Alpine Adventures In Patagonia

The Torre Group from the west

As most of you know I broke my tibia/fibia and needed my ankle realigned just after New Years. I am sure some of you are wondering how and why this happened. Well I am going to give you a run down of what I have been up to since October and give a detailed description of how I ended up the couch at my parents house in Sackville NB.

On October 10th I flew to Coyhaquie, Chile to start working a 45 day mega hike/mtn section of the Patagonia Year program with NOLS. Once there my co-instructors and I got all the gear sorted and maps pulled and on the 16th the students arrived. They got oriented to the NOLS Campo and then we started right into the gear issue and rations process. On the 17th we were off into the field.

Our trip started from the balsa (cable ferry) across the Rio Baker about 20km from the small town of Cochrane. Our first day was challenging due to a student being sick and also not being on the map until we actually got to our X.

After some long chats with co-instructors and our sick student we decided to evac him on the morning of day 3, we were still at our same location as day one to wait to see if he improved.... he didn't and was evaced and unfortunately didn't rejoin to course.

Pretty cool clouds!

The moon

When Felipe got back from doing the evac we started on our way. The next 12ish days we travelled through beautiful lenga forest, had another evac, crossed a number of creeks and rivers, had some wonderful cultural experiences with a family on the Rio Neff and learned the basics of self arrest and living in the mountains.

Lenga Forest

Self Arrest practice

The last day of travel down to Lago Bertrand we set the students off on there own. They had the skills and knowledge to do this and did extremely well. The day started in the snow and as we descended the rain came and came in classic patagonian style. Erik, Felipe and I arrived at our X soaked to the bone with little food.....3 hrs later the students showed up also soaked to the bone and with little food but in good spirits regardless. Nice work guys! 45km under our belts.

So now it is transition time from hiking to mountains. Fergy came to join us to make a 4 person Mtn I-team and one more student left the course. Our X was on Fergy's campo and it was a nice way to spend a few days getting things organized for the mountains. We got all the mountain gear and food sorted and bags packed fairly effectively and then back up into the mountains.

Our route looked something like this: Puerto Bertrand up to Cordon Soler traverse Cordon Soler to Rio Soler 8 days, travel up the Rio Soler and Rio Cacho to Cordon El Canal and over to Cordon La Torre 11 days, and then traverse Cordon La Torre to Cordon Diablo Nergo and out into the Leones Valley. The route isn't overly long 100km yet it had a number of, I think 5 800-900m days and 1 1200m day.

Lago Plomo

During our time in the Cordon Soler we got slammed by wind and snow 3 tents where damaged and fixed even with our 3-4m high snow walls. Also we travelled in white out for a few days to make progress on our route. Fortunately the wind let up and we got in the Rio Soler in good form.

Felipe and Erik building our huge snow wall

Glacier Travel practice

Once we got our food we headed up the valley and set up a day of ice climbing and dry glacier travel on the Soler Glacier. After some fun ice climbing and learning opportunities we started the bushwack up into the alpine. It took a few days and a lot of hard work but we got to Cordon El Canal and base camped for 3 days... during those days we worked on glacier travel skills, did some peak climbing and ate a lot of food. The weather was great as we moved down glacier to traverse up and over into the Cordon La Torre area. Days where long and the snow was soft but the guys worked hard and we all enjoyed amazing views of San Lorenzo and San Valentine (the 2 largest peaks in Patagonia).

Pretty nice place for Mate!!

The crew

The next few days where resting and getting our next re-ration. We put ourselves in good position and got the food back up into the mountains before the weather came in again. Then we started our traverse on Cordon La Torre, a cordon full of great climbing with little exploration.

We set up a base camp on the glacier at about 1800m and stayed there for 3 days... taught single team crevasse rescue, some leadership classes, did more ice climbing and had a fun walk through some large seracs. Also a rest day that allowed for Erik and I to climb the SW face of Cerro Melquina which was unclimbed. We climbed the route in 10hrs camp to camp. It was excellent climbing with challenges up to 60 degree ice and low 5 class rock.

