1. Tragic news this week when the body of a 54 year old Coquitlam man was found in the Mt. Baker wilderness.
2. North Shore News reminds us some of the local black bears are not in hibernation yet.
3. Changes were unveiled to the 2010 BC Bike Race route.
4. Canoe.ca has a good article on the annual migration of bald eagles to Brackendale.
5. Free Outdoors has some tips for a great hike with your dog.
6. Shaun White’s Project X website has some awesome videos worth checking out.
7. Grist has 25 reasons why you should give a damn about climate change.

- When regular free soloing doesn’t cut it, you can always try speed free soloing [via Wend Blog]

- This has been floating everywhere over the net, but in case you haven’t seen it – 2 insane dudes jump a pier kiteboarding:

- From Dave Narona’s blog, 2 winter safety vids worth checking. The first on skiing, the second on snowmobiling:

- Via Outside Blog, an awesome playboating vid:

freestyle 2009 from pion stephane on Vimeo.

- Here’s a ranndom one. Mark Gonzalez created this ‘Circle Board‘ by putting 9 skateboards together:

Visit the Alpine Club of Canada website for more details on tickets and locations.

This afternoon I came across a good report of how backcountry skiing will be impacted this winter season. The info below is taken from the Cairn Publishing website: http://www.cairnpublishing.com/author/articles/olympic_access.html (on a side note, I think I’m going to have to buy Scrambles in Southwest BC from this website, looks great! Anyone have this already?)

So, what will the impact of the 2010 Olympics be on backcountry skiing access?
The long and the short of it is that it’s probably a good year to head out towards the Coquihalla and Mount Baker.

Cypress
Trails closed to the public:

• • Black Mountain: December 1, 2009 to April 1, 2010
  • Howe Sound Crest Winter Access including Bowen Lookout: December 1, 2009 to April 1, 2010
  • Hollyburn Hikers Access Trail:
    • Above Water Board Cabin Site: December 1, 2009 to March 8, 2010
    • No access on the entire length of the trail: February 1 to March 8, 2010.
  • Road Closures
    • During the exclusive use period (February 1 – March 8, 2010), access to the mountain will be limited to Olympic and local traffic only as a security and public safety measure.
    • There will be no spectator or public parking at the Cypress Mountain venue during the Games period.

Sea to Sky Highway

• Feb 11 – Feb 28 Sea-to-Sky Highway checkpoint opens at Alice Lake turn-off. Only Olympic vehicles, residents with permits and people with hotel accommodation will be allowed northbound from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Day skiers or tourists should take commercial motorcoaches or travel during off peak hours.

Whistler Parking

• Sept 1 ¯  Day skier lots 7 and 8 were closed
• Nov. 15 ¯ Whistler Creekside staged parking restrictions begin.
• Feb. 1 ¯  In Whistler, day skier lots 1, 3, 5, 6 closed
• Feb. 4 ―  In Whistler, local vehicle permits go into effect

Callaghan

• Sept 1 – Mar 21 Whistler Olympic Park access will be closed at the main gate
  just past the Callaghan Lake road at Alexander Falls. Access to Callaghan
  and Madely lakes will still be open. Cross country trails and backcountry
  access will be via Callaghan Country’s base at Alexander Falls.

Feb 5 – Restricted access to Callaghan Valley Road begins

The Top 3 are below, but check out the contest page for honorable mentions.

1) Liam – A summer full of riding around British Columbia’s mountain bike locations, showing that its easy to find sweet riding spots in our own ‘backyard.’ Thanks to everybody who I dragged out to film and make walk up the trail over and over to get the shots!

2) Mikkel – My 2008 paddling season in BC and Alberta.

3) Gregor – The Lions sit above Vancouver’s North Shore Mtns. A 7hr hike/skin for a 20 minute ski from the west Lion Mtns,Vancouver and Howe Sound made for a great view.

1. The BC government announced it will be rolling out new rules for off-road vehicles, including licensing and helmet use.
2. BC Local News has an article on the current state of ATV backcountry ‘wreckreation’ use.
3. North Shore News has an article to get you prepared to hit the slopes this winter.
4. Dave Norona has a post up on is blog with some safety tips for winter in the mountains.
5. Backpacker tells us that snowshoers are the least avy-savvy compared to other snowsport lovers.
6. North Shore Rescue is asking for 24 hour rescue helicopter during the Olympics.
7. There are rumors that an outdoor zip-line may be coming to downtown Vancouver for the Olympics.
8. 2009 BC Cyclocross Championship date and venue have been announced.
9. Alistair Taylor has his top 10 wonders of the Campbell River area.
10. The new plans for Colony Farms Regional Park have hit a speed bump.
11. North Face has opened a new flagship store on Granville.
12. A new killer whale calf has been spotted in J pod.
13. BC’s famous white “spirit bears” are better fishers than black brethren. [via @unclespeedo]
14. Adventure Blog has a list of their 10 Favorite Adventure Biographies.

