It's better than a tax return- it's a POWDER return

I hope this message finds you in the best of forms. I am sure a few of your followers would be pretty stoked with this, if you have a few minutes and don't mind helping me get this contest announcement out there that would be brilliant…..someone’s going heli-skiing for free!

I am sure you, just like me, are starting to get that itch about getting out and hitting the slopes. Here in Western Canada it was last week we got a teaser - snow on the ground but it didn’t last. No worries as from what I understand we here out west are in for another doozy of a season- bring on the snow!!

Track & Trail is stoked to be offering a very exciting contest where we are giving away a free heli-ski trip valued at around $5000 and all anyone has to do to enter is get in the chopper. I'd sure appreciate it if you could pass the attached around to a few colleagues for their chance to get in on some pretty perma grin inducing adventures!

Northern Escape Heli-Skiing (NEH) is located in Terrace BC, a two hour flight north of Vancouver into the Skeena Mountain Range- all through Air Canada. The Skeena's are home to one of the biggest annual snowfalls on our planet receiving over 65-100 feet in a season. Being fortunate enough to have gone up a few times I can contest there really is nothing else like it, the scenery is unreal and the skiing or snowboarding is epic!

Here is a quote from one of my recent guests up there:

“Never heli-skiing before, I didn’t have a clue what I was going to get into, apart from the pictures and the understanding that this was going to be a magnanimous experience. The lodge is excellent, the food brilliant and the skiing with those views literally took my breath away… I could have used some snorkel gear to navigate through all that powder!” Family Physician Dr. Lloyd Clarke, MB ChB - Cardston Municipal Hospital, Cardston Alberta.

There are only a total of 18 seats available for this contest and I know they are going to go quick. Please have those interested give me a shout and I can get them sorted and in the bird 888.308.3007! For more on the operation please check out this video:

Northern Escape Heli-Ski Promo from SnowSeekers on Vimeo.

Please note that all bookings must come through Track & Trail to be eligible for the contest. For more about Northern Escape, check out their website at http://www.neheliski.com

We appreciate your time with this and in passing it around to a few colleagues who could be interested.

think snow

jim @ tandtadventures.com

Advancing Emergency Department Ultrasound

Track & Trail is fortunate enough to have secured Dr. Jonathan Theoret as it's chief of medical affairs. Dr. Theoret has put together this story outlining his interest in getting under a patient's skin within the ER department. You'll see more of his posts in the future, but for now enjoy his first piece here at Track & Trail's blog.

Advancing Emergency Department Ultrasound
By Dr. Jonathan Theoret, MDCM

Few new technologies have revolutionized the practice of emergency medicine more than bedside ultrasound. Ever since I witnessed my first FAST exam, I have been absolutely fascinated by the ability to “see inside the body”, right there, right now at the patient’s bedside. As a young medical student keen to embark on a career in emergency medicine, it seemed to me like “this was the future”. Why on Earth would I ever blindly approach a patient’s neck with a giant needle without knowing exactly where the vessel I am aiming for is located? Why would I pretend to hear the aortic stenosis murmur when I could learn to measure the valve area? This was six years ago… and today my excitement for bedside ultrasound has only grown stronger. Yet as a resident in the newest recognized medical specialty, obtaining advanced training in this subspecialty discipline is a major challenge in Canada. Many Canadian residency programs and major hospitals still do not have “local experts and advocates” for bedside ultrasound.

Machines like Sonosite's Nanomaxx continue to advance patient diagnosis.

So this is how my southbound quest began… a quest that led me to spend the 2009-2010 academic year as a “hybrid” fourth-year emergency medicine resident at the University of Alberta and emergency ultrasound fellow at Denver Health Medical Center, in Colorado. The story began when my colleague Dr. Geoff Sanz and I embarked on a road trip from Toronto in November 2008. We were on our way to Chicago to attend the American College of Emergency Physicians Annual Scientific Assembly. The eight-hour rainy drive proved to be a great opportunity to brainstorm about future career goals and mainly what we would utilize the subspecialty-training year of our residencies for. We were both interested in emergency ultrasound, but all fellowship opportunities in the United States involved a PGY-6 year after graduation. Unfortunately this left our fourth-year dilemma unsolved. Over the next few months, extensive discussions with our respective program directors, the Royal College Specialty committee and many fellowship directors in the US took place. A strategy to make a PGY-4 “hybrid training year” reality was devised.

After hours of long distance phone interviews, Geoff and I embarked on an epic North American tour, in January 2009. This interview took us from Colorado to South Carolina to Florida and New York. We interviewed for our “hybrid fellowship positions” and met some extraordinary leaders in emergency medicine bedside ultrasound. After extended and difficult deliberations, we elected the Denver Health Medical Center ultrasound fellowship, led by Dr. John Kendall. A few months and pounds of paperwork later, two PGY-4 ER residents from two different programs in opposite ends of Canada moved to Colorado.