The next day we continued our traverse of the Cordon and camped at our descent pass into the Cordon Diablo Nergo. We decided to scout and also get up early the next morning to do some climbing before we left the mountains. At 4am I left with 6 students, we climbed La Torre, and 3 other peaks on our way back to camp..... as far as I know none of these peaks have been climbed by NOLS until now. Nice work guys..... then at around noon we started our technical glacier descent down to get off glacier. Oliver led the way and then handed the leadership over the Patrick once we got out of the steep terrain. Then it was of glacier and only 3 days left.

The last 3 days had the students travel independently of instructors for 24 hrs and the last day we exchanged evaluations and had a traditional Chilean Asado.

Thank so much to my I-Team Fergy, Erik and Felipe and to the students who accomplished so much!! Nathan, Nate, Packy, Peter, Stuart, Farm, Wilson, Alastair, Oliver, Cristian, Miguel, Paul, Marcus, and Ike. If any of you read this, sorry I'm not going to be climbing with the old leg needs to heal..... have some much fun!

On December 3 Mita arrived at the NOLS Campo in Coyhaquie (my climbing partner for El Chalten) and we discussed gear and things and were on our way to the land of bad weather, long approaches and granite spires before we knew it. We arrived in Chalten on Dec 7th bought the new guidebook by Patagonia legend Rolando Garibotti and started wishing for good weather.

The view on the way into Chalten.... that is Fitz!

Fitz and Pincenot

Mita walking into town

Mita hiking into Nipinino with El Mucho.

We waited for about 10days before we got to climb in the mountains and out first objective was Cerro Pollone which stands at 2600m and is set back closer to the Southern Icefield. During those 10 days we met lots of climbers and did some sport climbing at the local crags around town. I also went for a run to Laguna Torre which is a beautiful 16km round trip... highly recommended. And Mita and I also hiked into one of the advanced base camps in the Torre Valley called Nipinino.

Mita and Fitz!

Having fun

The Supercanalata!

To get to Pollone we hiked in to Piedra Negra, about 8 km from the road and set up our base camp and then headed up to Paso del Cuadrado to stash gear so we didn't have to carry it up in the morning. The next morning around 3 am we started off for our climb, we made good time to the pass and down to the Fitz Roy Glacier. As we travelled up the glacier the fresh snow slowed us some but we still made good time to the base of our route. We started climbing a beautiful 65 degree snow/ice couloir up to the Pollone Glacier and then travelled up the glacier to some lower angle ice. We got into some waist deep trail breaking for a bit but fortunately thing steepened up and we got into more ice climbing terrain maybe up to 70 degrees... at this point visibility was low and the wind was hollowing.... we were only 1 pitch from the summit but turned around and headed back to camp. The climbing was excellent and going for that route next time I would have bivied closer. We ended up travelling 10km round trip from Piedra Negra to our high point. All in all a wonderful outing in one of the most spectular climbing destinations in the world!!

Mita and Piergorgio's West face

Me and Piergorgio's West Face

Mita climbing a steep pitch on Cerro Pollone

When we arrived back in town my buddies Cory Hall, James Monypenny, Chris Ru, Luca Vallata and Dani had just climbed Pincenot via the Whillans-Cochrane which is a beautiful looking line and from there photos it looked awesome!

We checked the weather and things didn't look great for the next coming days so we ate food and did a litte climbing around. As the days progressed the weather was starting to look really good so Cory, James, Chris, Luca and I where talking about going to climb Cerro Torre. Mita wasn't so much keen for ice climbing so she got another partner and they where going to go rock climbing on Fitz Roy. As the weather forcast got closer it was obvious we were going for the Torre. We organzied food and gear and started in on December 23rd via Paso Marconi.

Probably unclimbed

The duct tape sponsored athletes!

