KristoriaBlack wrote:James, what specifically are you referring to that makes the bushwacks out West more difficult? I want to prepare myself mentally. At some point I'm going to be sent off to a conference out West. (All my best climbing is funded by scholarships and travel awards to conferences!) I'll message you and we'll go scrambling. Off trail. Hard core. Crazy Canuck style. Just don't expect it to be anytime soon...our funding in the short term is up in the air to put it diplomatically.
You have to bushwack up 4,000 or more feet just to reach the alpine. During this bushwack you have the standard ADK fair plus some devils club to make things terrible. Fred Beckey once got in terrain so hard on a project in northern Washington (similar terrain) that he was only capable or progressing a mile a day. When you bushwack here in the Selkirk and Monashee mountains the possibility of a grizzly counter never leaves your thoughts. I live in the worlds only inland temperate rainforest (banana slugs and all) and sometimes it is impossible to see very far in the darkness of the forest.