Mountains

Some folks might worry that 7 days at a cabin in the backcountry would be too long for kids. MEC Envoy Leanne Allison shows that’s definitely not the case.

My husband Karsten, our 8-year-old son Zev, and I feel very fortunate because we have adventurous (and very competent in the outdoors) friends with kids who are willing to commit to long periods of time away for big trips. Trips like the ones we would go on before kids! There are always a million reasons why not to do a trip, so when you find friends who value time away in the wilds with their kids, celebrate. We find at least 2 weeks is the key to sinking into a different rhythm.

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This fall, during the fabulous month of Rocktober, I had the opportunity to climb in Yosemite Valley with my good friend and long-time climbing partner, Simon Meis. Simon and I have made numerous trips to Yosemite together, and over the last decade, we’ve managed to climb on some of the world’s great cliffs as a team.

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Success in the mountains is a relative thing. In the grand scheme of mountain adventure, just returning home safely is success enough. So, by all accounts, when Jasmin Caton, Kinley Aitken, and I returned home after 11 days in the Waddington Range, we had succeeded. But our success was multiplied because we’d climbed three different mountains and we had got along like a house on fire. For three women who’d never climbed together in the mountains, let alone at the crags surrounding our home in Squamish, this was miraculous.

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