Elk & Thurston

[Anonymous]

FIVE Saturday’s running with even better weather then the previous one. It must be time for the Vancouver Summer Olympics!

A quote from Lionel: ” A wise man doesn’t allow himself to be limited by an accident of birth”; seemed so unfitting for him today. What can I say. The pictures below speak for themselves!
A young, reasonably speaking, hardy group of NSH left Vancouver a little late Saturday morning due to the CD arriving with all kinds of excuses. Am I the only one starting to hear all the Olympic excuses? ‘We are late because we were out celebrating the Olympics last night at the bar’. ‘We are late because we were having too much fun with the band because of the Olympics’….you get the point. Anyways, it did not matter because the weather was like April. Clear skies with mild temperatures made for an enjoyable drive out to Chilliwack….Marek, is Chilliwack like Bush Whack or Bushwhack?

By 9:35 after Lionel unsuccessfully tried to explain what happens to Cats when they swallow Christmas tree tinsel we broke camp and headed up the trail to E&T. I know we were close to the border but someone kept singing ‘American Woman’ all the way. On the way back down they kept singing ‘The Ants go Marching”, is there some common theme or am I looking at this to deeply? Afshin was like gone, gone for the rest of the trip until we met up at the top while sipping pina colludes basking in the sun. He must have waited for a long time because most of us went slow to start then we just gradually got slower. It was just one of those spring days when you first feel the warm sun and you want to kick back and absorb the rays. Which we did and we did it very well for great lengths frequently. Every once in a while we would hear rumours that Afshin, Eugene and Marek were getting restless so the rest of the group would pick up our lazy bodies and slowly move ahead.

I did participate in a very fitting conversation lead by Peter about his 20 year old leather crampons. It is good to review technical gear while taking on a challenging climb. Later in private he explained that it is only his straps that are leather on his crampons and the rest is metal. Good to no.

Once we were all together we literally laid around enjoying spring like conditions, except for Marek. He had other plans. Resting, relaxing, enjoying our self indulgence was not in the cards for this seasoned NSH. More trail need to be blazed. Higher mountains need to be summated. After checking with the CD and others off he went on his own. I felt guilty for about 30 seconds then rolled over for more snooze time until a snow ball fight broke out. I tell you this was one serious group. Of all people the club Pres had the most wicked right arm. She may be small, she may be sick, but she can throw a mean snow ball and hit you in places that have life changing effects.

At one rest spot the club Pres and Lionel entertain us all with cartwheels and rock balancing acts. It was like a mini circus that provided lots of laughter. Is it not so much fun being grown up!

On the way down form Elk we came across a fellow with his son strapped to some kind of harness. They had a parachute behind them. He took about ten running steps with no wind and was gone over the edge heading into the valley below. It was a magical moment to watch. After about 10 minutes we could see he was just hanging in the air far below flying like a bird in complete silence. Wonderful sight.

Afshin was gone again. He should have brought a lawn chair for the length of time he would have had to wait down at the cars for the rest of us slow pokes.
The conversation going downhill was as intellectually stimulating as the uphill portion. All in all it consisted mostly of head fakes, light discussions about apocalyptic events and sex. Nothing more than we usually discuss on long slogs. Welcome to the club Colette!

What should have taken about 5 hours we completed in 7 and covered some 1100 vertical meters. We arrived late and were home early on another Vancouver winter day with perfect conditions. Even the drive back into town with our French Man with the Italian first name behind the wheel that sits on the wrong side of his van went well. Great conversations with fun company on an amazing sunny day.

Hopefully Nemo, or I mean Marek was found and made it home safely.

Yours truly,

Elk & Thurston
http://flickr.com/gp/46073912@N03/Sy1y4E

[Author]

Posts