Going in the Wilds

But Before I Go.........

A final check-in on before the start of my travels. Get an inside look into the preparations and lead up to the adventure.

With all the preparations done over the last 8 months I'm as ready as I'll ever be.

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Gearing Up and Getting Ready

Rummaging, finding, sewing 

Sourcing clothing that fits 1926 style has been a fun challenge. I was loaned a pair of wool knickers from a fellow member of the Alpine Club of Canada. I bought wool shirts and cotton/wax jacket from Woolrich, a company that has been around a hundred years and still makes quality clothes that haven't changed much. Good 'ol Amazon has a company in India selling wool puttees (leg wraps).

We had hobnail boots custom made in New Zealand.
The tents were designed by one of our expedition members and sewn from Egyptian cotton sailcloth we sourced close to home in Ontario. We each made our sleeping bags with down duvet lined with wool blanket and covered with cotton. Needless to say much of this gear is not ultra-light.

Another team member custom-made trapper-style wood pack-frames with canvas bag. Real hemp ropes were newly bought and the primus stoves are antique but still work.

Funding and Sponsors

Getting funding for an expedition of this magnitude is an undertaking. The Mystery Mountain Project has corporate sponsors from Royal Canadian Geographic Society and Mountain Equipment Co-op. Stanfields has given us union-suit long underwear. We have support from the Alpine Club of Canada and Fjall Raven Kitsilano Store.

We've had fundraising dinners, a gear-swap event and just finished an Indiegogo campaign. The funds are there to buy remaining gear, the food and transport we need.

So many people have worked on the project, supported it and donated. We cannot express our thanks to such a vibrant, and engaged community.

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My Photo Project Fundraising

In addition to the funding for the Mystery Mountain expedition, I've been fundraising for My Photo Project. With different campaigns I'm happy to say that I have enough funds to realize the production and printing of the photographs using the century-old process of platinum-palladium printing.

This story doesn't end here. Fundraising continues so keep sharing these stories.

There is more work to be done in getting a show prepared and exhibiting it. This will happen later in the year and early 2019.

The Route

Here is how the weeks will unfold.

The team meets in Vancouver June 30 and finishes up some food shopping. After Canada Day celebrations and some promo events and TV appearances, we'll drive to Quadra Island for the start of the expedition.

Here we'll get on the Misty Isles boat up Bute inlet. For the next 2 weeks we bushwack our way toward the glaciers. Hopefully we won't encounter too many bears and I hope the weather holds out most of the time.

We'll set up base camp on the glaciers and climb Mt. Munday and attempt Mt. Waddington. The weather is volatile in this region so any climbing objective will be dependent on good weather.

Once we're done with the mountains, we bushwack back to the Homathko logging camp for a water taxi back to Quadra Island. If all goes according to plan we emerge in Vancouver again August 5th.

After all that, I'm heading to the pub for a nice cold beer!

Send me a message

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