Mountain Festival Is a Must-See
October, 2009 – Every year, the Banff Mountain Festival puts a spark in an otherwise dreary fall season here in The Rockies. Bringing together mountaineers, adventurers, filmmakers, authors and speakers, the Book and Film Festivals offer an amazing week of armchair excitement. I decided to interview Festival Director, Shannon O’Donoghue, to get the inside scoop on the Festivals, as part of an article featured on the Travel Alberta: Holiday Ideas website.You can find the article here.
Rockies Celebrate Conrad Kain Centennial
July 28, 2009 – Mountaineering is a potentially dangerous sport that at times requires the expertise and skill of a certified mountain guide. This article takes you through the history of mountain guiding in the Canadian Rockies, outlining the centennial of guide Conrad Kain’s arrival in Canada, and shows you where to look if you are interested in mountaineering and hiring a mountain guide. You can read it here.
Sisterhood in the Wilderness
March 20, 2009 – What can our female mountain predecessor’s teach us about mountaineering and adventuring in a man’s world? This article reflects on personal experience and stories from the past and how women who love the wilderness can navigate their way through the generally male-oriented sport of mountaineering. Thankfully, there is good news, and good advice from the women who pioneered adventure in the Canadian Rockies. You can read about it in my latest article, Sisterhood in the Wilderness, in the Spring 2009 issue of Cahoots Magazine.
Looking Up as the Sun Goes Down
February 6, 2009 – I am soon approaching my 1-Year Anniversary with the Town of Banff. Learning to love a new place can be a bit of a battle at times, especially when a downturned economy deflates one’s desire for adventure and new opportunity. I thought I would write about it for our local paper out here, and remind everyone to look up, and remember why we are living in this mountain town. You can read the article Looking Up as the Sun Goes Down, originally published in the Banff Crag and Canyon.
In the Wilderness, In the Present Moment
January 19, 2009 – An avid mountaineer, hiker and skier, I always thought my time in the wilderness was sacred. I believed this until I came face to face with how much I allow my mind to pollute my time in the outdoors. While a trek in the wilderness provides ample opportunity to do some good thinking, I learned by reading A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose (by Eckhart Tolle) that most of my thoughts are repetitive and unnecessary. I observed my thoughts on some of my outdoor pursuits this past summer and found this to be very true. So how do we become more present to nature, and gain more from our experiences in the outdoors? Read In the Wilderness, In the Present Moment this article on page 6 of Green Notes (December 2008) and see what ideas I came up it. Green Notes is a publication of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS).
On Top of the World
March 28, 2008 – Working in the Canadian Rockies for a number of summers had a great impact on me in many ways. It has served as an inspiration for both reading and writing, as I have found reading more and more about mountaineering adventures and have also found myself penning many a memory of a hike, a climb or a moment in the mountains, some of which have been published or picked up by the local newspaper. My most recent article is about my summers working at Bow Lake in Banff National Park, and encouraging other young people to do the same. You can read about it in the April/May 2008 issue of Our Canada, pages 56-58.
Community-Based Eco-Tourism in Dominica
March 15, 2008 – Before leaving for a month-long backpacking trip to the Caribbean, I became very interested in one of our accommodations-to-be in particular: The Rosalie Forest Eco Lodge near Grand Fond, Dominica. I decided that I would write an article about it upon returning back to Canada, and so collected the information I needed while I was staying at the eco-center, and took the time to talk to people that were essential to the story I wanted to tell. As usual, life always writes a better story than we could ever conjure up, and the impacts of the Rosalie Forest Eco Lodge went far beyond what I had in mind when I set out. You can read about it at http://www.travelmag.co.uk/article_1381.shtml.
A Welcome Refuge, thanks to The Alpine Club of Canada
December 15, 2007 - Earlier in the winter, The Alpine Club of Canada requested that its members send in ‘hut stories,’ accounts or memories from one of their many huts across Canada, and mainly in the Canadian Rockies. Some of these huts can be accessed with a two hour hike, while others can only be accessed at high elevations on the glacier systems in the Rockies after a day of hiking, skiing, and climbing, and really do offer refuge from conditions that can be dangerous and unforgiving at times. I submitted a story of my traverse of the Wapta Icefield with a group of friends, and how the huts offered such a luxury, though they are situated amidst a sea of ice and rock and potentially dangerous weather. You can read A Welcome Refuge on any of the Wapta hut pages on the Alpine Club of Canada website: http://www.alpineclubofcanada.ca/facility/balfour.html.
