Adventures in Quebec

Sooner or later my wife is going to get me out of the United States.  Last year we discussed Belize.  That didn’t work out so well.  Something about having kids in school just did not allow us the freedom to jump on a plane and head into the middle of a rainforest for a couple of weeks.

This year it’s Canada.  Canada?  Yeah, exactly.  It is a bit closer and probably a little easier on the budget, but what the heck is there to do in Canada?

My wife will sit at home and do some dream adventuring online.  She will have everything planned out down to the penny, exactly where we’re going, what we’re doing, and at 4:36 pm on July 18th–she knows where we will be.  Quebec.

I will usually follow along with her plans till it comes time to start putting up the money, then I have a way of diverting her attention elsewhere.  Last year it was The Smokey Mountains and a family camping trip.  Not sure if I am going to be able to do that this year.

This has nothing to do with her, but rather me.  A few nights ago I happened to glance over my shoulder as she was writing out the latest list while doing her online vacationing.

“Wow, cool.  Sea Kayaking.  I have always wanted to do that!” she exclaimed, “Wouldn’t that be so much fun?”

For some reason she has the tendency to get overly excited whenever she sees a pretty picture.  This did spark a bit of interest in me, though.  Usually she is wanting to spend a week in some cushy hotel room with room service and a massage therapist on standby.  This was something new.

“That would be cool.  What are you looking at?”

She happened to show me a website that featured a more adventurous side of Canada. A side of Canada that I had not imagined.  Not only was there sea kayaking, but there were trips listed for hiking, camping, whale watching, visiting the National Parks (of which, there are nine) and numerous other things to do in wilds, not just in some cushy hotel with a fufu drink in hand.  Oh, yeah.  I forgot to mention that I hate mixed drinks.  I rather have a beer and a BBQ than a margarita and Mahi-Mahi any day of the week.

Now, I don’t want to sound to dumb here, but I actually thought Quebec was a city.  Upon further investigation it almost looks to be a country in and of itself, albeit in Canada.  The place is HUGE.  Nine national parks.  Gotta have some space for that.  I like space.  I also like adventure.

Perhaps my wife will finally get me out of the country, as she so desires, but I might not be kicking and screaming this time around.  It looks like a pretty cool place to visit.

Anyone else been to Canada, or Quebec to be more exact?  Would love to hear from you about your experience.

Also, if you would like to check out the site that my wife got me interested with, you can find it at La Quebec Maritime.  Check it out and tell me your thoughts.  Looks pretty cool, huh?

Canada Enacts New River Rafting Guidelines

In a bit of pure coincidence, I recently reported on efforts in the United States to begin looking into kayak and kayaking laws on the nations coastlines and waterways. Looks like Canada may have beat us to it, as this Press Release has just been made public moments ago.

OTTAWA, April 30 /CNW Telbec/ - The Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister
of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, today announced the coming into
force of the Special-purpose Vessels Regulations and the Vessel Operation
Restriction Regulations. These regulations are made under the Canada Shipping
Act, 2001 (CSA 2001).

“Our government is committed to the safety and security of all commercial
and recreational users of Canadian waterways while protecting the
environment,” said Minister Cannon. “To address the increase in traffic on our
waterways, the regulations provide new national river rafting safety
standards, and updated mechanisms to restrict the use of any type of vessel,
including personal watercraft, on designated waters.”

The new Special-purpose Vessels Regulations incorporate industry best
practices by outlining the requirements for all river rafting companies to
have vessel and safety equipment standards such as helmets, lifejackets and
their equivalents, and the circumstances in which they must be worn;
operational standards such as first aid training, familiarization trips and
safety briefings; and the maintenance of detailed records of each excursion.

The updated and renamed Vessel Operation Restriction Regulations make it
possible for local authorities to apply to Transport Canada to place
restrictions on the access of a vessel or class of vessels to specified
waters; the mode of propulsion used; maximum engine power or speed; and
recreational towing activities (e.g., water-skiing). The new regulations also
impose a universal shoreline speed limit of 10 km/h within 30m of the shore in
all rivers and lakes of Nova Scotia, including Bras d’Or Lake.

The Special-purpose Vessels Regulations were pre-published in the Canada
Gazette, Part I on August 11, 2007. The Vessel Operation Restriction
Regulations were first published in the Canada Gazette, Part I, on August 18,
2007. A comment period for these regulations was provided, during which
interested parties were encouraged to provide their views to Transport Canada.
The new regulations will be published in the Canada Gazette, Part II on April
30, 2008.

For further information: Karine White, Press Secretary, Office of the
Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, Ottawa, (613) 991-0700;
Media Relations, Transport Canada, Ottawa, (613) 993-0055; Transport Canada is online at www.tc.gc.ca. Subscribe to news releases and speeches at
www.tc.gc.ca/e-news and keep up-to-date on the latest from Transport Canada.; This news release may be made available in alternative formats for persons with visual disabilities.

