The summer of 2003 saw huge forest fires wreak havoc in Alberta and British Columbia. For many of us here in Western Canada it meant daily updates in the papers and spectacular images on TV—plus that familiar campfire smell, even in the...

Last Sunday, friends of mine were out in Kananaskis enjoying some of the best early season backcountry conditions we’ve seen around these parts in recent years. Meanwhile, I stayed in town and paid $30 to sit in a lecture theatre from 9 to...

This winter will be my tenth season of tromping around on skis in the backcountry of the Canadian Rockies. That’s not long enough to be considered an old goat but it is long enough to have developed certain eccentricities or “traditions”,...

We all know that the winter of 2002-2003 in Western Canada had more than its share of avalanche accidents. One of the worst occurred at Connaught Creek in Glacier National Park and claimed seven lives. In the fallout from this tragedy we...