Life is a very funny proposition after all

Cool song from the series "Boardwalk Empire"............

Did you ever sit and ponder,
Sit and wonder, sit and think,
Why we're here and what this life is all about?
It's a problem that has driven
Many brainy men to drink,
It's the weirdest thing they've tried to figure out.
About a thousand diff'rent theories
All the scientists can show,
But never yet have proved a reason why
With all we've thought
And all we're taught,
Why all we seem to know
Is we're born and live a while and then we die.

Life's a very funny proposition after all,
Imagination, jealousy, hypocrisy and all.
Three meals a day, a whole lot to say;
When you haven't got the coin you're always in the way.
Ev'rybody's fighting as we wend our way along,
Ev'ry fellow claims the other fellow's in the wrong;
Hurried and worried until we're buried and there's no curtain call.
Life's a very funny proposition after all.

When all things are coming easy, and when luck is with a man,
Why then life to him is sunshine ev'rywhere;
Then the fates blow rather breezy and they quite upset a plan,
Then he'll cry that life's a burden hard to bear.
Though today may be a day of smiles, tomorrow's still in doubt,
And what brings me joy, may bring you care and woe;
We're born to die, but don't know why, or what it's all about,
And the more we try to learn the less we know.

Life's a very funny proposition, you can bet,
And no one's ever solved the problem properly as yet.
Young for a day, then old and gray;
Like the rose that buds and blooms and fades and falls away,
Losing health to gain our wealth as through this dream we tour.
Ev'rything's a guess and nothing's absolutely sure;
Battles exciting and fates we're fighting until the curtain falls.
Life's a very funny proposition after all.

Hedge Fund - March 17th

Cross Hair (CXX) - Uranium play where the moratorium is going away soon in Labrador. Also hold gold.

Great Western - Vertically integrated processing facility deposits are also good. - watch out because this is likely an emerging bubble but that will come back due to the Japan reconstruction efforts


First Majestic Silver - Good he owns in portfolio

CVR - has huge upside if awarded a Kuwait oil services contract. Already pre approved. The UN had granted Kuwait 3 billion to clean up the Iraq mess and although this contract which is only 210 million it could lead to a bigger contract of 3 billion. the company could easily increase by 2x or 3x just by the announcement if they win the contract or not.

Estralla (EEN) - at 80 cents. Central latin america Argentina / peru / Columbia - Fast growing areas - very cheap ex-schlumberger management.

Small cap stocks - BMO PM

Enablence - (ENA)
Copper Mountain - (CUM) great performer and still recommends the stock. Recommended it last time.
Quadra FNX (QUX) - says the growth prospects are great has a great portfolio of resources including copper but operational results are not very good. Great stock to own between quarters. Although the last quarter was great.
AAA - Allana Potash - they own this in their portfolio they like the Ethiopian assets and how they can be a low cost producer
Perseus Mining - West africa play that she recommended last time. Thinks that the Libyan crisis is giving it a higher risk premium and is trading sideways.

TOP Picks
Bear Creek Mining - Will get multiple expansion in 2012 as production and CF come online. Huge silver deposits in South America.
Eastern Platinum - ELR recommended at 1.47 - their demand is not only from Jewellery but from automotive cars so there is some industrial demand component. More of a takeover target than Bear Creek.

WEBCAMS - Mountains

3 sisters:
http://www.canmorealberta.com/webcams/three-sisters



Canmore Nordic Centre:
http://www.canmorealberta.com/webcams/canmore-nordic-centre

Yamnuska:
http://www.tpr.alberta.ca/parks/kananaskis/trailreport.aspx

Moose Mountain:
http://www.braggcreek.ca/weather/index.htm

Alberta (by U of Manitoba):
http://umanitoba.ca/environment/envirogeog/weather/remotevidall.html

AMA road cameras:
http://www.ama.ab.ca/road-reports/highway-cameras

Hailstone Butte - Sentinel Peak - Unnamed Ridge

We parked along the highway 532 parking lot for Hailstone Butte and started hiking at 9:30 am. There was enough snow melted on the actual trail that we could follow it for about a km. When we reached the area where the steep scree slope begins some of us put on our microspikes as the scree was frozen and a slip would be difficult to arrest. I lead this part on the way up and stuck to the connecting patches of snow as it was much easier to ascend this way then on the steep frozen scree. When we finally reached the ridge Shaun led the way up to the summit on the very hard packed snow. We probably should've had our ice axe out at this point as it would've been very difficult to stop a fall here. Once at the summit we took some group shots and rested for approximately 15 minutes. We then continued on the ridge down towards Sentinel Peak and just walked straight down the north end of the ridge instead of taking the trail that heads East (and then circles back around.) We saved approximately 1 km this way. It was a couple of km to the col of Sentinel and the unnamed ridge (that lies between Sentinel and Hailstone). We decided enroute that it would be nice to do the unnamed ridge on the way back instead of going through snow. Once at the peak on Sentinel we took a number of group shots. There were no technical parts, mainly just hiking to the summit. On our way back there was a very little amount of scrambling up to the summit of the ridge and then downclimbing. Once off the ridge we found the trail again and then headed back towards Hailstone. However when we got the area where we thought it would be easy connect to our initial path, we realized there were 2 options. Descend into the valley and then reascend the other side (crossing a potential avalanche gully) or continue east and head down a gulley with very little amounts of snow patches that lead to the 532 highway about a couple of km from where we had parked. We decided on the latter and descended down the gulley attempting to glisade but the snow was too slushy it was too difficult to move. We were back at the car by 5:30 pm.

Burnt Timber Lookout

This trip was with the COC and was coordinated by Barbara. I had never been on any of her trips before or any of the trip partners that registered. We met at the Edworthy Park at 7:30 am and then headed to the Burnt Timber Lookout together; 7 participants total and 2 vehicles. We finally got to the trailhead by 10:30 am and started hiking up a dirt path. It lead to an area in the trees where there was orange flagging tape. We followed this for a couple of km at which point it ended and intersected with the main atv trail. The snow was deep and we had to break trail until about a hundred meters from the ridge. Once on the ridge it was easy going and we made the summit quite easily. It was extremely windy at the top of the lookout (there was no physical structure up at this location. Curious if there ever was one in the past). There was a metal stake with some writing on it and that was about it. We took quite a lot of photos at the summit and was happy that my portable pocket tripod actually stayed stable in the fierce winds. On the way down, we traversed along the steeper part of the hill to avoid going through the deep snow and it saved us about 1.75 km which made the descent much quicker. We were back at the car by 5:30 pm. Was approximately 8.5 km with elevation gain of about 600 m.

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