News

	The Plan: Everyone who knows me knows my love of mountaineering and adventuring. So the plan was simple - I was going to propose to Lynne on the top of a mountain that we climbed. Then I came up with a marvelous deception: At the top of some peaks is a registry - a book for climbers and peak baggers to sign when they get to the top. Since Lynne has never seen one before, I figured I would "manufacture" a fake book and have the ring inside. My brother would climb with us and just slightly ahead of us, would "plant" the book, then make himself scarce. This I would "find" at the top and ask her to sign it - tradition would mandate that she stand to sign the book (being the tallest point of the mountain) while I knelt beside her. Then I would propose. My brother would take pictures from afar. I didn't want anyone else on the peak at the same time as us, so I chose a very difficult peak to climb - the Dolomites.

When I got to Banff, we realized that the region was still in the middle of its spring - with snow everywhere. The difficult climb suddenly became dangerous, and potentially deadly, if not approached with proper mountaineering equipment (which we did not have with us). After looking at all my options, a "moderate" mountain was finally considered - Mt. Opal in Kananaskis. In the photo above, you can see the route that was suggested in the guide book (blue), as opposed to the route we took up (red). The Execution: Ok, the mountain should have been moderate difficulty - it was very difficult with dangerous exposure (risk of falling). It should have been 4 to 6 hours up and down - it took us almost 11 hours. What happened? Here's the story...	We started up around 10.30 in the morning, wanting to peak it by 13.00 hrs (mountain weather tends to get worse in the afternoon). Not seeing a trail, we climbed through dense pine forest to some rockfall and a cliffside. Following my brother, we went up the cliff face rather than around it. Here is where the mountain was dangerously exposed. There were sections that involved up to a 5.5 or 5.6 climb where falling would certainly mean critical injuries and even death. Remember, we went up without climbing equipment. Lynne had never experienced the crumbling scree common in the Canadian Rockies and often slipped, sliding a few feet - and scaring her enough that it waned her already diminished confidence. She was also not experienced enough to know how to spot solid holds, or a least to test them, so many of her holds crumbled or pulled out under her weight. When we finally got to the ridge half way up, Lynne was badly shaken and scraped up and told me she would not go on to the peak with me and my brother.

	In the above shots and the one on the left, you can see us on the ridge (finally), taking lunch. During lunch we encouraged Lynne to come with us to the next ridge. It is here where the snowfields started and we soon got snow in our boots, but made it easily to bottom of the summit peak where the serious scrambling started. We told Lynne to drop her pack (which she did) and that we'd retrieve it later. I was pretty stressed at this point, not knowing what I'd do if she didn't go all the way up. Eventually I decided that I would not propose if she did not complete the climb, and that we'd try another (possibly easier) scramble later on during the trip. This issue soon became moot because Lynne dropped the pack and climbed the rest of the route with us.
There was still snow on the peak of the mountain, which can be dangerous, especially as it melts. Melting snow can suddenly shift and slide and take you right off the mountain face. On scree slopes, snow melts penetrates under the scree and compromises the stability of the slope. On the right, you can see my brother and I determining the best route up. You can see the route we took by the arrow. The last part of the scramble was a little difficult. We didn't have a choice but to go quickly through the snow. The snow caused the scree to slide under our weight, especially in an area with a lot of snow melt (around the waterfall). From where we stood in the photo to the summit was another hour and a quarter. Once past the scree, the scramble became much easier. Note that Lynne has climbing experience, and has climbed 5.9 routes and some 10a problems. The climbing never really got beyond 5.5. It wasn't the degree of difficulty that had scared her, it was her inexperience with sliding, crumbling rock. So once the loose, crumbling stuff was behind us, she enjoyed the climb much more.

	When we finally gained the summit, my brother scouted ahead first. Arriving on the summit, I saw that he wasn't ready, as he was rummaging through his pack (probably for the book). So I took Lynne and hugged her as a distraction, declaring triumphantly "We did it!" Afterwards, I casually went up to the cairn and happily "found" the registry my brother had hidden moments earlier. I picked it up and Lynne snapped a picture (above left). She then set up the camera on timer and ran up to me to take a few pictures (above). After the first shot, I started going down on one knee (left). Then Ron ran up out of nowhere and set the timer again, which took a second shot. Look at her still posing for the camera with the grin on her face, she still has no clue!


After that second shot, Ron took off and snapped a few pictures from afar (hence the shot on the homepage). However, most of those shots didn't develop because they were double exposed. On my knee, with pictures snapping away, I opened the book, and told Lynne to sign it. As she moved foward, she finally saw the ring and dropped to her knees, crying. I'm not going to bore anyone with the private words between me and her at this point - you can see the nature of them in the four photos above. And besides, from this point on, she tells me she has no memory of what I said afterwards, only the words "Will you marry me?". So, advice for all you sucks who memorize poems and songs - there isn't any point. Oh, btw, she said "Yes!" Ron also had a surprise for us on the peak - he had lugged up a bottle of champagne in a wine picnic kit. So after we got engaged, he broke it out and we each had a glass of champagne. Unfortunately, we could not drink it all - we didn't want to risk trying to downclimb and descending after getting sauced! In the end, the event went perfect.


Or almost perfect: descending Mt Opal, we got lost and ended up bushwacking down the wrong side of the mountain for 2 1/2 hours. It even started to rain (remember what I said about mountain weather in the afternoon?)! But Lynne was on such a high, she didn't complain once - in fact she probably never realized we were lost. When we got to an impassable ravine and cliff (which plunged into a river 100 meters below), we had to climb back up and descend the other side. In the end, the descent took us over 5 hours! We were so exhausted that by the time we got down, we decided we did not want to camp so we went to the Kananaskis Lodge and got a beautiful room (a loft!). For those of you who've been following the news, you will recognize the Lodge as the location of the G8 summit. We stayed one night and had dinner, along with a bottle of wine and drinks. However, we were so tired (look at our faces on the bottom left photo - we could barely keep our eyes open!), we hardly touched the food - though the wine was definitely finished! There you have it - yeah, I know, a guy's perspective! If you want details, you'll have to ask Lynne. I may ask her to post her version on this site in the future.


	Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. - Proverbs 3:5-6
	Engaged!	More News / Upcoming
	June 16, 2002 Yes, the rumors you're all hearing is true. I'm am now officially engaged! I guess that's about as life changing as I could want for now! Thanks everyone for your support. As for how it happened - I'll tell you what was supposed to happen, but wait for Lynne to tell you what actually happened! Oh, another nice thing is that we got some pics (click the photos to see it enlarged) of the actual moment of proposal, which is really nice...

Engaged!