Nepali Ned

This post will be more personal this time. I'm going to share a family member with you. My brother, Kent.  He came home as a baby to this little house in Saskatchewan:

1963

The house more in more recent years... still basically the same! (very small!)

He was a cute little baby and I was seven years old. It was a quite novelty having to share my parents! Here I am with my mother and a sixteen month old Kent. 

He was a good little toddler  and as you can see, really cute! He had a thing for cars from a very early age. He would look through the car window and ID any car, make and model, (maybe even the year) Two more baby sisters arrived and we now a family of four kids

Here he is in front of my Dad's pride and joy, his 1957 Ford Meteor!

We all moved to New Zealand in 1970 and lived in the South Island for a few years. 

Here we are at the beach in Dunedin.  Probably in December or January as that's high summer down under. Kent is about seven and I'm fourteen years old.  Oh, the fun we had at that beach... I still recall it fondly.

Here Kent is helping Dad with some outdoor project, sweeping up. After four and a half years there, we returned to Canada.

Ah, the '70's!  

We stayed on the west coast ever since..... Where ever I have lived in BC, Kent would always travel to visit us. Phone calls and emails. We've stayed close through the years.  Some years ago Kent took up hiking in a big way and also photography at about the same time. The two activities fit together nicely, especially here in BC with stunning views. Kent kept climbing higher!

I believe this is the view from the Tusk above Garibaldi Lake.

He's like Forest Gump... he just keeps on going! He has walked the Inca Trail including Macchu Pichu,  Mount Blanc  from Chamonix, France, and Nepal. Nepal is his special love as he's been there many times. He has completed many of the various treks around the Annapurna Circuit. 

This picture shows the major mountains in this portion of the Himalaya range and there are various treks that last 2-4 weeks, of all experience levels, where you move through valleys, up to great heights, and cross many swing bridges.  On the Manislu trek Kent said he counted twenty three at least! There are various treks around the exterior mountain range and there is also an interior circle route between Annapurna 1 on the left (just left of centre of the picture) and Annapurna 3 on the right. They total altogether 160 to 230 kilometers if you do them all.  Kent has traveled there and joined up with many others from around the world.

Here he is dining with others of his trek group at a Nepali teahouse.

Here he is posing at Thorong La pass  (at 5416 meters above sea level) where he's about to start the downward trek back to the valley.  Kent told me the people there are simply beautiful inside and out.  I've done a blog post about one of his trips to Nepal once before ( and hope to do another soon).

His photography? Well, it kept pace with him...and he's very good at that too. 

Naturally this is taken in Nepal, in November 2012, I think this is Annapurna but I will edit the correct mountain name in later if wrong. I can't find it right now!

So my 'little' brother just turned 50 earlier this February.... such a milestone birthday. So I wove him a scarf to keep him warm when he commutes to work, which is a trek of a different kind, ....and he sent me this picture taken by our Dad.

He's going to kill me when he sees this post, but I just want to say "thanks" for being a great brother!