I’ve been seeing a lot of Tweets like these and its getting me excited for winter:

@Mt_Seymour: We have 7cm of snow and counting! – Nov 6
@CypressMountain: Snowing all day! Opening as soon as we have enough snow! – Nov 10
@GrouseMountain: Today’s snowfall pics: http://tinyurl.com/yfyl6rd – Nov 10
@WhistlerBlckcmb: Wow, check out the forecast! Between 45-70cm expected by Monday! – Nov 12

So here’s a look at these 4 mountains, when they are opening, and what, if any, will be the impacts of the Olympics this winter season for them. Starting up the Sea to Sky and working east:

Whistler/ Blackcomb

Whistler Opening: Saturday, November 14
Current Snowbase: 95cm
Blackcomb Opening: Thursday, November 26
2010 Olympics Impact:

During the Olympic and Paralympic period, which begins January 25 for course set up, over 90 per cent of terrain will remain open. The only closed runs will be those in the area of the race course on Whistler Mountain along with the training runs on both mountains. During the Paralympics in March, over 90 per cent of the terrain will also be open with only the race course and training runs closed on Whistler Mountain.

Whistler Mountain Run Closures (January 25 to March 27)

• Dave Murray Downhill, Wild Card, Jimmy’s Joker, Upper Franz’s

Whistler Mountain Run Closures (January 30 to March 27)

• Bear Paw, Tokum, Crossroads

Whistler Mountain Run Closures – other

• Bear Cub (February 1 to February 28), Raven/Ptarmigan (February 1 to March 21), Crabapple (February 1 to February 17)

Blackcomb Mountain Training Run Closures (January 29 to February 28)

• Springboard (riding the Solar Coaster Express, which is open to the public all season, will provide phenomenal views of Olympians training on Springboard), Lower Cruiser

For a complete look at 2010 Olympic impacts, including parking, go here: http://www.whistlerblackcomb.com/olympics/index.htm

Cypress Mountain

Opening Day: Friday, November 13 (Easy-Rider Chair and Cross-Country Area)
Current Snowbase (Mid Mtn): 45cm
2010 Olympics Impact:

I posted earlier on what looks like will be a hugely impacted experience, you can review the impact summary here. But basically, parking seems like it will be chaos, the Eagle Chair will be off-limits the whole season, and there will be no public access from February 1 to March 8. Along with this, Cypress recently announced blocking access to Cypress Provincial Park during Feb 1 – Mar 8, and some trails for 4 months! (More info here: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/cypress/). This obviously has a lot of back country goers quite mad.

Grouse Mountain

Opening Date: TBD Friday, November 13 (Paradise Bowl and Greenway Chair 4pm)
Current Snowbase: 50cm
2010 Olympic Impact:

This is an impact I can dig. During the Olympics, Feb 12 – 28, Grouse will be open 24 hours a day! I went on a midnight snowshoe trek last year and it was great. This is when insomnia is fun!

Mount Seymour

Opening Date: TBD Friday, November 20, 9:30am
Current Snowbase (summit): 45cm
2010 Olympics Impact: None

Enjoy the season!

No doubt you’ve recently heard about a grossly depleted sockeye salmon run this year, and a lot of controversy about the potential cause. For those interested in the situation, I just wanted to quickly post about a documentary that will be playing in Vancouver tomorrow, November 12 (the trailer is above). From Alexandra Mortens’ newsletter:

The entire film will be posted in a week. If you would like to get a CD of this film to set up a viewing please contact the filmmaker Damien Gillis damien@slingshotcommunications.com. If you are in Vancouver there will be a showing at:

Date: Thursday, November
Time: 7-9 PM
Location: SFU Segal Centre – Room 1500-500 Granville St. (Downtown Vancouver – Granville & Pender)
Cost: $10 for Public / $5 for Students & Seniors

For more information on the global issues with salmon farms: http://www.farmedsalmonexposed.org/

I also recommend checking out http://www.adopt-a-fry.org/ for current news on the situation, including the recently announced Judicial Inquiry by Stephen Harper.

