My trip to the 'Ears' was absolutely fantastic. This is the time of year when our athletic training becomes unstructured and in some ways more fun. Our training year ends a little earlier than others. We have a few friends doing Ironman Hawaii in Kona that are still training their butts off. I feel like I just did an Ironman, I can hardly walk from the soreness in my legs and shoulders from carrying the 70lb pack filled with camping gear up 1706m. O.k. maybe it wasn't quit 70lbs but we don't have an official weigh-in so I can say what I want. I don't think 1700m is high in the mountaineering world but for a couple of weekend warriors with full packs it was formidable.
Located in Maple Ridge (the town I was born in), the 'Ears' are a set of mountains that are visible from pretty much anywhere in the lower mainland. They have rocky peaks because not much lives up that high. Donny has climbed this thing so many times he can't remember the exact number but it's something like 9 times and he's made it to the summit most times. Apparently the weather can change rapidly and he was telling a story about getting caught in a white out that forced him and a friend to stay in the emergency shelter over night. My Parents house in Surrey has a window in the kitchen that has a perfect view of the Ears and Mom still has vivid memories of that night because she could see the clouds rolling in and knew they where going to get caught in a storm of shit. Donny survived cause he's tough and Mom still worries cause she's Mom.
Our adventure went like clock work. We arrived at the gates to the park at 6:35am, just before they opened and hiked for 5 hours to our camp site close to the top. We set up camp and made it to the summit in the early evening for a total of 7 hours of up hill. Some people do it as a day trip by packing light and leaving early. I must admit I had thoughts of tossing all my gear in the bush and just staying in the emergency shelter due to the pain that was developing in my legs and the fear building in my gut about the descent with all that weight. It turns out once you know how to descend it's not so bad, you just need to take your time and go backwards down the tricky spots.
I had a great time with Donny and next time he's going to come my way to Mount Albert Edward on the island for a very similar hike. I wish I could put more pictures on but this is the extent of my blogging capabilities.
Bye for now.
Located in Maple Ridge (the town I was born in), the 'Ears' are a set of mountains that are visible from pretty much anywhere in the lower mainland. They have rocky peaks because not much lives up that high. Donny has climbed this thing so many times he can't remember the exact number but it's something like 9 times and he's made it to the summit most times. Apparently the weather can change rapidly and he was telling a story about getting caught in a white out that forced him and a friend to stay in the emergency shelter over night. My Parents house in Surrey has a window in the kitchen that has a perfect view of the Ears and Mom still has vivid memories of that night because she could see the clouds rolling in and knew they where going to get caught in a storm of shit. Donny survived cause he's tough and Mom still worries cause she's Mom.
Our adventure went like clock work. We arrived at the gates to the park at 6:35am, just before they opened and hiked for 5 hours to our camp site close to the top. We set up camp and made it to the summit in the early evening for a total of 7 hours of up hill. Some people do it as a day trip by packing light and leaving early. I must admit I had thoughts of tossing all my gear in the bush and just staying in the emergency shelter due to the pain that was developing in my legs and the fear building in my gut about the descent with all that weight. It turns out once you know how to descend it's not so bad, you just need to take your time and go backwards down the tricky spots.
I had a great time with Donny and next time he's going to come my way to Mount Albert Edward on the island for a very similar hike. I wish I could put more pictures on but this is the extent of my blogging capabilities.
Bye for now.
