The Latest Updates from Noah's World and Beyond...

It's been a while since Noah's last show, so it's about time to see what he's been up to.

Walking, talking, driving, exploring the undersea world, and the wonders of trains.
How much fun can one kid have?

And Dad's having fun too, attempting to climb 100 routes this year. Currently sitting at 46 with the season half over, I've got to get out a bit more often. I'm tracking my progress on 8a.nu, and am currently ranked 119th in Canada and 3203rd in the world climbing rankings (of people who have no life and who post on that website)

This is Noah's first rock climb. It's a 10b mixed route at Tunnel Rock. Here, he boulders the first few moves so he doesn't blow his redpoint attempt, while I give him a spot.


With the moves dialed, Noah attempts the climb. He sent the route in style and thought the grade was a bit soft, with the crux down low followed by fun climbing in good hand cracks with bomber gear. He recommends bringing a 0.4" cam for the horizontal crack near the top.


Noah was really impressed with this Squamish sunset from this Smoke Bluffs viewpoint. The weather early this spring was great and Noah and I got 10 days of climbing in before the end of April.


Noah's been practicing for his drivers test lately, usually for a half hour a day. He's very good with the turn signals and wiper switches so far, and is quickly moving on to the horn and headlights. I can't wait for him to figure out the e-brake.


Kasem's favourite time of the day is not Noah's half hour driving lesson.


Noah enjoys strawberries, and regularly jams entire oversized ones into his mouth.


Cute kid on the deck chair, until his foot gets stuck behind a board and we have to get a screwdriver and take off the board while he freaks out. No permanent damage.


I feel better now that I got my foot out from the jaws of that chair. That was terrifying!


Noah loves to give Dad hugs, and drool on him, and poop on the floor (sorry no pictures).


So happy.

So cute.


So friggin cute.


Don't feed the wildlife. This is from our trip to Petgill Lake, a 12km hike from the highway accross from Murrin Park. There was 3 inches of fresh snow just past this spot, and more than a foot at the lake. It was a nice April day in Squamish.


Some of you may have heard, and yes it is true, I did go treeplanting. Two weeks later and I'm just as broken down as if I never quit. In order to get the 25,000 trees in the ground in the required time (with just 3 of us), I had to bring back the "Ignore your body" theme from my rookie year in Meziadin Junction. Tendonitis, cold rain, hail storms, giant trees, slash, rocky ground, slash, tendonitis, sore back, cold rain, slash, it was awesome and horrendous at the same time in a way only treeplanting can be. But I made tonnes of cash.


Here's Kasem waiting for Matt to finish bagging up and pull out his sandwich so he can mooch off him. "Hey, whadya got there? Mind if I have a bite? It's ok, just leave it in your pack, I'll get it after you go back down the hill."


Noah and I went to the train museum today and checked out some trains, or as Noah says, "Bus!" I'll have to look up where the bus museum is for next weekend.


So stoked about the model train to play on!


With a tunnel in it!


Noah was unsure of the accuracy in restoration of this passenger car. He explained that the early 1940's vintage of the car did not match the decor, which was clearly not adopted by CN until well into the 1960's.


The inscription on BC's coat of arms in Latin reads: "Spledor Sine Occasu." Noah translated this as meaning Spledor without Diminishment, but after some thought, decided a more eloquent translation should be "Beauty without End." A fitting motto.


We also visited the Vancouver Aquarium, which is very busy on the weekends. This tank had some nice kelp in it.


Noah liked this jellyfish.


So did Dad, which is why there are so many pictures of them. And probably hundreds of kids never got to see how cool they are because he was standing there blocking the tank for like 20 minutes, no idea where Noah went.


Cool.


Cool.


Cool.


So cool.

Postcards from the Edge: Noah's Recent Expeditions in the Sea to Sky and Beyond

The saga continues with expeditions to where the bad kids hang out, the Mountain FM radio tower to "get stoked for catching air and getting rad," and to Ted Nugent's house to look into a career in taxidermy. Plus some new discoveries closer to home.

First session at the skatepark. Tony Hawk. The graffiti is the best Squamish has to offer.

I took this with an iPhone that I found on the side of a trail, under some leaves near a large puddle. After much patience and very small screwdrivers, I got it working. It turns out it had been there for 12 days and Kate knew the owner's sister. In order to bank a few karma points, I ended up giving it back, which was, I will admit, not my first intention. Nor was it to place so many commas in that sentence.

After an exhausting hike up the bike trail Mountain of Phlegm, Noah scopes his line for the upcoming B.V.O.D race and wonders if there is any more cheese and crackers.

Nice views from the FM tower at the high point in Smoke Bluffs Park.

Noah got his first 5-point Whitetail mounted the other day. He is excited to hang it in his, soon to be open to the public, Hall of Dismembered Heads and Other Body Parts exhibition he's been working on in the basement.

