In which I post a quick note (so readers know whether to go look for a body)

Thanks to Dan from the Bulkley Valley Search and Rescue, who came in to offer to take me out winter camping. No, seriously, I actually appreciate the offer, which I fully plan to take advantage of.

Apparently Smithers is the sort of town where if you mention that you're jealous of high school girls sleeping in an ice cave, someone will offer to show you where and how to dig your own (ice cave, that is). I appreciate the opportunity as much as I appreciate learning that I need to be careful what I write in the future, since it's becoming clear that if I talk the talk, I will be asked to walk the walk.

The obvious plus, of course, is that if I screw up or get myself into trouble, I'll already be camping with the crew who volunteer to find people like me when we get in over our heads (sometimes literally). I see this as the equivalent to learning to juggle chainsaws in the hospital parking lot.

Short story shorter, if you see a frostbitten guy with ice in his beard, a camera around his neck and a dazed look in his eyes wandering around Hudson Bay Mountain next weekend, just point me to the nearest public house with a ready supply of Jameson.