TR: Team Alpine Start and the Sunshine Coast Trail: June 20- July 1, 2013
In 2013, me and 3 friends embarked on the 180 km Sunshine Coast Trail, and did it in ~10 (8 full days and 2 half days) very relaxing days. I am adding a link to an older post here, instead of re-formatting it all here. Introduction (Cora): A few months back, my friend Ionatan contacted me and asked me if I would be interested in joining him on the Sunshine Coast Trail near Powell River. This trail is 180 km long, and includes many lakes and mountains, as well as a portion tha
TR: A Week of Alpine Climbing in the Bugaboos- August 20-26, 2016
Bugaboo Provincial Park is located in the Purcell Mountains of southwestern British Columbia, and contains many granite peaks over 3000 meters and granite spires that entice climbers from around the world. Some classic routes are the West Ridge of Pigeon Spire (5.4), the Kain Route up Bugaboo Spire (5.6), and the classic 22-pitch Beckey-Chouinard route on South Howser Tower (5.10), but many other exciting routes exist on many peaks (Snowpatch Spire, Pigeon Spire, Bugaboo Spir
TR: Powell Forest Canoe Route: June 19-22, 2016
“What kind of trip can you do when you have hurt your knee and cannot bend it very much?” We decided that the answer to this question is a canoe trip! This answer was based on the assumption that portage routes would involve minimal elevation change and thus mostly flat walking. Jake Jones and myself (Cora Skaien) had been planning to do the North Coast Trail and the Nootka Trail over the last 2 weeks of June for quite some time. Unfortunately, I (in my typical fashion) injur
Introduction to my Blog and Other Trip Reports
Hello! And thanks for reading my blog. This is me: Although I am by no means amazing at any of the things I do, I have a deep passion and desire to get out and adventure. In the summer, I mainly climb, scramble and hike with some kayaking here and there, and in the winter, I mainly snowshoe and ski. I also try to get a few mountaineering trips in when conditions permit. I have had my trip reports scattered throughout the Varsity Outdoor Club Trip Report page and have decided
TR: Red Rocks Reading Week Adventure February 13-20, 2016
From February 13-20, 2016, a group of 8 VOCers made their way down to Red Rocks, Nevada for a week of climbing. In our crew we had Jake Jones, Emmanuel Beraud, Annie Maurer, John McKenna, Mike Wathen, Cindy Gu, Lesley McDonell and myself, Cora Skaien. We decided to fly down and rent a car in order to increase the amount of time we had climbing. Along with the flight deal, we acquired cheap accommodation and we stayed at El Cortez Hotel and Casino. On our first day, we went st
TR: How I Learned My Limitations in Mountaineering: G2 at Slalok Mountain and Matier Glacier
Posted on August 28, 2014 by Cora Skaien, from the Varsity Outdoor Club website. Objective: Practice mountaineering skills by crossing Stonecrop Glacier to summit Slalok Mountain, then descend to cross the Matier Glacier. If time, explore a route on Matier Mountain. Disclaimer: distances, angles and sizes of things are in relation to how I perceive them (in a terrified state), and may have been perceived differently by others. The story: I have always had a passion for explor