Team "Duct Tape" Cory and James

This way in is long but with little elevation gain. We camped over the pass at around 1400m (20km 8hrs) and cached some gear and then the next day moved to El Elmo high on the SW face of Cerro Torre (15km 18 hrs). Chris decided to head down before El Elmo due to not feeling well and at our camp on El Elmo on Christmas Eve James was vomiting so in the morning when we were getting ready to go he stayed and waited for use.

Our camp on El Elmo

So then it was 3 Cory, Luca and I. And 3:30am we started climbing. I took the first 3 pitches and when we arrived to the mixed section Luca (italian) took over and led through that section. At the headwall Cory jumped on the sharp end and led us to the summit by around 1pm. Then down we went..... got to James and continued down to the edge of the icefield where we bivied (+700m -1600m 22hrs). The next day we hiked out 33km (12hrs) to the road and back to Chalten with the high of climbing one of the most spectacular Granite Spires in the world.

Luca working through the mixed climbing

Luca on some beautiful climbing

Belaying the second last pitch

Cory on the final pitch on Cerro Torre

Summit... Merry Christmas!

Again the weather turned and more snow and wind came in true Patagonia style. But as usual you are checking the weather each day to know when to be ready and to try and figure out your objective. As New Years came so did the good weather! James, Cory and I teamed up again and with a lot of talking and debating we ended up deciding on going to try the Supercanalata on Cerro Fitz Roy. This route is 1600m long with difficulties up to 60 degree snow, WI4, 5.9 rock.

Looking up the Supercanalata the day before

We started in on Dec. 31. Part way in Cory was having some achillies issues and opted out.... James and I kept going. As we where reach the bivy spot we met up with Japanese climber Cazu. He ended up joining us for the climb. On Jan 1st we started out of camp at 1:30am, got to the base of the couloir at 2:30am and started climbing! The first 1000m is 40-60 degree snow/ice with a few short mixed sections.... we simu-climbed this and reached Bloque Emportrado at around 6am. I lead out and right for a few pitches of easy snow/mixed and then James took over for a few and we continued this way to the top. James rope gunned some hard mixed pitches that would probably be 5.9 in dry conditions but felt like M5 and I used a variety of techniques including rock shoes and ice axes in one section and clean aid through anothers. We summited around 5:30pm.

James on probably the crux pitch M5ish

Aiding the cold cold rock probably 5.10

Some nice warm golden granite

James on the ridge of Fitz

Great Pitch!!

Last Scottish mixed pitch

James belaying from a magical place!

A fun snow, icy traverse

Just below the summit brewing up

On the summit we ate some food and rehydrated before starting the long rappel down the route. At 8:30pm we started rappelling. Our 4 rappel saw the ropes get stuck so I did a little climbing and ascended the ropes to get them free. From here we had little challenge with the ropes and things went fairly smooth.

Rapping off 1600m left

I was the first one to exit the couloir the next morning at 4am. As I was descending the glacier I was wondering, "oh i bet I can sled on this hard snow pretty well and that would save me a little energy", so I sat on my butt and started to slide with my crampons on... not smart. As I was sliding I decided I needed to stop and take my crampons off so I didn't hurt myself. Unfortunately I didn't get my right foot up in time and my crampon caught the snow and I fetched up and did and summer-sult then stopped.

I heard a crack when my crampon caught and knew right anyway I broke my lower leg. So I slow slide my way down the glacier to the moraine below to wait for James and Cazu. When James came I told him right away and then we moved down to our camp. Once there we ate food and splinted my leg. At around 12:30 James headed out to get a rescue started.

