Paris, France

Though I’d encountered his remarkable aerial photography a number of times during the past decade, I was completely blown away when I received a gift copy of Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s tome Earth From Above as a speaker gift at the AIGA conference in Vancouver five years ago. Two years ago, Ev and I experienced Yann’s work in a large outdoor exhibit installation of 150 prints in Melbourne (an exhibit which will come to New York in May and June of 2009). Yann’s unique views of our planet aim to inspire people to think globally about sustainable living. Read about the upcoming New York show here. Visit the official websites of Yann Arthus-Bertrand here. Download 2000 incredible wallpaper images here.

Images (© Yann Arthus-Bertrand): 1) A mangrove swamp near the town of Voh in New Caledonia, a group of Pacific islands covering 7,000 square miles (18,575 square km)—nature has carved a clearing in the form of a heart. 2) A worker resting on bales of cotton, Thonakaha, Korhogo, Ivory Coast. Cotton crops occupy approximately 335,000 square kilometers worldwide, and use nearly one quarter of all pesticides sold. 

Monte Rosa, Switzerland

“This remote alpine retreat calls to mind classic James Bond architecture, complete with a futuristic design, advanced building technology, and killer views of the Matterhorn. Can’t you just see Bond skiing down the glacier in a white ski suit, stealthily approaching his enemy’s headquarters? You could imagine that the top of the roof pulls down to reveal a giant laser, which is used as a tractor beam to smash the moon into Earth as the villain demands 700 million 700 billion dollars from the US Government. Oh wait, sorry, we’ve been having nightmares about the economy. But seriously though, this hut outside of Zermatt in the Swiss Alps is for real. It’s the Swiss Alpine Club’s new Monte Rosa mountaineer’s hut, and it’s 90% energy self-sufficient.”

From Inhabitat—read the whole story here. (That’s the Matterhorn on the left edge of the upper image).

Ste. Anne, Manitoba

With flights of geese honking overhead and overnight temperatures dipping into the single digits, it seems summer is rapidly drawing to a close here in Eastern Manitoba. This weekend was a (long-overdue) time of outdoor catch-up at my place in the woods… mowing the meadow (first time this year), cutting firewood, re-potting dozens of houseplants (thanks, Ev!) and harvesting what remained of several varieties of crab apples (deer have a remarkable reach when standing up on their rear legs—the ‘low-hanging fruit’ was all but gone).

Next up, apple jelly… mmmm.

Stege, Denmark

Morten Flyverbom’s “Green Beetle” at Louisiana… inspiring!

Banff, Alberta

I’ve just spent the past two weeks mountaineering with friends in Canada’s fantastic Rockies. For the first week, I joined an organized outing with colleagues from the Alpine Club of Canada (11 each from the Manitoba and Thunder Bay ACC Sections) based out of the Elizabeth Parker Hut at Lake O’Hara (Yoho National Park, British Columbia) and the Abbot Hut (perched precariously on a col straddling the Alberta/B.C. border and continental divide). Highlights of my week included various alpine hikes (Mt. Yukness, Obabin Prospect, etc.), a solo ascent of Mt. Feuz, and a long and spectacular descent from Abbot Pass to the Chateau on Lake Louise via the Fuhrmann Ledges on Mt. Lefroy (first used as an alternative to the ‘Death Trap’ route by the Swiss Guides some hundred years ago, then re-established by Peter Fuhrmann several decades ago).

For the second week, I hung out in the Lake Louise and Banff area (using Bettie as a ‘base-camp’) with long-time climbing buddies Gregor Brandt, Janice Liwanag and Simon Statkewich. As the weather was hot(!) and sunny we opted for mostly R&R and took in our fair share of dips in chilly alpine lakes… though Simon and I did pull off a sweltering 8-pitch rock climb (5.7, 335 m) on Mother’s Day Buttress, Cascade Mountain. The week ended with a jaunt down to Kananaskis Country and some climbing at Wasootch Slabs. All in all a fantastic fortnight—refreshing for mind, body and spirit.

Images (from top): Lake O’Hara with the ACC’s Elizabeth Parker Hut (grassy clearing in foreground); Cathedral Mtn. in early morning light (taken from the hut); solo on Mt. Feuz; the Abbot Hut at 2925 meters elevation (on the narrow col between Mt. Victoria and Mt. Lefroy); looking down the Death Trap from the col with a forewarning of inclement weather; descending the rubble-strewn Fuhrmann Ledges of Mt. Lefroy high above the glaciated valley (photo by Simon, thanks); “Stella-time” at the Chateau Lake Louise (with Josee Lavoie, Gregor and Simon)—admittedly smelly and grubby after the 7-hour descent, we made a bit of a stir by climbing the stone wall to the lavish outdoor patio rather than traipsing through the 5-star hotel lobby with our packs and axes).

