Really???

I really thought I would get more comments when I announced that I drank a fly...???

it looks like I am going to enter into a coaching career. I met today with the coach of the junior boys volleyball team at the high school. I am going to assist with the program this year and get back in the game. should be fun times! season starts next week.

Moma taught me to share...

So... Kathryn and I just spend 3 days in at Lake O'Hara. arguably some of the best scenery in the world... arguably because anyone who disputes it, probably hasn't been to Lake O'hara. Simply put, Lake O'Hara is amazing and beautiful and boasts the best hikes I have ever done. Only in Lake O'Hara will I actually hike for Ten minutes and, having not had a view that made me stop and proclaim the beauty of the region, declare that trail is officially the worst around and that I'm bored of it. (this is when I realized that I was spoiled with all the other hikes Kathryn and I did this weekend)

onwards to the point of the story.

At the end of 3 magnificent days of hiking in the region, Kathryn decided to treat herself to something nice from the one store that operates at Lake O'Hara by purchasing a ginger ale. The idea of a soothing, cool and refreshing ginger ale is quite appealing after 3 days in the region.

She decided to drink it by the lake as we waited for the bus to take us out of the area. (Lake O'Hara is 11km into the backcountry, only accessible by hiking in or with this shuttle service, and only 75 people/day are permitted on the bus.) as we waited, I waded into the frigid waters as she drank her drink. Once I came out another hiker started asking me questions about hikes in the area looking for advice on where to go on his next grand adventure.

After passing on my limited knowledge of hiking in the area (this took a little while) I re-joined Kathryn, who was enjoying the views. She had left her backpack and her ginger ale on a rock and proceeded to sit about 25m away??? I was confused, but looked at the ginger ale, and seeing that it had about 1/3 left in it, I thought she was a darling for sharing her drink with me.

When I sat next to her, she asked if I had taken the chocolate from the pack. Kathryn likes her chocolate and I don't usually steal her chocolate, so I was surprised when she told me that she had to walk away from the pack and the chocolate in order to save some for me.

I still sat next to her for a bit and proceeded to finish off the ginger ale.

When I was tilting my head back, trying to get the last of the drink to drip onto my lips, Kathryn looked at me with disgust that I had drank all of her ginger ale! I thought I did something wrong, but I thought she had left it for me!

No, she hadn't. She left it because there was a fly in it.

Well, I've heard we are supposed to start including more insects in our diet... . . .

Wow... has it been over 2 months since my last post? I really do mean to write more often... but then things just get busy and blogging is far from my mind. I will get you up to speed in 500 words or less!

Since June 21st:

Canoe to Canmore with Kathryn - Freak storm, almost flipped, got turned right around - some how survived.

Cheryl came to town - hiked Wilcox Pass

Mountain biked the spray river.

Road biked Minniwanka

Went to Paddlefest - did the "double ledges" (class 4 white water!!)

Mountain Biked Tunnel Mountain

Camped at "lake of the hanging glacier" 12km backcountry hike

Doctors said I don't have hypoglycemia - still doing some tests to figure things out

more kayaking

3 day backcountry trip up mosquito creek. Interestingly - no mosquitos??

Hiked into Mount Assiniboine. (Day 1: 30km, day 2: 20+km, day 3: 25+km, Day 4 - Helicopter ride out)

Flew home - 40th anniversary. David and Stevin realized that I am unable to dive into water... I really need to figure that out this winter.

Kathryn and I biked under the stars home from Lake Two-Jack campground

floated down Bow river, 4 hours didn't get us to banff so we had to walk.

Kanfest (kayaking festival) I did my first "battle roll"

Kathryn bought me a dry-top for kayaking for my Birthday!

Went out with some friends and had a BBQ to celebrate turning 28

Went Kayaking and hit my first rock while underwater - my left shoulder got pulled and have been on the injured list since...

and just this past weekend, went camping in the Okanagan, nakusp and at Lake O'Hara...

so... that has been my summer in or around 500 words... I hope. (i'm not counting)

now for the fun story that I'm sure you want to here...

Old Friends

In the years that I have been living here in the Bow Valley, I have met many people. I guess in my role as the activity guy at the chateau - many people got to know me too. So it isn't surprising that if I am walking around Banff, that I might meet up with someone I know... or think I know.

The fun is trying to figure out "where" I know them from.

I had one of these great occasions on Monday. It was lunch time and Kathryn and I were trying to decide where we would head off to for lunch. We were thinking of Sushi, or Coyotes (a nice restaurant), or subway, or eddie burger... well, we hadn't really made up our minds when we turned the corner onto Banff Ave.

There, crossing our path were two ladies, and Kathryn gave an interesting look at the one girl. I figured that Kathryn must know her and half expected her to say something. But, it turned out that she just liked the ladies skirt - so she apologized for the stare and was about to carry on. That is when this lady and I locked eyes...

It was instant recognition.

Do I dare say something? NOOO... I can't think of where I know her from... Does she know me? I can tell by her look that she is thinking the same thing...

she speaks up... "do i know you"

we realized that we looked familiar, so she asked my name...

