It’s that time of year again..to recap the year that was and what I plan to (or hope to) do in the year to come!
Finishing one list, big progress in another
Early in the year I was finally able to climb my last three Adirondack High Peaks, Wright Peak, Algonquin Peak, and Iroquois Peak, to become an ADK 46R. This was probably my favourite hike I did in the Adirondacks, winter hiking above treeline is just too good. It was also great being able to enjoy (part of) the experience with my brother, who climbed Wright with me.
I made five additional trips to the USA in 2024, one to do the Giant-Rocky Peak traverse in the Adirondacks (highly recommend, I’m really enjoying traverse-style hikes), and the other four each tackled a US state highpoint, bringing me up to 8 in total. First up was Mount Washington in New Hampshire in February with the Alpine Club of Canada’s Toronto Section – an epic windy, whiteout which involved descending on the auto road and hitchhiking in the back of a pickup truck. In early June, I made my way to California to climb the highest peak in the lower 48, Mount Whitney. A long, gruelling day involving ascending and descending a steep snow slope (including glissading gone wrong)! In November, I climbed two more state highpoints, Mount Mansfield in Vermont, a fairly straightforward climb with a chilly summit ridge, and Humphreys Peak in Arizona, probably my most enjoyed state highpoint to date with a long ridge walk above treeline through the snow.
New Skills
This year I picked up some additional skills, including ice climbing for the first time in New Hampshire, sport (lead) climbing (both indoors and outdoors), as well as backcountry skiing/ski touring and avalanche skills training. I hadn’t skied since 2019 and had previously not been comfortable in ungroomed terrain, but knew right away this was something I wanted to get into more seriously moving forward as it’s such a cool way to explore the mountains. In addition, as someone who hates hiking down, skiing presents a more enjoyable, faster, and less painful (ideally) to descend. I picked up most of a touring setup shortly after my trip to Alberta, and bought the rest of my basic setup in December – skins, poles, and avalanche safety gear (transceiver, probe, and shovel). Special shoutout to my guide for the AST1, Barry Blanchard (second from left in the left photo below), on receiving the Order of Canada on December 18th, 2024!
Injuries for Days (Months)
2024 was probably my worst year for injuries in well over a decade. In all fairness, I began stepping up my training volume so that had a lot to do with it, but a lot of really weird, unexplained injuries also came up, as well as unfortunate accidents. In total, I dealt with calf, back (x3), wrist, foot, and an ankle injury this year, and to be honest I haven’t been 100% since early January. It truly is a miracle that I was able to do everything I did this year given all the injuries I was dealing with.
Here is where I will get into more detail about my ankle issue and also discuss briefly the trip where I suffered the injury (which I have not posted about as to the injury tarnished the experience). In mid-July, I attended the Alpine Club of Canada’s General Mountaineering Camp in the Remillard Range, near Revelstoke in British Columbia. This camp involved being flown in via helicopter to a remote area of the mountains for around a week, and involved day trips out of the camp exploring the relatively unvisited terrain in the area. I had signed up for the camp about 6 months prior and was very excited about building skills for future mountaineering objectives.
On the first full day at camp, prior to departing for the day’s trip, I ran back to my tent to pick up something I forgot, and rolled my left ankle on a root/rock. The pain was sharp and I immediately knew it was significant. While I was able to do that day’s excursion (snow skills), my ankle swelled up quite a bit due to the sprain and that pretty much ended camp for me. I stuck around camp the whole week which gave me huge FOMO, though I was able to enjoy swimming in the nearby tarn.
This injury affected my next trip to the Pyrenees in Europe. I had planned to do a technical route of Aneto with a guide, but my lack of fitness slowed me down significantly and we had to bail. In addition, I was (and currently as of writing this post) unable to do any extended periods of running (trail or road) and while I am able to hike/climb in rugged terrain, my ankle still is not 100% and needs a lot of work. This was my main focus in December. Huge shoutouts to the folks at Axis Therapy & Performance in Toronto for helping fix me, including my physiotherapist, Joseph and chiropractor, Cayte.
