Bunnin, Bici Forever!

Alright, it has been weeks, but the Belgians want to know the story so I will now provide some explanation for these pictured antics. As you may be thinking this is distinctly unlike the Per most people know, but something had to be done. The basis for this endevour was two fold. Bicisport needed a win in the Elite mens event. Bunnin was our man. He had been very consistant on the podium at numerous events throughout the fall, but the top step had continued to elude him. He has acted as a lone soldier, flying the Bici flag with little recognition and spending too much time on open highways to bring the Big Blue the glory it deserves. I wanted to create an entourage of sorts to show that Bicisport is a club with soul, a club that supports its riders and to give Bunnin the leg up on the best home turf course the season has to offer. The second half of the equation is that racing in this province is at best dull. Spectators tend to be restricted to other racers, parents and the odd bicycle commuter in a yellow wind shell.
I made a large flag out of rags I found in the laundry room that read "BUNNNIN - BICI FOREVER, put on my Bici headband, forced Jesse to wear a Bicisport jersey with Bunnin written on the back and borrowed a cowbell. J Sparls showed up to make a solid trio for the first half of the race. We ran from point to point the entire race seeking maximum supporter coverage. My voice was gone half way through, but we pressed on delivering enthusiasm and support like Alberta has never seen before. Bunnin lit it up from the start, riding aggressively in a display of confident exuberance. In the end he took fourth, but he threw on the flag that had then become a flowing white cape and continued to represent the passion all the way to the following...bike messenger race downtown, messenger house gathering, Tubby Dog stop, locale hopping bicycle brigade (6 man strong, stunning 6 establishments!), popo evasion, lung cancer defiance and another Tubby Dog stop until early Sunday morning.
Bici Forever.

More Magic

More mountains, more magic

After a Saturday filled with heckling at a cross race (hopefully more on that later, photo sources are needed to do that justice...), riding a messenger race in the downtown after dark and taking over 17th Avenue by bicycle until the early hours (more later, photos again), Sunday's hike was to serve as a welcome tranquil relaxation from the hectic 24 hours prior.
The alpine group is getting skinned to the core, with only J Sparls and I taking the short drive out to Moose Mountain on the eastern reaches of the long arm of the Rockies. Winter is coming as was apparent once in the Kananaskis. We drove the 7 kilometers up the lower slopes of the mountain to the official trail head. Along the way we stumbled upon a handful of hearty mtb riders braving the snowy conditions.
significantly as we became more exposed to the wind. This leads me to the only real hair raising moment on this trip. As we rounded a corner the wind started gusting to a speed that must have been in the 100km/hr range. I was using my trekking poles and all my strength to push onwards. Then it happened. With my head down the wind caught my new Oakley Eyepatch glasses and slipped them off my face. I watched helplessly as they bounced off the rocks once and then literally blew off down slope towards a cliff to the north. It didn't take long before I was bounding through the snowdrifts after them and only seconds before disaster they finally gThis hike starts out incredibly tame compared to weeks past, in fact it never really gets difficult at all. We covered the approach to the summit along the ridge in record time and began to navigate the first set of switchbacks. Although warm the temperature began to plummetot caught in the snow and I could nab them only meters from the edge of the drop. Safety first... After stowing my eye wear we proceeded to navigate more snow and high winds to reach the summit and the ranger station that is situated there. Apparently rangers spend up to 5.5 months on the mountain without relief, receiving all of their suppliers by helicopter. It was from the helipad teetering on the mountains edge that I nabbed this panorama to the west. After a lunch on the ranger's patio it was time to head back down. Moose Mountain is special in its easy accessibility and true summit nature. The views are 360 degrees with the Rockies on one side and the vast prairie grasslands to the east. We could just make out Calgary through the haze it has created for itself, nestled there in the open wasteland it calls home. It always baffles me how a city can simply appear in the middle of nowhere and in the span of 100 years be what it is today.
Conditions are changing in the mountains and winter is fast approaching. I got my new Salomon trail runners today. With their Gore-Tex protective qualities they will be a welcome change from the ultra light road runners I have been using to gain access to the overworld.