Splinted up

That evening at 8pm 3 climbers who had heard, there was someone with a broken leg up the Fitz Glacier, came in and started to rescue process. We moved maybe 1km before the wind and light stopped use. The 4 of use camped in my 2 person BD single-wall tent for the night... with my splint and all. The next morning around 5:30am the rescue team came with a flexible stretcher they put me in that and dragged/carried me along the glacier and up over Paso del Cuadrado. When we got over the paso there were more people to help with the carrying down in a hard stretcher. So I got into the hard stretcher and we started down. The team and I arrived to the valley floor at around 6pm where a 4 wheeler was waiting for me. I was at the hospital getting Xrays 45 minutes later.

Juan, the rescue crew and me in the stretcher

Getting carried out

I'd like to thanks James and Cazu for the climbing and getting the rescue started and to everyone that helped carry my ass out. Special thanks to Cory for getting the gear we left at the bivy, Carsten, Lukas and Mike for coming early and checking in on me through out the rescue process, Cazu for being patient and helpful and all the rescue folks who took time away from there families and work. Thanks for putting yourselves out there for me! When I come back next year there will be a huge asado that is for sure!!!! Sorry there wasn't one this year.

The ever so classy James Monypenny

An the classier Cory Hall

Well that is it. Hope you enjoyed the read... Hopefully my next post doesn't involve any broken bones.

Aguja Pollone... what a spire!

Climbing Rocks of Different Shapes and Sizes

SQUAMISH!!

Well July found me in the Yukon working the mountaineering section of the NOLS Yukon Semester. It was a wonderful 24 days of travelling through remote glaciated mountainous terrain, climbing unnamed peaks, teaching leadership and technical skills, and having lots of fun! As August came around I headed south to Squamish and Pemberton to do some climbing... enjoy.

Summit of Matier with TJ

I arrived in Squamish in the evening of August 3rd and had a nice night sleep... of course after making plans to go climbing.

These 2 weeks have been all mashed together for me.... I do know that I have had a tone of fun climbing with first Grace, Scotty P and Ben, then Mike and Gen, then Jan, Scotty B and Steph and more recently Sarah, Doug, Gen and TJ. Thanks for all the wonderful climbing!

Grace and I climbed St. Vitus Dance, Wire Tap and went cragging at Nightmare Wall with Ben Ven and Scotty P.

Scotty Palmer on Hypertension Squamish BC Photo by Ben Venter

Sending! Photo by Ben Venter

Hand Stacking... Splitter! Photo by Ben Venter

Relaxing.... Photo by Ben Venter

Mike and I went for a burn on Borderline to Blazing Saddles on the Sheriffs Badge... highly recommended!! The next day Gen joined us for a team of 3 and we went to the Upper Malamute and the base of the Grand Wall for some more cragging. We climbed Paul's Crack, Apron Strings, and a few other wonderful cracks! The next day we climbed Bullethead East a beautiful 5 pitch 5.9-10 crack system and then climbed the classic Rainy Day Dream Away so good!

Gen on the 2nd pitch of Bullethead East

Mike coming up a pitch on Bullethead East with Howe Sound behind.

That same day I was to meet up with Jan, Steph and Scotty to head into the Joffre Lakes area to climb a newly developed granite buttress. I got to there place at 4pm and we packed up for 2hr drive to the camp spot/trail head.

The climb we did was 11 pitches and went at hard 10d/11a crack and slab. The quality of the rock is amazing on this buttress! If you are heading up to the Joffre Lakes area from Pemberton the buttress is accessed via a logging road on your left about 1km before the 2km sign for Joffre Lakes Provincial Park. As you head up the road it splits go right and drive up until your car cannot go any further or if you have a high clearance 4x4 you can go a few km further. From the camp spot cross the creek on the right and follow the blazed trail, alittle route finding in a few spots, to the toe of the northeast buttress on the left of the valley.

A beautiful granite buttress up North Joffre Creek logging road.

