rickohikes

Hiking the Kananaskis Driveway

View of the Kananaskis Lakes

Okay, it’s not really a driveway. And in fact, it’s the hike to the Kananaskis Fire Lookout in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. But since there is a couple living up there, and they own a car, the trail is pretty much a long dirt driveway. And why is it called a Fire Lookout? So that the couple can watch the area for forest fires and alert the appropriate authorities. Sounds important to me!

Pre-hike photo

Friends Paul, Vanessa and I thought it’d be great to head to the mountains right after work. So after a productive day in the office, I gathered my things and we were off. We chose the Kananaskis Fire Lookout based on a recommendation from the info center, even though the girl told us that there were 20 known grizzly bears in the surrounding area. NBD, no big deal. (Truth be told, most definitely not NBD. But we made sure to make lots of noise while hiking). It was a short hike (5:25 pm to 8:15 pm) with an elevation gain of 296 metres, but the views of the Kananaskis valley and lakes were very nice.

At the lookout

Photo from the view point

At the top, we stopped to sign the guest book and sat at a picnic table for dinner. And then it dawned on me: How amazing is it to live in a city like Calgary, where I can work at my desk throughout a Friday, and then be sitting at the top of a mountain in the evening for dinner overlooking the Kananaskis valley… all in the same day?! It’s definitely not something I take for granted :).

Dear Honey Ham Wrap: I will eat you!

Panoramic view from the Kananaskis Fire Lookout

I’m Still in Shock!

I WON!!

Today’s posting was supposed to be about my lovely weekend away, but today I was thrown for a bit of a loop. It was all good news though! Here is an e-mail I wrote and sent earlier, which I will post here as my blog entry 🙂

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So life really is a funny thing. On Friday I had sent around an e-mail informing you that I had made the top 10 of the Big Mountain Challenge. I was trying to raise up to $25000 for The Kidney Foundation of Canada, and I was so close!

Well, today I received a call from Banff Lake Louise Tourism. Due to some eligibility requirements, the winner who was competing to win for Doctors Without Borders was ineligible. It’s unfortunate for Doctors Without Borders, which is a great charity. It’s also too bad for the winner from Ontario who I know was looking very forward to travelling to Banff and Lake Louise to experience the awesome landscape we have out here.

With that said, though… can you guess why they called me?!

I’m happy to announce that I am the WINNER of the Big Mountain Challenge!!! I’m still in shock over this news!

I had an idea that I ran a great campaign, thanks to social networking, a Global TV news segment and all of your support! I reached a vast number of people and spread the word about The Kidney Foundation of Canada and The Big Mountain Challenge. But to be told that I was, without a doubt, the contestant to give the former winner a run for that money!… well, that’s pretty cool :).

Thank you again, everyone, for your help and support! Since sending the e-mail on Friday, I’ve had many kind e-mails and messages about how it was amazing to bring awareness to kidney disease and The Kidney Foundation of Canada, and how happy and proud you were that I made the top 10! Thank you for reminding me that that feat was a huge accomplishment on its own.

By a twist of fate, it turns out- I made the Top 1! 😀

So what happens next?

1) Well, I’ve now secured $15000 for The Kidney Foundation of Canada. YAY! This is an AMAZING feeling.

2) Over the next two weeks, I will be running an intense fundraising campaign to raise up to $5000. I will say in advance that helping me get to this point has been incredible. Now I turn the focus away from me winning the challenge, and over to The Kidney Foundation of Canada. Any amount I can raise will truly benefit this amazing organization, so I encourage you to donate with as much (or as little) as you can. Any amount helps. I will be sending around further information on this once I set up the fundraising page. For every amount (up to $5000) that I raise, Banff Lake Louise Tourism will match it! And that’s how we’re going to get to $25000 for The Kidney Foundation of Canada!!

