Christmas Day

During Christmas people go home to spend it with their families and loved ones. Hundreds of thousands travel so that they can be on time for Christmas Eve. They travel by air, by bus, by train, by car, depending on how far they have to go.
For big majority this is is the best time of year - simply because they can finally relax and be safe with their families. For couple of days they can escape daily routine and all mundane tasks they have to do in order to make living. For couple of days they live as money were no object, they do what they want to do.
And big majority doesn't need much. Decorate Christmas tree, buy couple of gifts, go to church, prepare good food, and spend time with family and friends. Indeed very simple life.

We are not different. Only difference is that we don't go home to spend Christmas - we actually stay at home to spend Christmas. It would be too far to travel to our homes. Also, it would be expensive to travel to our homes during this busy season. But then, we choose not to travel during Christmas as we don't want to experience stress that comes with travelling during this busy period.

We don't want to be stuck in traffic, on airports, in buses, in trains, with thousands of others. We also don't want to be ripped-off by service providers that sky rocket their prices based on super high demand. Of course, some of them are smarter than others, so they offer good deals as their vision is to build long lasting relationships with their customers.

We take it easy. We do it on our own way. We do Christmas shopping on 26th or 27th, but not in any of gargantuan shopping malls, but in small shops that offer good deals and are not too crowded. We don't plan what we'll be buying - we do it impromptu, finding exactly what we want during our little Christmas shopping game.

We always ski on Christmas Day. We start early, and then for couple of hours we have a private ski hill with all amenities, but most with amazing Christmas silence. Of course, we get that at back country locations, but we are not that hard core to go off limits during Christmas. We are still spoiled.

We go to Kicking Horse on Christmas day only if we know that weather will be in a domain of a blue bird day. It requires us to leave Banff the latest at 7:15 AM, so that we can do the first tracks at 9 AM. And it is not easy to get up that early on a Christmas Day. That's a real "pusher". Replacing a warm bed and idea of sleeping in, with cold, dark morning can be (and it was) challenging. Only around 8:20 AM it becomes lighter - the winter solstice just happened 4 days ago.
Usually for Christmas (or perhaps when we ski there for Christmas  :), there is a temparature inversion at Kicking Horse. It could be -10, -11 C at the base (and colder in Golden, way below), but in alpine zone, and especially at Eagle's Eye restaurant is balmy + 1, + 2 C!!

That's where I love to get my pint of Traditional, sit on the patio and enjoy every drop of my favourite beer, and in fascinating scenery that never gets stale.
Only tough part of Kicking Horse Christmas skiing is drive back to Banff. We ski until they close the chair lifts and that's at 3:30 PM, as days are very short, so that means that we depart from ski area by 4 PM. That also means that it gets dark in next 30-40 minutes, so driving could be a bit tiring. Especially after we pass Field and start climbing towards Lake Louise.

If weather is unfavourable, then we can sleep in! And still own a ski hill and do first tracks. If weather is unfavourable we ski on Christmas Day at Mt Norquay. And, Mt.Norquay is my most favorite ski hill.

On Christmas Day we can get up at 8:15 AM and still start skiing at 9 AM, not that we are rushing anywhere.
When we park on Norquay parking lot, we are either first or second row, closest to the Pine Lodge. At the end of the day, or around 1 PM, when we go home for lunch, only probably a third of parking lot is full.

No need to drive to Lake Louise additional 60 km, or to drive to Sunshine and then board a gondola to get to the runs. You only need a 10 min drive up on Norquay road, and that's all.
Of course, many will say,"it is small", "it is icy"...and who knows what other excuses will be used, but at the end it works for us. We love when everyone goes to Lake or Sunshine, we let them go to get their "bigger" experience. We live Christmas Day on our way.

They certainly won't experience Lone Pine. And for all who's skied there you know what I am talking about.
(I must emphasize here that other ski hills are great too, and we spend many days there skiing, but, we really love Norquay, and other people love their favourite ski hills).
Bottom line is that we live Christmas Day on our way.

Merry Christmas!

In the right place, at at right time, with the right people

Many times we search for something and it is said that we are on a journey. That being such an inevitable truth, "searching" has become a cliche. However, there are instances in which we were simply shown the way, we were directed towards something, we were helped to start our journey even when we never thought about it.

We were in the right place, at the right time, with the right people.

During one of charity events that Bob helped organizing

Five years ago I was exactly there. My good friend Bob Ascah came one day to my office at work looking for somebody on my floor. I don't recall who he was trying to find. But, haven't seen him since late September, I asked him how's he been and what he's been doing lately. Bob said that he was "attending this club" at Shaw Conference Centre. He also asked me if I wanted to join him the following Thursday, as the club was meeting on Thursdays.
I simply said "yes".
Oh, he also said that these meetings were early in the morning, at 7 AM (I must say that 7 AM was a bit of turn-off, awfully early for me :)).

So, I went with him to the meeting I didn't know anything about, except that it was "structured". While we were walking towards the meeting salon, Bob asked me how I wanted to be introduced. I said: "Bob, you know a lot about me - so you can improvise".

Bob in action

When we arrived, there were already ~15 people, half of them in suits, with no hair, with gray hair, and somehow it felt serious during the first contact. But then, everyone approached me and greeted me, so I immediately felt better.
Bob helped me to sit down by his seat and explained that we were at Toastmasters meeting. Until then I haven't heard about Toastmasters. I didn't know it existed, even though, this organization just turned 85.

That was a start of my Toastmasters journey.

Five years after that cold and significant December morning I am still on that journey. It has never ended. There was Boris before that day and there is Boris after that day.

I could write a book about this excursion, but perhaps I am not a writer. I can only say that I am more complete thanks to this extraordinary journey that started quite accidentally and quite impromptu.
I am happy to think that I was open minded to accept Bob invite in December 2008.

