Mindful Explorer the Usual Summer Update

Hello friends, it has been some time since my last post and I am sure many of you were wondering where the heck this Chris guy is hiding. Well a lot has been happening actually and can’t believe it is already nearing the mid point of summer.

For my outdoor adventures it has been a good season having summited Triple Peak and Mount Septimus as trip leader for the Alpine Club of Canada Vancouver Island section. I also mixed in climbing a new route up King’s Peak that I had been wanting to attempt since las year. Lastly for fun , good friend Roxy and I thought doing a “3 Peak Sufferfest” would be a hoot so we did the 3 summits of Forbidden Plateau (Albert Edward – Frink – Castlecrag) in 13hrs covering 2600m elevation over 38kms. This was my most distance ever done in one day….I’m still on a happiness high from this one.

Triple Peak

A successful summit of Triple Peak looking down on the Northwest summit prominence

Mount Septimus

The last few steps to the summit of Mt Septimus with Rosseau towering in the background

Kings Peak

Traversing the North Glacier to gain the North Spur and summit Kings Peak

Around the house we have been very busy as the wife and I felt it was time to add a new member to the family. We welcomed beautiful Echo into out house, a gorgeous Australian Cattle Dog (Blue Heeler). She is the perfect dog to join me running, climbing and backpacking across the country with here great spirit and endless energy.

Vancouver Island Mount MacDonald Blue Heeler

Echo sitting proud after her first mountain hike on the summit of Mount MacDonald

For work I have been fortunate to collaborate this summer with Tourism Nanaimo to write blog posts and shoot photography on all the fun activities in the region and the beautiful outdoor locations. It has been a blast so far and my first post is up in their website, Tourism Nanaimo: Sunrise to Sunset Adventure . I will be posting and sharing all my activities with #ExploreNanaimo on my various social media channels so be sure to keep an eye out for them.

Vancouver Island Nanaimo Pipers Lagoon

Beautiful sunrise captured during an early morning at Pipers Lagoon in Nanaimo

Then the biggest activity that held up my recent blog posts has been the revamping of the website. I really hope you like the changes and my favourite part is the photography gallery. I have a few more tweaks to make to the look and feel but overall I am very happy with the results. Let me know what you think.

I hope you all have been enjoying your summer. I always appreciate comments on feedback on everything I share so don’t hesitate to to leave a comment.

Join the discussion 4 Comments

  • MJ says:

    Awesome photos. And PUPPY!

  • BW says:

    Absolutely breathtaking Chris!
    If I didn’t know you in real life I would think these were seriously retouched maybe even altered photos but they are as real as it gets – nature so perfect we can only appreciate the amazingness! And, you first hand go out and see this stuff not through the lens but by touching it, breathing it, challenging yourself to get more of it.

    • Chris Istace says:

      Ok this was so nice to receive BW , your kind words really made my day. I also love the fact that you know and appreciate the behind the scenes effort involved to get to the locations that provide these inspiring images. I hope it helps others make the choice to get out and experience their own beautiful views.

Comments at Mindful Explorer help me create better content

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.