1. Seven people were rescued in the dark on the Grouse Grind this week.
2. MEC has begun selling bikes in their stores, and the criticism from local bike shops continues.
3. The BC Liberals are still pushing for private power projects. The Globe & Mail has another article on the matter.
4. Earlier this week, PM Harper announced an inquiry into the BC sockeye salmon collapse. Alexandra Morten has a good update of the situation on her blog.
5. There are a lot of upset backcountry skiers this week as Cypress announced closures during the Olympics.
6. The Vancouver Sun explains why Nature is the Star of the Sea to Sky.
7. Straight.com has a great article on snowshoeing, and why it takes heart.
8. The course for BC Bike Race 2010 has been announced.
9. Amber Turnau has a post about All Things Snow to get you ready for the upcoming winter season.
10. Are you the ultimate ski bum? Enter this contest and you can win 15 day of cat and heli skiing in BC.

- I can’t embed the video, but you have to see what its like to kayak some extreme water in the Congo [via The Adventure Blog]

- Ever wanted your own half-pipe? Oh to be Shaun White…

- Stumbled this on YouTube. A random clip of a friendly seal jumping aboard a kayak in English Bay:

- From Wend Blog, some pics from a dorm at a University in the Netherlands. In a word, awesome:

- Also from Wend Blog, a video on the new freediving world-record. William Trubridge went 288 feet without fins. To put that in context, I’ve never gone down further than 70 feet with a freaking oxygen tank on my back! I really don’t know how this is humanly possible:

Freediving World Record – 88m without fins from william trubridge on Vimeo.

- Outside Blog posted this trailer for a new snowboarding vid called All or Nothing. “:

Straightline Productions “ALL OR NOTHING” from Straightline Productions on Vimeo.

- A very cool amateur video of what its like to snorkel with one of my favorite underwater creatures; whale sharks [via @scubadivegirls]:

- A cool infographic on which animals in the wild cause the most deaths each year:

1. NSR made another rescue on Grouse Mountain this week.
2. Straight.com has a nice article on scuba diving in Whytecliff Park.
3. Local Tofino surfer, Peter Devries, won the Inaugural O’Niell Coldwater Championship.
4. The Globe & Mail looks at the BC Wilderness, Where the Wild Things Aren’t.
5. Miss604 has a great Social Media Directory for Local Ski Resorts.
6. Jack Christie has a great article on exploring the Fraser River by sea kayak.
7. Search and Rescue teams are getting worried about misuse of personal locater beacons.
8. I’ve been following Steph Davis’ (@highsteph on Twitter) search  for $12,000 worth of base jumping gear that United Airlines has lost, she has a humorous  post on her blog including pictures from here most recent trip.

Today is Halloween and another month has passed. Rain, rain, perpetual rain is here, but luckily this has been translating into the accumulation of bit of snow for our local mountains. There were also some good events this month like the MEC Gear Swap, Vancouver Snow Show, and the Cold Water Classic Surfing Competition which ends today.

Here’s a look back at some of my favorite posts for October:

1. To prepare for the upcoming winter season I provided some resources that will help you Get to Your Destination Safely in the Winter.
2. October 15 was Blog Action Day, and I asked (Why) Do you Care about Climate Change?
3. You can now get Free Print-ready Topographical Maps of Canada.
4. There is a great worth-while campaign running called Save the ‘Bou (Woodland Caribou).
5. I compiled a list of Outdoor Clubs and Associations around Vancouver.

And this video from Pics & Vids of the Week made me laugh so hard I thought I’d share it again!

Happy Halloween!

I recently had someone who is moving to Vancouver email in and ask me about what outdoor clubs are around. Clubs are a great way to meet new people who share your interests, learn more about an activity, and find motivation to get out and participate in different sports. While I have posted about a few of the local individual clubs before, I thought it would be handy to create a more comprehensive list.

I will try to come back and update this periodically as I find new clubs and associations, so let me know which ones I have missed!