So far the experience has been nothing short of extraordinary! Dr. Kendall is an internationally recognized leader in emergency ultrasound. He published numerous papers and authored one of the leading textbooks in the field of bedside sonography. The chance of getting one-on-one teaching by such a respected expert is truly unparalleled. Dr. Kendall’s knowledge and motivation has created a clinical environment with very high “buy-in” of ultrasound technology. The Denver Health emergency medicine residents and attendings are all extremely proficient in basic and advanced uses of ultrasound. As such bedside sonography is used multiple times per shift to assist in, and often drastically alter, clinical management plans. The training Geoff and I are obtaining is invaluable and will certainly further bedside sonography upon our return home to Canada.

With this in mind, it is with great pride that Track & Trail Adventures announces the upcoming 2010 Whistler Ultrasound Conference, a four-day multi-sports adventure, based at The Fairmont Chateau Whistler. From July 14th to the 18th, 2010, Dr. Kendall will bring the entire team of Rocky Mountain Ultrasound for a one-of-its-kind ultrasound course. It will offer 16 hours of accredited CME, with separate educational tracks for pediatric, critical care, and adult emergency medicine ultrasound. Sign up for Track & Trail's monthly e-news to get the latest details to be released soon. Adventure opportunities will include golfing four of the highest rated courses in North America, mountain biking the best trails in the world, climbing Whistler peak through the via ferrata and hiking through Singing Pass and some of the most unbelievable alpine meadows British Columbia has to offer.

Stay tuned as Track & Trail Adventures continues to design unique ways to fuel your passion and your profession.

You Never Know Who You'll Meet En Route

It was two years ago- in the summer of '07 - while en route to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro that I ran into some new friends. While standing to check into our flight heading from London to Ethiopia's capital city- Addis Ababa, I couldn't help but wonder just how I knew the guy standing beside me. And than it clicked- it was TV host an animal expert Jack Hanna, who you'll know from his regular appearances on David Letterman, Ellen and his Emmy winning show "Into the Wild." Hanna and his wife Suzi were traveling to Rawanda to produce a documentary with Natalie Portman on the famed Silverback Gorilla's.

With our flight cancelled and our schedule's delayed Jack, Suzi, myself and my travel mates Sue Lambert and Colin Herbert had the chance to share some laughs and time while traveling south to our destinations.

We stayed in touch and that meet and greet turned into some additional adventures. Over the next year and a half I worked with Travel Alberta and a host of folks who helped to produce a stellar road trip featuring some of the best of the best of what this Province has to offer in terms of wildlife. It was just through August Jack, Suzi and the team from Spectrum Productions traveled together through Alberta, Canada filming episodes for upcoming episodes of Into the Wild.

And I joined them.

Follow along through these daily dispatches as we cover some of this province's top adventures.

For more on Alberta and all is adventures check out Travel Alberta's website

A History with Critters

It was at 11 years of age that Hanna discovered his passion. Cleaning out cages at his local zoo in his native state of Tennessee, little did America's most famous zoo keeper know that the work on the number two’s was going to take him so far. Fast forward to today and now his passion for animals, their education and conservation has taken him around the world and develop a TV career delivering his message to millions weekly around the world. It was in 1985 that David Letterman first invited him on set, which opened up the door for a TV series of his own- Zoo Life with Jack Hanna and than into Animal Adventures (now in cydication with re-runs running seen in 40 countries). It’s his latest work he’s now most proud of with, Spectrum Production’s Into the Wild winner of a Emmy for Outstanding Children’s Series (2008).

The purpose of his time in Alberta was for him and his crew to shoot three episodes for upcoming episodes of Into the Wild

The Calgary Zoo's Red Carpet Reception

The last time 'Jungle Jack', Hanna's long time aka, visited the Calgary Zoo was in 1995. So he was excited to get back, and what he experienced floored him as we stopped in to check things out as part of his eight day tour through Alberta.

Hanna's has been to a few zoo's in his day- not only does he produce 36 shows in a year – but zoo's are his business. As Director Emeritus of the Ohio’s Columbus Zoo, he’s been a major force to its substantial success. He’s done more than well with it, taking it from an 100 acre facility to a 600 acre park dedicated to education and conservation, recently named America’s #1 Zoo.

I caught up with the crew on day two of their travels shooting show's for an upcoming episodes of Into the Wild. The first stop was Waterton Lakes National Park- A Unesco World Heritage Site. "Waterton is like something out of a picture book, it is beautiful. One of the only places like this in the world, there are only a handful of other places, such as Switzerland that are this beautiful," said Hanna. The crew from Spectrum Production's, Hanna's team who have produced Into the Wild for the past three years, were happy with the footage they captured for upcoming episodes.

