith is buried.  The tourist trail takes you through the cemetery up a canyon where a beautifully clear waterfall comes pouring down the mountain.  In summer it’s quite lush and moist there, but this winter it’s frozen…almost solid.  We donned our crampons and headed up the falls then tied in to climb to the top.  The day was beautiful but unfortunatel/fortunately the sun didn’t reach into the canyon.  Great for ice conditions, not so great for warthm, and by the time I got to the top of our second ascent, I was suffering from some minor Screaming Barfies.  But it nice to get out on an adventure and the pitch and difficulty of the falls was great so it was a good day.  Plus we saw a lynx on the road on the way back!  The major bummer was only that there was nothing open in Skagway for us to get a beer afterward:(

For pictures see here.

Winter Camping0
Carrie posted in Recreation on January 22nd, 2009

Last week I was invited to go winter camping with the same ACES group that travelled down the Yukon River in the Fall.  It was sort of a last minute deal since we were waiting to see what the weather did.  The previous week it had not been above -35 C and we were just not willing to sit around and be cold and miserable for 3 days.  Fortunately we hit a warm spree. A really warm spree.  Like, tropical warm.  In fact, last weekend it was 24 C (yeah, ABOVE zero) in Dawson City.  It rained yesterday.  And now it’s back to 17 below and everything is a giant sheet of ice.

Anyway, we didn’t freeze but we sure got wet.  The temperature sat just above freezing the whole time which was okay but it made working in the snow to make quinzees very difficult.  The snow sintered well and there was HEAPS of it but the digging out process, which is usually very damp because of the sweat build up, was made even more watery because of the heavy snow.  Because of the high volume of snow students tried to build these massive quinzees and, though they were warned, still acted shocked when their castle roof collapse in on them while they were digging it out because of the lack of structural suport in the middle.  Maybe it would have worked if they had a support beam in the middle…  So those boys were happy that the night was warm because there wasn’t enough time to pile up and dig out a new quinzee and they spent the night under their new skylight.

Our quinzee was a relative success though we didn’t build it high enough and were unable to keep a very high sleeping platform.  Ideally, one should have a large step up inside the quinzee once you get through the door to allow the cold air to fall down and out and warmer air to stay inside.  Because I wanted to try a new door system, and then I broke the new door system with my massive frame, ours didn’t exactly turn out the way we’d hoped.  We, too, were happy that it didn’t get too cold that night.

We spent the middle day cross-country skiing and snowshoeing in Kluane National Park.  It was my first time to both Haines Junction and Kluane and I was excited to explore a bit.  I’d really like to go back in the summer (even though it’s full of tourists) and see Kathleen lake because it’s famous for a reason.  In the middle of winter, we had the place to ourselves, and even with snow covering the emerald blue waters, the mountains rising straight out of the lake and the beautiful sunrise around them were amazing.  I have a bunch of pictures linked here, but my camera batteries died on the last day and I missed the fantastic sunrise.

Our quinzee shrank a bit the second night but at least it stayed standing.  A couple fell in over the course of the night but the walls were so thin from the intense melting that the students were alright.  It was nice to get one last trip in with them before they all go back to their regular high schools.  I’m also proud to say that I survived winter camping in the Yukon in January, and we just won’t mention the global warming part.

Ice climbing0
Carrie posted in Recreation on January 12th, 2009

Yesterday I got out for the first ice climbing of my season. The natural falls have been going for a while but Gish’s towers are only reaching a climbable height now. The 4 towers are about 20-30 ft tall but the cold temperatures meant that it was very difficult to get your ice axes to stick. When it’s this cold the ice is too brittle so pieces just flake off rather than allowing the axe pick or crampons to dig deep. Usually ice climbing season is at the end of winter but when you’re running a business I guess it has be all season. But the day was beautifully sunny and only -30 with no wind so it was actually really nice. I went up 2 towers and it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be (i.e. really difficult).  My new mountaineering boots worked great and I’m really happy with them even though they’re super ugly:)

The towers are built by pumping water through hoses that are attached to these crude tripods and then freeze in place as the water lands around them.  The water comes from the hotsprings and actually has to be cooled first before reaching the tower or else would melt all the ice…something I find hard to believe since it’s been 30 below for the last 7 weeks.  Whatever, I’m not building them.  Gish plans to add another 10-20 feet to each tower and include bridges between them and ice caves and lots of formations to explore.  Should be fun!

Scuba diving0
Carrie posted in Recreation on November 25th, 2008

With the rivers and lakes finally frozen over I thought it was appropriate to post some pictures of the scuba diving I did this spring. I took the certification course through Confederation College with a friend of mine who was teaching the course (the college course…the scuba course was part of the college course). Well, we flew through the in-class component and pool part but had to wait a couple of months for the ice to leave the lakes so we could finish off the open water components. We did 4 dives in 2 days in Lake Superior and a small, deep, clear lake call Oliver Lake. Oliver Lake is a local teenage party hotspot and we were careful to avoid touching the bottom as it was littered with broken beer bottles and fishing lures. Real classy. But as a result it meant that there were really interesting things to look at. The instructor had an underwater camera and took some pictures of us while we were down. It was another one of his sales pitches (don’t even get me started) but it resulted in some cool pictures. I’ve posted them on Facebook finally and included the link here.

After spending two beautifully sunny days outside and underwater, I stayed up until 2 in the morning then got up again at 4 am to finish my thesis presentation and defend it.  I might have a prioritisation issue.

Bouldering pictures0
Carrie posted in Recreation on November 19th, 2008

I’ve posted the pictures from the bouldering wall in our basement on Facebook.  There’s the link finally!