Biking & Cycling:
Atomic Racing Club
Vancouver Cycling Club
Cycling BC
Squamish Off-Road Cycling Association
Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition
North Vancouver Mountain Biking Club
North Shore Mountain Bikers Association
Surrey Off Road Cycling Enthusiasts Society
Dirty Girlz Bike Club
Escape Velocity Cycling Bike Club

Hiking:
North Shore Hikers Club
ClubTread
The Hiking Club for Beginners
Outdoor Club of Victoria
Chilliwack Hiking Club
Club Fat Ass
Wanderung
Valley Outdoor Association

Multi-Sport:
Vancouver Regional Outdoors Club
Tetrahedron Outdoor Club
Burnaby Outdoor Club
North Vancouver Outdoors Club
Backroads Outdoor Club
UBC Varsity Outdoors Club
UVIC Outdoors Club
The Self Propelled Outdoor Club

Paddle:
Sea Kayakers Association of BC
Burnaby Canoe and Kayak Club
Pacific International Kayak Association
False Creek Racing Canoe Club
Fort Langley Canoe Club
Jericho Outrigger Canoe Club
Vancouver Kayak Club
Vancouver Rowing Club
Lotus Sports Club

Rock Climbing & Mountaineering:
Climber’s Access Society of BC
BC Mountaineering Club
Alpine Club of Canada

Skiing:
Hollyburn Jackrabbit Ski Club
Nordic Wrecks Ski Club
Vancouver Skiers
Whistler Nordics
Pacific Ski Club

Other:
BC Geocaching Association
Canadian Avalanche Association
Outdoor Recreation Council of BC
North Shore Triathlon Club
Pacific Road Runners
Greater Vancouver Orienteering Club
Victoria Orienteering Club

Save the ‘Bou is a great campaign by a collection of organizations to get 5,000 emails sent to the Office of the Premier in Ontario, calling for the protection of Woodland Caribou. 5,000 also happens to be the number of Woodland Caribou that remain in the Southern Boreal Forest of Ontario.

Herds of Woodland Caribou used to stretch across the North American Taiga region, from Alaska to Newfoundland, and as far south as Washington. Yes, that means they used to run rampant across BC, but when was the last time you saw a caribou around? In fact, the Cariboo district, (you know, that whole middle section of this province) is named after the once abundant numbers of the beautiful animal that used to roam the area.

Incidentally, I started wondering if I had ever seen a Caribou ‘live-and-in-person’, and then I remembered this picture of myself as a young tike while on a road trip through Alberta with my Dad. (Oct 29 Update – I’ve been informed this is actually an elk! Both elk and caribou are members of the deer family, and look fairly similar, but just goes to show you how much I know )

Now, according to Wikipedia, A herd still lives in Alberta, and in other regions their chance of survival is diminishing due to threats like commercial logging. Such is the case Ontario’s Southern Boreal Forest.

So that’s what this campaign is about, and all you need to do is sign a pre-written letter for Premier Dalton McGuinty. It only takes about 30 seconds so do it! Right now, they’re at about 1000 emails, which means 4,000 to go in a short time.

Feel Good Click of the Day: 5000 Emails for 5000 Caribou

That’s what a new online campaign titled, “Save the Bou,” is hoping to achieve in Ontario by December 31, 2009.

The same Woodland Caribou that appears on the quarter in your pocket is quickly disappearing from the southern Boreal Forest of Ontario (just 5000 remaining), despite a promise from Premier McGuinty, over two years ago, to protect the animal’s habitat.

Don’t Be Shallow

Social media is often accused of being shallow and all about self-affirmation, well why not go deep and affirm the right of Ontario’s Woodland caribou to survive by sending an email to Premier McGuinty today, directly from the petition page (www.savethebou.ca) before joining our Facebook community at www.facebook/savethebou and tweeting your good deed (there’s the self-affirmation part!) and hopefully re-tweeting the campaign’s feed at www.twitter.com/savethebou. Remember to invite interested friends to become fans of the FB page.

Save Caribou and Protect Our Climate

Canada’s Boreal Forest is the largest terrestrial storehouse of carbon on earth, making it a vital regulator of global climate. When caribou habitat is logged, carbon is released into the atmosphere. When caribou habitat is preserved, trees and soil can absorb more carbon and keep it in the ground where it belongs. A 50% reduction in logging in the Boreal would reduce global warming pollution equivalent to taking all the passenger cars in Canada off the road.

An Early Christmas Present For Ontario’s Caribou?

With only 5000 caribou left, and 76 days remaining before the end of 2009, every day that passes without a credible caribou conservation strategy means another flip of the coin for the survival of Ontario’s caribou. If Premier McGuinty isn’t persuaded to do the right thing by Dec. 31st, new logging plans for caribou habitat will be drafted in the new year and that means more logging and fewer caribou by this time next year. 

Give these critters an early Christmas present.

Every little click helps!

Also follow @SaveTheBou on Twitter, and become a Fan on Facebook.