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 Road to 100th Summit - A Personal Journey
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MtnNinja
Junior Member



155 Posts

 Posted - 07/25/2012 :  6:59 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Congratulations, Steven! Vern, You and I should do a summit together soon and celebrate our recent accomplishements. Vern has also reached a milestone recently. We`ll have a drink of Jagermeister on the summit!

Edited by - MtnNinja on 07/25/2012 7:01 PM

StevenSong
Junior Member


Edmonton, AB
Canada

468 Posts

 Posted - 07/25/2012 :  7:53 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by MtnNinja

Congratulations, Steven! Vern, You and I should do a summit together soon and celebrate our recent accomplishements. Vern has also reached a milestone recently. We`ll have a drink of Jagermeister on the summit!



Thanks Raff,

How about this Sunday? But it might be hard to find objective as there're not many mountains both you and Vern haven't done yet. I'm doing a trip with Andrea and Shuan on Saturday in K-country, so I guess somewhere KC / Johnson Creek / or Banff / Yoho?

trailflower
Senior Member

Super botonist, hippie chick who cuddles thistles with glee

Langley, BC
Canada

1541 Posts

 Posted - 07/25/2012 :  7:57 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Thank you for sharing your journey with us. Such a good read.

MJB
Intermediate Member


Terrace, BC
957 Posts

 Posted - 07/25/2012 :  8:11 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Nice Work Steven!!!
Pop out to the west coast and Bag some more!!!

calixtomoon
Senior Member


Langley, BC
Canada

1693 Posts

 Posted - 07/25/2012 :  8:26 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Cool write up, stunning pics and awesome adventures..thanks for sharing!

StevenSong
Junior Member


Edmonton, AB
Canada

468 Posts

 Posted - 07/25/2012 :  8:50 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by MJB

Nice Work Steven!!!
Pop out to the west coast and Bag some more!!!



I really hope so. There's a slight chance I'll pop out there this August, but if so I have to turn down the invitation to the McDougal Massive 5-peak-traverse.

I do actually have places to stay in Vancouver as most of my high school friends are still there.

If I go Vancouver, there're several plans high on my list:

1. Parkthurst to Wedge to Rathel
2. The Black Tusk
3. Cheam Peak to Lady Peak (need to share truck as my car can't get up there)
4. Panorama Ridge to Gentian Peak to Castle Towers (This will be the longest trip I've ever done, even longer than the 8-peak-traverse in Waterton, but we will see).

Marko
Senior Member


Calgary, Alberta
Canada

1198 Posts

 Posted - 07/27/2012 :  3:24 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
You've certainly done some impressive numbers in the last little while.

I have to say, you seem to have developed the peak-bagger obsession. I felt a bit of this when I first got into the mountains and I've also seen it develop in a number of people in various forms.

When it becomes a game of how fast, how many, how long and how hard, it can become risky. This, for me, led to some close calls. Several times I took routes that I shouldn't have been taking and pushed myself to a summit in weather that warranted turning around. Some of the times I was miserable, but I didn't want to turn around simply because of ego.

It's certainly one of the healthier obsessions to have, but do be careful. The mountains aren't going anywhere (at least during our lifetime). An injury can quickly turn your hobby into a thing of the past -- or worse.

I'm guessing that you have a copy of Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies. I urge you, if you haven't already, to read the introduction of the book, the section before the route descriptions. I probably did 40 or 50 of the scrambles before I looked at this section. When I did, it was a bit of a revelation. Here's an excerpt:

quote:
Scrambles in the Canadian Rockes By Alan Kane, Pg. 19
The biggest killer in the mountains might well be blind enthusiasm. Do not allow it to overshadow good judgement; keep your goal in perspective. Realize that no matter how hard you push or how fast you go, somebody will always be faster than you. Instead, you may as well settle for having fun and doing it safely. If conditions don't seem right or you do not feel comfortable on the route, be smart and TURN BACK. It could save your life.


Hope to do a scramble with you sometime soon. Hopefully I can keep up. :)

StevenSong
Junior Member


Edmonton, AB
Canada

468 Posts

 Posted - 07/27/2012 :  5:40 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote

Marko,

Thanks for giving me the advice, I take it.

There's lots of stuffs going on my mind when I might need to turn back, like the winter ascent of Lady MacDonald. The urge eases now after I've done 60-70 summits. Now if weather looks bad I will just cancel the plan. But earlier this year, I would just go anyway regardless the weather, like on Red Ridge and Coffin Mountain. I also soloed about 3-4km on Columbia Icefield on Castleguard Mountain, which is stupid I would say. My partner followed me up Roche Miette's wrong gully in winter with only 1 successful summit on his belt (Wilcox Peak). Bad choice starts from choosing objective part, not to say both of us didn't bring a route photo nor route description. If this gully didn't work, he couldn't down-climb the thing (he told me later)... Mt Temple was another day I got lucky. I can't imagine doing this mountain with only shorts, t-shirt, and one cotton jacket, in late September.

Now with 100 peaks on my belt, hopefully I will make less and less silly mistakes. Again, it's hard to make technical mistake (ie, fall on an exposed section), but easy to make decision mistake.

andrea b
Starting Member


calgary
32 Posts

 Posted - 07/29/2012 :  8:31 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Interesting to see the photos from the mountains in China.

Enjoy the next 100 trips!

vern.dewit
Intermediate Member


Calgary, Alberta
Canada

617 Posts

 Posted - 07/30/2012 :  06:33 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Marko

You've certainly done some impressive numbers in the last little while.

I have to say, you seem to have developed the peak-bagger obsession. I felt a bit of this when I first got into the mountains and I've also seen it develop in a number of people in various forms.

When it becomes a game of how fast, how many, how long and how hard, it can become risky.


Well said Marko! Funny how things go full circle eh?!
ClubTread Supporter

Wildman
Advanced Member

Trail blazin', backcountry bushwackin', pine huntin', photo takin', long winded story teller


3838 Posts

 Posted - 07/30/2012 :  09:03 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Very, awesome.
Spectacular.
Congrats.

Granticulus
Intermediate Member



737 Posts

 Posted - 07/30/2012 :  1:19 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Way to go, Steven!

It was quite nice bumping into you (not literally!) on Mt Burstall on Saturday.

Some very good advice given by Marko and by Vern... You're really making your way through the lists of mountains quite quickly. There's nothing wrong with that given your situation (youthfulness, time, interest/ambition and health). Indeed, take advantage of it.

If I'm to offer any advice, it's to look forward to repeating a mountain as much as you look forward to bagging a new peak.

It was very nice to read your well-documented summary of your first 100 (was Mt Burstall your 101st?) and even better to read your thorough individual trip reports.

Looking forward to hooking up with you this August.

Regards,

Granticulus
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