Pre-Climb - Day 6
May 8 Summary

............................................
< MAIN BLOG

The team is getting restless sitting here at Silver City looking up and seeing blue sky all around us, but 160 km towards Logan the mountain and the surrounding area is covered in cloud. With all the pent up energy we decided to go for a climb up Sheep Mountain as a group, but when the three cars converged we realized we forgot ‘Lightbulb’ Larry from Channel 10. I raced back to find him off filming on the Lake with my worst fears of being eaten by a Grizzly Bear unfounded. After a quick run back to the car we drove back to Sheep Mountain where the rest of the team had headed up. Lightbulb and I scrambled up a couple thousand feet on our way to the top and while we wanted to catch the group, we found over 50 wild Dall Sheep in the meadows up high and decided to stop and film them. Sometimes we take the beauty of the mountain and the natural wildlife around Canada for granted as Lightbulb, who is originally from Florida and now with Microsoft in Redmond, Washington, was amazed at the beauty of both the landscape and the wildlife.

While the rest of the team got to the top and started to head back down, Adam, Danylo, Josh, Travis, Andy and Mike decided to take the direct route! Straight down a 35 degree slope of loose small rock (or ‘scree’) and proceeded to run down the mountain with Josh yelling in his ICOM walkie-talkie: "mad dog" "mad dog". Both Adam and Danylo zoomed down first, but it was Josh who earned the nickname ‘mad dog’ for his wild screams and trying to jump in the air like Batman. A great climb by all, even Larry, who ½ way up decided that we were the climbers and he was here for Channel 10 and decided to lay down on a nice warm flat rock and rest ... until I told him there were Grizzly Bears in the area and I would not lie down on what looked like a dining table in this part of the Kluane National Park. Well, Larry did not take long to understand the meaning of my words (that is why we call him "Lightbulb Larry") and doubled his pace to catch up with me.

The evening was spent with some excellent Chili and fresh fruit and a number of scrabble games, with everyone enjoying a splendid day. Everyone is healthy, with a few getting anxious about sitting around Camp, especially Stephanie and Andy, who sheepishly ask every hour or two, “So you think we are going up tomorrow?”

And like I tell them, tomorrow brings another day and we can only wait until the weather breaks around Logan for our chance to fly onto the mountain to Base Camp at 2,800m.

Until next time, stay safe, live well and tell someone you love them!

Namaste,
James