What is the point?

Really  there is absolutely no point to anything. Do whatever makes you feel happy.

For me Whistler has always been a testing grounds. For years I climbed around the area pushing my own limits, till I dislocated my shoulder on “Fits of Rage”(5.12b). At that point I could no longer climb and needed to change directions. I quickly adapted and turned my energies towards mountain exploration and ski touring. My first season at Whistler was where it all began. Skiing and exploring everything around the area, each descent representing where I was at at the time. 

I was a beginner eager to learn, and each descent was so pivotal and important to me at the time. Since I moved away I have always returned and used Whistler to gauge where I was at. For years I won the Whistler Randonnee, which showed me that i was evolving in terms of ski touring. In 2001 I traversed the Spearhead in 4 hrs and one minute, an expression of my need for speed. It was an amazing day, and also a day that spawned dreams of more.

Since then I have dreamnt of the ultimate Spearhead day, 20/20 (20summts/20 000feet) a visionary day that would show the evolution happening in the backcountry. The Spearhead was originally done in 9 days and to do it in a day with as many summits as possible seems very progressive. Troy Jungen and I attempted it a few years ago and got nowhere.

 So for me this day was a huge leap in my own evolution. Helping to prove that more is possible, that all of us have the potential to do more than we do.

The day was amazing, staring off at 4.40 am I cruised up Blackcomb and was at the boundary around 8.am, where I met some friends who had gotten a lift up and were doing the Spearhead in a day. It energized me to see these friends and know that they were out there pushing themselves as well.

I won’t go into the blow by blow description as it gets a little boring,  all I can say is skin up, shred down, skin up shred down. Summit after summit.

Throughout the day I had many ups and downs, emotionally and physically but I kept after it and soon enough my momentum kept me going. The excitement of acting out one of my dreams really energized me and some of the great descents kept me going.

At the end I was pumped, finishing off with parts of the Race course from the other day I couldn’t decide if I was faster then or in the race. I think actually I was faster after the Spearhead traverse than during the race. Mostly because I was racing to catch a bus to Vancouver.

At 6.05 I was in Whistler village with a huge day behind me. 

Lee Lau I hope  you understand that everything is about evolution, it does not take away from anything anybody else is doing it merely shows the potential. Each of us has our own boundaries, and our own goals and nothing should detract from them. I am merely helping to progress a sport and pushing my own limits. Challenging myself and searching out new and exciting  ways to do things. I hope that I am helping a sport, things need to evolve and it excites me to be part of this evolution.

Progression

No energy to write but today I set a new standard. I toured from whistler Village up Blackcomb and summitted Spearhead peak, Blackcomb peak, then Decker, Trorey, Pattison Tremor, Ripsaw, Mount Macbeth, Whirlwind, Fissile and Flute. So the spearhead traverse from the ground up with 11 summits and a total of 20 600 feet of skiing and a approximate total of 47km all in 13 hrs 32 minutes. more to come…. 

Mt-Joffre

After the race day  a few of us met and traveled up the Duffy road to attempt Mt-Joffre.Jeff, Aaron, Chris, Allan,Karen and I skinned up past the three Joffre Lakes and toured up the left hand side of the Glacier. We didn’t know where we were going or what our objectives were but we knew something would work out.

Wrapping around Mt-Joffre we looked up and spotted some boot packers heading towards the summit. "Boot Pack is in" in seconds we were all booting up and within four hours of leaving our car we were on the summit of Mt-Joffre. Which is a new summit for me.

 

 Everyone was a bit tired from the race so that was it and we headed out. 5150 feet.

Once back in Whistler I had some coffee and then went up Whistler mountain for some more vertical. 6300 feet later and I skied down.