Adventure Highlights of 2021 (written Oct 2024)
- Greg Luesink
- Jul 11, 2021
- 8 min read
TLDR: photos and blurbs about my adventures from 2021.
Rather than hash out the smaller adventures, which don't really require individual posts, I've decided to write an all-inclusive recap of my 2021 Spring and Summer adventures. Some of them set-up for future adventures, so I will refer back to this composition later. I fell in love with the Chilliwack River Valley in 2021, and it inspired me to continue exploring as much as I could.
If you haven't read the Backstory Blog Post, you can find that here to set the scene for 2021:
Rather than going in chronological order I've broken it down into categories. Check it out!
Climbing: Bouldering & Sport Climbing
Despite coming off two finger injuries (those dang flexor digitorum profunduses...) over the winter indoor season, 2021 had some fun climbing trips and days out with friends. Trips to Squamish, Skaha, Harrison Bluffs, Slesse Creek, and Hunter Creek with Hannah, Nic, Nathania, Josiah, Nich, TJ, Brenden, Jesse, Jacob, and many more pals made for some good times. I climbed my first V5 outdoors, and even hopped on some harder climbs just for fun (with marginal success). I felt a lot stronger lead climbing and more confident on the slabby granite of Harrison. I even tried out a little bit of traditional climbing with my friends TJ and Brenden.
Running
After running some half marathons in January, February (with Danika, Josiah, and Nate), and March, my friend Nate and I upped the ante with a 30km run around Cultus Lake with some more experienced trail runners. We were really in the pain cave but we got through it! Shortly after I discovered I had arthritis in my right big toe, so I took it easy for some time after and stuck to biking and hiking.
Mid summer I did some outings on Elk, including one of my biggest workouts of all time: 3 laps totalling 25k and 2,500m. I also set a PR of 1:08:34 up and down Elk - a time that I didn't get close to for a few years after. In August I ran an impromptu 50k with my friend Dustin from Chilliwack Lake back home. Other than the 25k run on Elk a month before I hadn't done much running... and boy did I feel it. About 20k in my glutes just about gave up on me, and I was in the pain cave for the remaining 30 km to get home. It felt like quite the accomplishment! My toe definitely hurt, but the pain subsided not long after, so I was encouraged that my running wasn't over forever.
Cycling
I did quite a few longer rides in 2021, with a lot of hills in Ryder Lake. The longest was in May, when I decided to one-up my furthest distance of cycling to see if I could make it to 200 km. I did the first 160km with my friend Mitch going from home to Agassiz, Mission, and back. One scary moment happened on Highway 11 from Agassiz to Mission. I was riding on the road next to Mitch, who was in the bike lane. All of the sudden, a black truck did a 5 car pass (over a double solid line) over a hill doing 100+++ km/h. He was so close to me I could have stuck my arm out to touch him. The shock didn't hit me until much later, it was as close to certain death as I'd ever been.
Other than that terrifying occurrence, I was really struggling with my bike seat. My caboose was getting super sore and I couldn't find a comfortable position to ride in. After we finished the loop back to Sardis, Mitch parted ways while I took a break at home before I continued on to Columbia Valley to reach my distance goal. After over 10 hours, I made it to 200k! From this experience, I learned a valuable lesson: I needed a new bike seat. Let's just say that the family jewels were numb until the next morning...
Hiking & Scrambling
After the accident on MacFarlane, I was
feeling pretty nervous about mountains, especially snow slopes. About a week later, my friend Nich suggested that we go up McGuire together. In early June, there was still snow on the upper mountain, so we brought crampons and ice axes.
That trip was really important for me. It helped me overcome fear, relax, reset my mentality, and enjoy the terrain. Despite not having views, it was a very memorable day out.
Foley - Welch Scrambling Trip
This trip almost deserves a separate post, but I will try to keep it short. Through my friend Nich, I got invited to join a solid group of gentlemen: Nich, Joseph, Conner, and Tim, all of whom were much more experienced than me. I was excited to learn more about scrambling and travel in this type of terrain. The drive up Foley FSR was pretty rough, but we took our time and got a "late" start at 8 am at from the Williamson Lake Trailhead.
Nich and I were both in shorts, and immediately we got tagged by a ground-wasp nest on the hike up. Negative point for shorts. The weather was beautiful and we made our way up the scree to the col between Welch and Foley. Soon, we were tromping down a snow field towards the intimidating looking Foley. With every step, it started to look easier as we got closer to the less aggressive East ridge. Tim led the way up ramp systems to gain the ridge of Foley, and soon we were standing atop the pointy pinnacle at around noon, 4 hours after leaving the cars. There was just enough room for 5 of us on the summit! I haven't repeated this specific route up since, but the group consensus was 4th class, which sits well in my memory. It was certainly the most exposed and hardest scrambling I'd done to that point.
