Pure Outside

Welcome to PureOutside! This post used to be on Island Adventurer. To better organize the outdoor information it will now be hosted here. When people think of winter skiing and snowshoeing on Vancouver Island, Mount Washington Alpine Resort frequently comes to mind.  While the resort is very popular and has plenty to offer the winter [...]

This post is from Chris Presslauer, a friend of mine I’ve known for a while. He recently returned to Vancouver Island after spending some time in Finland and had to get out to some local Island mountains. ———- This trip report is for Mt. 5040 which I hiked back on July 5th.  This hike has [...]

Ahh, the elusive Mount De Cosmos. A couple weeks ago fellow adventurer Ryan and I headed out to the Nanaimo Lakes area to attempt to stuff the peak that is Mount De Cosmos in our growing bag of summits. I was very apprehensive about this trip for a few reasons. First we’d be heading out [...]

I have a friend named Stephanie who is incredibly athletic.  She is one of the fittest women I know and never shies away from a race, challenge, event or ass kicking moksha yoga session.  We raced the Squamish MOMAR together – check it out over at PureOutside.com.  I am a fan of everything she does [...]

Last year when the MEC winter catalogue arrived, my girlfriend Kirsten was awed by the cover photo.  A group of friends camped out in the snow on a bluebird day surrounded by all the amenities one would have at home.  “That looks like a great idea for my birthday party!” she exclaimed excitedly in a [...]

Mount Washington has just opened so we decided to check out the snow but it would be in a different way than most. A group of friends decided to hike to Kwai Lake can camp for the night. Unfortunately, I’ve not got the required gear for being toasty warm while camping in the snow.  My [...]

Ryan, Allan and I ventured up Mount Benson again this Sunday with the expectation of a little bit more snow on the top. There wasn’t a little bit more snow on the top. There was a lot more snow on the top. Erik and I, powered through what was there last weekend to reach the [...]

When travelling in the backcountry there is considerable risk involved, particularly when there is a lot of new snow. According to http://www.islandavalanchebulletin.com/ this past weekend had considerable avalanche risk above the treeline. Check out the report regularly if you are heading out into the snow boarding, skiing or sledding.

For us here in Nanaimo, Mount Benson is right in our backyard. It’s a solid hike up, provides interesting views along the way and, if the weather cooperates, a stellar view of Nanaimo at the top. If you haven’t been to the top yet, I highly recommend it. Best to go with someone that’s been [...]

Elk River Trail to Landslide Lake – beautiful water, beautiful trail and wretched bees We did this trail at the end of September last year as a last hike while the sunshine was hanging around from the summer. We planned to do the hike in 2 days, hiking to our campsite the first day and [...]