Outdoor Video Magazine

Last night I went to the Edmonton Section ACC (Alpine Club of Canada) monthly meeting which featured guest speaker Will Gadd, from Canmore, Alberta. For those of you who don’t know, Will is a professional outdoor adventure athlete. This means he thinks up cool, crazy stuff to do (mostly involving paragliding or ice-climbing, his two specialties) and then gets funding to do them. He then makes money from the outdoor films he makes, the sponsorship/gear testing he does, the competition wins, the books etc. Will holds the world record for distance paragliding, among many other things. Check out his full and rather impressive biography.

Will has both a website and a blog…and after having a quick scan through both of them I would say he comes across a lot better in person than he does on his blog. I think some of what he writes sounds a little bit conceited, but honestly he comes across as a really nice guy in his talks! I would thoroughly recommend going to check him out if he ever does a talk near you.

His recent escapades have featured climbing ice-bergs, paragliding across the Grand Canyon and ice-climbing in abandoned Swedish mines. It’s absolutely crazy what this guy gets up to, and you can’t help but feel motivated and inspired by his passion for what he does. One of his future trips he mentioned is paragliding from Vancouver to his home in Canmore. He’s already done Golden to Canmore.

Check out last years Warren Miller flick. This is just a trailer but I have to say it’s one of the best. The movie is definately worth the money, it’s around $40 Canadian. It was shot in HD as well which makes it look amazing. You can buy it at www.warrenmiller.com or just go to your local ski shop.

Location: Central Alberta
Level of Skill Required: I rate this river at a 4 on a 5 scale for required skill. Not for beginners!!!
Time of Year: Season Starts at the beginning of June through to the end of September I believe.
Type and Size of Fish: Brown trout pin size to approx. 23 inches, Rocky Mountain White Fish pin size to approx. 17 inches.
Depth and Width of Stream: Depth ranges from 1/2 a foot to 8 feet, Width ranges from 6 feet to 20 feet.
Choice of Fly: Dry fly go with a size 10-12 “stimulator” (Stonefly imitator) if you are a beginner, Wet fly go with a size 12-1 Royal Prince.

The Stauffer Creek has been a ‘life safer” creek for those days when other rivers are just too dirty. The river clears up quicker because of its short length and abundance of vegetation on the banks. Access points to the river; just off the highway (you can walk down or up stream), turn west at the Stauffer store and head to the Buck for Wildlife bridge.
When fishing always fish upstream, so make sure you have a good “leak free” pair of waiters. My choice for waiters are the Hodgman lightweight breathables, they have extra padding on the knees for when you are crawling under those Willow bushes and trust me you will have to bend down a few times if you really want the “big fish” in the creek. It’s a good idea to always stay in the stream while fishing, Brown trout are very easy to spook. The one cast you should master for this stream is the “roll cast”, I do know some fisherman that don’t use it but it will make your day that much more enjoyable and less irritating. The other cast is the “bow and arrow”, you use this cast for getting under willows and banks (the toughest places to cast to are usually where you find the big guys!). So the type of rod for this river is a 6 to 8 1/2 foot rod usually around a 4 weight, but you can of course use whatever you want depending on your level.
The types of dry flies I use for this river are: Stimulator, Caddis, Yellow humpys, Adams, Green Olive, Pale Morning Dove, Black Knat (male and female), Yellow Hopper. The size of the flies ranges from 4-18. The type of fly really depends on the what part of the season you are fishing, eg. Hoppers in mid august to late september. I try not to use wet flies, but when the fish are not surfacing you gotta go deep. So really the only dry flies I’ve used are the Doc Spratley and any bead head like the Royal Prince.

If you have any questions about the river or fly-fishing in general ask away!

Length: 54.4km
Time: 5-8 Hours
Book: Mountain Biking in the Canadian Rockies - Doug Eastcott
Elevation: 1500m - no net gain/loss.
Date done: June 2006
Effort: Medium
Rating: 9/10
Technicality: Moderate
Map: Not needed.

This ride is out and back on 100% singletrack. It goes right along the shore of Lake Minnewanka, and it’s awesome fast, rolling, techincal (in places), rideable singletrack. Just don’t get too excited and knock a hiker off a cliff. Park at the North side of the Lake Minnewanka dam. Mountain bikes ARE allowed on this trail, so don’t take stick from the hikers.

There is not much to describe about this trail. It just goes on and on by the lake. But that makes it sound repetative and it certainly isn’t. The views are gorgeous of the mountains across the lake, there is lots of lake access if you want to cool off (summer only!), and the riding is never boring. Continually twisting and turning with rocks, roots and short rises and inclines there is nothing to slow you down or tire you out. It’s fast, continuous fun. I don’t know whether I was having a good day, or whether it’s the nature of this trail, but when I did it I didn’t tire at all and felt like I could ride forever at speed. The riding gets more techincal as you approach the warden’s cabin that marks the end of the ride. You then get to enjoy it all in reverse on your way back. It’s one trail I didn’t mind backtracking.

Mountain bike! The Canadian Rockies

Backcountry biking in the Canadian Rockies - Gerhardt Lepp

Hey guys, I just found this “unreal” cool video of some skiers and snowboarders up in Whistler B.C.. The guy commentating in the video is freestyle skier Rory Bushfield from Canada. The first jump is about 60 feet of flat and the next day they pushed it back, so it was probably around 80 feet of flat (one word… huge!!!). It’s not just the amount they are clearing it’s the amount of vert they are getting off the lip of the jump that is absolutely amazing!!!

As a member of the ACC (Alpine Club Canada), you get free access to some good talks. As part of the Edmonton section of the club, last night I went to a talk by British photographer/wilderness explorer John Dunn. It was awesome. John specializes in arctic expeditions and his done over 7500km with a sled on his back. Not bad, John.

This particular lecture series, John was talking about three trips that he’s done round Devon Island in Northern Canada. The trips were particularly interesting in that they were trying to go round the coast using the foot ice that is left when the sea ice breaks up. This make for a fantastically interesting journey skiing so close to the sea, but can make travel interesting because you’re never quite sure if there is going to be foot ice right the way around. They got round this by having a sled that could be converted into a kayak if need be.

Later on in the expedition, most of the snow had gone from land and they were left with a big heavy sled, some skis and a lot of rocks to get over. They were prepared for this too, and had inflatable wheels for the sled so they could tow it like a trailer over the tundra. Don’t worry, they chose special wheels that would not harm the fragile soil. They also made use of the strong winds whenever possible using a sail for their sled on two of the expeditions before switching to a kite on their third.

If you have a chance to see John Dunn talk, then go, he’s awesome and his photographs will inspire you. If not then check out his website www.arcticlight.com.