From Bariloche to Bishop

Since returning from the Kingdom, the whirlwind of helicopters, planes and meandering gravel roads has spun my scene like a Moroccan carpet maker.

I got a call to go on a location scout to what is perhaps my favorite place outside Canuckistan: Patagonia...

A week of flying around in a helicopter and eating way too much Dulce de Leche was almost too much to handle

Thankfully, the sights were ok and the rediculousness of western privilege was not too guilt inducing.

If you aren't getting molested by a Guanaco at the breakfast table you're probably not in Patagonia

The ubiquitous Cancha de Futbol and the obligatory sportsman lying down faking an injury

Even if these towers turn out to be chossy,  their mere existence sings a song in my heart and makes the a day at the Louvre seem like a non-event

Thank you (again) Nature!

Next stop, the promised land of California, it's nice to see some snow cladding the Sierra.  Not sure if this lovely dome is Fairview, but what's in a name anyhow? 

 This one needs no introduction

The Lee Vining Ice Demo was a blast, and brought a cacophonic crew to this otherwise peaceful canyon.  Smashing waterfall ice to connect with nature has been a passion of mine ever since I was a boy.

One of the best perks of my job is testing new gear: Keep your eyes peeled for the Alpine mini skirt, so hot for 2017!

 Granite plus Ice, what a combo!

Getting let in on a local secret, a new(ish) zone near the Hot Springs

The duality of California, one day Ice, the next Dunes...

The desert churned out some fierce winds, so flying was not an option.

 Despite the joys of travel,  tinkering on my projects at home is where I'm always happiest

If it's not Scottish...

          With a history rich in lore and a landscape that oozes charm, Scotland is hard to resist.  Owing to peer pressure from friends Jon Walsh and Ian Welsted I voyaged to this woebegone outlier of the British Isles to check out the winter climbing scene.  Not that I didn't believe their promise of fine mixed climbing, but I doubted how much value could really be squeezed from these hills, whose highest point is a piddly 1344 meters above the sea.  I mean, we have trail heads higher than that just up the road, right?  In the end, I was deeply humbled, not only from the stout climbing but by the predatory conditions that make climbing here unlike anywhere else on earth.

 Along with Ian and Jon, the team was rounded out by Michelle Kadatz, Paul Bride and young gun Marc-Andre LeClerc.

 Our first outing was up the supposedly gentle Green Gully.  Locals assured us that conditions were modest, but hard lashings from spindrift had us feeling like a kilted, bearded man just handed us a hefty bag of frozen sand.  Marc, who is no slouch, took nearly two hours on this pitch which was first climbed in 1906 sans frontpoints. 

When you find yourself wailing in pitons and Egypting on WI 3 you just might be in Scotland...

These tools were invented for the genre of Scottish winter climbing by the "Fox of Glencoe," Hamish MacInnes.  Wodden axes were prone to breaking, "Pecks" proved nearly indestructible and changed the game forever.  Thank you uncle Hamish!

Sioux Wall, Ben Nevis, on a proper full conditions day.  We triggered one eye popping slab avalanche on our way out of the coire.

Thankfully, there was a place we could find solace at the end of a hard day in the hills.

Of course the Snug Bar could only deliver at night,  so we ran back to the highlands where snugness is guaranteed all day long.  Here, Jon and Michelle feel the atmosphere on the aptly named Babylon.

The 'Stead imitating his surroundings at the highest point in Great Britain during "Big Wednesday"

The Unicorn at Stob Coire Nan Lochan -  after two pitches we bailed off this elusive beauty, soaked and frozen.  

Pitch one of the Unicorn, I took a fifteen foot, inverted whipper out of this insecure slot, there was a fair bit of cursing but after a break I got back on on and sent through the business.

Rest days came easily on this trip.  Castle Stalker was once traded for a small boat during a dark night of eating boiled potatoes and heavy drinking.

Back in Nevis Town: Seasonal local, Ben Silvestre on the "birth canal" finish to Arc Angel

 Marc-Andre cordless in big boy country on Darth Vader

No joke, the conditions we experienced during two weeks in the highlands were as fierce as any I have seen in my 9 trips to Patagonia.

Thanks team for a grrrreat mission!

                

 

Powd'Air

              Skiing has never been my forte. As a kid I schussed around on the swizzle sticks, cross country-ing my way over frozen beaver ponds and hillocks in Georgian Bay.  I've always detested resort skiing.   I was introduced to the genre at the pretentious yet pathetic hills of Southern Ontario where an accidental bump into someone's mint S9's in the lift line would lead to a belligerent rant about etiquette and "style."  Nothing like a fully grown human sounding off about a scratch on their top sheet to make you consider becoming a climber...

              Fortunately, the BC backcountry is still safe from this kind of condescension so that is where I will go.  Also, it seems that El Niño is delivering the winter we've been wanting, so thank you  (again) Nature, bring it!

                    Here's our Boxing Day posse atop the singularly named Sugarloaf mountain

                                         Our glorious ringleader Ross Bergfuhrer

Even though Ross said he was not guiding that day, he insisted dropping in first, every time, something about "the safety of the team"

                  Here's Holly keepin' it tight in some terrain that felt a wee bit Alpine

                    Kev - A real MOG with a spirit that can barely fit in his giant frame

                                                     Helen - Escarpado y Profundo

Heli Skiing:  I guess understand why so many friends drop off the map from December through March

                                              Holly enjoys le powd'air

From here we could see the lineups for the great Boxing day sales in Whistler that we were missing

The glisse train continued with Yuki, Bram, Ashley and Helen.

                                              More fluff...

                                 Bram getting all scientifique inspecting a little roll I popped out

Yuki not missing Japan even though it's soooo hot right now!

                                  Thank you friends and thank you Sea to Sky Country

Fungophilia

             While everyone is table flipping happy over the arrival of winter, take pause for a moment to lament the demise of the funnest time of year:  Mushroom season.

 

When the Pacific Northwest looks like this, the mycelium under the forest floor pump out a most unique fruit that brings joy to my heart and harmony to the earth.

Humans everywhere forage for food and in Squamish we are blessed with some world class bounty right under our noses.

Hunting for fungus is about as much fun as you can have with your pants on, much like climbing...

                                   You can easily combo climbing and Mushrooming

'Shrooms come in all different shapes and forms; This one as you might have guessed is a Coral

This Amanita would take you to the moon if you dared eat it...be careful, you might not come back...

                      Boletus are my favorite, easy to identify and delicious when fried with butter

These Patagonian Boletes live in a remote valley,  I never ate them, but hope to return now that I know they're good to go

The Robot Valley (real name), home to untouched big walls and fungus galore

 This Reishi lived in a nearby forest before I deracinated it from Nature and had it dried for the purpose of improving my spiritual potency.

                                                           Mushrooms like to party! 

 They are also habit forming.  Our crew of hunters has blown off several days of standard funhogging to score bounty like this.  I fear it's becoming a problem...

                            Reformed climbers pontificating on the merits of the haul

                                  Pines, Bolete and Yellow Foot Chanterelles so yummy!!!!!

  I  haven't summoned the pluck to see if these are actual Liberty Caps.   In quantity, I'm told, these little suckers deliver the Neil Armstrong experience

Beautiful Morels on the approach to a cliff in Annecy, France

   Unknown specimens in Mt. Robson Provincial Park.  Oh so tempting, but we left them unmolested

                                  Some of the most elusive mushrooms on the planet.

After a day of foraging in the Sierra Nevadas of southern Spain. Sending food!

I might not quit climbing to go full time mushroom hunting but I'm already dreaming of the thaw...