December
27, 2007 Tabletop
and a bit of Cloud-watching We
quickly duck
in to tag Tabletop ahead of approaching bad weather. It's quite neat to watch
brooding-looking clouds seep into the High Peaks... [More...]
December
26, 2007 Giant
and Rocky Superb!
A springlike day in the heart of Winter. A scenic ridge ascent of Giant
and a climb of Rocky are very worthwhile objectives in conditions like these.. [More...]
December
22,
2007 Whiteface
and Esther via the Toll Road Kickoff
hike (and ski) to the 2007-2008 Adirondack 46er winter hiking season.... [More...]
December
14 to 16, 2007 Visiting Stan and Pat in TO, plus a whole lotta
white stuff Stan
and Pat invite us to spend the weekend with them at their flat in downtown
TO. Good food, a great Christmas party, a wintry exploration of a bit of
downtown TO, and a big wallop of a snowstorm. [More...]
December
12,
2007 Bye bye, "newHomePage" Some
of the more web-astute amongst you may have noticed that all of the pages
on this site have been located under a somewhat superfluous "newHomePage"
path. Well, no more. Starting today, there's been a restructuring of the
guts of the page and "newHomePage" has disappeared.
There
should be no action required by you - redirects should occur silently.
You may want to update any bookmarks you might have to remove the "newHomePage"
string, but this is not strictly required.
Please
let me know if you see any strange behaviour on the web site, and use
the contact page to tell me about it.
Thanks!
November
10 and 11,
2007 A Frosty Traverse of the Bigelow Range A
very interesting, fun, but co-old November traverse of the Bigelow Range
in northwestern Maine... [More...]
November
5, 2007 Meeting a Legend: an Evening with Fred Beckey Our
local section of the Alpine Club of Canada hosts an evening with a most
distinguished figure - mountaineering legend Fred Beckey... [More...]
November
3,
2007 Ottawa in November: A quick tour Jenn's
classmate from University provides the impetus for a quick tour of Ottawa,
for which I am quite grateful. Late afternoon on a late fall day can be very,
very scenic!.... [More...]
October
21,
2007 The Two Gs: Garfield & Galehead A
beautiful fall loop hike in the Sunny-but-soaked Whites to bag two more
for my NE 111.... [More...]
October
17, 2007 Go
team, go! A team-building mountain hike up Noonmark Mountain Another
introduction, this time to a group of co-workers on a team-building outing
in the Adirondacks.... [More...]
July
14-30,
2007 (posted
October 14, 2007) The
Dolomites A return
to the unique and fantastic crags and spires of the Dolomites. And more
Via Ferratas than you can shake a stick at! ... [More...]
October
6,
2007 Dad
in the 'daks: A Loop Hike of Mount Jo It
was about time that I introduced my Dad to the rigours and rewards of Adirondack
hiking.... [More...]
September
23,
2007 MacNaughton:
The Forgotten One After
more than ten years of hiking in the High Peaks, I finally turn my long-overdue
attention to MacNaughton Mountain... [More...]
September
7 & 8, 2007 Mt Hale and a Weekend with the Wards Luke
and Sophie invite us to visit with Luke's parents in New Hampshire, and of
course we climb something along the way.... [More...]
September
2,
2007 Carter Mountains Loop Finishing
up what we wanted to do back in June - A loop in the Carter Range of the
White Mountains in NH.... [More...]
August
26, 2007 The Changing of the Guard A
look at a colorful ceremony in my own home-town of Ottawa, Canada: The
Changing of the Guard on Parliament Hill [More...]
July
1,
2007 Mt
Colden Slides! We
try a
challenging and fun way to tackle Mount Colden, by going up the Southeast
Slide route and descending the Trap Dike Route... [More...]
June
16, 2007 Whiteface and Passaconaway Unsettled
summer weather conspires to limit us to two of our four New Hampshire
peaks for this weekend.... [More...]
June
20,
2007 An
aMAZEing trip to Color Country : Video Update The complete
set of video clips from our trip to southern Utah are now available in
the web presentation, both in the narrative and in a separate video-only
page... [More...]