The climbing is awesome! Bugaboo quality granite... here is the route description:
pitch 1 - starts off a bit wet and mossy then leads to drier terrian 60m 10a
pitch 2 - a short section of tricky 5.9 face climbing to a bushy climb for 60m
pitch 3 - starts with a 5.10 off fingers crack to a hard 10/11 finger crack 40m

Scotty B climbing some beautiful cracks

pitch 4 - is another hard 10/11 off fingers to hands crack to a nice traverse right on a cleft under a small roof 20m

Jan Dettmer and Step Peacock climbing up behind us

Jan enjoying the stellar granite

pitch 5 - is a steller 30m splitter hand crack that we linked into another hard 10/11 finger crack to a huge ledge
pitch 6 - move far right into a corner and hand jam up the flake, traverse up and right to a tree belay 50m
From here I would say the best climbing is finished the rest of the route wonders quite a bit and if you got off route the rap stations could be quite challenging to find. All rap stations are fixed on gear or trees. I highly recommend this climb! Even if you're not a climber the area is an amazing place to go hiking or scrambling.

We got back to Squamish that night at around 11:30pm so I headed back to the campground for a nice night sleep. The next day brought some relaxing and a few pitches of sport climbing at Zoe Wall and the Petrified Wall in Murrin Park with Sarah and Doug.

That night Jan and I planned on heading to climb Milk Road 10d/A0 9 pitches on the Tantalus Wall. We meet in the climber parking lot below the campground and made the short walk to the base. This route has wonderful sustained 5.10 climbing.

Me on pitch 1 of Milk Road

Jan on a 10b pitch on Milk Road

Jan on one of the upper 10 pitches on Milk Road

After Milk Road I took a rest day and did laundry, got groceries, went for a swim at Brohm Lake which is very popular but worth it. And that evening Gen and I planned on heading back up in the Joffre Lakes to climb the Northeast Face of Mt Joffre via the Flavelle-Lane 5.9 12 pitches.

Northeast Face of Joffre. Central Pillar is right of centre and Flavelle-Lane is the lower angle buttress in the centre.

Gen navigating the shrund

Gen 2/3 of the way up Flavelle-Lane

Fortunately I have some wonderful friends in Pemberton who made there house available to me whenever I wanted it while they were in Montreal so we stayed there Tuesday night. We woke at 4:45am and left the house at 5:30am we got to the Cerise Creek trail head at 6:30am and started in. The walk in is about 3.5-4km to the alpine then some steep moraine and glacier travel to the base of the thin buttress left of the Central Pillar. The crux of the climb is pitch 1 & 2 where you climb steep poorly protected 5.9 face for about 50m to where the terrain eases off to low 5th class terrain with a few more pitches of 5.7-5.8 climbing higher up. When you arrive at a large ledge with a big snow patch you have finished the hardest of the technical climbing and have 4th and low 5th class terrain to the summit. Though the terrain is less challenging the rock is of very poor quality and staying in the present is very important. We simu-climbed the last 6 pitches of the route and it was very very chossy.

Summit!! With Matier, Hartzell and more behind

The route was super fun and a full alpine experience. If anyone is going to climb this route be warned it is not travelled much and there is a lot of very loss terrain. We descended the South Face 4th class with 35 degree snow and where back at the car at 8:20pm.

Gen and I headed back to Pemberton for supper and sleep. The next morning was a bit slower. regardless we got our stuff ready and headed back to Squamish. We ended up climbing Calculus Crack and Memorial Crack. After a swim at Brohm Lake Gen headed back to Squamish and I head back to Pemberton to get a good sleep and then meet up with TJ for another adventure into the Joffre Lakes area. We planned on climbing Mt Matier's West Buttress 5.9 7 pitches.

As Thrusday went and Friday came I was up again at 4:45am ate breaky packed my stuff and then TJ arrived, Simone TJ's wife, owns a small organic farm in Pemberton called Root Down Organics if you are interested in learning more about the farm google them!!, and we head to the pass.

