Each year we lose fellow backpackers and outdoors men and women to mishaps in the wilderness. These folks will always be remembered by loved ones and friends as the adventurers that they were.  They will be respected for reaching for heights, going the distance and giving it their all!

My oldest son has backpacked for several years now and has walked more miles in the backcountry, climbed more peaks and traversed more alpine ridges than I have.  (He nearly died rolling down a 140 metre – snow to scree – 45 degree angle slope on his return trip from sumiting Mount Siwhe. One of several pre trip activities that he does very well is getting terrain maps for the area he is hiking in. Recently he shared a link with me that anyone hiking or backpacking in Canada should probably be visiting.

http://geogratis.gc.ca/geogratis/search?lang=en

On his last trip to summit Mount Severide, a crew of French Backpackers who seemed to be avid hikers did not have maps for the area. They thought their destination was about 20 km away when they met my son but he informed them that it was much much closer. Can you imagine how lost they could have been? Jesse was done with his maps so he gave them his.

image of a typical topography map