We will be doing a weekly blog of the mountain semester progress and hope to have our students do most of the writing so if you were thinking about taking the program you will get a first hand view of what happens.  Our orientation day is March 14 so stay tuned for dispatches from the front lines.  Follow it online: here.

Our recent snowfall has changed ski conditions which is great news for the Wapta Traverse departures we have starting this week.  Most of the Rockies ice routes are still in good shape and our guests come back with huge smiles on their faces.  It is definitely still winter so get out there for some climbing or skiing.

For those of you in Calgary on March 27, please join me at the Calgary Outdoor Adventure Travel Show at 1:15 in the adventure theatre.  I will be doing a slide show presentation on Yamnuska’s summer mountaineering programs from beginner to advanced.  The Yam team will also have a booth at the show and be able to answer any of your questions on all of our programs. 

Jesse

Barry Blanchard

Yamnuska Mountain Adventures is excited to announce the appointment of Barry Blanchard, North America’s premier alpinist, as Associate Director effective March 1, 2010.

As a founding guide and former long term employee, Barry re-joins Yamnuska in this pivotal senior position.

“I’m thrilled to have Barry on board. I believe his incredible personal brand is a great match for Yamnuska” says Len Youden, Yamnuska’s General Manager.

“Barry is one of the world’s most accomplished alpinists, so having him as a senior guide and mentor to our guiding team is a huge advantage for Yamnuska. We will be featuring programs and trips that will have Barry’s unique imprint; the ability to provide unsurpassed alpine adventures for our guests.”

More on Barry:

• Check out the current Edition #29 of Alpinist Magazine for Barry’s feature article ‘Dragons in the Mist’ which profiles 100 years of climbing Mt Robson including his own 13 year odyssey to establish a new route on the Emperor Face.
•  The current Patagonia ‘Heart of Winter’ catalogue introduction describes the saga of Barry and his team’s avalanche survival story on Nanga Parbat the world’s 9th highest mountain titled ‘Unroped’.
•  Keynote presenter at the 50th anniversary Calgary Mountain Club celebration on June 11th in Calgary
•  On July 14th at the Squamish Mountain Festival, don’t miss Barry’s thrilling slideshow on his experience of climbing in Canada
•  Sponsored athlete for Black Diamond’s complete line of skiing and climbing equipment.

There is more information at www.barryblanchard.ca and www.yamnuska.com to arrange your own trip, expedition or presentation by Barry. Follow Barry on facebook and twitter for trip reports, pictures, and commentary. Check out the Yamnuska Blog for regular posts and information on upcoming events (www.yamnuska.com)

Having just returned from the Toronto Outdoor Adventure Show I want to thank our new and return guests for coming out to say Hi.  I truly enjoyed meeting you all and appreciated the kind words.  I was actually speaking to one guest show participant about our Intro to Mountaineering course when a past client came up and literally sold this guy the course for me.  A past guest raving about his experience – now that is positive word of mouth!

Having had the opportunity to get face to face with prospective clients, I want to address a specific issue that came up several times.  Many people find the mountains and our programs somewhat intimidating – especially if they don’t spend a lot of time in the mountains.  This is completely understandable especially when someone reads or hears about an injury. However, our intro/beginner courses are just that – for beginners and people with no mountain or climbing experience.  Of course our intermediate and advance programs are for more experienced climbers, but someone who is ‘hiking fit’ should not be intimidated by beginner ice, rock, hiking, or mountaineering at all. 

We have over 30 years of experience doing this and our intro programs are carefully planned to put beginners at a comfortable level, yet still provide that exhilarating experience only the mountains can give.  We have the best guides in the industry and their experience is invaluable in providing the best level of safety and adventure.  I met several kayakers, rafters, hunters and other experienced outdoors persons who said they were scared to do our beginner courses but anyone who loves the outdoors will absolutely love our beginner programs… that I can promise you! 

You certainly don’t have to be an ultra marathoner, but a good hiking level of fitness will definitely help you on the program.  I actually met an ultra marathoner who did white water rafting and he didn’t think he could do a beginner course – to that I say ‘looking forward to seeing you this summer Paul!’  Remember, even the most experienced climbers had to start somewhere and our Intro programs give you that opportunity.

Again, thanks to everyone who came out to see us, we have a huge base of past guests in Toronto and given the discussions I had there will be many more I am sure!  If you have any questions or want to talk in more detail about our programs, as those of you in Toronto now know… we never get tired of talking about what we do!

Len

1. Many expedition leaders require certification from a Mountain Guide that you are proficient in their pre-requisite skills.  We will review this line by line with you and train you to the required standard.
2. Even if you feel like you meet minimum expedition standards but you want to round out your skills, we will work on general mountaineering skills from beginner to advanced or focus on specific skills.  Many climbers like this option as more training and advanced level skills significantly improve their chances of success.

Here is a link to a fun day at Hafner Creek for the Knucklebasher Ice Climbing Festival in Canmore a few weeks ago.  The Rockies Ice here in Canada’s West is in excellent shape and our temperatures have made for some fantastic days of climbing.

Whether you want to try ice climbing for the first time or have your sights set on a big route, we can help you.

Get outside and enjoy our incredible mountains.

Rockies Ice and ski touring in Canada’s West continues to be phenomenal.  We just wrapped up a successful Ice Evolution program with some amazing ice climbing around Canmore, Banff and Lake Louise.  This week’s ice climbing Knucklebasher festival should be a huge hit for everyone involved with blue skies and comfortable temperatures.

Myself and Yamnuska’s Director of Operations, Dave Stark were fortunate to participate in a media event for Tourism Canmore this past week.  Michel Grimm, a writer from Germany was our guest as Dave and I showed him some ski touring Rockies style with a great day on the Wapta Icefields.  On Monday we skied into the Bow Hut and on Tuesday we did laps on the headwall of the glacier.  We had an incredible day and really enjoyed Michel’s company and great sense of humour.

You can watch a short You Tube video of David and Michel skiing down the glacier in 15 cm’s of fresh snow.  Yamnuska Mountain Adventures Ski Touring on the Wapta

Our Avalanche AST 1 and 2 course season is coming close to an end.  If you were considering an avalanche course this year, sign up fast as space on most remaining courses is slim.

We will share some amazing pictures and videos from this weekend’s ice climbing festival on our twitter and facebook accounts.  Stay tuned and get outside.

Len

The Rockies ice climbing in Canada’s West has been absolutely incredible in January.  We have had cool nights  for ice formation and very comfortable temperatures during the day for some amazing ice climbing.  We have a few spots still available for our ice courses and trips plus don’t forget about the phenomenal deals that are being offered for the knucklebasher clinics.  The clinics are truly the best deals you will find for guided days as the objective of the festival is to increase the profile of the sport and ensure anyone who wants to participate can.

Bluebird Days in Canada's Ice Climbing Mecca

For those guests who have been joining us on trips and courses, thank you for the amazing feedback.  I am blown away with the level of positive feedback we get for all of our programs.  We have incredible office staff and guides who make booking trips and enjoying programs very positive experiences for our guests.  We also personally respond to every evaluation and many of the great attributes of our organization today are a direct result of guest feedback.  Thank you and please keep them coming.

Yamnuska will be present at the Toronto Outdoor Adventure Show in February.  We invite our past guests and those of you living in the greater Toronto area to come by our booth.  We will have lots of information available for our programs and will be giving away some great prizes.  The Toronto show will be very exciting and I’m really looking forward to meeting as many people as possible.

Get outside and enjoy our amazing mountains.