Our last day of walking to meet

Thank you to Elinor Whidden for joining us to document our journeys (taken during our 16th and 17th walks).

A Peek At The Peaks

The First Cuts

As you can see, the first cuts were a little painful as we dismantled and began to transform our piece, but what a knife and a blowtorch can do-- but it became quite satisfying as the hot knife cut through our rope like it was butter. beginning to see our new landscape take shape was exciting too. Peaks/peeks to come...
P.S. Necessary tools for landscape building a la Sorrel and Laura:
-hammer, sticky dots, sharpie, limestone rocks, dollar store knife (with a wooden handle), blowtorch, tape measure, lots of black thread, trolley, Sorrel's keys, key rings, fishing wire, cup hooks, 'the maths', a calculator (or Sorrel's mobile), a long nail, tall ladder, Laura's jean pouch, pen or pencil, scissors, highlighter, office chair and lots of coffee (or chocolate for a treat).

As the walks acumulate the erosion begins...

here is the last shot before we begin to unwind (or erode) the distance which has framed our work and literally the space until now...

Can you see my apprehension? laura's still laughing at me...

It starts with the toss of a coin, The Marsh Loop as walked by Sorrel

Standing at the dividing point where our trail begins, Laura throws the penny to decide which way I will take, left or right?... Our journey begins ...We part and head towards each other around the marsh...
If you would like to know the stories behind these pics then let us know and we will be happy to share our tales.

The Marsh Loop: Laura's Side of the Story

Every second time Sorrel throws for me.
Heads is right, Tails is left. 19 walks around the loop and this was the outcome for me:
Left, Left, Right, Right, Right, Right, Left, Right, Right, Right, Right, Right, Right, Left, Right, Left, Left, Left, Left... obviously Sorrel's was the opposite.

The Maths

Examples from our notebooks/ sketchbooks of what we *lovingly* refer to as 'the maths'-- a must before we build.

reboot

The second phase of our project involves us taking walks towards each other beginning at the same point on the Marsh Loop and walking in opposite directions, collecting the number of steps we each take and the time it takes to meet. After five walks we took this information back to the studio to transform the rope into a series of peaks, creating a new landscape built through our walks on the trail (the time denoting the height and the steps denoting the width). After 5 rotations, steps counted, times recorded, eager to build...
we trip and stumble and after a small bump on the head we come up with a fresh perspective and a new plan - we must start again!!!!!

aaaaaaaggggggggghhhhhhhhh

Scale 1: 175,000 Metres

A pinch, a rest, a landscape of meeting...

Rigging the rope almost became a reenactment of the distance we traveled to get here--taking us almost 16 hours.

Number of metres we have collectively traveled to meet in Banff: 9,726,020
Number of metres of rope used to represent this distance traveled using a 1:175,000 metre scale: 555.8
Number of hours Sorrel spent traveling to Banff: 13 and a 1/4
Number of hours Laura spent traveling to Banff: 6 and a 1/4
Number of hours spent in our studio reconstructing our distance traveled in rope: 16
Number of visits to the hardware store for materials: 3
Number of nails the rope is resting on: 505
Number of individual ropes used to accumulate the distance: 27
Number knots used to tie the ropes from Nottingham, Toronto and Banff together: 27
Number of climb centres we collected used rope from: 3
Number of metres in the longest rope: 61.38
Number of metres in the shortest rope: 2.68
Number of bent nails we were unable to use: 2
Number of circuts around the room: 18

A Cartography Of Distance

A map of the combined distance traveled by us, in order to meet in Banff. A distance experienced through duration and relocation, quantified through its cartographic reconstruction in rope.

Wolves and Cougars and Bears oh my!

well at least that's what my imagination was seeing amongst the trees, in fact I have only really had close encounters with deer, squirrels and yellow throats(sparrow-like small yellow bird).
this doesn't seem to have made any difference to my fear of walking alone.
each creak of the trees, or turn in the path my heart pumps in anticipation of the encounter ahead. all the logic, advice and statistics of the slim chance of ever meeting one of these animals doesn't seem capable of over powering the mysterious movements and sounds of the landscape, or maybe its just all those fairy tales set in the woods.
Laura doesn't have the same sense of anxiety although the accumulating stories of cougars seem to have touched the odd hair on her neck!
so which trail will we journey?
trail 2 the Marsh Loop has won our attention, it is just 2km and travels round a marsh in the Banff Valley, the marsh is fed by the hot streams running from Sulphur Mountain the path roams round its edge, along the Bow River and through the trees to the edge of the wildlife corridor and the cave and basin hot springs. this will be our loop.
we will set off in opposite directions and walk until we meet; recording the time it takes and the step we have each taken to reach each other.
more to come ... sorrel