Operation Evac

January 7, 2008. Bergen via Chicago and Copenhagen. One Way. Days are numbered. Evacuation order in effect.

Tracking Treasure

Yamnuska, made it to the top of second bump from right.

It never ends. Today I climbed Mt Yamnuska with Shona, unbelievable, where have these mountains been all my life? I am addicted. 5 peaks in 16 days. So how did I get myself to the mountains yet again? The power of spontaneity. I was looking into flights at Travel Cuts getting a smoking deal quote from the agent when the mobile started buzzing. I took a peak at the call display and knew it might be adventure time. Minutes later called back, left a message and then headed off to class. 1 hour into class a text message, I busted out the door, and an hour later I was at the foot of the first slope on the eastern border of the Rockies, Yamnuska. Yamnuska boasts what is at times claimed to be the longest scree run in the Rockies, essentially a relatively stable massive gravel pile. It was like being 8 again and playing in the gravel pits I never was allowed to venture into. The pitch was steep and paddling through the gravel took a lot of effort. As we neared the top of the gravel and the traverse along the bottom of the cliffs the gradient steepened and gravel gave way to hard pack that was just too steep to get a confident grip on. Once on the traverse we made our way to the west side of the cliffs and with time as a pressure decided on what appeared to be the quickest route to the summit. This route, although arguably slower was the highlight of the day. I found myself tapping into courage gained from spending too much time on the school climbing wall almost a decade ago as we climbed our way up a steep chimney route to a point just below the final ascent. I was feeling the fear at several points along the route, especially when the slated rock simply pulled out as we climbed, forcing very delicate movements and speed. Once at the top of the chimney we were greeted by this:All that remained now was a few more moments of adrenaline forcing steep pitches and a final dart to the top. My hiking partner was not looking to thrilled at our latest accomplishment and decided to stay put on the ledge as I pushed on to nab the summit and take some pics. I darted up the last bit and was met with a view that quite literally took my breathe away. The praires, foothills and Rockies stood at my feet to the east, south and west. To the north an endless chain of alpine wilderness lay sprawled in the late autumn sunshine. Below me birds circled and cried their calls out over the vast landscape. I sat perched in a physical and mental place I have never been before, it was incredible, I don't have words for it, unbelievable. I took my photos and carefully negotiated the wall down. Upon my apparent radical enthusiasm for what I had just witnessed Shona followed me to the top again for a look and I took one last trip to that indescribable place. It was getting late as we took the decent, on a substantially easier route than our choice going up. Instead of taking the scree back down the front side we traversed nearly the entire length of the bottom of the cliffs and then found a steep switchback trail back the to flat lands.

Traverse below the cliffs

Another incredible day. The weather was phenomenal as you can see. One last ditch effort to enjoy the warmth to its fullest, to enjoy what could be my last fall in these parts for a while and the company of incredible people. This weekend looks to be fine for weather so its off to the playground again for more!

Brann Seriegull!

Brann er blitt serie mester i Norge, men de fleste som leser denne bloggen forstar null og niks akkurat na, dermed slar vi over til et sprak alle forstar.

For the rest, Brann just won the "Elite Series" in soccer, its huge,...in Norway. After over 40 years without it "Gullet er Hem!". Ironically Bergen's team name "Brann" means fire in Norwegian, I find it incredibly close to flames. And since the Flames never win anything of significance and likely won't anytime soon my team has been Brann for the last few years. In Norwegian football (soccer) Rosenborg has traditionally been the dominating force with its huge budget. This year the tables turned in favor of what is likely the best supported team in Scandinavia. Brann and Bergen as a city are known for celebrating their pitch heroes without restraint, and taking their entourage to the continent when the team represents in the Champions League. Now that Bergen has taken the title one the biggest breweries in Norway, Hansa, has issued a "Gold Beer", the mint has issued a coin, parliamentarians showed up for work in Brann jerseys and the city went ballistic. My sister is living there right now, so I hope to confirm with her shortly, but until then:

Downtown Bergen, last night.
No bike cops downtown, no noise bylaws, no mass arrests, just celebration.

