Gary Bauman, Bryan Ward and I left Abbotsford at 6:00 a.m. on Sunday August 20th, and we wound our way up the Sea-to-Sky and arrived at Whistler by 8:30. The lift did not open until 9:30, so we waited, swapped tales and anticipated the hike under the blue canopy and the heat of day star. We were, by 10:30, off the peak chair and on the wide dirt roadway. We dipped down into the valley, and it took us little time to bid adieu to the heights of Whistler and be on the trail. The older path took us up and over the Musical Bumps (Piccolo, Flute & Oboe), then down into Singing Pass. Many a pleasant ski run has been down in the powder of the Flute bowl.
The hike up again from Singing Pass into Russet Lake (and the Alpine cabin) was a delight. We were charmed and lured by the sheer beauty of the white tipped Spearhead and Fitzsimmons Ranges. The white robed snowfield and blue lipped glacier of Castle Towers held our attention for many a moment. We had a splendid lunch by the gurgling stream that curled its way out of Russet Lake. The well built rock shelters protected a few tents, and the Alpine hut was empty. We left the lake by about 2:30 and hastened back over the Musical Bumps to the Roundhouse Lodge for the final gondola descent at 5:30. We headed into the Fraser Valley as an alpenglow lit up Baker in a bright orange last gasp of the day.
My son has just returned from a 7 month tour in Afghanistan. He has spent much of the time in Forward Operational Bases (FOBs) in the barren mountains outside Kandahar near Pashmul, Panjwai and Gumbad. Many a time he carried an 80 pound pack up steep and treacherous slopes. Needless to say, it is good to have him back safe with us again. We have had many a restless and sleepless night.
My wife (Karin) and I, and our son (Nathan) and his wife (Rita) headed up to the Musical Bumps and Russet Lake area Tuesday September 5th. The terrain was lusher than the raw and forbidding peaks of Afghanistan. There were no Taliban, also, to ambush him as had been done many times in the last few months. Our conversation, naturally, turned to the war in Afghanistan (and his experience there) as we followed the contours of the trail. Different perspectives were pondered and left behind just as the each of the Musical Bumps rises and falls, falls and rises. Should Canada be in Afghanistan, who is the real terrorist, why is Canada in Afghanistan and what is it like to live daily with bombs and bullets going off in all directions? We crested a lower rock peak, looked up to the snow and ice fields above us, and down to the valley. Much can be seen from the heights that is often missed in the hurly burly and skirmishes in the lowlands. We pondered those who made decisions from the heights but know little of those who fought as infantry in the dust thick desert and mountain caves.
The afternoon waxed and waned, the music of Oboe, Piccolo and Flute was silent. Russet offered an early autumn beauty the surreal experience in Afghanistan lacked--such a stark contrast in mountains and political reality.
What would the mountains say if they could speak?
We had a late afternoon drink outside on the spacious balcony of Roundhouse Lodge. Nathan was wearing a shirt that made it obvious he had been in Afghanistan. A naïve but well meaning Canadian patriot came up and thanked Nathan for the work the Canadian troops are doing in Afghanistan, then he left. Nathan turned to me, and said, ‘if only he knew the real story from both peak and valley’. I put my arm around the broad, tanned and steel like shoulder of our son, we looked toward Russet and headed down the mountain again.
Ron Dart
I think the comment "naive but well-meaning Canadian patriot" is unfair. If Ron has another view, via his son or from whatever source, he should share it. I recently attended a church meeting with a Canadian soldier back from Afganistan who may have presented an entirely different view, but Ron only alludes to the naivite of others, without specifying what his presumably non-naive view is. What is the "real story from both peak and valley"?
Posted by: michael shaw | September 25, 2006 at 10:36 AM