Reaching New Heights in Mexico
My ankle injury slowed me down but couldn’t stop me from achieving a new altitude personal best (5636m) on Pico de Orizaba in November. This trip, which was guided by Frederick Schuett of One Axe Pursuits, was an absolutely epic trip, full of ups and downs, plenty of misadventures and laughs, as well as a triumphant conclusion with a summit of the highest mountain in Mexico (and third highest in North America). Probably my absolute favourite trip to date and was an incredible way to spend my 35th birthday. Thank you Frederick and my tripmate Luca for an awesome time!
What’s Next?
2025 will be my first full winter season focused on backcountry skiing and ski touring, and I also plan to visit a few more US state highpoints as well as one more Canadian province highpoint over the course of the year. In addition, I plan to do some mountaineering in the US Pacific Northwest with friends. My goal is to become comfortable and proficient moving in the mountains and tackling moderate objectives without a guide. The plan long term is still to make use of guides for more ambitious, difficult objectives. My primary overarching objective will be to remain healthy and injury-free all year..no more repeats of 2024 please. My plan is to adopt a consistent mobility routine (and actually listen to my therapists!) that I do 1-2x per day.
My general plan moving forward is to, roughly, focus on skiing in winter and spring (January to April), and mountaineering in summer and fall (May to November). So far, I have three trips lined up which will involve skiing. Firstly, I will head out to the Adirondacks for the Family Day long weekend in February with the ACC Toronto Section. There are plenty of ski routes I’d like to try (probably on the easier end) but will also do a bit more ice climbing as well as climbing some winter High Peaks. I have two ski-focused trips in Alberta lined up in March and April. Firstly, the Wapta Traverse, a classic hut-to-hut route in the Rockies in March, then a ski ascent of Mount Columbia, the highest mountain in Alberta, in April. In preparation for these two trips, I hope to do a few more weekend trips to the Adirondacks or Vermont to get some ski touring in, since the Alberta trips will require some prior experience and comfort skiing in non-resort terrain. I purchased “Best Backcountry Skiing in the Northeast: 50 Classic Ski Tours In New England And New York” a few months ago and there are some great ideas in there to consider. I’m also looking at doing some uphill skiing at resorts such as Killington (Vermont) or Whiteface (New York) for some easier, less remote touring practice as well as work on my downhill. In addition, I plan to get a lot more winter camping experience in, and fine-tune my winter camping gear.
Aside from my one planned Canadian highpoint, I plan to continue working on my US state highpoints, which includes visits to states I haven’t been to before. Likely in late spring (May), I hope to take a long weekend road trip out to the northeast of the USA to visit three more state highpoints – Mount Greylock in Massachusetts, Mount Frissell in Connecticut, and Jerimoth Hill in Rhode Island. These three are on the lower end of altitude but it should be a fun trip regardless.
I’m hoping to get out to the Pacific Northwest (Washington or Oregon) in the summer to do some mountaineering out there with friends. No firm plans as of yet, but my preliminary thoughts are to go over a holiday weekend plus take some PTO days for a 9-10 day trip, which should be enough time to climb three peaks. I’d like to climb either Mount Rainier (Washington) or Mount Hood (Oregon), the highest peak in each’s respective state with a guide as part of this trip. Likely Rainier, since Hood looks like something that may be better for a ski objective in the future. Other peaks that are on my radar are Mount Baker, Glacier Peak, and Mount Adams. I welcome any recommendations in the comments!
I’m also hoping to do the Presidential Traverse with my brother Alain sometime in 2025. This New Hampshire hike, which is about 32km long has over 2500m of elevation gain and traverses seven of the highest peaks in the state, all named after US Presidents. This is a hike we’ve been trying to do for a while now, but bad weather and injuries have scuttled previous attempts.
I am also planning to join an international ski touring trip sometime in Q4, likely in South America, to kickstart the following ski season in style and really set me up for more complex objectives in 2026.
That’s about it! Thanks for reading and I hope you will drop by to check out more of my adventures in 2025. Happy New Year!
Veg 'n' Alpine 