June
3, 2007 Killington Peak My
last 4000-footer peak in Vermont was only a short drive away from Bolton
Landing, where we had just finished spending a wonderful time at Mark and
Linda's place.... [More...]
June
2,
2007 A visit to Mark and Linda's Place A
weekend visit with our new Adirondack Winter hiking buddies in beautiful
Bolton Landing, NY, on the shores of Lake George....[More...]
April
6-14, 2007 (posted
May 22, 2007) An
aMAZEing trip to Color Country To
the remotest corner of Utah we went, to experience true
desert wilderness and a true dash of adventure!... [More...]
May
26, 2007 Sailing with Roland A
short outing with Roland and Johanna to Kingston, Ontario... [More...]
May
19, 2007 Algonquin Park Sampler Four
Algonquin Provincial Park newbies embark on a dayhiker's sampling of three
trails... [More...]
April
21,
2007 One of the Finest Hikes on one of the Finest Days A
superlative weekend in April dictated a superlative ridgewalk -- and of
the best in the east is Franconia Ridge... [More...]
October
1999 (posted
April 2, 2007) Autumn in the Desert An
account of one of the very few times we visited the desert
southwest in the autumn. This was a very diverse trip, including: a long
canyoneering adventure; backpacking at high altitude in the rockies; and jeeping
in canyonlands national park.... [More...]
March
25, 2007 Ice Climbing with Roland at Calabogie A
bit of end-of-season wet ice climbing with Roland near Calabogie, ON... [More...]
March
24, 2007 2007
Winter 46er Gathering An
accounting of the 2007 gathering and dinner of the Adirondack Winter 46... [More...]
March
18, 2007 Hiking
with class We
witness the birth of not one, not two, but three new winter
46ers on Hough Peak... [More...]
March
13, 2007 A
new way up: Basin & Saddleback via the Chicken Coop Brook route Mark
and Linda help us explore an excellent winter route up to Basin & Saddleback... [More...]
March
11, 2007 Two
Slides in a day: A traverse of East Dix, South Dix, and Macomb Scaling
back from our ambitious winter ascent of all five dixes, we instead do what
I've never done before in the Adirondacks - climb up one slide and down another... [More...]
February
24, 2007 Trailbreaking
is tough: A traverse of Gothics and Armstrong A
recent large snowfall turns the Adirondacks into a super stairmaster workout.
Also, Gothics on a blustery winter day can be quite spectacular.... [More...]
February 11,
2007 Redfield...
yes. Cliff... no. Lots
of tiring trail-breaking and a well-earned peak. And we fail once again to
find the regular Cliff herdpath in the winter.... [More...]
January
21, 2007 Long,
tiring, and cold: the Santanonis in winter A
very, very long day in the Santanonis. But ultimately,
success, some cold but beautiful weather, and a lesson
on snowshoes.. [More...]
January
7, 2007 Warm and Social on Big Slide Solar and Social warmth were the key words of our ascent of Big Slide Mountain in the Adirondacks. [More...]
December
31, 2006 Last
and First: Sawteeth Mountain This
climb is the last of 2006, and also our first winter
46er climb of the 2006-07 winter adirondack climbing
season..[More...]
December
29, 2006 A "Wright" of
Passage: Jenn's Dad's First Adirondack Climb Jenn
introduces her dad to the Adirondacks in the form of
a beautiful day on the summit of Wright Peak...[More...]
December
10th, 2006 Mount Lafayette A failed attempt on
Garfield, but a very blustery summit of Lafayette,
in storm-force winds... [More
...]
July-August
1998 (posted
December 7, 2006) Left & Back
Again - The Original My first cross-country
road trip adventure from way back in the summer of
1998. Lots of sunny driving on fantastic twisty roads;
an endless stream of wonderful parks, mountains, trails,
and scenery... [More...]
July
1998 (posted
December 2, 2006) My
First Mountaineering Course Full of interesting
twists and turns (including a real wilderness first
aid scenario), this image gallery documents my first
mountaineering course... [More...]