Hanna was excited to get back into the Calgary and experience the zoo. “Zoo’s now are about discovery about education, you can’t have conservation if there is no education,” said Hanna, a major proponent of animal conservation and any efforts help the animal kingdom.

“Its gorgeous, things looks so realistic, its so nice when you feel like you are in a natural environment," said Jack's wife Suzi who co-hosts the show upon arrival to the Canadian Wild's Section of the Calgary Zoo. And she's right, the habitat's that are home to the big horn sheep and mountain goats, really do give you that feel of being in the rockies, complete with local flora and fauna.

This is where our 14 hour day at the zoo got started, a little taste of what us Canadians's know and love – Big Horn Sheep, Grizzlies, Swift fox and owls. The Swift Fox is an amazing success story for the Calgary Zoo, who have helped to re-introduce them to the wild. Head of the Centre for Conservation Research Dr. Axel Moehrenschlager- did his thesis on these animals, at Oxford, and than came to the zoo to head their conservation efforts around it including re-introducing these species to the wild. Dr. Moe played host to Jack and Suzie as they made their way around the zoo.

A date with a painter named Kamala

The man is not in the animal biz for no reason- in travelling with one of the world’s top animal experts you get a sense that animals respond to his very presence. It was early, 6:45am at the Calgary Zoo, and regular David Letterman guest Jack Hanna was prepping for his nation wide appearance on CTV’s Canada AM, in the background was a very sleepy Koala. But when he saw Hanna making his final preparations, just seconds before show time, the Australian bear came to and posed for the camera, right above Jack’s head. This was just the start to a magical behind the scenes day at the zoo, full of laughter and activity amoungst Jack’s film crew here to shoot upcoming episodes of Jack Hanna’s EMMY winning TV series Into the Wild.

For a look at the clip from Canada AM- please click here

We stopped into to film Mountain Goats, Grizzlies, Swift Fox and spent time with owls, giraffes, red pandas, hippos and one of Canada’s most prolific artists. Kamala, the Calgary Zoo’s 22 year old African Elephant has painted over 6,000 pieces of art in support of conservation and improving her environment. As an enrichment project with the animals, she has been painting for over 10 years, but never before had she taken up her craft on an Ostridge egg. Jack and Suzi worked with Kamala, they held ‘em while the elephant got out her brushes and went to work. It’s amazing that her trunk can not only easily hold the brush, but also navigate over the canvas or a surface such as the egg.

The Calgary Zoo is on 100 acres mostly on the island, surrounded by the Bow River. “It’s gorgeous, it’s so nice when you feel like you are in a natural environment,” said Suzi Hanna- Jack’s wife and co-host of the show upon arrive. The Rocky Mountain habitats teleport you 100 km west of Calgary and bring them right into downtown Calgary. “This place is a jewel for Calgary, Alberta and the country of Canada,” said Suzi. “I think the Calgary Zoo is one of the top 20 zoos on our planet,” said Jack.

After a huge day of filming, dinner that night was certainly required and what better a spot to fuel up than on some local fare- from the River Café found on Calgary’s other populated island- Prince’s Island. The River Café has been here for five years and it was to Suzi’s joy when she made the discovery of the local producer’s scrapbook. Much of the Café’s menu items come from local ranchers and farmer’s. It’ll be this October that the Café welcomes back their producers for their annual feast they serve them than. I think I need to go back for another of their mixed berry Danish – this is a stellar spot for dinner.

A Sight for Wide Eyes

What he saw as he walked through the doors floored him. “You walk into this place and you are met by the Red River Hogs, then when I looked across and saw those giraffes, I couldn’t believe it, I thought they were stuffed. Then you look down and see the hippo enclosure, this facility is an impressive sight,” said Columbus Zoo Director of Emeritus Jack Hanna. The Calgary Zoo’s Destination African exhibits are enhanced by the African Savannah, home to this outstanding collection of animals. “Traditionally see these animals in solitary confinement, never all together like this.” The hippos looked so happy you could see them smile. And they sure were thrilled to pose for the cameras with Jack and Suzi.

Remember the game as a kid hungry, hungry hippo?

I'd say they modeled the game after the African and the Nile ones here at the Zoo. With mouths wide open, Dr. Doug Whitehead explained the view of these sizable canines, “their teeth self sharpen. As the teeth come down on each other, they sharpen together, they are like daggers.” It’s why Hippos are one of the most revered in the animal kingdom, while on a canoe in Africa they could chomp right through the boat. But in person they are big and cuddly, you can see here in these photos of Jack and Suzi hanging with the hippos.

