Happy Holidays

It was good to spend this Christmas at home on the west coast. In the few days preceeding the holiday I wasn't convinced I was completely in the spirit of things. But the snow, the treats, and the fact that my mother is a wonderful cook made me come around. Besides, I find it really easy and fun to shop for people I care about.

This Christmas Eve was a wacky one, for sure. After meeting friends and doing some last minute shopping downtown, I met up with my friends Will and Elsa the dog in West Vancouver in the late afternoon. The sun was shining and it was so beautiful that we both had one thing on our mind - deep water soloing.

We arrived at the edge of the seaside traverse about 40 minutes till sunset. The sun-kissed rock was still retaining a lot of heat (for Canada), and the high tide was sending larges waves crashing down upon the cliff. What better training for the alpine than this, I thought, as I removed all valuables from my pockets. I was pretty sure I wasn't going to make it across, one way or another, and I was trying to push the reality of how cold the ocean is and my lack of swimming ability to the furthest reaches of my mind.

I got wet, really wet. A rouge wave of icey saltwater came and soaked me, instantly sending my teeth a chattering any reducing the contents of my chalkbag to soddon, milky mush. I managed to reverse the sketchy moves I was already commited to. Will soloed out.

When I knocked on my parents door half an hour later, I didn't tell them why I was wet, instead hid my cothing with a jacket untill I could change.

That night my car was broken into. The thieves smashed a window, bypassed a few grand worth of climbing and rigging equipment, several pieces of high-end outerwear, and instead made off with my Ipod, my sweet sunglasses [ouch!], and my Chevy racing hat [green flames (!)]. All I hope is that someone listens to the music on my mp3 player before they wipe the memory, that stuff changes lives.

Merry Christmas, everyone!


JK

The Anderson on Alpinist.com

My good friend Craig McGee is responsible for adding 3 very high quality new alpine rock routes in the Anderson River Valley Range of BC. McGee is motivated to the point of suspect ADD, and is also newly engaged (congrats to him and Ruby). I was involved with one of these along with Brad White, and it still ranks as some of the nicest climbing I have done!



A new trail has been cut to get into the area, so now there is no reason not to check out the awesome established lines and explore the amazing potential this area has to offer.

Read the Alpinist report.

Happy holidays,


JK