Canoeing

We spent the week out at a lake learning the basic canoe strokes to prepare for a whitewater paddle at the end of the week. Canoeing is a graceful sport that becomes meditative once you know how to make the canoe go where you want it to go. Reverse figure eights, sculling pry's and draw's, forward figure eights and pivoting turns were some of the techniques we worked on solo and tandem. Eventually I'd like to do solo whitewater canoeing like in this video I have posted. AWESOME!

"You are better off than cavemen"

I'm not sure what details I can release pertaining to our three day survival course other than it was exhausting. Day one we meet John a former SAS for the British Army with ridiculous stories about training in the African jungle. He tickles fish, has went through rigorous torture resistance training, and once went five days without sleep. Day two we watch a movie about extreme survival called "Through The Void" about a mountaineering trip gone terribly wrong. After lunch we are told we cannot eat for two days and so begins the survival exercise. One match fires, solo and group shelter building, navigation, survival "spooning", and vital decisions are tested as we spend 30 hours in the bushes without food or water. Day three we stumble out of the forest cold and tired. I survived 47 hours without food, 23 hours without water, and a night in my solo shelter with the temperature dropping to -5 Celsius. I did give in at three in the morning and found one single match to light a fire to pull me through the rest of the night (we were supposed to make sleeping bags out of cedar).

Climb On!

Flashback to standing on top of the climbing wall ledge attached to the local hockey rink. I am eight years old with tears streaming down my cheeks clamping on the metal bar that contains me high above the safety of solid ground. I do not want to drop off the edge of this wall. I do not want to rapell down relying on a single rope... This week I was in Stonehill, Montana "anchoring" and "cleaning" routes both involving rapelling from heights down rocky ledges. I kept thinking about how terrified I was at eight and how AMPED I was now using my ATC to descend rock faces. This week we learned movement techniques, climbed challenging 5.8-5.10d routes and solidified anchoring basics. In this short time of five days I have become fascinated with climbing and look forward to improving my technique and problem solving skills. Plus, my forearms are nicely toned and now I feel sort of legit hahaha. Maybe i'll take my Top Rope Instructors course in the spring time. That would be a challenge to work towards.

Mountaineering!

What could possibly be fun about climbing up huge bodies of ice? For starters you get to wear crampons which like moon boots make you feel invincible. What used to be a slippery slope is now an easy stroll up a 45 degree hill when your spiky friends are hugging your feet. When climbing a glacier you attach yourself to your group by a harness, carabiners, and a long climbing rope so that you can not fall to far. The crew practiced making ice anchors and crevasse rescue during our 5 day trip in the Columbia Icefields in Jasper National Park. "Falling" into a crevasse was very thrilling, exploring the differences in ice density (white to shades of dark blue) and going back in time day dreaming about when this ice was formed is mind blowing. 

Haggered

My best friend Jaelynn came down this weekend to visit me and she made me realize what this town can do to you on a Saturday night. Enough said she might have broken her tail bone and lost her voice. We headed down to The Brick House and got hooked up with the best nachos ever (by the best staff ever). We played pool with some miners at the Fernie and danced to techno at Bulldogs to end the night. Needless to say this town will wrap its arms around you and give you a wet willy so you just better hold on tight and enjoy it.

Delayed Delay

After not having internet for A MONTH I let my blog slide... But it is back and running and I hope you continue following my adventure. A lot has happened in a month so I will make a point form list of what major events have been going on:

• I have learned how to use a topographic map and compass to navigate around the Rockies.
• The class went on a five day backpacking trip but was snowed out on day four! 
• We have spent the last week learning climbing knots, anchors, and mountaineering safety. Can you tie a munter hitch?
• At all breaks at least half the class is in our climbing gym bouldering and creating climbing routes such as "Jersey Shore" that requires "The Situation" abs.

Photo Cred: Byron W. Crossing Sunken Creek on MAST outrip 1

Schemes

I've been thinking about how I can aquire money while being a student without having to work minimum wage. Is there such a thing? I started watching this show on HBO, How To Make It In America, about these two twenty something dudes hustling in New York. Of course, some of there financial adventures are illegal, the general idea is that they have fun and are never bored. As a student am I suposed to wait out the few years of spam and used books and write it off as a part of a "coming-of-age" right of passage or can I really find a get rich quick scheme that gives me financial flexibility? If anything watch this new show because although it may be fantasy, it gets you thinking big.