I have completed 34 speeches so far

I will write about it in the future as I believe that everyone should try it out, to gain knowledge that is not that easy to gain. I can share that knowledge.
It is a great way to become more complete and to become a real player, someone with credibility and someone who will be taken seriously.
And best of all, by having fun and by meeting extraordinary people.

Boris

Mt.Fortress

It took me some time to write again. I didn't have any inspiration for writing. The autumn has been very eventful, but I didn't have energy to use my pen.
I did upload the pictures you can see here a week after The Fortress and that's how it stayed until now.

This is an attempt to show our little climbing trip to The Fortress on September 28th, 2013. We decided to take Headwall lakes route to ascend and to descend over Chester Lake.
I took my tennis friend Amarinder for his first ascent - we met with Mike and Gennady in Canmore. There were also couple of Mike's friends, so when we started our ascent, our group consisted of 9 people.

Beautiful morning that gave us signs of bad weather

This looked like a fire, and all of us were taking picture of it

It is always breathtaking in the morning when the colours are so vivid. This morning we had lots of red colour and that meant that the rest of the day won't be that pretty.

Map of the area

Advancing on Chester Lake approach

As this post is more about pictures than words, I will keep it short. The first part of the trail is very easy, steady climb through soon to be cross-country skiing trails.

Passing through some little obstacles

Moment when we saw Mt.Chester for the first time

Even better view

We were advancing easily and there was no any rush. The crisp air and new fresh snow created idyllic environment. We were alone on the mountain.
I knew that these were precious moments. I was connecting with nature.

This is where it got a bit harder

This is where it got windy

We were like little dots comparing to the mountains

First Headwall lake

We were slowly advancing, higher and higher

The sun was shy today

Snow covered rocks and made climbing harder

High above the first lake

At second Headwall Lake

This perfect stone protected us from strong wind

Second lake in its all beauty

Advancing farther up towards the col

Second Headwall lake

Higher and higher

From this moment we were able to see the Fortress ridge. If there were no clouds we would've seen the col. I thought that we needed an hour, hour and half from here to reach the col.
Some of Mike's friends turned back from the second lake. There were five of us now left, attempting to reach the top.

Probing a very thin ice

The col

This is where a real climbing started. It was steep, icy, snowy. We were doing 100 steps and then we would rest. However, 100 steps became 75, and then 50 - as we were struggling navigating between rocks and snow.

Amarinder climbing towards the col

Deep snow was slowing us down

It was extremely hard to climb in these conditions, but it was still easier than our early June climb to Bourgeau. The snow was not that deep. My heart rate would climb up to 200, and I would feel as my heart was going to explode. I didn't know how Amarinder felt, but I could imagine that he was struggling too.

Rest of our group was descending

Straight up is the col. To the right is The Summit.

So small comparing to the mountains

On the picture above you can see three little dots. Roman, Mike and Gennady chose to gain some height on Mt.Chester and then traverse to the col.
When I saw them I didn't think that this was necessarily a good idea. I knew they would get stuck when they go higher. Unfortunately they didn't have radio so I was not able to communicate to them what might happen.
There is a whole story about their adventure, but I will not write about it in this post. Let's say that they got very lucky.

At this moment we were not able to see them anymore

Exhausted Amarinder on the top of the col

Almost on the top of the col

Last 100 meters to reach the col were super hard. It was slippery and steep, and my legs were tired. Still, I was thinking that this climb was much harder than Kilimanjaro.

The Fortress ridge

At this moment we knew that our "job" was not done. We still had to go some 400 m up and reach the summit. Without snow this would've been be much easier, but with new accumulations and with strong wind, this became a major task.

Mt.Chester

View towards Chester Lake

We had to be careful as new cornices already formed

The summit was closer and closer

I was leading our ridge climb. Blowing snow and strong wind created such a challenge. There were moments when I was doing only 5 steps and I had to stop. As I was on Himalayas, on 7000 m. Amarinder was keeping up, and he was absolutely amazing, for someone who was climbing his first real mountain. My idea was to encourage him with every step and show him that he can do it.

600 m drop (west side)

800 m drop (east side)

Amarinder struggling keeping balance on steep section

We were finally able to see the summit

Touching the summit

High above Rockies

Exposed section

Amarinder had some doubts about reaching the top, as he was able to see through clouds how this last portion of climb was exposed. I told him that everything was ok, and everything was going to be ok.

This is a "runner" we saw on our descent.

It sounds crazy, but we met a guy, who was running up The Fortress. He ran up, through Chester Lake route. We talked to him on the col, he asked us how far is to go down over Headwall lakes.
This guy was some serious runner - coming here, in his running shoes, with so little clothes. Well, he was also a bit.....crazy. It was absolutely dangerous coming here by himself.

View from the above

This little dot is Amarinder

On our descent, once we passed the col, I suggested Amarinder to go first. Snow was deep here and the slope was not exposed. It was also safe from avalanches. Amarinder really smoked the slope!

Time for break and late lunch

Amarinder advancing in his descent

One of the last views of The Fortress on this day

It cleared out a bit

One more view of The Fortress

The Fortress was still in clouds

Chester Lake

Again, beautiful colours, at the end of the day

Passing Chester Lake

If you are a mountaineer you'll know that it is always harder going downhill. This time was not different. We even thought that we somehow missed the trail.
It was hard to follow all (boring) switchbacks, and our knees were complaining.

This is what The Fortress would do to you  :)

At the end, we were happy that we were done, and also we were sad that our little Fortress adventure was over.
I was happy as I connected to the nature again and that I defied new normal of 21st century.
And I did it on my own way.