The day at the Calgary Zoo continued with a trip to the Gorillas. Check out David Letterman on the 9^th of September, Jack Hanna appears with footage from one of the most funniest occurrences in Jack’s 35 year history in working with animals- certainly the most funniest in his 25 year TV career.

A good night’s stay was had at the Sheraton – located right next to the Eau Clair Market in downtown Calgary, home to regular farmers markets. The Sheraton even have a mascot you can walk. Clarence is a two year old golden retriever who upon request is game for a walk along the Bow River also next to the hotel.

Saddle Up

Look (were you want to go)

Lift (the reigns of the horse)

Push(the opposite direction with your leg)

Point (the reigns in the direction you want your horse to go)

For Jack and Suzi, this was invaluable information. Neither of them were overly fond of horseback riding, Jack particularly after back surgery and Suzi because the last time she created a rodeo. “My horse must have stepped on a bee’s nest cause as we were on the trail, the next thing you know it started to buck and kick, all around these rocks, my guide couldn’t believe I stayed on it,” explained Suzi shortly after arrival to the Homeplace Ranch only 45 mins out of Calgary. It was day four of the crew from Spectrum Production’s Into the Wild and today was a day along the trail of the cowboys. And Jack and Suzi were about to get an Albertan souvenir they weren’t going to expect.

“I had a friend who taught basketball, he never put a player up against an opponent right away. As soon as you bring in the opponent the intensity level goes up. So we put in the wood horse to train guests before we jump in the saddle,” explained Ranch owner and legendary cowboy Mac Makenny.

Jack and Suzi enjoyed their day riding the ridge lines of the area, taking in some scenic sites those including the Canadian Rockies.

“That’s what is neat about this place, there is two hours of preparation involved before you take off on your ride, you get to select, groom and than help saddle up your horse. Normally you just show up and 10 mins later you are off,” said Jack. “Here you get to gain that confidence, you feel prepared and have bonded with your horse. You appreciate the experience that much more because you taken some time with them”, said co-host Suzi. And she continued with, “my favourite thing Mac told us is that you need something to love, you need something to keep it interesting. His calmness really started to get to me.”

This is a stellar spot to saddle up and get weeks worth of riding in, for details click here.

A day at the Wallow

Every tea time it happens- you could almost set your watch to it. It’s so impressive that one of the world’s leading animal experts had never seen anything like it. “We’ll be in the front office and see a shadow and it will be a big bull moose, right out our front door,” says owner operator of the Mount Engadine Lodge Chris Williams. “Getting distracted around here is easy.”

Jack and Suzi love rugged environments, they couldn’t have been more at home at the Engadine Lodge found deep in Kananaskis Country, just out the back of Canmore Alberta. “What we love here in Alberta is the mountains, streams, wildlife and incredible people all in one spot. We are really drawn to rugged environments and than being able to see the wildlife” said Suzi Hanna – the co host for the series, Into the Wild.

For a read of the Craig & Canyon's interview with Jack and Suzi, please click here

They were waiting for us upon arrival. As we pulled up a moose was standing there having lunch. This lodge was built 20 years ago in front of a wallow, a pool of enriched mud that offers up cilium, a nutrient moose need to keep up their bone development. The cilium is sucked up by the plant life and therefore the moose come around here pretty much daily. “A visit here is like a one a day vitamin,” says Williams.

“I have never seen this in my life,” as Jack Hanna said just moments after one mighty moose almost charged directly through the make shift TV set. With Cara Luft on the ‘stage”, the camera’s rolled while the four moose made their way through the valley and around the wallow. Luft strung her guitar and belted out some stellar tunes which will be used in an upcoming episode of Into the Wild. She took a Canadian Juno Award in 2005 with her former band the Wailin’ Jenny’s.

Underground Banff

You’d never know it was even there. Jack and Suzi are big promoters of education and awareness about animals and their preservation. So coming into Banff they were excited to explore a project that has help further wildlife species within the Park. You’d see them as you drive through along the Trans Canada Highway - a series of wildlife passes that have adopted some success. “The over and underpasses work to keep the gene pool active”, says Lorena Dmytriev of Parks Canada. “What you have done here is amazing,” says Jack on their inspection. Suzi headed out on a hunt for tracks of wild species that use this corridor. She found those of a Black Bear. Both the Black Bear and the Cougar like to use the underpasses. Grizzlies and Elk will use the overpasses- they don’t mind being exposed. We all ran up and on top of one of these- you wouldn’t know you were on an overpass…you’d think it would be something else.

It averaged out to be about 200 traffic accidents a year with Elk, since the introduction of these wildlife crossings we’ve seen a 96% reduction in that number.