November
25, 2006 The
Great Slide of East Dix One
month later, much better conditions allow us to experience
the excellent scramble up the Great Slide of East Dix...[More...]
July
1997 (posted
November 20, 2006) Recent History : Sampling California Reaching back in time
to post a set of images from a July 1997 exploratory
tour of California... [Image
Gallery ...]
November
18th, 2006 The Osceolas and Mount Tecumseh After weeks of warm
weather and heavy rains, finally a nice day in the
mountains - and on a Saturday, too!! We simply can't
pass up the opportunity to scale three more 4000-footers
in New Hampshire. [More
...]
November
11th, 2006 Ottawa
Remembrance Day Ceremonies Jenn's niece accompanies
us in attending the 2006 Remembrance Day Ceremonies
at the National War Memorial in downtown Ottawa. [More
...]
November
4th and 5th, 2006 The
two highest Catskills A
trip to climb my last two 4000-footer peaks in New
York State...[More...]
October
21, 2006 The
Great Slide of East Dix A
dusting of early-season snow puts the kaibosh on our
attempt of the Great Slide on East Dix. But, it still
turns out to be a great day...[More...]
October
9, 2006 First
Lapping at Calabogie After
many years of waiting, our group finally gets to do
a track lapping session at the new Calabogie Motorsports
Park... [More...]
October
7th and 8th, 2006 The Pilot and Pliny Ranges A wonderfull fall
long weekend in New Hampshire... Ewart emerges from
his hiking slumber... A long, strenuous hike along
a ridge of remote, northern hills... A
quaint little mountain hut all to ourselves for the
night... Two
unclimbed northeast 4000-footers... Don't you want
to read [More
...]?
Septermber
30, 2006 The Notch Mountain Slabs,
Redux While heading to do
more practice climbing at the Notch Mountain Slabs,
some friendly strangers stop us and introduce themselves... [Image
Gallery ...]
September
27, 2006 The
Birth of a Track Luc
and I attend the pre-opening ceremonies at a fantastic
new world-class racetrack just an hour away from Ottawa
- Calabogie Motorsports Park... [More...]
May
2000 (posted
September 23, 2006) Recent History : Desert Southwest
Trip with Luke and Sophie Reaching back in time
to post a set of images from a May of 2000 outing to
the Desert Southwest... [Image
Gallery ...]
Septermber
17, 2006 The Notch Mountain Slabs A quick little image
gallery of a short bit of ropework practice at an easy
climbing cliff in the Adirondacks... [Image
Gallery ...]
Septermber
1-3, 2006 The Willey Range A backup plan to avoid
the remnants of Hurricane Ernesto sees us climbing
three new New Hampshire 4000-footers with Luke and
Sophie... [Image
Gallery ...]
August
26-27, 2006 Sailing
with Roland After
a two-year hiatus, we are finally back on Roland's
sailboat for some fun on the Saint Lawrence River... [More...]
August
5-8, 2006 A Visit out East A
quick visit to my home province of NB and a quick intro
to the mountains of Gaspe. Also of note: this summer
is the first time I've been to the east and west coasts
of Canada within the space of two weeks! [More...]
July
20-27, 2006 Island Visiting After
almost two weeks of nonstop mountain stuff, it was
time to visit with Jenn's friends and family on Vacouver
Island (and Gabriola Island)... [More...]
July
20, 2006 The
Stawamus Chief We'd
been driving by this mighty granite monolith for a
week and a half now. So, Jenn and I decided to hike
up to its three highpoints... [More...]
July
17-19, 2006 Putting
skills to the test : Mount Garibaldi Hot
on the heels of our mountaineering course, Jenn, Sara
and I decide to tackle a mountaineering route by ourselves
- on Mount Garibaldi... [More...]
July
9-15, 2006 Summer
School with Canada West The
great outdoors is our classroom as we take a week to
learn and re-learn some basic mountaineering skills
in the coast range of British Columbia... [More...]
