…but, be sure to check current conditions before heading up to Manning Park. We lucked out with a well-packed trail made by a group of 8+ snowshoers who headed up in the morning, just before us. We spend the majority of our time planning, scheduling and anticipating the upcoming week, month, year. We’re tied to our phones, emails, and daily correspondence from our work and personal lives. It’s kinda nice when we can take a break from all the planning and foreshadowing, drive away from the concrete jungle and into a…

Hi, happy New Year! I don’t have much experience in backcountry travel during winter months. Normally, when the hiking season ends, I hibernate until spring. Last winter, I snowshoed a little bit more than the previous year and this winter, I plan to continue to build my stoke for the season. With a quiet shoulder season, we were aching to get outdoors. On Jan 1, 2015, Ryan and I thought to celebrate the New Year by knocking an item off of our to-hike list: catching a sunset from Mt. Seymour. Snowshoes were…

Between waking up at 4:30am and hitting the road at 5:15, I was stoked to check out a new area. I haven’t explored the Coquihalla much. This wasn’t quite the Spring day I expected! 39 days until Kilimanjaro and I’ll be squeezing in every hike (or snowshoe), run, walk, sprint drill I can. Expecting a decent snowshoe ahead, I picked up a bagel from Timmy’s and corrected the carbs with only 3/4 of the required insulin. Due to higher-than-normal blood sugars during the week (I think this was…

A big part of my training plan for Kilimanjaro is year-round hiking and snowshoeing. There is an essence of risk involved with backcountry activities like hiking and snowshoeing. There are a number of things to look out for including avalanche conditions. To expand my knowledge of safe backcountry travel and to make sure I’m ready for June, I signed up for a level one Avalanche Skills Training course last weekend. Objectives of this course are to: – Understand the basics of avalanche formation and release. – Identify avalanche…