“It’s the connectivity that maintains the bio diversity.”

A grizzly bear can call up to 450 square km’s home, or it’s “turf”, and so and if you get a highway that dissects the land, than you can separate the gene pool, limiting the species evolution. It keeps the gene pool stronger if there is a larger population to draw from. So the overpass allows for that access and the opportunity to species evolution.

By the time our day was done we were ready to hit the hay at the Rim Rock Resort Hotel – built on the back of the cliff. You walk up to the hotel and are met by a beautiful entrance with a small vertical impact…you walk inside to a 15 floor property with half of it scaling down the side of the valley. Build in with an amphitheatre-esque design affords guests a spectacular view of Mount Rundle and or well into the Bow Valley and over the town of Banff. It was just this year that the hotel won for best “The Canadian Culinary Foundation’s 2009 Pastry Chef of the Year”- of which the crew sure took advantage of over a stellar dinner.

Innisfail Discoveries

Our travels through Alberta shooting episodes for upcoming episodes of Jack Hanna's Into the Wild next took us into Innisfail- in the heart of the province.

Boston Pizza is known for great food, but did you know it was also a great place to meet animal enthusiasts.

“Walking through the doors of BP’s, as it’s commonly known, we discovered Deb Rowland & Doug Bos, owners of the Wilderness Discovery Park in Innisfail AB- about an hour outside of Calgary. “The educational part is outstanding, where else can you get this close and personal with a bear and have the chance to listen and learn about bear safety and education,” said a very enthusiast Jack Hanna about our discovery of the park. “People don’t get it until they see it on TV; they need to see something not in a brochure or a piece of paper. What we need to do is get the Park Service folks up here and construct a video of how to right there,” exclaimed Hanna.

“I feel badly for people when I hear them say they don’t go hiking because they are scared of bears. At a place like this you are able to get educated,” said Suzi Hanna about the daily bear show’s the facility hosts as part of anyone’s day here at the Park.

“You would loose the wonder if you didn’t have creatures like bears and cougars in the wild, they provide an element of excitement. The chance you will see them in very small, but it heightens the experience. You have to make smart choices, like never hiking alone and always making noise,” said Suzi.

This park is home to 13 bears from Grizzly to even black Brown Bears. It’s important to know your bear tips. It comes down to education, and knowing about the animal so you appreciate at it more. "Without there animals in our wildlife, it wouldn’t be wildlife, it would take out some of the wonder," said Suzi. You may recognize the Grizzly in the shot with Jack and Suzi, can be seen in the movie Anchorman with Will Farrow.

A River of Rehab

Have you ever seen a Great Grey Owl? They can stand up to two or three feet tall, but did you know they only weight two to three pounds? It’s mostly made up by an umbrella of feathers. So here at the Medicine River Wildlife Centre, found just outside of Innisfail they take in birds that are damaged by human interactions. Some by cars, others by storms. The crew was here to shoot a part of an upcoming episode of Jack Hanna’s Into the Wild, seen around the world on weekly TV. Jack and his wife Suzi got to participate in a release of two great grey owls. One stuck around and posed for pictures…it just couldn’t find its hand with the pen for autographs. These creature are fascinating, their eyes gripping and hold a stare. The biggest park of releasing them back into the wild, is trying to bring them out for release. Try capturing a 15 pound Bald Eagle that is in the rafters 30 feet over the forest floor.

“Our show is very hand-on, our audience at home can identify with the stories of most of the animals, and these places are always scraping to get by financially and are looking for the attention. It’s more than money than and there are these people who are struggling to keep the place going, we can get up close and personal.”

“Its amazing to be able to see them handled and released while we capture all that on film.” When we film eagles or other birds in the wild, it’s tough to get Jack and the birds in the same shot.” Rick

In the history of the centre they have dealt with over 170 species.

Like the Black Guillemot- a sea bird who got caught up in an airplane hitching a ride out from Newfoundland and into Fort Mac.

A Great Grey Owl own weights two to three pounds- they look huge but are really really light, they are under a huge umbrella of feathers…..

Two owns released- one hit by a car the other got injured in a hail storm. The owls’ really were something, huge birds that have an impressive wing span.

Two weeks ago a major hail storm came through and destroyed the house as well as the vinyl siding. “You can see how that would be damaging to the owl.” The house looked like it had been caught in a tornado- you could have swore the house was from a picture out the wake of Katrina in New Orleans.

Just Like Easter

"If I wasn’t an animal expert, I would have been running around chasing for dinosaur bones,” said a giddy Jack Hanna, who’d adopted the personality of a school boy at Christmas. “I have been to some of the world’s most impressive Valley’s, but never anything like this. Every where you go within 15 feet are more fossils.”Hanna’s right, the Dinosaur Provincial Park is so chocked full, it's one of only 11 Unesco world Heritage Sites in Canada.(5 of which are inAlberta, and the crew visited three).

