About a year ago we set out on a little snow shoe adventure... The goal was Brew Lake Hut for the night. There had been the first big dump of snow that week, and the access bridge we'd planned to utilize had been taken out.... If we were smart we would have scrapped the trip - because you can't beat mother nature - but we hadn't learned that lesson yet so instead we audibled to take an alternate route up.

We hit the road at 5am... 2+ feet of fresh snow had us moving MUCH slower than planned, and at about 4pm as the sun was about to start setting we realized we may not make our objective before dark... And so instead of continuing for <1 hour up in the dark & unknown, we opted for the 5+ hour return the way we came.

At this point I called 911 (which is how you get Search and Rescue). We weren't in any trouble, as we had the gear & good to spend the night if needed... but we wanted to let them know our situation and decision, just in case.

The second I connected with them my phone showed an alert that it was in "emergency mode" - all notifications had been unblocked and my location was being pinged back to emergency services. The SARs team was very relieved to hear how prepared we were (including always having a spare battery pack for my phone). They called us every hour just to check in, and then had someone meet us at the trail head when we finally got back to the car, at almost 1am.

Moral of the story? KISS. Listen to the pros... not the internet

Do NOT use apps like my3words - learn to get the GPS coordinates via your phone so the SAR team doesn't have to download an app to find you.

Do NOT waste your battery calling anyone other than 911, period and this includes voicemail. Emergency calls utilize any cell tower (not just your provider) and allow them to track your location.

Do NOT go into the mountains unprepared - checkout @bcadvsmart for more info.

I have a rule... once I have to tell the same storie(s) enough times it's easier to just put them on the internet... So here's a few from this weekends adventure - with each slide:

1 - this is mountain thor aka #thorgoesoutside, he's the newest evolution of thors to grace this ig. You may recognize prior editions like; fit thor aka the guy who loved #Crossfit a bit too much... bearded thor aka #thorpretendstobeabigdeal , and fat thor who still occasionally makes appearances.

2 - we hitup the How Sound crest trail for a night because the weatherman said the smoke and rain would clear up by midday. It's a pretty epic route!

3 - it never cleared up. Actually it got foggier and wetter. We covered over 17km and 1500m of elevation on day 1, summiting 7 mountains... and these things were straight up and down.

4 - we're very lucky we were prepared for the worst. Because we were hit with the worst... I highly do not recommend attempting this route in the wet or fog :S

5 - we had to call it a day one mountain short of our goal of the meadows because we wanted to setup camp before nightfall and the weather had us 2 hours behind schedule. The only glimpse of blue sky we got was for 20min in the am as we had breakfast. We crossed our fingers for some clear skies to make it worth finishing the next 16km.

6 - the fog rolled back in pretty shortly after so we said 🖕 this and took the bush whacking 12km trail out (there was a marked trail - just not very utilized)

7 - #spoileralert... we made it! And in the end it was one hellova fking adventure. I can't wait to hit that route with some sunshine and views next year.

8 - the basics. Sorted from most accessed on left to last access needed on right... Cept the sunscreen.

Thanks for reading about my adventure with @tyeecook & @chlozet - and your welcome for not flooding your news feed with 8 separate posts :D

#thorgoesoutside
#thordoescardio
#beautifulbc
#getoutside