Getting ready for the season - First Aid refreshers!

Spring time seems to creep up, its winter winter winter and then all of a sudden we are on a daily countdown till the season starts. Isn't that always the way?! There are so many things to do in so little time...food purchasing and prep for 25+ trips of 7 - 10 days in duration, vehicle inspections, gear inspection and maintenance (not to mention new gear wish lists - mine is a little out of control at the moment but I am sure that is another blog post in the making), training hikes, and re-certifications are just a few things that pop into my head.

Most of us at Sea to Sky have been with Slipstream First Aid for many years as they are just the best in the business. They have an extended program that allows you to hop into any course (if space available) and refresh your skills, something other companies don't do. It is great to start thinking about risk management, safety, first aid scenarios, evacuations and the like at the beginning of a season. I am due up for re-cert next year so hopping into these individual days helps me keep my skills fresh but also make my re-cert easier next season, after all if you don't use it you'll lose it! PLUS you get to meet fantastic like minded professionals in the industry. 

JP Bandaging up a patient - Photo by Slipstream First Aid

Bowron Lakes Slideshow

Have you crossed the WEST COAST TRAIL off your bucket list?

Intrinsic Rewards as Guides

Beth Dempster best expresses the intrinsic rewards we as guides receive from our work...

 “Working as a guide brings two important rewards. One of them is filling my soul with needed sustenance – an outdoor fix that carries me through the long winter. Since I could do this on my own, the second reward – although more subtle – is in many ways more important. It arises through the many people I have met on Sea to Sky adventures. For each of us, regardless of our skills and reasons for participating, trips have involved new experiences and new challenges, all within a new and different setting. And what a setting! It’s a wilderness environment (which entails extra risks as well as extra beauty) with a group of people that begin as strangers and leave with connections. Challenge, wilderness, and cooperative companionship – it’s a rich combination that brings out a unique and remarkable energy. It’s a mingling of helping hands, campfires, thunderstorms, good food, triumphs, struggles, sore muscles, late-night conversations and laughter. To be a part of such rich experiences, more especially, to be able to facilitate and enable them, is a reward that is unmatched in my other endeavours. Even after all these years, guiding for Sea to Sky continues to be a joy and a privilege.”

West Coast Trail Slideshow

Flying into the Tombstone Mountains - Part I

We patiently wait for our air transportation in the parking lot of the Grizzly Lake trail head, entrance to Tombstone Territorial park back-country.  As I scan the horizon I hope to see  a yellow craft sporting the name "Trans North Helicopters" emerge from the low cloud cover any second now....to no avail nothing. Seconds feel like hours and minutes feel like an eternity. We've taken all precautions we need "just in case" we can't fly in and meet up with the other half of our expedition mates, but we're also hoping not to have to use it.

Pot of Gold - Talus Lake, Tombstone Territory

We are headed into one of the most stunning areas the Yukon has to offer, the Tombstone Mountains.  Situated approximately 75km NE of Dawson City, Tombstone Territorial Park is teaming with colors of the coming autumn. A palate of crimson, gold, green and orange set fire to the hillsides of the Dempster Highway - this is the finest time to visit this northern region also known as the "Patagonia of the North". Memorable for its black granite peaks, idyllic alpine lakes and subarctic tundra landscapes, Tombstone Territorial Park is an icon among Yukon destinations. It is a place where the silence is so loud it is deafening, a place where the only sound you hear is the breath coming from your own body.

Tombstone Mountains Slideshow