Life and such things
As per usual when the skiing season ends I become my alter ego. Working man. It’s as if greg hill, the skier, falls into a crevasse and hibernates for the summer. I almost sever all ties with the mountains and focus on working and family. Planting trees and working various jobs in the bush. I may think frequently of the mountains but I do not venture into them too often. I did manage to cllimb Sir Donald with Chris. It sits somewhere around the 6th highest Selkirk Mountain, and has taunted me for years. Wicked day and an awesome climb.
On September 27th I married Tracey, which was a fantastic occasion. Great family and friends, dancing and good times. As Tracey said” if you ever feel down about yourself…get married”. we had a great first dance, “Sweetest thing” by U2 played by some friends and then a nice honeymoon in Mexico sans kids. The kids are psyched for the upcoming winter, both have been in ski boots and skiing around the house.
As for other things. I worked on my first best of the best video. It took many hours to search out the best footage from last year and then compile it into a movie. If you have watched my videos you will recognize a few of the days but the story and combination of footage is different and exciting. “the Unbearable Lightness of Skiing”is a 14 minute movie that tries to explain what it is we do out in the backcountry. I tried to tie my movie into Kundera’s book but quickly realized that he was a very intelligent man and I am not. But there is no doubt that the freedom and lightness of backcountry skiing is what we search for. And that the truths of the mountains sometimes make way more sense than the rules of society.
Anyhow amazingly enough the movie made The Banff International Mountain Film Festival and will be on the world tour this year. Pretty cool that our adventures will be seen around the world.
I also realized how much better the videos were on a larger screen and that I should create and sell a small backcountry DVD . It will be “the Unbearable Lightness of Skiing”, plus a couple of my seasons videos. Something to entertain and inspire. If you are interested please email me. 
I am sure that there is a lot more to say, but it’s late.
Mt-Sorcerer Traverse
With the season drawing to a close; mostly because I have to start working, we decided on a traverse into a remote part of the Selkirk range. We drove 70 km north, 11km east up a logging road, then we sledded in 25km and began touring up. This was an area that neither, Dave,Jay,Aaron or I had ever ski toured in.
We toured up 5500 feet to our camp, were we dug a half snow cave/half tarp set up. I curled up in my sleeping bag and shivered through the start of my sickness. after a few hours we wandered up towards Mt-Holway, the 31 st highest selkirk summit. It was late and quite whiteout but we wandered towards the summit, by 7:30 pm Jay was boot packing up a steep slope when we called it quits. A little too late and not enough information to continue upwards safely, so we pulled the plug 600 feet below the summit. A quick slide back to camp and into my sleeping bag.
By 9 am the next morning we were off. A great morning ski down the valley. We toured up to Tangiers pass and dropped our camping gear before continuing up towards Sorcerer mountain. My sickness was in full force and every step felt extremely challenging but I had no choice but to dig deep. Luckily I know that regardless of physical shape my stubborn mind usually prevails.
From where we sat we had to tour up the west shoulder over the ridge, ski down a mellow glacier around the north side and ascend the east shoulder of Sorcerer. It was a bit of a circumnavigation but very aesthetic. Considering the late season we had great skinning up the west and a fun little descent. Skiing under the north face was beautiful and soon enough we were making our way up the East shoulder. A fantastic tour up with views of many summits we have skied from. Soon enough we were standing on the 19 th highest Selkirk Mountain.
A wicked 3500 foot glacial descent brought us down to the valley and our final 1200 foot tour backup to the ridge and a traversing sun crust run back to camp. Exhausted and elated we dug another snow cave and had dinner by 10 pm.
Awake by 7 am touring by 8.45 we skied down valley and up the Sissons drainage. We were a little unsure about our ascent but it turned out that overcast skies kept things a little cooler and we ended up skinning up a 40+ degree couloir.
We easily skinned to the summit of Mt-Sissons and were set up for a great ski back to our sled. a great little mini tour that opened our eyes to more endless Selkirk descents.
The day we left for this traverse I awoke at 3.30 am to finish off the Comstock movie, I finished it but could not upload it, and we were off at 5 am. So I will get that posted ASAP. I will also have one final movie with this traverse and that will be the end of my season.
