MMMMMM.........Banana Bread

Yup, thats me eating again at the top of Mt. Baldwin. The only reason I go to the top is for Jen's Banana Bread. Its been a great month of multiventure here in Squamish. The weather has been awesome, clear skies, cool temperatures but not a lot of precipitation until this week. Here's a Recapadamonth.

Beginning of Feb had a great 25km ski tour into Callaghan Lodge, nordic site of the 2010 Olympics. Beautiful lodge in a beautiful location with great touring possibilities. It was just a quick in and out on this day. Managed to get up Mount Mulligan which is just north of where I was eating this banana bread. I took Big Sea, my dog, up and it turned into an epic with her. Reminder to myself to not take her touring off trail.

I was also back on my stand up paddle board and did a short tour out to Anvil Island in Howe Sound. Back on the skis with friends, Michelle and Michael, to have some of the best turns of the year off of Round Mountain in Garibaldi Park. Mt. Baldwin was another great tour and day with Jen. Started hiking the Chief this month, snow covered in areas but great training none the less. Managed to get on the bike as well a little bit of cross training, combined with some runs on the Cheekeye Trails(trails not quite ready yet). One of my best days was on the SUP again as I paddled from Furry Creek to Britannia Beach and back. I paddled back in a 20 knot wind that came up quickly and managed to surf a few downwind waves. I was also thrown from the board for the first time in the Sound on a particularly knarly section rounding a point. I was wearing my wetsuit so all was good and i had a big smile on my face. Finally I went back up to Paul Ridge for some deep powder turns after receiving 40-50cms of snow this week. 

This weekend I am looking at doing the Big Mountain Battle at Sun Peaks in Kamloops. It is basically a backcountry ski randonee race where you have to grab a bunch of checkpoints on the mountain. This should be a lot of fun and quite the challenge and would be my first ski race this year. The following weekend I am really excited to race in my first Stand Up paddleboard race in Qualicum Beach. 

For me, my season of coaching the women's basketball team is complete. This will now open up some weekends for more great adventures and fun in the outdoors.

THE WHALE

This excerpt was taken from Peter Legge's book called The Power to Soar Higher in the Chapter called Living with Gratitude. 

I read a front-page story in one of San Francisco's local newspapers, the SF Chronicle , about a female humpback whale that became entangled in a spider web of crab traps adn lines. She was weighed down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped all around her body including her tail and a line tugging in her mouth.

A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farralone Islands and radioed an environmental group for help. Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that the whale was in such dire straights that the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her. It was a very dangerous proposition considering that one slap of her tail could kill a rescuer.

The team worked together for hours with curved knives and eventually freed the whale.

When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them gently, as it to say "Thank you for helping me."

Some of the team members said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives. The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth says her eye was following him the whole time and he will never be the same.

This story really touched me. I have had experiences somewhat like this in the Great Bear Rainforest with bears, wolves and whales and understand what they guys were feeling. I have never had the incredible experience though of being touched and watched. They are so incredible, so much we need to learn. We hunted these incredible, smart mammals almost to extinction. They are making a great comeback now on the north coast. Can't wait to go back and see them this summer.