Magic Continues

What it looks like to have the world at your feet...

View from not quite the summit.

Now officially addicted to alpine adventure I yet again found myself in the Rockies today. This time we took it to the next level and hit Rundle Mountain in Banff. Nestled in the shadow of this monster of a mountain, Banff provides a last blast of Calgary influenced tourist trap emptiness before you escape from just below the famed Banff Springs Hotel into a wilderness of opportunity. Along for the day was the always rock solid J Sparls and a new addition to the weekend escape crew Brooks. The weather this time around was a stark contrast to the sunshine and warmth of the weeks past and even at low elevations we began to encounter snow. Sparlings research revealed that this trail held a guidebook rating of "extreme" surpassing the "difficult" rating of our previous adventures (not including Big Sister, it is unclassified as no real trail exists...). The approach was very gradual and tame, but once the trail started to show its "extreme" side we were climbing through the trees on a layer of light snow which added an element of technical advancement. We broke the tree line relatively late in the ascent and found ourselves on a ridge to the summit which reminded me all to much of Big Sister from last week. After navigating the lower slopes of the open terrain members of the party began to get skeptical as to the possibility of safely reaching the summit. I decided to leave my partners in high adventure behind and take the next ridge, still well down from the summit. With light blowing snow, some ice and plenty of loose rock it was a technically difficult ascent. Mentally it was potentially devastating with shear drops on either side of the ever narrowing ridge. I reached a higher point and decided enough was enough, snapped some pictures and returned cautiously down to were my compatriots patiently waited out my need to scare myself. I got my fix and we headed down again. Just over 4 hours later another day was done and memories cemented. I can't get enough, the next adventure is most certainly just around the corner.

Gutta pa tur

Gabriel & Dresden - Tracking Treasure Down

For J Sparls.
The title of this track tells the exact story of my life. Constantly tracking treasure down, and finding it everywhere!
Gabriel & Dresden, an influence in the vast world of electronica which you no doubt have been touched by if you frequently treat yourself to this genre. Hailing from San Fransisco this duo comprised of DJs and producers Josh Gabriel and Dave Dresden have been remixing the legends since 2001. Although I had heard versions of this track countless times in Belgium this summer it was more recently on their latest yet to be released (officially Oct 22/07) disk set Toolroom Knights that I rediscovered this incredible sound. Enjoy.



Gabriel & Dresden
Tracking Treasure Down Remix
Organized Nature

Mountain Magic The Sequel Part 2!

