Baggers Banquet and a Halloween Run

The 2012 Club Fat Ass Baggers Challenge has come to a close. It was another great year! Thanks to Julia and David for their administration of the event and for hosting another great Baggers Banquet. Bill Maurer and I won for the male/female for the most number of peaks. Bill is also the first to complete all 57 peaks in one year. Well done Bill!

The Birthday Bag!

Celebrating on top of Mt. Harvey on a beautiful Fall day - it was a spectacular day on the Howe Sound Crest Trail.

Happy Baggers!

 

Neil and I - nice early evening on the Peaks!

Below is Harry, the Junior Champion - he has defended this title several years in a row.

























The prizes, the Quaichs were piped in to Scotland the Brave. Thanks Alan!

 

Ean Jackson also became a "compleatist" this year by now having climbed all the peaks in the Bagger Challenge. Congratulations Ean! That's Tundra the Ultra Dog with him in the boat on the Dicken's trip. Tundra has won the canine division each year and only has two more peaks for herself to become the first canine compleatist.

This year the  Twisted Quaich was awarded to 2 families with young children who were getting the next generation out bagging - Congratulations to the Dagg's and the Healey -Thorpe's.

This weekend we also participated in a trail 1/2 marathon. I'm proud of this one! I have spent much of the late summer/ fall climbing 21 peaks. Running and bagging are 2 different sports! The fall is also a difficult time of year for me with my asthma. Neil signed us up for this trail event and despite me having the best excuse in the world such as not able to breathe while sleeping - he really encouraged me to try the event. I used a lot of Ventolin out there today but was very pleased to see I was second in my age category! Big Birthdays do have some advantages! It was also nice to catch up (literally|) with trail buddies (Baldwin) ;-) Well done everyone! We are signed up for events most weekends prior to Christmas - looking forward to them!

 

Here Comes the Rain Again!

Dave and I - wet!

This weekend the rain came after the driest summer/fall in 117 years. I haven't been around that long but have found myself trying to adjust. That might sound strange for someone who was born and raised in the Vancouver rain. It's amazing how you become accustomed to the fair weather. The rains were torrential all weekend - we even lost our power for most of today (thanks generator!)

 

Being hard core baggers we tried to bag a peak despite the weather on Saturday. It was a bit of a scramble in the house locating the necessary rain gear, hats and gloves. We picked Dave up and drove up to the Mt. Seymour parking lot - the weather was terrible. We could hardly see the buildings in the parking lot and the wind and rain were nasty. Team decision - not wise so we jumped in the car and went lower down on Seymour to do a 2 hour run on the trails. Today we managed a 2 hour run at Hayward Lake during a calm in the rain storm in the late afternoon.

 

Fall is a great time to set some plans for the upcoming winter to keep us moving. There are a number of events we are considering locally throughout the fall/winter and we have our eye on some international events for the spring.



Thanksgiving Weekend Bagging Fever

This past weekend was our Canadian Thanksgiving long weekend. The weather was spectacular! Bagging fever hit many - there was plenty of activity on the North Shore mountains. Photos, emails and text messages were live from the peaks. Here are some photos of our spectacular outings. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

 Early in the day, starting the climb up Brunswick Mountain- Craig and I.

 Working our way up! It's quite exposed and steep.

 Craig and I on top of Brunswick - Neil is taking the photo.

 Heading down from Brunswick to connect with the Howe Sound Crest Trail for more peaks.

 Neil and I on Fat Ass Mountain

Neil pointing out where we are going next! On our way to Hat Mountain.

Hat Mountain 

Gaiters helped with the brush - good tip Craig!

 

 Hat Mountain's Communication Tower.

 The view!

 The view of Mt. Harvey from the Howe Sound Crest Trail - it's next!

 Going up Harvey - it's steep and exposed!

 Very steep and Exposed!

 Neil and I on top of Mt. Harvey

 Did it!

 3 Happy Baggers with the Lions in the distance.

Neil and Craig enjoying the views.

 The next day, riding in to the trail head.

 Stashed the bikes in the woods.

 Paton, Coliseum and Burwell-having a rest.

 The route down on the Paton trail - steep and gnarly.

 The ride back to the truck -almost dark!

 Day 3 - Craig's Bagging Glove repaired with duct tape.

 Craig doing trail maintenance on the Mt. Fromme Trail.

 Baggers delight - left over Pizza.

Craig and I at the top of Fromme Mountain. It was here that I received a message from Neil - he was going to be late for Thanksgiving dinner - indeed he was - by 2.5 hours. Neil went on a trip up Indian Arm by boat and bagged Mt. Dickens with Ken and Ean.

Well done Baggers! It was fun.



A Quick Trip to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island

We have recently returned from a quick trip to the Canadian Maritimes. The Maritimes have extensive history of French and British settlement dating back to the seventeenth century, forming a unique culture that predates Canada.

I presented my Thesis at a conference in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. It's a long way from the West Coast of Canada to the East Coast - 5, 800 km's if you drove it - we went by air. From Vancouver, it takes just as long to fly to Halifax, Nova Scotia as it does to fly to London, England.
We had a fabulous time. It was everything we thought it would be - very friendly people, incredible hospitality and so very scenic. The history of Canada is also plentiful here!

 Pier 21 in Halifax,Nova Scotia the gateway to Canada for 1 million immigrants between 1928 and 1971.  It also served as the departure point for 500,000 Canadian Military personnel during the Second World War.

 Theodore the tug boat - cruises the Halifax harbour.

 Lunenberg, Nova Scotia is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This designation ensures protection for much of of Lunenburg's unique architecture and design, being the best example of planned British colonial settlement on North America.

 Mahone Bay with the 3 churches in a row.

 Peggy's Cove and the Lighthouse.

 Peggy's Cove - the community maintains a rustic undeveloped appearance.

 The people still fish for lobster. Colourful Adirondack chairs are throughout the Maritimes.

 The Swissair Memorial of Flight 111 that crashed off the shore on September 2, 1998. The three notches represent the numerals 111.The sight line from the three grooves in the stone points to the crash site.

 The Charlottetown, PEI Yacht Club, has been around since 1937.

 Running on the beach at the Bay of Fundy.

 A nice celebration of Fall at a shop/restaurant.

 Lobster Dinner at the Conference.

 Running on the Boardwalk in Charlottetown, PEI.

 The Farthest East Lighthouse on PEI.

 The sign on the road before the farthest east lighthouse in PEI.

Another interesting sign!

 

It was a quick trip but we are planning to return!