As you can tell from the Press Release, this is very similar to efforts being proposed in the United States. The guidelines in the U.S., though, only concern kayaking, at this point. This is part of Canada’s new law as published today. If you are heading that way and your intentions are kayaking, boating, ect. it may be in your best interest to contact someone regarding these new laws and regulations. Remember, not knowing a law is not an excuse. Especially in a foreign country.

K7 West–Conquered!

The well known climbing team of Marko Prezelj, Steve House, and Vince Anderson have conquered the West Face of K7 and have become the first to do so.  The Alpinist is reporting that the team successfully arrived on the summit of K7 at approximately 4 pm yesterday.  The team continued to climb on from high camp despite lingering high winds and whiteout conditions.

The team was actually planning on attempting K6 as their first goal while in the Karakoram, but decided to pursue a first ascent on K7 as well.  They had some lingering competition though as other teams arrived with the same goal.  The team of Kelly Cordes and Scott Dicapio arrived at K7 basecamp on August 28 and were followed by a team from Quebec, Canada.

The competition was closing in.

K7’s West Face has drawn a bit of interest recently as the Krakoram’s Peaks are gaining interest for technical first ascents.  K7’s West Face has been attempted a few times in the past to no luck–including a failed attempt by Marko Prezelj in 2004.

Charles Duerig, 50, Avid Climber for 30 Years, Falls to Death in California–UPDATED

Sad news coming from WTAE Channel 4 out of Pittsburgh today.  Charles Duerig, while climbing with his brother in California, slipped in rainy conditions and fell to his death yesterday.  His family is from the Pittsburgh area.

Duerig had been an avid climber in the United States and Europe for over 30 years.

For more on this sad story, head on over to the WTAE-4 Website.  I will bring you more as I find out.

UPDATE–08/31/07–1:35 pm

At this time it is being reported  in the SummitPost Forum that Mr. Duerig had fallen in the vincinty of Mt. Hamilton, a 14,000 foot peak near Mt. Whitney in the Sierra.  This accident is being reported as happening this past Sunday, but has just hit the waves.  Mr. Duerig was a well known marathon runner and climber, hailing from Castro Valley.

The 50-year-old Duerig was climbing the mountain with a friend Sunday when the two became separated.

After the friend reported Duerig missing, searchers found his body at the bottom of a canyon at the 12,500-foot level.

Authorities believe he fell 100 feet after trying to anchor himself to a rock, and probably died immediately.

Duerig was an avid climber who had led numerous rock climbs in Yosemite and elsewhere in the Sierra, as well as in Canada and on mountains in Pennsylvania, New York and West Virginia

Was just reading the California wires and came across this. My condolences to his family and friends.

Once again, this was featured over at the SummitPost forum where there continues to be new information emerging.

Mr. Duerig, as posted by another reader, had recently taken part in the Skyline 50k.

Let’s all keep Charles’ family, friends, and associates in our thoughts and prayers.

La Route Verte, Opening Canada to Cyclists Everywhere

The longest network of Bicycle paths in North America will be getting a grand opening this month.  La Route Verte, as it has so been called, will establish the Canadian Providence of Quebec as perhaps the bicycling capital of the World.

La Route Verte will span 2, 695 miles and stretch from one tip of Quebec to the other, going through 320 towns in the process. 

This seemed like a vary ambitious project when it was first launched in 1995, but through Government sponsorship ( $88.5 million) the original idea, which was proposed by Velo Quebec, has become a reality.

If you think $88.5 Million dollars might be a bit pricey for a bicycle path, look at it this way–studies have suggested that Bicyclists may actually bring $134 Million dollars into these areas this year alone…this money will be spent in Bicycle shops, tourism, as well as restraunts as bikers try the trail on for size.

So what is this trail about anyways?  Well, it doesn’t matter if you are a mountain biker or road biker, you will definately have plenty of room.  Close to 1,000 miles of this trail will be off-road.  The trail will have signs posted and maps drawn up to lead weary travelers to their destinations.

The Grand Opening of this Providence wide trail will be on August 10 at 20 desgnated areas of interest along the way.

Some more good news for US cyclists as well, the La Route Verde will be accessable from the states by three seperate routes.  My only question is going to be if there will be check points..and if you will need a visa to take part on this grand trail.  So I wonder who is going to be the first to successfully travel all 2, 695 miles.  Just looks like an adventure waiting to happen.

If you would like to read a bit more on this new trail in Quebec, head on over to BikingBis, as he does a pretty good job of explaining all there is to know about this new venture.

The Adventurist: A Call to All Outdoor Writers and Photographers!

I have just put the finishing touches on a new “Submit & Contact” Page here at The Adventurist.  I am hoping that this new feature will be accepted and used by all of my great readers.