3) After that, I’m going to get into the best shape as I can, because I will have a week (starting August 27th) to hike Sulphur Mountain, Cascade Mountain, and Mount Temple. They are EPIC, but I know I will be able to do this. Here is a link that I found about Mount Temple, the most difficult of the three. The elevation gain is 1690 metres. It is rated as a difficult hike and is estimated to take anywhere between 8 and 12 hours. Climbing helmets and an ice axe are recommended. It is one of the highest peaks in the Lake Louise area. I’m super excited.

http://www.summitpost.org/mount-temple/150408

4) The prize also involves enjoying the Banff and Lake Louise areas. I’m always trying to encourage people to visit out this way, and now I’ll be able to entice them even more by experiencing the area a bit more. The winner and a guest receive:

– Round trip airfare to Calgary with transport to Banff National Park

– Eight nights in the Fairmont Banff Springs and the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise

– Spa treatments at a spa at The Fairmont Banff Springs

– A Certified Mountain Guide for Mount Temple and Cascade mountain, and a Parks Canada guide for Sulphur Mountain

– A Parks Canada Discovery Pass

My friend Dan from Guelph, Ontario will be flying out here as my guest, and he will join me in conquering these mountains. Dan brought this contest to my attention and has been supporting the campaign the whole way through, so it’ll be nice that he’s able to have Banff Lake Louise Tourism fly him out here for the challenge.

So I’m super stoked, but that’s only phase one of the challenge! Thanks again everyone… you’ll be hearing from me again 🙂

Regards,

Rick

Happy Birthday at Lillian Lake

Pre-hike photo at the Lillian Lake Birthday Hike 🙂

This past weekend was the second annual birthday hike. To be honest, I didn’t even know there was going to be an annual birthday hike! Last year, I coordinated a Nihahi Ridge hike to celebrate a few birthdays- mine, Robin’s, Shari’s and Laura’s. Thanks to Robin this year for his last minute planning and for rounding up the troops! It ended up being quite a success.

Triad of sexy

One of many bridges on the trail

The hike of choice was Lillian and Galatea Lakes Trail, about 30 km south on Highway 40. As with all hikes in the Rockies, it was beautiful. There are many bridges that cross Galatea creek along the way before reaching Lillian Lake. Due to time, we opted not to proceed to Galatea Lake, and instead stopped at Lillian Lake to feast. You see, we eat like royalty on these birthday hikes! Thanks to everyone’s contributions, we had bread, cheese, back bacon and turkey, malbec wine, grapes and cherries, pepperoni sticks, veggies and dip, and of course, birthday cake. There was definitely enough food to go around! We ran into a snag when we forgot a wine opener, but thankfully we were able to use a knife to push the cork into the bottle, and then thanks to Robbie, we used a celery stick as a spout to keep the wine flowing. Genius!

Laura showing off the malbec wine 🙂

Feasting like royalty!

Genius! A celery spout.

Wine for all!

Robin also decided to bring an inflatable raft for the lake. Why had I never thought of this before for any of my other hikes?! It’s quite tranquil to sit on a raft in the middle of a glacial lake. Such a great idea 🙂

Relaxing on Lillian Lake

All in all, the hike was about 5.5 km each way and took about 6 hours (10 am – 4 pm). It didn’t involve anything too strenuous or a scramble at the top, but it was a very enjoyable afternoon with good friends, great conversation, awesome food, and lots of merriment. Happy Birthday everyone, and cheers to another great year!

Cheers! Happy Birthday Everyone 🙂

Thank You, Il Divo. You Were Amazing!

Il Divo’s latest album: Wicked Game

So last night was a great night of music. A few months ago, I bought tickets to see Il Divo in concert, featuring Nikki Yanofsky as the opening act. Last night was that long awaited concert. And let me just say: It was incredible. To start, Nikki Yanofsky sounded fantastic! I thought she was amazing when I heard her sing on TV at the Vancouver Olympics, but hearing her live made me realize that the girl can really sing! Amazingly. Such great Canadian talent.

Nikki Yanofsky. An amazing voice!