Panorama view from top of Big Sister

Top of the world

In perhaps the most random turn of events since...late August (my life seems at times like an endless array of random occurrence) I ended up on the top of a mountain again yesterday. Within a 30 hour period I ended up spending 12 hours on mountains, incredible, this is how it happened. On Sunday after the Grotto Mountain adventure I ended up working at the Oval as the supervisor on schedule never showed and because I need every dollar I can get. I was still bursting with energy from the day's events and after telling my tale of high adventure to my coworker Shona at the front desk and observing the proposed near summer temperatures forecast for the coming day it was decided that another trip to the mountain playground around Canmore was in order. That evening I searched the interweb for a suitable destination and came up with Big Sister. According to the guide this mountain is higher than any of the others I have recently summited at over 2900m and as the tallest of the very distinct Three Sisters visible from Canmore it seemed like a solid destination. Only hours after returning home from Canmore I was back on the #1 heading west for more time in the high alpine. Big Sister is best attempted from the backside which meant a 20 km drive along gravel roads to the Spray Lakes dam. This is the first hike this year were the city would not be visible from the slopes and made for an incredible sense of remoteness and adventure. From the brief reports I had read the summit was best reached by a ridge on the left side of a substantial gully system and with this as our only guide we hit the trail and started upwards. the lower part of the mountain was similar to the day before in steepness and challenge, but it quickly proved to be more than we had bargained for. Within half an hour the trail disappeared into a mass of rock and some trees. We decided to veer left and started scrambling up steep rock faces in hoped of finding the trail again eventually and attempting to stay on the ridge. Once we broke the tree line, maintaining the ridge became increasingly difficult and with the steep open faces we were climbing on all fours for long stretches at a time. I felt like I should have been wearing climbing shoes, had some ropes and maybe a helmet for falling rocks, but instead I had running shoes, a backpack with now useless bamboo ski poles strapped on my back and bleeding hands. Once we neared the top the wind was significant and warranted only a brief stop for some quick pictures no time to even fear the trip down again. The true summit was not much further up, but the consensus between my compatriot and I was that the final pitch was far to steep and exposed to make for any sort of safe and responsible action. We then pointed our toes downhill and started the incredibly slow descent to try and find a decent warm spot for a bite of lunch. Although we both maintained that time was irrelevant on this adventure I can almost guarantee that picking our way down this monster took twice as long as the scramble on the way up. Going up we had simply set a pace and climbed without looking back or down, with no perception of what we were actually getting our selves into. At times I had looked back and felt some serious fear creep through me, but dismissed it and pressed on as my hiking partner seemed virtually fearless. The way back don was an entirely different story as the mountain was fully visible between our feet. The ridge we had climbed up was impossible to attempt going down as it had involved some seriously sections that blurred the distinction between scrambling and rock climbing substantially. So instead we decided that the best plan of action was the one side of the scree, boulder and snow gully. All I can say was that it was loose, incredibly steep and breathtaking beyond that majestic views. After lunch on a sheltered face we thought we had the worst behind us as we were hovering just above the relative comfort of the tree line. This was not the case. We took to the ridge again in an attempt to find the trail we had come up on, but this led to significant challenges. At one point as I was leading I found myself on a line were I had to drop myself off a 3 meter high ledge. With a solid hand hold I gripped it for all I was worth and found myself dangling with Spray Lakes beneath me. I dropped myself down onto another steep slope and resumed the decent, writing this doesn't do it justice it was incredible. Shona didn't like the look of the maneuver and opted for a safer route. Turns out that this was the story of our decent. We would come across a dangerous section which seemed the only viable option and then once we had cleaned it would discover other routes that were not quite so deep into the danger zone. To make a long story shorter we never found our original trail, or we did but thought another way was easier. The trail would disappear into a mess of rock and steeps and we would resume danger zone defiance once again. After over 6 hours on the mountain we finally found our way back to the car and after a quick wash up in the icy freshness of lower Spray Lake hit the road back to town after what turned out to be the absolute highlight of anything I have ever experienced in a mountain setting.

The best way down.

These alpine adventures are becoming steadily more daring and thrilling. As long as the weather holds this coming Sunday will see me once again head west to another day of feeling alive.Follow the ridge just left of the center gully... if you want to scare yourself Into the Sunset

Mountain Magic The Sequel

Backside with traverse from false summit from the far left to were we stood half an hour later on the summit.

View of Canmore from Grotto Mountain false summit

This Sunday I found myself back in the Rockies for another alpine adventure with a solid crew of cyclists. This time we were going to take a look at Grotto Mountain which we had observed the week before as being a potentially good hike. From the Alpine Club of Canada clubhouse we began the ascent. The weather was incredible yet again, barely a whisper of wind and nearly 20 degrees on the lower slopes. Compared to last week this trail was far more demanding, offering relentless steeps and plenty of loose trail to fight for traction on. With a bamboo xc ski pole from the garage I was able to ascend with relative ease and as a group we set an at times fierce tempo to reach the summit. We broke the tree line relatively early on this mountain and soon realized that our objective at over 2700m altitude was significantly higher than last weeks ascent of Lady MacDonald. Coming up to the first false summit we stopped briefly on the exposed ridge to enjoy a meal with a panorama, near 360 degree view of the Canmore valley and the seemingly endless ranges to our north. We then proceeded to traverse the ridge to the true summit. To me this was the highlight of the day with the breathtaking views on either side, rugged trail and baking sunshine. Once at the true summit we decided to attempt to make the day a loop rather than go back the way we came which led to a very long and demanding scramble down a steep bouldered slope until we could finally traverse across a few scree sections and duck into the wooded slopes again. Although we could easily have thought that the majority of excitement was already behind us we found the polar opposite awaited us. The way this mountain works a number of promising routes down through the trees end in shear cliffs with several hundred meter drops. With Phil at the helm we would continuously end up just above these drops and then have to climb back up and traverse further in an attempt to find a better route. We finally stumbled upon what you could possibly classify as a trail, to me it looked more like a series of rock slides clearing the trees. Grabbing onto tiny fir trees, half sliding, half falling down the slopes with oncoming cliffs, and a steep drop into a giant gulley on the right this was definitely the furthest into the danger zone we had come in the last week. The rush and sense of freedom and being alive was incredible picking our way down that mountain. I am sure I could have been more in the moment, but I was feeling the signs of dehydration after 5 hours of hiking and the only thing I could think about was getting fluids at the earliest convenience store in town. What a day. More to come I was sure, I just didn't realize how soon...

