Welcome to Veg ‘n’ Alpine!
Hello! Welcome to my blog. My name is André, and I’m a 30-something guy living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada with a (seemingly) very simple mission – to stand on top of all of Canada’s 10 provinces and 3 territories. This is actually a very daunting task, and, according to Peakbagger, it has only been accomplished by five other people, the first being Jack Bennett in 1998. It was reading Bennett’s book, Not Won in a Day – Climbing Canada’s Highpoints, that inspired me to take this on.
“Be comfortable being uncomfortable.” – Peter McWilliams
I’ve never been one to shy away from a challenge and pushing myself. I have competed on the world stage (Club Crew World Championships) in dragon boat in 2018 (I first heard the above quote from my then-coach), helped transform the University of Toronto Iron Dragons dragon boat team from a recreational crew to the top under-24 dragon boat club in Canada between 2013 and 2016), and completed a doctorate degree in materials engineering in 2018, while working full-time in industry on multi-company research and development projects. In addition, since starting this blog, I have tackled several challenging objectives, including Pico de Orizaba (the highest mountain in Mexico), four months after spraining my ankle. I truly believe that nothing worthwhile comes easy and my life experiences so far have positioned me (in particular mentally) to pursue this mission.
My blog will be documenting this journey as I climb the high points and obtain the requisite skills and experience (mountaineering, ski touring, alpine rock climbing) to do so. Thus far, I have completed 6 of the 12 highpoints and I am hoping to complete two more by the end of 2026. Check out this page to see my progress so far.
Outside of this crazy journey, I’m a materials scientist and engineer, and most recently worked as a forensic engineer in Toronto. I am currently actively looking to migrate to western Canada so I will be in a better position to pursue my goals.
I hope you enjoy your stay and feel free to drop a comment if you enjoy my content! Also feel free to follow me on Instagram!
Veg 'n' Alpine 