July
3, 2006 Google
Maps, version 2 I've upgraded all
of the integrated google map capabilities on my site
to the most recent "version 2" of the google
maps API.
What
does this mean for you? You get more satellite imagery at the "higher" resulotion
level, a new overview map on some displays, and an improved
ability for me to include custom maps.
I've
also reworked sections of my map software to give better user
feedback. Please send
me a feedback note if you see any unusual behaviour or
bugs in any of the map stuff. Thanks!
June
24, 2006 Return
to Jay Peak A
much-less-snowy visit to the Jay Range with Luke and
Sophie...[More...]
June
17, 2006 A
quickee to break-in my bootees A
short hike to visit to a new little peak and to break
in some new boots....[More...]
June
3, 2006 Ishpatina Ridge Roland and I (and
Jenn) finally get around to making an overland-only
attempt on Ishpatina Ridge, the highpoint of the province
of Ontario. [Image
Gallery ...]
May
15-24, 2006 San
Francisco, JavaOne, and Soggy Hikes A
work-related conference brings us to San Francisco,
where we explore a bit of the city by the bay and knock
off a few Northern California hikes....[More...]
May
7, 2006 Cannon and North Kinsman Mountains Finally... we get
back to New Hampshire and summit some new peaks (well,
for us, anyway). [Image
Gallery ...]
April
30, 2006 Noonmark
and Round Summer arrives very
early to the High Peaks, as we undertake a short, easy,
but way scenic loop hike over Noonmark and Round Mountains. [Image
Gallery ...][Trip
Log ...]
April
9, 2006 Mount
Marshall A beautiful spring
day, and an enjoyable - and also un-enjoyable -
loop hike up Mount Marshall. [Image
Gallery ...][Trip
Log ...]
March
10 - 19, 2006 Exploring
the Escalante A
texture, color, shape and solitude-filled week in a
remote slice of southern Utah... [More...]
February
19, 2006 The
Wolfjaws Sigh. Traverses. What
is it about them? Something always goes wrong! [Image
Gallery ...][Trip
Log ...]
February
12, 2006 Street & Nye A moderate winter
hike up two peaks I need for my winter list and which
Jenn needs for her... well, her list!. [Image
Gallery ...][Trip
Log ...]
February
1, 2006 All-New
Via Ferrata Page I've finally revamped
and updated my Via Ferrata page. Much improved from
the old page, with more routes, an integrated locator
map, and a much tidier look. [Click
here ...]
January
29, 2006 Race
against the clock One more time to the
Corey's road trailhead to get a winter ascent of Seymour,
before the weather turned (and in case the road closes!)... [Image
Gallery ...][Trip
Log ...]
January
22, 2006 Celebrities
on the Sewards Beautiful weather,
good trails, famous hikers, and a short approach make
for a memorable and enjoyable winter ascent of the
Sewards... [Image
Gallery ...][Trip
Log ...]
January
15, 2006 A
Key Objective A seemingly-simple
traverse of Porter-Cascade ends up being a bit more
interesting than we had planned... [Trip
Log ...][Image
Gallery ...]
January
12, 2006 A New Web Server At 10:00pm (EST),
alavigne.net was hot-swapped over to a brand-new web
server. My old machine, a trusty 677Mhz Celeron II
with 12 Gb of drive space, was getting a little long
in the tooth.
The
new machine is a lot faster and has a lot more space, and
is running much a much newer OS and web page-serving software.
Hopefully you'll see an improvement in speed and reliability.
If
you encounter anything unusual or if something is broken, please
let me know by leaving me a message here.
January
4, 2006 New
Year's Resolve Armed with more time,
better trail conditions and a healed muscle, we decide
to give Nippletop and Dial another go... [Trip
Log ...][Image
Gallery ...]
December
31, 2005 Update
of recent major trips with satellite maps A while back I promised
that I would add my new integrated track-and-photo-locations
satellite maps into 'selected earlier reports'. Well,
I've completed that activity. The following trip reports
have been updated with this new map information:
December
27, 2005 Attempt
on Dial Oh, no! Another one
of those frustrating winter defeats! [Trip
Log ...][Image
Gallery ...]
