Teumseh take 2

It seems fitting that the only mountain that I have failed to peak this year, I have failed to peak twice. As far as the reading on the funometer...9.1. Snow is exciting.

Last weekend Sunday morning found me sitting in the front of a pretty big church in Calgary. Big churches as nice in that the speaker is usually engaging and the music it pretty good. The best part of the entire morning though, was noticing an elderly lady both deaf and mute signing the words to the worship songs. How easily I get annoyed when the song is sung too fast or out of time or too high. She never notices any of those things and so music doesn't get in the way of her worshiping. I think thats the way it's supposed to be.

thanks

I learned a lot this weekend. Several unimportant things that I will probably forget then next time I go to do them, such as the alternate way through Calgary I eventually found when the Deerfoot was closed and how to modify an old rusty clutch cable when your original one breaks. But more importantly I was reminded how genuinely excited little kids are about life, I met two little kids and their mom in Tim Horton’s while I was waiting for my bike to unoverheat. They asked so many questions and made me feel valued and important at a time when I needed it. I also made it home today in time for my little brother's birthday party and enjoyed getting to act like a 10 year old for a few short hours. I was reminded how much I hate asking for help, but also how awesome it is when people offer it, meeting generous strangers and allowing my friends the opportunity to remind me how great they are. "How are you doing Caleb?" I couldn't be doing much better.
yo

3099 m / 10167 ft

I know it isn't that impressive but last monday I walked to the highest elevation I have every walked to before. It felt like a real mountain because there wasn't a trail leading to the top, we had to use our hands to get up places and at the top we shared a celebratory can of tuna. Thats the crew at the top of Tornado mountain. On a side note I saw a couger today while I was driving to work.
yo.

Nathaniel the Grublet

I made a new friend today, we met at the bus stop and continued on to great adventures in the wilderness. Hiw name is Alex and this is his story.

Never been to the Crowsnest Pass, seems like a nice enough town. The mountains are far more spectacular than I remember seeing before. It seems welcoming enough, at least the two guys holding a rather large sign with my name on it seem friendly. Welcome to the Pass they say, where are you from they say, do you want to go exploring off in the middle of knowhere they say. And so I did. Like I said, they seemed friendly enough.

Next thing I know we are nearing the top of a rather small trail, it has been fun enough, I've met some more people and they don't seem to mind that we are nearing the pinnicle of a rather high, with sharp cliffs on the sides, type of peak. And then it happens the driver mumbles somthing under his breathe as the wheels of the truck slide on the slick rock underneath into a gap in the mountain, he reacts quickly rolling with the hole and popping out on the other side but too quickly. Its too late, up this ramping thing into the air only to land on the bottom of the truck, wheel spinning screaming for ground to push off against, but only getting air. There we teeter, balanced on the top of a rock so peaklike in nature it should be given a name. Breathing out too quickly caused the truck to rock back and forth so the five occupants even refrained from talking.

And then with a rustle the driver slowly hands each corner person a flare that was neatly stowed away in the glove compartment. Thats me on the back left. Three Two One we light them at the exact same time, the vehicle stops rocking and start spinning slowly like a top. There we wait spinning.

An hour later still noone is talking and a sound can be heard coming from the north, straining I see a helecopter. As he nears four men dressed in ninja outfits repel quickly down towards the truck. Without a word and 30 seconds later we are air born, swinging back and forth in the wind as the chopper lifts us back towards home. Windows open limbs flapping in the wind the mood lightens. Turing on the music we realize that the antenne was somehow lost in our assent. So instead we told each other stories of our exciting adventure and listened to the story of Nathaniel the Grublet.

The End.

So I went out in my new truck, and I got stuck enough that the ninja's are some guys from camp and the helicopter was their 4runner. I really did meet alex and also broke off my antenna. I'm back, and glad I brought my truck with me.

Gargantua, etc.

There was this cave with wierd things hanging from the roof and a 56' drop, which is a long one if you have to land on rocks. A lot of snow to play in, on and while sliding down. Pretty rivers flowing from pretty mountain waterfalls also feeding pretty cold swimming (jump and dunk) holes. Welcome to the Crowsnest Pass, a backyard waiting to be explored. Warning...severe sunburn may result.
yo.

Cleft Cave

I don't have very exciting pictures of this weekend, they didn't turn out so well. But this is at the exit of Cleft Cave and those are my boots. We threw rocks over the edge. It was fun.
yo.