Lead their lives

"When someone sees the same people everyday, they wind up becoming part of that person's life and they want that person to change. If someone isn't what others want them to be, the others become angry. Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how others should lead their lives, but none of his or her own." -Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
I came home from Halifax in May, without most of my stuff and a lease signed for September. I thought I would be going back to Dalhousie but instead, I am going to college to become an outdoor guide in Fernie. I am not sure how I changed my life course over the summer but the ride has been a challenge because like Coelho says I do not have a clear idea of how to live my life. And i've been so angry all this time! Who's life have I been leading instead of my own?

MOUNTAIN EQUIPMENT CO-OP!

Wow! Today I went to Calgary with my dad to pick up a chunk of my gear from MEC. We spent about 4 hours in the store shuffling from department to department. I wish they had shopping carts there because I had to buy so much stuff! I think this was the biggest shopping spree of my life. Climbing gear, paddle gear, Gortex, socks, and packs! MEC Calgary has a small but useful climbing wall to test out any harness or shoe you try on so you know what your getting into. But I did not know what I was getting into until I saw the bill. Oh lord! My gear better pay off this year. One more week and classes begin!

Beer Cart

Working at a golf course this summer has left me a lot of time to think, especially when I am driving the beer cart around holes 3-9 and 14-18. The beer cart is a noisy mammoth that guzzles gas and sends you flying when you hit the tinniest bump. It makes me wonder if a "green" beer cart would be considered an option at golf courses. Wouldn't it be a fun job to pedal bike a small cart full of refreshments around the course? You could get one of those bikes you sit and lay back in and managers could advertise the beer cart job as one that gets you fit and tanned while enjoying the golf course greens. It would make no sound, be easy to repair, and save you the cost of gas. I wish I could drive around a beer bike instead of the mammoth.

A place to live

Here is what I know, I have two male student roommates who are both twenty and we are living in a rental attached to a daycare three block away from the college.  I met them both on www.ourfernie.com, a great online resource for finding a place to live with roommates. I can't wait to have my own place to cook!

Comfort but no skill

I just returned from the beautiful Flathead River in North Western, Montana. My family and I canoed the beginner friendly river for two days. Popular with fly fishermen, this glacial clear river shimmers in the presence of burnt sticks, left over from a forest fire earlier this decade, jutting from the surrounding hills. Although we have both "paddled" the flathead before we learned quickly that our steering skills were minimal when we flipped our canoe! What a shock when we tipped into the crisp glacier water, having grown up often canoeing and never flipping, it seemed to slip our minds that you could get wet going down a river in a canoe. The flip was followed by a lot of yelling at who was to blame and eventually some tears of exasperation were shed, but we became a good paddling duo by the end. This small trip reminded me that although I am comfortable outdoors I do not have the skills that match my confidence (thus MAST program should help!). My parents never taught me to tie knots or steer a canoe on any of our outdoor trips but they did help me develop a love for outdoor recreation and nature.

Rainy Day

It was pouring rain when I left home to go to hot yoga this evening. Lightning looked like giant camera flashes. As I laid on my yoga mat looking up at the white vintage tin ceiling I began to wonder if Dalhousie was ever the right place for me. I have already completed one year of university there, but I decided to devote this year to the MAST program and stay closer to home. The rain reminded me of many days spent in my residence room alone and missing home but always curled up with an anthropology book or scientific journal reading grabbing my interest. I will miss university academia! This weather makes me wonder if Dalhousie is the best place for me to get my degree or if going back there again will make me sad like this past year.

Advice

My mom said we think too much. She said "do, be, THEN think".

The Riveter

To cover some of the costs for the MAST program I have taken a job waitressing at a golf course. Today, I had an interesting conversation with an older man about the "olden days." A few decades back (he is a senior) he went into the pool hall with his son and was astonished to see women playing pool. Before, he said, it was not socially appropriate for women to go into pool halls, it was a big "no-no". I was standing before a man who had lived in a time when women cooked and cleaned at home for the most part and I wondered what it was like for him to live through so much change; where it is acceptable for women are becoming outdoor adventurers let alone play pool at a bar!

An Introduction

I wanted to start a blog to chronicle my adventures this year at the Mountain Adventure Skills Training (MAST) program in Fernie, B.C.. I am writing for two reasons; to provide a detailed resource to future students of the program and to build a portfolio as a non-fiction writer to fuel my aspiration to become a travel writer.

This is an introduction to "Learning About Adventure":

WHO: your girl sierraforas (foras means outdoor in latin)

WHAT: a documented account of my year at a school for outdoor guides featuring photographs, music, and of course warming heartfelt tales of what is REALLY going on.

WHERE: the resort town of Fernie

WHEN: 2010 baby ;)

WHY: so I can become an outdoor guide of many sorts, from rock climbing and mountaineering to skiing to white water rafting

(NJJYFXSEFJ93)

For now. Si.