December
18, 2005 Re-vectored
Intro Hike We were going to do
an intro winter hike... except no "intro-ees" came
along! so we did Giant instead. [Trip
Log ...][Image
Gallery ...]
December
10, 2005 Graham's
Catamount Hike Graham has me along
as his personal Adirondack hike consultant. And, the
choice for a short, scenic hike today is... Catamount! [Trip
Log ...][Image
Gallery ...]
November
27, 2005 Near-failure
on Tabletop A badly placed tree
almost causes a repeat of the 2003 failure on Tabletop..... [Trip
Log ...][Image
Gallery ...]
November
12, 2005 Mount Mansfield Traverse A very interesting,exciting,
and beautiful traverse of Vermont's best peak.... [Image
Gallery ...]
October
30, 2005 Snowed
out in October? My first explorations
of the Jay Range are thwarted by some unexpectedly
heavy October snows.... [Trip
Log ...][Image
Gallery ...]
October
22, 2005 The Monroe Skyline Ewart, Jenn, Caro and
I bag two more of Vermont's 4000-footers: Mounts Ellen
and Abraham. And the traverse hike along the Monroe skyline
to do them was kinda different and interesting.... [Image
Gallery ...]
October
15, 2005 The
Wolf Trail A quick local hike
in the scenic Gatineau Hills north of Ottawa. [Image
Gallery ...]
October
10, 2005 Big
Slide via the Brothers A vain attempt at
a "nice weather" fall hike in the Adirondacks. [Trip
Log ...][Image
Gallery ...]
October
1, 2005 Google
Maps Integration I've discovered that
with a little programming (er, ok - a lot of programming),
I can have very nifty interactive maps containing GPS
tracks and where photos were taken, and with your choice
of highway, satellite, and, in some cases, topographic
maps.
Look
for all image galleries and trip reports posted after September
2005 to have this integrated map capability. I'll also be
adding this capability to selected earlier reports in 2004
and 2005.
September
2 - 11, 2005 Vancouver
Island A
foiled attempt to climb Mount Baker has us instead
exploring the remote wilderness of Vancouver Island.
And there is much to discover... [More...]!
September
and October, 2005 Automated Website Notification
Difficulties I
have
been getting indications from subscribers to my e-mail
web update notification system that updates are in
some cases no longer being received. I suspect that
tighter spam filter controls may be to blame. I will
investigate and try and find some sort of solution.
If it is possible in your particular situation, please
specifically allow e-mails from the domain 'alavigne.net'
August
21, 2005 Pu Guides Charleston Lake We
join Pu as he leads a bunch of friends around a pleasant
loop in Charleston Lake Provincial Park. [Image
Gallery ...]
August
14, 2005 Camel's Hump A wet day on the back
of the beast! [Image
Gallery ...]
August
6, 2005 Whiteface
and Esther Jenn starts her 46er
quest in earnest by tackling the two most northerly
of the 46. [Trip
Log ...][Image
Gallery ...]
July
1-July 25, 2005 Italy
2005 Click
here to read the account of a jam-packed trip to the
big boot. Included are almost 1,000 pictures of hiking,
mountains, cities, via ferrata climbing, family pictures,
modern art, classical ruins, twisty roads, and [More...]!
June
26, 2005 Shannonville
Lapping Session Graham
invites us to a pre-track BBQ at his cottage before
we hit the Fabi portion at Shannonville Motorsports
Park... [More...]
June
26, 2005 Golfing with Dad During my dad's recent
visit to Ottawa, Jenn, George, my Dad and myself play
a quick 9-holes of golf at a local Ottawa course. [ More...]
June
25, 2005 Re-visiting the Canadian War
Museum A few new pictures
(from a visit we did with my dad) have been added to
the tail end of my May 8 image gallery of the new Canadian
war museum. [ More...]
Google
Maps, version 2 