Our descent went fairly smooth, opting to rappel further down the ridge and downclimb a different ramp to regain the snowfield. We made our way back to the saddle and decided to give the East Ridge of Welch a try. Tim and I were the most leary, but Conner led the way, picking a line through the towers and ledges to the base of the ridge.
One traversing section was quite exposed, with a 200 foot drop down to snow below. An important tip from the other guys was to tap each handhold to ensure that it was solid enough to put weight on. As I tested each handhold, I side-stepped onto a nice-looking foothold... Only to have the entire foothold break off! I gripped hard onto my handholds to stop myself from falling backwards, uttering a few choice words in the fear of the moment. I regained my foot and kept moving to the rest of the group. Phewf! That was close. I guess I should also test the footholds!
The East ridge proved to be quite loose and required a lot of attention as we tried to avoid knocking rocks onto one another's heads. Eventually, we were standing on the summit of Welch, four hours after Foley summit, and eight hours into our day. At 4pm, we inReached some of the guy's wives to let them know we'd be getting back late. We downclimbed the summit block and got to the false summit. To save time, we decided to slide down a snow field back to the scree. Conner first, then Joseph, Nich, myself, and finally Tim. Another negative point for shorts, and a big negative for trail runners. Snow up my shorts and soaking wet feet were not very fun late in the day. Somehow, the first 4 of us missed two large holes in the snow. As we watched Tim slide down, he abruptly stopped on the slope and let out a cry.
Oh crap. As both inReaches came out, Tim started to kick steps down to us. Phewf! Crisis averted. He got down to us and said that his ankle got caught in a snow hole and likely sprained it. I put my ankle taping skills to use and whipped him up a good-enough brace to get down.
The rest of the way was timid sliding on snow, since I put my microspikes on (definitely a hindrance to glissading). Joseph and Conner (both skiers), were way ahead of Tim and me as we picked our way down more slowly. After a 12 hour day, we were driving down the FSR. I got home, and absolutely crashed.
Some lessons I learned on this trip were: 1) pants are usually a good idea for the alpine 2) trail runners scramble well, but they get soaked on snow 3) big groups move slowly on technical terrain 4) big groups have a range of comfort and skill levels, so it is hard to meet everyone where they are at.
The Quest for 10+
Mt Waddington's Outdoors (the local adventure shop) does an annual hiking challenge, creating a list of hikes at varying levels of difficulty. I signed up for the challenge, completing 7/10. It was a really fun way to explore new areas that I might not have considered before!
Crossover Pass: A fun day out with Kenny, Jesse, and Andrew. Quite scrambly and a recent landslide prevented us from reaching the proper location so we stopped early.
Flora, Greendrop, Lindeman Lake Loop: a fun day out with Jesse. It rained, we got soaked. Jesse tripped, flew like superman, and ate dirt. The end. (not pictured).
Outram: solo hike on the way to Skaha! It was an interesting experience to be alone on the trail.
Yak-Nak-Thar: my first hike with Ben - I also broke in some boots on that trip. Worst heel blisters ever.
Slollicum Peak - with Andrew and Josh. Brutal end to the hike to discover Andrew's van had been broken into, and Josh's wallet stolen. The thieves went on a liquor store spree from Agassiz to Mission.
Upper Hanging Lake + Mt Lindeman: a spectacular day out with Jesse. We got a bit ahead of ourselves and decided to check out a different way up to the summit... after some 4th class moves we realized atop the false summit that there was an impassable ridge between us and the true pinnacle. Thankfully, we could downclimb and made it to the proper route.
Spencer Peak: my first bike-to-hike. From home, I bike 30k up an FSR, stashed my bike, and hike up to a cool viewpoint of the Border peaks and Tomyhoi.
Some other fun adventures included:
Lady and Cheam Peak with Nich - my first time up and got quite tripped-out by the moving clouds while scrambling. Still not my favourite thing to scramble in the clouds.
MacFarlane Birthday bike-hike: what was now an annual trip up the mountain near my birthday. I explored a bit towards Crossover Peak, and bailed on trying to go around the lake due to time and needing to bike home afterwards! A good day out of reflection, especially when I passed the site of the accident from May.
If you've made it this far, thanks for reading! It feels good to reminisce about the 2021 season. I learned a lot that year, made new friends and grew deeper in old friendships, and developed as a person and as an athlete. Overall, I smile looking back on a year filled with a ton of amazing memories with more amazing friends. As I said earlier, this year filled me with inspiration to continue exploring the Chilliwack River Valley in particular, as well as the surrounding areas. I can't wait to share with you the places I've seen!
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