TJ on the first pitch of Matier's West Buttress

At around 6:45am we started in and made great time up to the glacier and across it to the base of the buttress. The climbing consisted of fairly good rock from 5.6 - 5.7 until you topped out the buttress. It is graded 5.9 but it really didn't feel that hard to me. After we topped out the buttress we traversed the ridge to the summit and then descended the North Ridge, 3rd class 35 degree snow, back to the glacier and made it back to the parking lot by 6:30pm. Another wonderful day in the alpine!

TJ part way up 

TJ close to the Summit

Upper Joffre Lake from the edge of the Matier Glacier on our descent

 Today I plan of eat a bunch of food, read Games of Thrones "A Feast for Crows" and play in the garden. A nice way to relax before hopefully some more climbing adventures to come next week.

Thanks for all the climbing again friends! I wouldn't be able to do these things without you all!!

Life is good! Photo by TJ Reeves

Life in a Nutshell... Climbing!

Luc pulling hard in Evandale

Well a lot has been going on in the past bit and I haven't been able to update you all on things.... sorry for that. Fortunately I have sometime and can fill you in on the happenings.

After my attempt on new route on an unclimbed face on Vancouver Island with Phil Stone I started climbing at the Romperroom in Nanaimo, On the Rocks in Campbell River and when the weather was good got in some climbing at Horne Lake. I also got to visit and good freind on Cortez Island, thanks Heidi. When my time on the island was up I border a plan and headed home to New Brunswick for a 2 week visit with the family.

During my time in NB I got in a fair amount of climbing.

NB rock climbing is excellent! The majority is great granite climbing from easy 5 class to 5.13. The climbing hub is Welsford where Cochrane Lane, The Sunnyside, Bald Peak, Bear Mountain, and Mt Douglas can be found. St. Andrews also has some great climbing. The ethics change from area to area and the Climb Eastern Canada forum provides insight on the ethics and development going on in these places. See my links to check it out.

I spent most of my time climbing at Cochrane Lane and Sunnyside, with a evening visit to Evandale, a new bouldering area of high quality granite.

Cochrane Lane is the main crag in NB with around 350 routes on beautiful pink/grey granite. The climbing here is often mixed and a single rack can get you on most routes. This is where climbing in NB first started.

Me and Franca Photo by Emilie De Groot

Some fun climbing on the lower part of Smoking Cracks Photo by Franca Zambito

Emilie seconding Smoking Cracks, Minkey Wall, Welsford NB

Some recommended routes I've climbed are: Astroboy, Ragged Edges, Gumby Roof, Sticky Fingers, Smoking Cracks, Warm and Sultry Evening and there are a number of others I haven't yet to climb... soon though soon!

Marty in Evandale NB

Franca bouldering in Evandale

A 6m perfect SPITTLER hands! Photo by Franca Zambito

Thanks to Franca, Luc, Adam, Terry and Marty for climbing with me!

When my time was up in NB my next stop with Washington State where I was taking an NOLS professional Avy Course. It started on May 15 at the NOLS Pacific Northwest Branch. The 8 of use gathered and had a day of classroom and then headed to Washington Pass for some time in the snow. This is the same day Mac Schafers died while kayaking Cameron Creek on Vancouver Island. He was a wonderful friend.

I was on my splitboard which was great considering I haven't been on it this past winter due to working in the southern hemisphere..... we had great weather and fun time practicing snow assessment and beacon searches. We also got in some turns and a nice 19km tour one day. All in all a great time in a new area for me.

When the avalanche course finished it was time to head into the Cascades for a 30 day North Cascades Mountain trip with NOLS. Our students arrived on May 23rd and we got them outfitted and before we knew it we were up in the snow teaching classes and having fun.

Our route started from a small remote, boat access village called Holden, up Lake Chelan. From there we travelled past Hart and Lyman Lake, Lyman Glacier, Cloudy Peak and up and over Spider Gap down into Chiwawa Watershed. This was for 8 days. We got picked up here and shuttled to the White River Tr. head to start our way up into the Glacier Peak Wilderness Area. It took us a few days before we got into the alpine and once there we had to hunker in our tents for 4 days with only an hr our 2 here and there it teach classes before the wind and snow kicked back up. The winds gusted to about 90km/hr which made for low to zero visibility.