This page goes into detail about a few things I am looking for here at The Adventurist–and ways you might be able to get involved.

Do you love Adventure Writing or perhaps Great Outdoors Photography?–Help me share your incredible talents with a much bigger audience!

Head on Over to the “Submit & Contact” Page, found on a tab right up above this article, and Share your Adventures with the World!

Also, if you are looking to put me to work, there is info there as well….

Cheers-

J. Alan Hendricks, Editor

First Pluto is Demoted, and now The Nile?

That is right.  The world we live in and beyond is vastly changing at a rate that not many of us are to fond of.

Pluto has been written off the planet charts (even though I agree with my daughter, most of us will still consider it a planet in our world of “underground” knowledge) by scientists, now it is just a large rock floating in the abyss..

Add to that, the recent unravelings of the World’s Longest River…The Nile, you think?

Think again.  The Amazon.  That is right.  Scientists have recently discovered that the Amazon River is approximately 176 miles longer than originally thought and now extends into the Southern reaches of Peru, making it the NEW world’s longest river.

The 176 miles of new Amazon, will place it at roughly 4, 225 miles long–making it 65 miles longer than the Nile.

Scientists sponsored by The Brazilian Institute of Science and Statistics, have placed the new Amazon beginning in the Southern Mountains of Peru.

This has to be disheartening to at least one individual–Martin Strehl–who laid claim earlier this year to completing the first swim that went the full distance of the Amazon…

This just goes to show that no one is ever happy being in second place..

It will be interesting to see how Egypt takes this news as well..Perhaps the Nile will grow soon, too…

I can slowly see Mr. Martin Strehl’s great accomplishments in the World of River Swimming being wiped off the charts..Perhaps he had swam one river to many..and p’d off the wrong folks…

$5000 Charge for Wilderness Rescue Ignites Debate–Again.

A Kansas man has been billed $5000 for a wilderness rescue after he injured his ankle while hiking along a steep hillside.

This debate has been raging for well over a year now–whether or not people in the wilderness, when accidents happen, should be liable to pay for their rescue.

Kansas is only one of a number of states who have been looking in to billing people that have come to need a rescue involving local authorities.  Colorado also has a similar law in place and one is also currently making the rounds in Utah.

The great Blog, Two-Heel Drive ran by Tom Mangan, tipped me off to the forementioned article featured in the June 18th issue of Rocky Mountain News discussing this incident, as well as the debate raging in Kansas.  You may read the whole article HERE.

As far as Colorado is concerned, there has recently been news that another individual will be billed $7500 for his subsequent rescue as well.

This is reigniting a big debate amongst outdoor enthusiasts.  Should they be charged or shouldn’t they?  I have already expressed my own opinion on this matter as it pertains to climbers needing rescued–(please see story posted HERE, for my opinion.)  How much is to much?

Alot of us go out and try to enjoy the peace and solitude of the outdoors for 1) it is great exercise, 2) it gets you away from the hustle and bustle of cities…and PEOPLE, and 3) It is alot cheaper to walk a trail then drive a car.

If all of us ran the risk of having to pay $7500 for rescue after a badly twisted ankle PLUS our own medical bills, would we still be outdoors?

Alot of the previous debate over this issue has occured mainly over climbers getting stranded high on mountains, as in the two incidents that have occured in the past year on Mt. Hood. More and more though, we as individuals are seeing this pop up for some things that seem–dare I say mundane?

I think the political motivation behind this issue has jumped from saving lives to making money, and in a sense, infringing upon our own freedoms to explore nature and the outdoors.

Perhaps a few people have taken advantage of the system.  Perhaps a few have ended up where they never should have been in the first place without the experience or guidance they needed to be there.  Is this a reason to Pigeonhole a whole section of the American population? Instead of going out to “Get Away From It All”, that “All” is slowly trying to step in and even take away the essence of being out there.

Read more

Everest 2007 Update: Summit Push Winding Down

The huge summit push to the top of the world’s highest peak is finally beginning to wind down with a major storm forecast for tomorrow.

Both Basecamps are starting to empty as the vast amount of teams that have already went up are packing their bags and heading home, but that doesn’t mean all of the action is over just yet..

In the past day there have been a few more summits of note.

Paul Adler Finally Makes the Top

Paul Adler has finally completed his journey to the summit that began with his first venture to Everest in 2006.  He did run in to a few problems upon the descent though including a bad bout with snowblindness, some O2 problems, and a case of altitude sickness-But Paul made it and is safely back down to BC after going through the Khumbu Icefall lastnight.

A Few Double Summits of Note

It doesn’t happen very often but this season has seen quite a few people go up and summit more than once..

