Friday, March 19, 2010

Wicked Wanda & Observation Peak Glaciers

So the last few weeks I have been trying to get outside as much as possible to be around friends, stay active and prepare for a spring ski traverse.

Jon and I on top of Wicked Wanda, first time for me and a great climb/trip into the ghost.
Wicked Wanda
Craig Langford on top of Observation Sub Peak with Cirque Peak int he background. Did a wonderful tour here skiing the back of these peaks where small glaciers reside. Pretty good runs down as far as you want to go.
Craig pushing the snow to the right.
Gaining the Ob sub peak/cirque peak col.

Monday, March 01, 2010

Michael M Pollard



When the phone rang yesterday at 7:34 am I didn't realize then that I would remember that time forever. From the soft, heartbroken and weakened German voice of Mikes girlfriend Barbara, I heard words I didn't think were possible, "He's dead". All I could muster was a prolonged and voice cracking "noooo".

Mike was more to me than a friend, he was a brother, a mentor and my sole guidance through some of the darkest times in my life. I can't believe he is gone.

3 weeks ago we were skiing across the Wapta Icefields together. I was trying to convince him that ski touring is like easy summer mountaineering except you can ski down at the end of the day. We laughed together. As he skied the slope above Bow hut I could see that despite this being perhaps his 1oth day on skis, the discomfort of boots with blown out liners (bought the day before at the consignment store), big skis and a HUGE pack he was having the time of his life. I could see the concentration in his eyes as he reached me and we prepared to keep going. This same enthusiastic mindset was applied to everything from cooking to organic chemistry.

I met Mike in the late nineties while belaying our friend Jon on a cold and windy "bridge" climb in Edmonton. He saw that I was cold and gave me his sweater, we spoke and I knew he was a unique person right away. What followed were the best 5 years I have had as a climber, we succeeded, learned and failed together in the Rockies that we both loved. Leaving Edmonton on Thursday night ( I had Fridays off) we would drive to Jasper or Banff, sleep in the parking lot and climb the next day. We would drive home that night so Mike could finish a chemical reaction in the lab, usually without sleep. We did this almost every week for these five years in Edmonton.

Mike was committed. He worked harder than anyone I know to accomplish what he saw as the right thing. He graduated from Queens University before moving to Edmonton for his Phd in chemistry, something that he knew he could work with and create change in what he saw as the biggest problem we face, the environmental crisis. A cornerstone to Mike was his tremendous desire to effect change and he did. When I moved to Canmore he moved to Holland for his post doctorate, he maintained close ties with his friends in Canada and we planned trips every summer in the Rockies. Upon moving back he got a job as a professor at York University and started to work on the research that he had aspired to since graduating high school.


What is so hard is not just the pseudo selfishness of losing one of my very best friends but also the thought that the people who he would have influenced as a teacher and friend will not have the privilege. I feel a void in my world.

I love you man.