So long 2016, Hello 2017

That’s a wrap 2016! Somehow this year seemed to just fly by. It was a trip around the sun filled with both ups and downs, but overall has left us in a place of happiness and anticipation for what’s around the corner next. 

While reflecting over the year, we came up with a list of the eleven most memorable moments for us in 2016, and of course a second list of our ten biggest climbing highlights ;)

Eleven Biggest Moments of 2016 

1. Following a whirlwind battle with cancer, we say good bye to Nanny (Kim’s grandmother) on January 3^rd

2. In an attempt to gather more “lifer birds”, we add Burrowing Owl, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, and White-faced Ibis to our list at the Salton Sea in mid-January

3. We connect with Shelma, founder of Flash Foxy, and help out with the inaugural Women’s Climbing Festival in Bishop, California

 

4. We experience the Death Valley “super bloom” in March, which hadn’t occurred to that extent in over 10 years!

5. We get engaged!

6. Summer 2016: Kim spent the summer in Alberta, making new friends, finding cool plants (like pitcher plants in fens!), hiking, canoeing, and doing a bit of climbing. Graham spent the summer in Vancouver, getting in lots of climbing and adventures in Squamish. Living in different provinces for four months was difficult, but we both had tons of valuable and awesome experiences.

Photo credit: Jesse Archer

7. We buy our first guitar and both start learning to play

8. Our dear friends treat us to incredibly fun surprise bachelor and bachelorette weekends

Photo credit: Melissa Gillespie

9. We get married on a stormy October day <3

Photo credit: Brodie Frehlich

10. We spend an awesome weekend on Valdez Island in the company of people we love 

11. Vancouver is treated to a wonderfully snowy December and we have snow at our place all month long

Top Ten Climbing Moments of 2016

1. Graham climbs Xavier’s Roof, his second V11

2. Kim climbs Gastonia and Gastonia Sit (V8, V9) her hardest of the grade

3. Kim sends her 100^th route 5.12 or harder, and her 10^th 5.13

4. Kim sends the scary, run-out, Full Heinous Cling (5.12c R) on her second attempt

Photo credit: Yannick Neufeld-Cumming

5. Graham adventures up CardiYak Rhythm on Yak Peak with his good friend Doug the Slug

6. Kim’s second article for Gripped Magazine appears in the August print issue, and she starts a climbing-writer job for the online adventure hub, The Adventure Junkies

Photo credit: Alyssia Jebb

7. Graham sends his two-summer-long project, Division Bell (5.13d)

Photo credit: Dan Beland

8. Graham sends Permanent Waves (5.13d), right before the rains swallow Squamish for the rest of the season

9. We start training in late October for our upcoming trip in January and begin to see improvements

10. We quit our jobs and move out of our suite - #retirement2017 here we come!

Musings from the geographical centre of BC!

While Graham has been frolicking in Squamish over the past month, I have been working as a research assistant at a study site about 1.5 hours SW of Vanderhoof, BC (the geographical centre of the province!). The region where I am working is referred to as the "Big River Country", expansive backcountry more than 15 times the size of Hong Kong (pop: 17 Million) with a population of 150 people.

Our study site is called Carrott Lake. It looks a like this:

Carrott Lake Experimental Site (photo cred: M. Krawchuk)

We spend our days counting and measuring vegetation species, coring and characterizing trees (many of which have been killed by mountain pine beetle) and collecting soil samples. We collect our data at measured intervals within our study plots, centred around sample pins that looks like this:

Sample point centre

Here we are enjoying a fun day of soil sampling!

Digging a soil pit in the rain! (photo cred: M. Krawchuk)

The product of our soil sampling day (photo cred: M. Krawchuk)

When we are not at Carrott Lake, we are back at our campsite, which is an hour away at Nechako Lodge (www.nechakolodge.com), a beautiful wilderness and aviation resort near the Kenney Dam. We really like food...

Photo cred: M. Krawchuk

 and campfires...

Photo cred: M. Krawchuk

You might be asking, "what is the purpose of all this fieldwork?" Well, in the next week or so, we will be returning to Carrott Lake to participate in the BURNING of our study plots. I am pretty excited about this prescribed burn, and the awesome outcome for research in vegetation resilience when the burn is complete. Hopefully it will inspire some great Master's Research questions :)