Found just outside of Brooks Alberta, in the Province's south east corner, we took the day to explore the park and uncover some ancient history.

It’s known all over the world by dino hunters- this Provincial landscape, similar to a mini grand canyons with its hoodoo enhanced architecture, for playing host to the highest concentration of dino bone’s on the planet. Suzi and Jack were out on the hunt with Brad Tucker of the Parks’ Service playing host and ensuring they not get turned around. “It’s very easy to get turned around in the park, so we have some public hikes, but others are with a guide for the day.”

Or you can come out and dig with an team hard at work in the blazing sun. DinosaurProvincialPark is very foreign environment. Desert like conditions meet dino hunters every summer, which bring on some slithering friends. There are four types of snakes which call the park home, including the prairie rattlers, the bow snake and two types of gardner snakes,” explained Tucker.

I remember last year I was on a trip to Writing on Stone- another stellar park in the area. We were en route out of the park when we encountered a rattler on the side of the road- I couldn't believe that our province had snakes this big - what we caught was over 12 feet long. Adam Sutherland is a researcher out of the U of Calgary who is studying the behaviours of snakes and their propensity to road ways. It’s hottest in the summer along the pavement and snakes want to bake in the sun.

When you are there don’t forget to hit up the Patricia Hotel in neighboring Patricia on the way into the park. Even better pitch a tent and find a way into the Patricia Pit, the bar in the basement of the hotel where your served meat on a plate where you can grill it on your own.

Last Stop for Dinos

“In the week that we have been here there has not been one thing that has not amazed me.” Hanna told a packed house at the Royal Tyrrell Museum. “This Province of yours has some fine things too it, I can wait to get my camper and come back up here in the summer.” The Museum is world re-nowed for its efforts.

It was our final stop for what had been a very exciting 1o days. An all out assault on the best of the best for animal opportunities within the province of Alberta. And we finished with a bang, here at the famed museum found in Drumheller.

“This part looks like the entrance into a nightclub in Vegas.” Said Into the Wild's Executive Producer, Guy Nickerson. This museum is a dino-bone amusement park with stunning displays and findings that are still being unearthed right on site. “We get in a collection of dinosaur fossils that are within the Dinosaur Provincial Park where Palaeontologists than had back to the “lab” set up on site at the museum to discover more of what they’ve found," explained our tour guide through the museum.

It was up top and on the roof later that Guy Nickerson weighed in with the success of the eight day shoot. “We through we could get two maybe three, but we captured four if not five shows. They make it easy all we have to do is turn the camera on.” There has to be a little more going into it, your show doesn’t just win an Emmy on one of the world’s most beautiful couples."

Re Session Trailer | Video | Teton Gravity Research

Had to share,

just in case anyone was getting to comfy on their pool lounger!!! Check this vid out, its the new release from tgr.....

Re Session

Providing medical care at 17,500 feet above sea level

As director and founder of the world's highest medical clinic, Dr. Luanne Freer has her work cut out for her working at Everest Base Camp.

It was just this past week that Freer's efforts were chronicled in Outside Magazine's on-line presence, check it out its a great interview,
http://outside.away.com/outside/culture/200905/luanne-freer-everest-er.html

Everest is maxed?

April and May has been the busiest on record for Mount Everest. With over 1200 people at Everest Base Camp, you have to wonder if its reaching its max.

While in Canmore Alberta two weeks ago, I stopped in to visit my buddy four time Everest Summiter Wally Berg who owns Berg Adventures International. With an upcoming Everest summit expedition on the books for April of 2010, I asked if we was concerned about the volumes of people.

His response was yes, as when you get that many people on the mountain, there are the inevitable bottle necks at places like Hillary's step. And at 27,000 feet its not somewhere you want to be hanging out.

This is all pretty facinating for an armchair mountaineer like me. This climbing season- happening between April and May- I have been addicited to sites like http://blog.firstascent.com/ which is pretty killer, providing daily HD video blogs along their ascent.

Anouther great one is http://www.alanarnette.com/alan/everest2009.php who provides a daily progress report on the teams as they make their strike for the summit

Steep Camp Concludes

It's not very often on the slopes that I get to scare myself.
Its those runs that make you go holy sh*t, when you are standing on top of them looking down and the stomach starts to churn. This is what I am looking for on the slopes...runs that will help take my riding to their next level.

This is exactly what Northern Escape's Steep camp is all about. Not only do they get you to the top of these epic runs with views that will knock your boots off, but they give you the education you need to harness those fears and take the abilities to their next level.

