In a mere 18 days I will begin my first personal ascent of a major peak. I am finally taking my Rock Climbing to the next level: alpinism and mountaineering! My good friend Dan and I will be climbing the classic north-west arete of Mt. Sir Donald, in Glacier National Park of Canada, near Revelstoke, B.C. The route is a long 5.2, and offeres up incredible exposure along a near perfect textbook example of an alpine arete. (It is visable in this photo, the obvious steep ridgeline on the left side of the tallest peak).

I have been to the park on many occasions, and have always sat in awe at the presece of this peak. It is stunningly beautiful. A perfect horn, massive faces, and beautiful ridgelines.

We will be spending 5 days camped just below the Uto/Donald Col. During that time we will attempt to climb both Mt. Uto (The smaller peak to the left) and Sir Donald. It is going to be the trip of my lifetime thusfar, and I look forward to it immensely!

I took this photo last summer when I drove up to Glacier National Park to hike the Abbott Ridge Trail. It was, in a word, magnificent. Perfect clear skies. Sweet, crisp alpine air. It was a wonderful trek up to 2500m. For some reason, I never uploaded the photo’s. Well, here is one of what will soon be many photo’s from the great Abbott Ridge Hike of 2007! This was a tarn just above treeline. In the background is the massive Illicillewaet Glacier.

The evening after Canada Day brought a delightful but extremely rare meteorological event to the Greater Victoria area: A lightning storm!

I was quick to get my camera out and run for my north facing balcony to take some photographs.

I got a couple keepers! The storm appeared to be centered over the southern gulf islands, or mayber even the tip of the penninsula, around Swartz Bay or Sidney. It was a very cool sight, as I miss the epic summer storms of the Okanagan tremendously.

This was the furthest possible ‘official’ place to camp, and while I am all for pitching a tent at higher elevations, the day grew late, and I was tired, so here I camped. The next morning I finished the trek, which is a story in itself…

It was very nice to escape from the urban jungle for a couple of days. This was enhanced by the fact that the beach was deserted, which gave it a fantastic wilderness-experience feel.

I moved.

Strange feeling it is, waking up 10 days later and suddenly realizing that yes indeed, you do now live in a completely strange and different place. Even stranger for me, is coming to the realization that I now live in an urban environment. The jump from a village of 2,000 to a city of over 300,000 is all together terrifying and terrifically exciting. If you ever want to study social contrasts, this is the place to do it. In a day, I walked from the tourist trap of downtown, through the lesser regions surrounded by panhandlers and homeless, through suburbia in all its manicured glory (sic), up to the University of Victoria. It is uVic which intrigues me most. It reassures me of my real reason for being here: education. One heck of an institution is is to.

I do have a long summer ahead of me before I begin that educational journey, however. I hope to pursure photography to its full potential. In the first week here I went through 2 rools of 35mm, 3 rolls of 120, and countless digital shots. In my scrambling to adjust to new surroundings I have found it difficult to locate the inspiration to process and upload or develope all these photographs, but this is beginning to change. Here are my first two. Enjoy, and talk to you soon.

“Okay honey, next time humans throw garbage into our wetland, we’ll organize the neighbourhood watch, and guano bomb the heck out of them.“

—–
A Beautiful Wetland Preservation Area
Salmon Arm, BC
—–

Our wetlands are invaluable. They clean our air, they filter our water, they are incredibly biodiverse, and they provide a much needed home for migratory birds. Sadly, our culture seems to love to destroy them in order to construct gigantic monoliths to house our warl-marts and parking lots.

Please Visit Ducks Unlimited at:
http://www.ducks.ca

Merci.

Stealing moments
Capturing a breath
Of fresh air

Meditative moments
When the sun hits that magic angle
And the fresh life of spring
Hits your senses explosively
In a euphoric melody of colour.

Climbing in Cougar Canyon, Vernon, British Columbia.

It is incredible
How free ones mind can be
When relaxing
Whilst Climbing
A wall of gneiss.

Spring has sprung, which means there are rocks to climb! I’ve been out to Cougar Canyon numerous times over the last week now, including this fantastic day. This was photographed on Small Arms, 5.10c.

Now back to writing papers…

As you can surely see, I am taking some time off from the photoblog.

I am on hiatus, prefering instead to focus on enjoying the beauty of the Okanagan in the springtime, as well as focusing on writing my term papers and rediscovering my passion for rock climbing.

I also am preparing to move to a new home, a new city, a new life. I am very excited for the end of April, when I will take up residence in the glorious, hippy laden city of Victoria, British Columbia. This will do wonders for my social life, my rock climbing, and my photography, not to mention educational opportunities (UVic!).

Keep posted in a month for some photographical wonders, and great essays on: a) Work. b) Water. c) Renewable Energy and the End of the Age of Oil.

Good day, my cheery viewers.
-karsten