The Team Sherpa Blog

Winter is always a tough time for the long distance hiker. It’s a time when maps are unfurled, plans are made, and day to day life is played out in hopes that lofty adventures will become realities in warmer times. Don’t get me wrong; I love winter. But for the most part, I concentrate on my training and my professional life in an effort to channel my strengths and weaknesses into my upcoming adventures. This winter I have filled a few voids in my physical program that have enabled me to embrace the cold, windswept landscape for what it is: a playground of unequivocal opportunity. Here, the common denominator of snow inhibits only those who can’t see the potential in having such a uniform landscape. A single sheet of snow brings all terrains onto the same playing field.

Because of the way life works it is not always possible to be on the trail on the way up to a 3000m pass. But as I prepare for longer outings at future times, I have learned to cherish what is right next to me and what we often take for granted as local and therefore unexciting. I live on the prairies, a vast tract of land so flat they say you can watch your dog run away for three days. But what my homeland lacks in altitude it makes up for in other ways; ways so intricate and delicate that at second or even third glance, nature still holds her secrets tight. It takes a little bit of determination to find the beauty in an otherwise fairly boring landscape, but it is definitely worth the effort. In my experience, if you go out and try to look for adventure it will always present itself.

I recently moved back to my home city of Edmonton, Canada where I have been determined to enjoy this city’s 7 month long winter to its fullest. So, armed with skis, my Ecco boots and a thick skin I ventured forth into the darkness of the post solstice season in search of… buffalo. Stay tuned for my Elk Island adventures.