And now at its conclusion, I am sure there may be a few of the 15 of us walking away from this five day steep and deep bender just a little disappointed. And there was nothing anyone could have done - avy conditions locked off most of Northern Escape and the Skeena's true potential...however our outstanding guides did manage to make the most with what we had.

And what we had was an epic time, picture it - you swoop in to land on the peak of a powder filled summit, the door opens, the wind is blowing snow is flying, you get out of the chopper, it's chaos, the noice the snow, it lifts off and than it all goes silent, for miles around there is nothing around you but an endless sea of white peaks. The noice picks back up but now its my buddies yipping and yelling cause before us is a big wide open powder bowl without a track in it just waiting for us to launch in and carve it up.

For people who are resort skiers, “steep camp offers the chance to get to your next level. You can expect pillow drops, some shoots and when conditions are right, big lines,” explained our guide Yvan Sabourin. “Steep camp was born out of demand from our guests. They would be up when the film crews were here, asking, well why can’t we ski that?” said Sabourin. Now Northern Escape has welcomed people from all over the world including Germany, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, the US and Canada in for the very same reason- to shred some serious gnar.

On our last day out on the slopes, guides John Forrest, Sabourin and others took us out for a ski into the Skeena's- with wide open spaces, glorious powder bowls and an endless sea of terrain before you- this is seriously one of the best places to be on the planet to get out the skis or snowboard and go for a shred. There is nothing like having these wide open spaces, all to yourself!

I can't wait till next year.

Track & Trail is stoked to release its 2010 conference dates to held at the Yellow Cedar Lodge- home to Northern Escape. For full details click here

Steeped in info

A reality of heli-skiing is that there can be down days, ones where the chopper cannot fly due to weather….and today was unfortunately such a day.

In addition to some serious relaxation time, this is steep camp so Northern Escape maximized the day, allowing us to get the in’s on how they pick which lines we’ll ski and pointers on avalanche recovery techniques.

It truly a valued experience to learn from the guides themselves just what goes into the assessment of terrain and the value of a day in the mountains. “Experience is everything when it comes to approaching the mountains," explained long time Association of Canadian Mountain Guide Al Ducros. “It’s not just about firing up the bird, getting on the skis and hitting the slopes. There is a lot of information, analysis and experience that comes into play,” explained Ducros as he worked us through the weather and avalanche reports located in the guide’s office here in the lodge. Twice daily, once in the morning and evening, the guides rally to cross-examine the weather and conditions.

As for when you are on the snow, avalanche safety is crucial and the guides treated us to a scenario and some demonstrations on the art of recovering potentially your buddy from the snow.

The biggest things I picked up where:

When you come close to locating the victim-where the beacon reads to about 1.5 meters or less, mark your boundaries around the burial - you've got to give yourself a road map on where to probe. Actually draw lines or a circle in the snow in and around the strongest signal point.

Use the probe in a spiral fashion, working from the point of the strongest beacon response out by 30 cms, again in a spiral form.

Dig a ramp to the person- coming in at the side to the probe, don't shovel directly over top of them. If you just dig from where the probe hits something, you will just be digging a pit. This will not allow for an effective recovery. “If you were digging and hit a foot, how are you going to work your way through that pit to get the most important part, their head – so they can breathe,” asked Ducros.

“Working as one team is important, stay together and move from there. If you are all spread out its chaos, communication is the key,” explained Ducros.

Even though it’s a bummer that we couldn’t get up in the bird, this education from folks who have 10- 20 years of experience running around and loving life in the mountains is invaluable.

Drs. Freer and Johnson back to Base Camp

If you have not had the chance yet get over to Drs. Luanne Freer and Eric Johnson's blog at http://www.everester.org/

Both Doctors are up a Everest Base Camp this month managing the operations for the world's highest medical clinic. At over 17,500 feet above sea level, Freer and Johnson will be at Everest Base Camp through April helping to manage any medical issues that may arise.

Track & Trail is honoured to have both Freer and Johnson heading up the faculty for our most adventurous academic retreat so far- en route to Everest Base Camp Oct 1-21, 2009.

For details check out out website at http://www.tandtadventures.com/adventure.php?adv=4

Putting the digi to good use

Northern Escape's steep camp offers a backstage pass to the art of big mountain riding. One of the tricks of the trade Yvan - our guide with Northern Escape and film crew program manager is the use of the digital camera.

"At at resort and you see a big line you'd like to hit, use your digital camera and take some great shots of the line from below," he recommends. "Than on the chair lift bring up that photo again to say, “ok so there is that tree as my marker, I want to hit it on skiers left, there is this small pillow drop there or little cliff here, which ever you were interested in hitting. This way when you get up and into the line, you have the exact markers there so you know which way to hit it.”