Michael.... Geertsema....

well, she knows me! I still don't know her???? Who is she? I feel bad that I don't know her...

Her name: Brenda Stevens!

K.. so the last time I recall seeing Brenda Stevens is... by golly I don't remember... but somehow, almost 17 years after going to school with the lady (grade school mind you, and she was 2 grades ahead of me) we still recognize each other. I think it was more that she recognized the Geertsema facial features!

Well, David - She says to say Hi.

Got to love Banff.

and Kathryn says I know too many people. (this happens more than I'd like to admit)

Hypoglycemia

So.....

I'd like you to recall all those time that I fell asleep in church... all those times I fell asleep in school, all those afternoon naps that I just had to go for...

well, turns out that it isn't my fault! HAHAHA

It's a medical condition... I have Hypglycemia

I guess I always thought I just got a little food coma, but more recently I started to think something was a little wrong. I started thinking that maybe it isn't normal to almost fall asleep every day after every meal...

so, I talked to the doctor about it a few weeks ago and after a few tests we have found out that I have reactive hypoglycemia. Now.. more tests... but at least it's narrowed down.

ps. This does not mean diabetes, at least... not yet. Hypo means my blood sugar drops too low after a meal, the cause of which is currently under investigation.

Cheerio!

And summer begins

Up here in the mountains, it takes a little while for the summer to show up. I think I can finally say that summer, well, maybe spring has arrived. We have warm(ish) weather, the snow is gone(ish - well, it's gone from lower elevations) but more importantly, softball started this past week.

I think that is the truest sign of summer.

My friends and I decided to place a team in the Lake Louise league this year, even though we live in Banff. This is because the Banff league runs from now until October, and is scheduled on every single Sunday for the entire summer. As most of us would like to have our weekends to ourselves, we decided that Lake Louise was a much better option. The Lake Louise league plays on tuesday-wednesday and thursdays, but you only play 1 or 2 games a week. It is also a good chance to catch up with old friend from the lake.

Our season started this past week. we had two games and we won them both. It looks like we'll have a pretty good team this year!

So...

Two months later, is that an appropriate amount of time between blogs?

I thought maybe now would be a good time to write something down. I realized today that a lot has happened in the last month that is a little interesting.

So this past Friday I ran a rather large event. You may wonder what I do for work, as many people do. Well, last friday was the culmination of about 4 months of work. yes... it took that long to pull this event off! I've done similar events before and found that you truly need a number of months to properly prepare for a charity auction. And all that planning really did pay off.

anyway, the end result was an event that took place on February 4, It was a special event in that all of Lake Louise was invited to attend. (there is a big rift between villagers and the chateau staff in Lake Louise, so this was quite odd) we chose to support the local hospital for the purchase of an infant warmer. that piece of equipment is worth $30,000+, so setting such a goal was quite high.

When donations started arriving, I thought we would make around $13,000-$15,000. But, in good fashion, the people who attended the event were very generous and bid high on all the items until we had made $25,000!!! (that's after all of our expenses!) I can't believe how much we made!

Sadly, in the time that it took us to plan this event, the Alberta Government decided to fund the infant warmer - but, 3 days after the Auction, the Heart Monitor for the emergency ward broke. A Heart Monitor just so happens to cost around $25,000... so if any of you end up in emerg at the Banff Mineral Springs Hospital, you will be hooked up to a machine that I raised the funds for. :)

what else,

Back Country Skiing.

As you can guess, venturing into the land of avalanches is quite dangerous. It just so happens that the best skiing happens on slopes that are 30-45 degrees, which also happens to be the prime angle for avalanches! any more steep and the hill will shed regularly and won't build up enough to avalanche. Any less of an angle and it won't really move at all.

so, recognizing this, and the thought that I really like being alive - but also recognizing that it really is awesome skiing, I have decided to get as much training as possible so that I can do this activity safely.

This year I picked joined the Alpine Club of Canada to take part in their BIT course. It's Back Country In Training.... this course helps bridge the gap between classroom training and real life experience. The sad fact is that this past weekend when we went to go for a ski - we had hoped to get up into the alpine region for some turns - but on the tour in we realized that the avalanche risk was too great! I couldn't see the mountain as it was the cloud cover was to low, but during the 2 hour tour in we heard 4 avalanches! so we decided to stick to where tree's are and that meant that we didn't get to do any turns. :( maybe next week.

oh, if you are wondering - avalanche danger runs in cycles. typically you get snow, then a cold night which will create hoar frost on the snow, (this will become a weak layer) then you get new snow (aka Loading) when the loading builds up you get a trigger - be it more loading, heavy wind, or maybe a skier cutting through the top layer to the weak layer... that's when an avalanche happens. thing is, it works in cycles. so you get a load of snow, then it will shed and stabilize and build up new snow again.

the trick is knowing where that weak layer is, and how likely it is to shed. so it's fun trying to figure that out. but it also means that the avalanche danger will change from day to day and week to week depending on what is happening with the weather.

hmm.. well that's all for tonight.

I'll try to get on her a bit more often this week. There is more to let you know about!