Willie Benegas from Mountain Madness made his second successful summit bid as he led two more to the summit yesterday, Tendi Sherpa and Brian Smith.  Willie went back up for a second summit after two of his clients had seemingly fell behind everyone else–good job on making it a success!

The London School of Business is also reporting that Rob Casserly and Kenton Cool have made a successful second summit as well, having doing so within the same week.

Cauldwell Extreme Doctors Summit

The Expedition to study how altitude plays on the human body–has also landed a few of the Docs on the summit.  Here is a report coming from them:

Dr Mike Grocott, Dr Sundeep Dhillon (Climbing Leader), Dr Daniel Martin, Mr Chris Imray and Dr Nigel Hart from Britain summitted yesterday (May 23) and Dr Jeremy Windsor from Britain and Dr Roger McMorrow and Dr Mick O’Dwyer from Ireland summitted today (May 24). Dr Paul Gunning from Britain also reached 8,400 metres (27,600 feet) today but turned back.

The scientists and doctors are investigating hypoxia – a deficiency of oxygen in the blood - to help future patients in intensive care and have set a world record by taking arterial blood samples near the summit of the world’s highest mountain. The samples were taken on the Balcony at 8,400 metres rather than the summit for safety reasons, due to low temperatures and high winds. In addition, the Caudwell Xtreme Everest team constructed the world’s highest laboratory at 8,000 metres (26,246 feet) on the mountain’s South Col.

Project Himalaya

The Project Himalaya Expedtion has effectly called off their summit bids at this point.  They were planning on a summit push today but with the weather coming in they have decided to try to wait it out and make a late push around June 2nd.

The Weather

As has been predicted, the large weather window that has seen well over 450 summits this past week has began to close.  There are reports of a large weather system moving in and deteriorating conditions higher up Everest.  Lungevity has reported in excess of 130 MPH winds at the higher camp–and this is before the storm.  A couple of teams are going to try to stick around and make a late summit push–but other than these few, most are now packing up and heading home. 

One Expedition of note, Conrad Anker’s attempt to recreate the 1924 George Mallory Expedition is still on track and scheduled to begin at the beginning of June, pending the weather.  He will be climbing in the same general gear as Mallory on this attempt in order to see if a summit was actually a feasable option in 1924 as some have suggested.

2007 Everest Season Not Quite Over–but Almost

Some sites have already began to do their yearly look back at the 2007 Mt. Everest Summit season.  Alan Arnette has done an exceptional recap of what has happened thus far, calling it a “normal year”. 

I will be making my own wrap-up to this season towards the beginning of June and discussing some of the major stories that have come off the world’s highest peak.  Until then, I will try to feature what I can about what is going on on Everest–but with the storm coming in, it probably won’t amount to much..I guess we will all have to wait till the beginning of June for any more major summit news.

Everest 2007 Update: Two High Altitude Rescues, More Summits, and a Possible Weather Change?

Over the past day, two amazing rescues have occured at high-altitude, one each on the North and the South.  One rescue is cause for concern though, as we will see:

Female Nepali Climber Abandoned at 27,500 Feet

An Unknown female climber with the Democratic Nepal Everest Expedition was seemingly left for dead by her own team near the Balcony at 27,500 feet on Everest’s South Side yesterday.  At this time, this is all that is known of the actual incident other than details from the IMG Expedition Team who went up to try to make a high-altitude rescue.

Dave Hahn–who incidentally has some of the most famous High-Altitude rescues ever to his credit–went back up with both Mike and Casey from the Coleman Everest 2007 Expedition on an attempt to save this female climber.  Here are the details coming from the IMG Expedition website:

Dave, Mike N., Mike H., and Casey have descended to Camp 2. On the way they helped a climber from another team, who had been abandoned at the Balcony (27,500′,) and who was in very bad shape. They managed to get her to Camp 3, where she was turned over to climbers from the Everest Expreme (medical research) team. We are proud of these guys for doing a great job on the way up, and the way down!! We’ll keep you posted!

This comes on the heels of a tragedy that occured last season when a similar incident occured with climber David Sharp…the difference this year?  People went back up to help and the climber was saved.  The David Sharp incident last season brought International attention to climber ethics and how these rescues were handled on Mt. Everest.  Over the past few weeks, we have all witnessed some great high altitude rescues taking place…and all I can attribute that to is the memory of David Sharp…

While I am talking about IMG, today they are reporting that their final team has successfully made the summit today and will shortly be heading back to basecamp. This is great news that has seen well over 33 IMG team members make the summit this year.  Congratulations!

Italian Climber Found Near Death at High Camp

An Italian Climber on North Everest was found today near the Camp at 8300 Meters.  Marco, as he has simply been known thus far, was found unconscience and had apparently spent close to 48 hours lying in the snow before he was discovered by members of Alex Abramov’s 7Summits Expedition.  Here is what 7Summits reported: Read more

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