Sabourin was explaining to use that his guys from the movies that he caters to will take dozens upon dozens of shots, from below, from above and from the chopper and analyze them tirelessly over days to they understand and know their line in and out.

As a snowboarder, I have had to be cautious about just how much weight I am putting into my turns when on something with a mighty pitch.

“About two weeks ago up at our other steep camp there was this one snowboarder who was out of Australia, he’d take a pitch that might have a potential to slide and he’d do these really hard auger turns on it, as if we was surfing off a wave. We had to work with him to say, lighten up your turns, more flow to it, so that way you won't create a slide,” suggests Sabourin

the steep adventures continue

Big Mountain Education

As mentioned below in my last post, one of the stellar things about Nothern Escape's annual steep camp program is the education that comes with it."We pass along this eduction because then people can be aware of their skiing, the terrain and make the most of it," explains Yvan Sabourin, 12 year mountain ski guide with Northern Escape.

For my buddy Michael Grand, a big lesson was learned about looking before your leaping, as the guides lead us off with the words, “ok so I want you to just get out on this slope and take which ever line you think is the right one.” Grand, a first time backcountry skier, charged over a lip where you couldn’t see to the other side only to be in one of those, “oh shi*t” moments dropping I’d say about 15 feet into a creek bed and into a sizeable hole. A double eject later and a strong sense of pride missing, Grand was back, with that lesson learned.

“You want to establish the run before you and asses which hazards could be out there, if you just ski into it blindly, that is where you can get into trouble. Always look before you leap," says John Forrest, anouther of Northern Escape's stellar guides.
Some big lessons came into play yesterday morning, when they took us to one of the venues to be featured in this fall's release of Standard Film's Black Winter. This one was all about how to read the terrain and prepare yourself for potential sluff hazards. Sluff is the small stream of snow that can come loose as a skier or shredder makes their traverse.“On a particular slope you can give a big cut turn, I’d say on anything with an over 45 grade pitch. Do a big wide cut turn on top of it and continue to ski out to the side. You could experience a sluff slide, wait for it to run out and than which will clear the way for your turns below," explained Sabourin. "Should you get caught in it, work your best to ski out to the side."

As he explained, even this little stuff can really get you in trouble.

As for the run from the top its was gnarly, big mountain riding at its best, two shoots, some trees and a few major cliffs to avoid but all us steep campers made it out in one piece, all fully charged to get up and do it all again.

It's stellar this is five days...lots more ops to shred some more gnar!

Northern Escape Steep Camp

Track & Trail Adventures is on special assignment this week up in Terrace BC - home to Northern Escape Heli-skiing. I am fortunate to be fortunate enough to be up here for five days on reconnaissance part of their new program entitled Steep Camp.
We all have seen the movies, those segments where you think, "how is this guy going to navigate this line and get off that mountain face in one piece." While if you wanted to really get an answer to that question and at the same time maybe try a line or four that is going to push your big mountain snow shredding buttons than this camp is for you.
We've been hanging with Yvan Sabourin for the last few days up here who is responsible for managing the film crews and programs for Northern Escape (NEH). Since its start five years ago the operation has been featured in a bunch of films by Matchstick Productions, Standard Films and a host of others. Its Sabourin's job to take the athletes out and get them what they are looking for - some phat lines that will translate well on camera.
"What you don't see in the movies is the amount of preparation that has to go into each shot," explains Sabourin. But here at steep camp you sure get to and its awesome.
What I am loving about this program is the fact that not only do you get to ski some phat lines but also you get a stellar amount of education behind it. Big mountain riding does not come easy, you have to be savvy to the wealth of hazards that are out there- crevasses, avalanche dangers and many other factors that may not have you come back in one piece.

The biggest thing is experience, and that is sure what we are getting up here at steep camp.

more updates and a movie from our days to come in the next bit....

Anouther Winter Escape Video

The action continued up at the Yellow Cedar Lodge for the 2009 Winter Escape Emergency Medicine Update...

2009 Winter Escape Success

Track & Trail would like to thank its faculty for the outstanding efforts surrounding the 2009 Winter Escape Emergency Medical Update.

Those include,

Dr. Bruce Mohr (Whistler), MD, CCFP (EM), Dip. Sport Med.

Dr. Alexandra Brooks-Hill (Whistler), MD, BPHE, FRCSC (ORTHO), Dip. Sport Med.

Dr. Dennis Djogovic (Edmonton), MD, FRPC and head faculty of the 2010 Winter Escape Update

Dr. Jonathan Theoret (Edmonton), MDCM

Delegates were thrilled with the conference setting and the small group format.

We look forward to doing it all over again March 15-19, 2010 with reservations already starting.

For at look at the action, please have a view....