The Team Sherpa Blog

Okay. I concede. We’ve entered into the shoulder season here in the rockies. This past weekend told the story of this summer’s last adventure before getting ready for real snow. Tangle Ridge (2900m) was the destination for Saturday, and after a late sprint from Edmonton down to the Columbia Icefields on Friday night we settled into our sleeping bags for a chilly night. We are
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The sun had just crept out by the time we’d had breakfast. Everybody was fairly stiff from our scramble up Sunwapta the day before, but we were all still keen to go up again. Today we would attempt Wilcox peak- a more technically demanding objective than Sunwapta, but with less elevation gain and a much shorter climb. Rowan was almost humming with energy, Guillaume was
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This was a simple trip of up and down, that ended up with some fantastic sidetracks. Carmen picked up my brother Rowan and I on Saturday after work, and together with my sister’s fiancé Guillaume the four of us headed West out of town towards the mountains and adventure. Our plans were not solid, but the weather was forecast as stable. With a setting sun,
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It was a long haul to Jasper, especially after a tough day of work. Carmen picked me up at exactly 18.00, and I jumped into the bright red car she had rented. It didn’t suit our style at all- a mid-eighties Volvo sedan would have been perfect, but it seems the rental agency has more demand for brand new sporty looking bean-shaped automobiles and thus
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The Canadian rockies are a tough place. Especially in early spring. Snow, ice, rock, water and anomalous weather can all be expected and encountered at any elevation at any time. Needless to say, packing can be a bit of a challenge (or not- I usually just end up bringing it all for the early season adventures). On the first weekend of June, I left with
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I slung my pack over one shoulder, zipped up my jacket, laced up my gaiters and pushed open the door. Up here on the Borken, the weather was… bad. A cold and icy wind howled, and the fog was so thick you couldn’t even make out the ground at your feet. Luckily the cake and coffee I’d eaten in the café helped ward off the
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At the tail end of the winter this year, I set off on an adventure that I had planned years ago but had never had the chance to complete. The adventure was simple: cross the entire Harz mountains of Central Germany on foot. It would be a walk through woods and low mountains on some of the most historic walking paths Germany had to offer;
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I was up before dawn, and ready to go at 7.00. I ate a small breakfast with a young Czech I had met the day before. He was heading up to Chopok to ski down the dangerous but “exciting” North face of the mountain; I wished him luck, and we both set out in opposite directions. There was a steep 200m climb up from Stefanik,
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I awoke in the morning at around 5 o’clock, as I usually do in the mountains. There is something special in wakeing early, starting your day as the world around also rouses itself. I fixed myself a cup of tea, and a heard some shuffleing around outside. I opened the door to a transfigured world. More than 80cm of snow had fallen during the night,
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"in the Nizke Tatra, nobody knows”, I was told. And it’s true. I had left Canada about 10 days earlier, after following weather and snow conditions in Central Slovakia for the past month. It was supposed to be spring. I was anticipating snow above 1500m, maybe some wet stuff a bit lower, but not deep winter. Needless to say, as I arrived in Donovaly amid
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