Westward from Grotto Mountain

Mountain Magic

Half way up

View from the summit towards Canmore with our veteran guide.

This past Sunday I was finally able to escape the city lights and sounds to the Rockies for a day of hiking with adventure hungry Sparling and a crew of young buck cyclists. The route planned was 'Tea Room" which heads up the south slope of the range to the north of the city of Canmore. From the base we could see a distant snow covered peak and as the goal for the day we set out at a brisk pace to make the ascent. The conditions were magnificent with no wind on the lower half of the mountain and temperatures high enough warrant only a single layer. Higher up the slopes as one breaks the tree line the winds started to pick up and the technical difficulty of the trail increased substantially although still a simple hike. After a couple of hours of steady hiking we reached the traditional trail end at what was to be a tearoom serviced by helicopter for wealthy tourists. Fortunately the final structure never saw daylight and all that is left is a simple foundation and a makeshift plank heli pad. At this point we could see that the final push to the summit was steeper and more intimidating than we first had thought from lower down and we began to question whether it was worth it to risk the high winds, snow and loose scree...in running shoes. Fortunately all doubt vanished once we sought advice from an older mountaineer type whom we had met several times on the way up to this point. He assured us that the last leg was fully within our abilities and proceeded to guide us up the final pitch. This master of the mountains picked a scree munching route that saw us on the summit basking in our mountaineering glory before we had one chance to turn and observe the majestic views surrounding us in a 360 degree panoramic marvel.

After a descent filled with running shoe scree skiing heel turns, aggressive trail running through the worst of the rock gardens on the lower slopes and finally substantial joint and muscle pain we were back in suburban Canmore were it all started. It was a great experience and reminded me of how little I have been able to enjoy this incredible natural resource located only one hour from the bustling city. It was an experience that definitely requires a sequel.

The Backside

Bicisport GP

The year's biggest supercross extravaganza which has been generating absolutely no buzz the last months is going to blow you away...back to Edmonton early. It's canceled.
Apparently the city has a high turnover of parks paper pushers and the time frame for ABA races is longer than anticipated. In addition 6 classes and revolutionary plans for 2008 requiring money to be made are not conducive to organizing an event of this caliber. I mean I have to cope with east side vandals busting down my course, freak snowstorms and mounts of muffins and coffee to keep people warm and happy while huddled in rec center basements. The thought brings back chills...
On a more serious note I had every intention of putting on a race again this year, but had decided to make it bare bones with no prizes for finishing or showing up, just some gas money for the fast cats to cut down on unnecessary organizing and hassling of sponsors. Then I got the word finally that I had been down all the wrong paths for a course and that I was too late to get one when I finally found the high road. It all became justifiable when I decided to finish my degree in December and the accompanying workload.

So thanks for all of your inquiries and interest in the event. Just make sure you show up to the Terrascape race, Lonn's got the wet leaves and beer flowing like lava out Mt Baker.Use your new found free time to work on tricks like these. Limber up in style with agility stunts in the parking lot pre race and set those muscles at ease post event.