Welcome to my tiny little corner of the internet. Explor8ion.com is an online personal journal of my hiking, backpacking, climbing, skiing, snowshoeing, camping, biking and canoeing activities. Every once in a while I go off on some tangent or another just to keep things interesting.
I've been asked many times for a list of my top 10 hikes, backpacking trips, scrambles, climbs and so forth. I thought about it for a bit and decided that it would be best to separate my top 10 lists into several categories, so here goes. Please note that I will update these lists as I continue to find "better" options. ;)
I was sitting at work on Wednesday, December 13th 2017 when I came across an article on how to photograph the upcoming Geminid meteor shower. Apparently it was going to be the most visible the night of the 13/14. As I thought about it, I couldn't really think of a good reason not to try getting a photograph of this event - other than the fact that it was peaking at 02:00! 
There are various approaches to Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park and I've now done almost all of them, except the easiest (from the air). This is a brief description of each of the four routes I've done and one I haven't, with a final comparison matrix at the end.
Update May 12 2015 - An update from Nancy Hansen on the destruction that she has witnessed and the recent 7.4 magnitude quake that struck while she was back in the city.
Colin Haley is an elite alpinist based out of Seattle. He uses words like "easy" and "solo" when talking about Robson's Emperor Ridge (although to be fair he did end up bailing and descending the west face on a 60m 5.5mm rope with a scary rappel incident).
Josh Wharton is an elite alpinist from Rifle, Colorado who has done big, bad ascents all over the globe. In 2011 he finally turned his attention to the Canadian Rockies, not expecting very much. He got a good taste of how badass / good they are and came back in 2012 for some serious climbs.
I've been asked the question, "What camera should I buy?" a few times over the past year, so I thought I'd write a little bit about this and next time someone asks me I can simply link to this blog post! Yes. I am a wee bit lazy. 
So, how do you take a great photograph? That's a great question!! Depending on the subject and your definition of a great photograph, this will be different for you and I. I'm mainly a landscape photographer, and I seriously hesitate to call myself a "photographer" at all. The saying that the more you know, the less competent you feel definitely applies to me and photography!
My name is Vern Dewit. I moved to Calgary, Alberta (Canada) in 1999 and since then I've fallen in love with the spectacular scenery and grand vistas that open up as you scramble up above treeline on a beautiful fall morning, or make your first cast on some back country stream as the sun throws its golden warmth on surrounding peaks.
