Cobalt Lake
The haiga I’ve selected to illustrate this
haiku is a computer-stylized version of a watercolour painting I did on the
last day of a heli-painting expedition in the Bugaboos – the best plein air painting day ever!
On the bus from Banff on our way to the heliport in
the Columbia Valley for the start of the expedition, the drop-off procedure to be followed had been explained to us.
At first, I thought they were joking but no, this is how it’s done… When you set down on some windswept, not
particularly level ridge, the helicopter doesn’t actually stop, and they don’t
want anyone near the ends of the rotor. So, as soon as you’re out, you crouch
down no more than two meters from the runners, covering your head and holding
all your stuff down until the helicopter is gone and the propwash gravel and
the racket give way to silence. Then you straighten up as smoothly as possible,
brush yourself off, and try not to think about assuming that crouched position
again (with your eyes closed) while the helicopter lands beside you
when it comes to pick you up.
Originally built for heli-skiing, then
high-elevation heli-hiking, the whole lodging and transport system in the
Bugaboos is conscientiously designed and operated to minimize the carbon
footprint. But I couldn’t help thinking
that, if such things existed, electric airships would be even better
environmentally. And you wouldn’t have
to worry about the rotor or the flying gravel…