Il Divo, the Wicked Game tour

For those unaware, Il Divo is a very successful operatic pop vocal group. “Il Divo” means “divine male performer” in Italian, and the group of 4 was formed in 2004 by Simon Cowell. I think it’s really cool that all members are from different countries- French pop singer Sébastien Izambard, Spanish baritone Carlos Marín, American tenor David Miller, and Swiss tenor Urs Bühler – and their voices are simply incredible. I can’t explain why I love them so much, other than to say that male operatic voices sound amazing, and I love pop music. Fuse those two together and I love what I feel when I listen to their music.

They sang several of their popular songs from past albums, and then many songs from their new album. “Wicked Game (Melanconia)” was awesome, and so was “Come What May (Te Amare)”. In thinking, everything was awesome. It was just an awesome awesome concert! As they concluded the encore with “Time to Say Goodbye (Con Te Partirò)”, I felt as though I had sat through something special, and with special company :). Thanks, Il Divo, for a wonderful concert!

Sébastien Izambard is my favourite

Concluding with “Time to Say Goodbye (Con Te Partirò)”

My 3 Minutes 24 Seconds of Fame!

So I’m incredibly behind on my blog postings. I mean, I returned from Peru almost 2 weeks ago and haven’t even uploaded photos or written about it! Alas, that can wait.

Even while I was away, I was trying to win the Big Mountain Challenge. When I found a wi-fi connection, I was voting. I knew it would be difficult to maintain the momentum while I was in Peru, but thankfully I had some friends who helped me out by posting voting reminders on my FB. They also posted to the Banff National Park and The Kidney Foundation of Canada FB pages. When I returned home after Peru, the goal of winning the challenge continued. It was time to send out as many e-mails as possible, and post everywhere I could. Then on Thursday of last week, I received an e-mail. It read:

“Hi Rick,

Thanks for entering the Big Mountain Challenge and congrats on having a top entry! Banff Lake Louise Tourism is trying to spread the word about the contest and our partner Global Calgary wants to interview an Alberta contestant on the morning show. If you’re interested in doing either a phone or in-studio interview this could be a great way to get some votes and raise awareness for the Kidney Foundation.”

For real?! So I e-mailed them back right away. Before I knew it, I had an in-studio interview with Global Calgary scheduled for Saturday morning at 8:24 am where I would be speaking to one of the anchors of the morning news show. Through the help of my boss, I was in contact with communications staff from the The Kidney Foundation of Canada to go over some speaking points. Then I spoke with news anchor Bindu Suri to go over the questions. I couldn’t believe how quickly it was all happening!

Arriving for my interview. So nervous!

I arrived at the studio early on Saturday accompanied by Robbie, who came for support :). It was really neat to see the studio and watch how the morning news was filmed. I was quite surprised to see how much of the set is a green screen! I always thought there was a little bit of an actual background. Before I knew it, I was being fitted with the microphone and was awaiting the interview with news anchor Reid Fiest. To say that I was nervous is an understatement. I was literally shaking! But thankfully my nerves didn’t show too much on camera 🙂 Also, I started getting sick a day prior, and I was terribly worried that I would cough or clear my throat on camera. It could have been disastrous! But thankfully, that didn’t happen either. Here’s the segment:

In the end, yes, it was a short clip on the Global Calgary morning show. However, it was so exciting and it was a great experience. I spoke about the contest and how much I love the Banff and Lake Louise areas, and I was able to bring a bit of awareness to The Kidney Foundation of Canada and all of the support it provides to Canadians affected by kidney disease. Also, when I was preparing for the interview and discussing points with The Kidney Foundation, I was amazed with the level of support I had, whether it was from the staff at The Kidney Foundation, or through comments of support on Facebook from individuals affected by kidney disease. I really hope to win the contest, but if the prize is awarded to another person and another charity, I know it will be for a great cause and that I gave it my all. Whether or not I win, my support for The Kidney Foundation of Canada doesn’t end there :). For more information on The Kidney Foundation of Canada, go to www.kidney.ca. For information on the Kidney March, a 100km 3-day walk to fight kidney disease, go to kidneymarch.ca.

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Please help me win the Big Mountain Challenge
for The Kidney Foundation of Canada!
Vote for me EVERY DAY (until July 27, 2012)
by clicking here: http://t.co/scxG735u
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