We were unable to get to our second planned re-ration location so had to back track down the White River. Once at the trail head we picked up our 3rd re-raton and headed back up for another go at Glacier Peak.

Once back in the alpine we took advantage of a weather for a long moving day so we could be in position for an attempt at Glacier Peak.

The next day condition weren't great for travel so we took advantage of that and taught more skills classes and planned for the next day to be a summit attempt.

The student leaders Collin and Natalie woke us at 3:30am and where so psyched the weather was clear and they made the call to start getting ready to go. We started out of camp around 5am. Travelling conditions were excellent and we climbed fast. We were on the summit at around 11:45am. We got a summit photo, enjoyed the amazing views of Baker and Rainer and then headed back to camp. The group was high on life and felt like everything came together for them. That was our 3rd day of sun in about 25 days.

We woke up to warm/wet/white-out conditions the next day but that didn't stop the group from staying positive and working hard through challenging navigation on and off glacier. We slowly and safely made our way over Cool Glacier and onto Chocolate Glacier before finding our descent down Chocolate Ridge and into the Suiattle River drainage.

Slideshow put together my Madhu Chikarahju

The next 3 days saw use travel through challenging forest, crossing creeks and rivers and finally getting onto the Suiattle River Trail and out to our pick with time to spare. Our last day was sunny too so spirits where high.

Thanks to Madhu Chikarahju, my co-instructor and our students: Natalie, Collin, Zach, John, Freddie, Mason, Jeremy, Megan, Aaron and Sam for maintaining a positive attitude in challenging conditions! When you put your time in sometimes everything comes together. Nice work folks!!

Well now it is time to organize my gear and head to Squamish for some climbing, and soon will be venturing to the Yukon for another stroll in the mountains.

Mac Schafers I'm thinking of you buddy!

Remembering a Fallen Friend!

Mac on Clenndening Creek Photo by Jan Dettmer

I first met Mac Schafers in 2005 when he came to Starthcona Park Lodge to take the Canadian Outdoor Leadership Training course. He was young and motivated. It wasn't long after his COLT course he and I were running rivers all over Vancouver Island and the BC Coast and climbing in BC and Australia.

Mac and I shared a mutual love of exploring and finding new places to play! He and I would go explore little travelled rivers around Gold River (Quatchka Creek FD) and paddled the Upana, Heber, Pamela and Ucona Rivers. We also met up for some rock climbing at Arapilies in Austraila.... where Heidi and I drove the van from Katoomba to Araps about... 1000kms one way when Emma and Mac went to Hawaii to see his family for 2 weeks. Emma was more peeved then Mac..... Mac couldn't be mad, he would commonly see where I was coming from and said I probably would have done the same but asked first... a problem I have.

Upana falls.... Mac won rock, paper, scissors so I had to go first and take the photo.

Mac on the Monkey Canyon section of the Gold River

Mac and I heading to Freda Creek for a HIGH water run in my old Pathfinder

If you knew Mac, you would have experienced his motivation, huge smile, his legendary hug and thoughtful questions and answers. He was commonly the first person to volunteer to help and very rarely wanted or expected anything in return.

Mac lived life to the fullest and was working to make the world a better place through working with Solar and Renewable Energies. As well as making the people around him better with all his positive energy.

He alway told me when I got back from working with NOLS or an adventure I psyched him up to get out there and play. So Mac all my adventures are dedicated to you and I will strive to carry your energy with me throughout them and life.  

I love you Mac and treasure all our time and adventures together, I'm so sad it had to end so soon.

Lois River in Powell River... Mac and I had the FD of this in 2007

Mac Schafers left us on May 15, 2012. He was paddling on Vancouver Island when he became pinned under a log.