Lake Louise, Alberta

I met the famous mountaineering guide Peter Fuhrmann on the way up to Abbot Hut about a decade ago. He was busy painting blue-square route-markers on the few stable rocks that seemed to survive the annual avalanche-flushing of the nasty 670-meter scree gully that one has to scramble up from Lake Oesa (altitude 2265 m) leading to the col straddling the continental divide that the hut is balanced on. The following day, I saw a party gingerly traversing the lower glaciated slopes of Mount Lefroy, having ascended via the “Fuhrmann Ledges” (a century-old route established by the Swiss Guides that Peter F. re-established a half-century later). Ever since, I’ve wanted to suss out that ‘alternative’ route to Lake Louise, and last week finally presented the opportunity (the highlight of this year’s mountaineering holiday). Highly recommended (the crux is route-finding [getting onto the correct ledge is crucial] not technical, as the most exposed sections are protected with fixed hardware)! Total distance from Abbot Hut (at 2925 meters) to the Chateau is an estimated 13-14 km, with a vertical drop of 1215 meters—count on 5 to 8 hours for the descent… enjoy!

Photo/topo: Joe Mckay (who allegedly ‘improved the route’ with fixed ropes). From the hut, traverse the lower glaciated slopes of Mount Lefroy (leave early to avoid excessive rockfall; roped travel is recommended as there are crevasses) in a downward angle heading due North, descending more or less in the middle of the talus/scree slope (half-way between the cliff bands on the right and the drop-off to the Death Trap on the left—look for round orange paint marks as you pick your way through some delicate obstacles). At the North end of Lefroy, move to the lower outside edge of the large ‘balcony’ and look for one of numerous stone-men (cairns) and more orange paint daubs that mark the route to the correct ledge system to circumnavigate the steep cliffs. Follow these ledges right around Lefroy (towards the East, then heading directly South for nearly 1 km), exiting onto a (somewhat nasty) 300-meter-high scree cone which leads down to the large lateral moraines (the glaciers have been melting remarkably fast of late) pointing down toward Lake Louise. After crossing the exit stream below the Lower Victoria Glacier (we had to wade across this year, as the flow was considerable) head left across the valley just before you hit the trees to get up onto the established hiking trail returning from the Plain of Six Glaciers Tea-hut (2075 meters elevation) and leading back to Chateau Lake Louise (1710 meters elevation).

Gimli, Manitoba

Ev and I have spent the past two nights taking in outdoor screenings on the beach (the big screen sits out in the water, viewers spread out on the sand) at the Gimli Film Festival— remarkable fun under our huge prairie skies. On Sunday we took in Paris, je t’aime, and last night the Jane Austen Book Club. Just a ten minute drive north of Winnipeg Beach, Gimli is home to the largest Icelandic population outside of Iceland, a fact which gives the town its nickname “The Capital of New Iceland.”

Winnipeg Beach, Manitoba

Well, we finally launched my old canoe this past weekend… Ev’s been living on the shores of Lake Winnipeg for five years now (it’s the largest of Manitoba’s 100,000 lakes, the 11th-largest freshwater lake in the world, and at 23,553 km² [9,094 sq. miles] it’s larger than both Israel and Slovenia) and we’ve only been out on the open water a few times. Thanks to a special arrangement with Boundary Creek Marina, the old red Obukwin now has it’s own exclusive mooring on the island in the middle of the harbor, allowing effortless access. (For any friends in the area—if you care to use the canoe, just drop by Ev’s first for the padlock key and paddles—access to the island is across the dock-bridge you can see in the photo above).

Amazing as it may sound, our canoe seems to be the only human-powered vessel in the harbor… among the hundreds of yachts, cabin cruisers, sea-doos, and commercial fishing boats. As we sipped a cool beverage on the yacht-club deck on Sunday, I’ll admit we felt a little smug—we couldn’t help but overhear the party beside us discussing the cost of the 600 liters of fuel they had just pumped into their own cabin cruiser.

“Everyone must believe in something. I believe I’ll go canoeing.”

Adrspach, Czech Republic (from the New York Times)

“While it may seem suicidal, leaping across a gaping crevasse is actually an extreme sport that is gaining in popularity. Called rock jumping, or simply ‘jumping’ by the locals, this adrenaline-charged activity is taking place in the Adrspach-Teplice Rocks, a remote nature preserve in the northeast part of the Czech Republic.”

Known for its roughly 11 square miles of phallic sandstone formations, the region has been a breeding ground for lifelong rock climbers, including Jaroslav Houser, 63, the purported conqueror of more than 1,000 sandstone spires. In their frenzy to subdue as many unclimbed tower tops as possible, seasoned climbers like Houser unwittingly gave rise to rock jumping in the Adrspach. “The objective is to get to the top of as many towers as you can,” said Vladimir Prochazka, known as June Bug, a 59-year-old climber and a collector of Czech rock climbing histories. “You try to reach the hardest summit, sometimes by jumping.”

Read the full story in today’s New York Times here. Reminds me of doing the heart-in-throat Jump Traverse above 600 feet of air on Durance, Devil’s Tower, Wyoming….

Manitoba, Canada

Well, another day of tornado touch-downs in our northern province… the weather patterns have clearly changed here over the past few years, and it now feels more and more like Kansas (look out Dorothy). Local weather over the past six weeks has been rife with tornado-watch advisories (e.g. as I write this), warnings, and documented incidents… catch a drive-by video of last year’s F5 tornado at Elie, Manitoba here or here (the latter shot by Hutterites from a nearby colony).