A Journey Through Space and Time with Kiwi the Dog

On June 1, I finally returned home to my beloved Squamish. Colin and I have rented a small apartment in town for the summer, and it feels so good to settle into a little home again. I've been homeless since October 2012 afterall. 

I moved us in as best I could -- Colin hadn't arrived yet, he was spending a couple days with his good buddy Dylan, who is a husband, father, and architect living in Ventura, CA. His life is very busy, so the few opportunities Colin and Dylan have to climb together are never passed up.

Once the "moving in" was complete -- quite frankly, all it really entailed was moving all our crash pads, ropes, and various pieces of climbing gear into the apartment. I made us a couch out of a couple crash pads! -- all I could think about was skiing, which was funny because it was 20 degrees and sunny in Squamish.

So, I convinced my ski hero, Lena Rowat to sneak in one more day on skis with me. On June 3 we packed up the car at the leisurely hour of 8:00 am, since it was light out until 9:00 pm by then, and headed to the trailhead of Mt. Cypress and Mt. Tricouni. We intended to complete a little traverse from Cypress to Tricouni and maybe feel the wind in our hair a little bit.

It was a lovely day out, made even better by the fact that we were joined by Lena's little doggy, Kiwi aka Skiwi the super hero ski dog. Kiwi is a tiny mutt that Lena picked up from the SPCA in Vancouver. He's not exactly built to be a mountain dog, but he's hopelessly in love with Lena and will follow her everywhere, even to the summit of Mt. Tricouni.

The whole experience of ski mountaineering with a tiny dog was pretty amusing. I took a lot of pictures. So let's just let the pictures speak for themselves. I guarantee, you'll be cracking up pretty soon. 

In true Lena Rowat fashion, she skied in a skirt. And, insisted that she walk the 400 m to the start of the snow barefoot.

Every time we stopped to take a break, or grab some water, Kiwi would jump onto Lena's pack and curl up into an exhausted little ball.

Kiwi chasing a rodent into it's little snow cave. It's quite possible that the rodent was actually a lot bigger than Kiwi.  That did not seem to bother him.

Bear paws in the snow! I hope that wasn't what Kiwi chased into the hole?!

Lena and her little buddy.

A view towards Mt. Fee, which is visible from Squamish.

A group shot.

Skiwi the super hero ski dog guarding my skis.

The north face of Mt. Tricouni. We climbed to it's summit via the snow col on the right side of the picture and then the right hand ridge line above. 

The Tantalus Range in the distance.

Me and Kiwi.

Skinning towards the snowy col below Tricouni.

Awwww...

Lena showing off her custom made skis. They featured, well, a picture of her, naked on an iceburg. That's pretty cool! 

Scrambling to the summit of Tricouni.

Kiwi scrambling up some third class! And there was a bit of exposure on this scramble too! 

Lena and Kiwi on the summit of Tricouni. I love this picture!

There's Squamish, and the Chief down there...

You can get cell reception everywhere these days!

Kiwi all packed up for the climb/ski down. He rode in Lena's pack all the way to the car from the summit. 

Snug as a bug in a rug.

There he is, still snug. In fact he may have nodded off at one point.

Getting ready to huck the cornice with Kiwi in tow.

Hahahah, there's a dog in her backpack.

Looking back from the car at our tracks down  to the valley bottom. How fun!