This looks like a commercial for All-Bran Strawberry Bites. They are delicious and nutritious. And they make you poop.

This one's for the ladies.


As soon as I finish pounding this protein shake I'm gonna go do some more reps on the bench press, maybe some free weights. Tomorrow I'll work on my lats.


A cold Kootenay on the deck after a warm Sunday afternoon. What could be better? Maybe two more?


Our new house from the top of Penny Lane (climb) on a rainy day in January. It's the white one backing onto the trees, middle of the photo.


It's official, Kate is now Canadian enough to join the army. The entire country is richer for having her among us. Kate tells me the ceremony was great, but Noah got us kicked out before it even started.


It wasn't me...

Unconventional Skypilot Attempt Ends Short of Goal but with Good Times and Heinous Bushwacking

After countless sunny days last summer spent ambling about the house learning how to be a Dad, it was time to fulfill my suppressed need for adventure. I needed to do something appropriately epic to make up for lost time, something to satisfy both the urge for physical exertion, and also to conquer and absolutely annihilate the need for adventure, at least for a little while. This trip had to produce enough of what I needed as I was attempting to pack in an entire season's worth in one trip.

Skypilot Mountain, a Squamish standard, was just the thing. However, the regular route would not do. The well-traveled, beaten path up Stawamus Creek would not be enough to slake my thirst. No, the little known route up the back side of the peak from Brittania would be the way to go. Very few people travel the route up Marmot Creek, and the threats of difficult route finding and uncertain success would hopefully prove to be an admirable thirst quencher.

Although the spotty reports we had read mentioned a rough trail near the creek, Kendra is seen pondering the definition of the word "trail."


This is definitely not the trail, but this is a very nice forest.
At this point we have bushwhacked steeply through wet salmonberry and devil's club for about an hour and a half. So far, a perfect day.


An old wooden culvert used a hundred or so years ago to pipe water downhill to power a small mining operation. It was humbling to see evidence of these hills being traveled for centuries by people with many fewer guidebooks than us.


Still not the trail, but this is a very nice talus slope.
The large boulders that have fallen from the cliffs above are a welcome change from negotiating our way down between the cliffs above.

Kendra, out of the forest now and looking quite small. After a short break and a granola bar, the scree greets us with unending glee. Two steps forward, one step back. It's laughing at us with our puny steps and vulnerable ankles. But we can see the summit now and it's not getting any closer. In fact, it looks very far away.

Insignificant human vs. unending glee.


Not the summit, but a fine spot for a rest and a photo of the headwaters of Furry Creek and Brittania Creek. Utopia Lake is just visible in the foreground, which in the 1990's was the the site of a dynamite mishap that caused flooding and bridge washouts in the Brittania townsite and Sea to Sky Highway. There's a big hole in the dam now. Several fine minor peaks are also visible, one if which is Mt. Shear which I and the Super Dog climbed two years ago.


The Co-Pilot, which I hope to summit on another outing to the upper reaches of Goat Ridge. Mt. Sedgwick and Woodfibre, accross Howe Sound in the background.


After several feeble yet scary attempts at climbing a loose and unprotectable headwall that blocked our intended path to the summit, we decided to hike to another viewpoint and perhaps a secondary route to Skypilot via Gunsight Gap. Nice views, no safe route to the summit.


Pink monkeyflower (Mimulus lewisii). This alpine figwort was the subject of a friend's PhD thesis: "Lineage Specific Inferences about QTL Evolution among Three Mimulus Species of Contrasting Relationship and Inbreeding." After studying the flower for 7 years, he has yet to see one in the wild.


Mt. Habrich from Gunsight Gap. Another must do for me, several outstanding rock routes are established here with a fantastic 5 pitch bolted 5.10c - Life on Earth. See you next summer.


After scurrying about on the ledges and outcrops of the southern flanks of Skypilot for the better part of the day, it was time to make the descent. This is the view down Marmot Creek towards Brittania, with Howe Sound in the background. I love running down loose scree. My favourite part of the trip. A few bails but no injuries. Incidentally, we discovered the rough trail parallel to the creek on the way down. Difficult to follow at times, but better than crawling on hands and knees through cedar and alder choked slide paths. Or is it?


We decided to take in the old Brittania townsite and what's left of the ore extraction and processing area. There is a dynamited tunnel entrance to the right of this photo. I generally try to explore every Scooby Doo mine entrance with train tracks heading into the darkness that I come accross, and have done so on several occasions in the area, but disappointingly, there was no discernable entrance. There was however some orange gooey muck oozing from beneath the rubble. Too bad.


Kendra drives the mine. One hand on the wheel, one hand on the bass.


Our journey complete, we hung out later that night and discovered a photo showing a hidden ledge system running to the base of a short scramble to the summit. We had hiked past it on the way to Gunsight Gap. My thirst gets stronger.

Stay tuned for shots from my trip to Mt. Alpha in the Tantalus Range 3 days later.