I came face-to-face with one of my biggest fears on a hike in the B.C. Rockies

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This summer I came face-to-face with three deep-rooted fears – heights, bears and aging – though not necessarily in that order.

A couple of hiking pals had agreed to join me at a retreat in the British Columbia Rockies. Since two of us are septuagenarians and the third recently turned 80, we figured we’d better go for it while we still could. (See Fear No. 3.)

Our adventure began with a harrowing drive up a steep, winding mountain road, where truckers (barely) avoid head-on collisions through staticky alerts on their two-way radios. Fortunately, our driver was as adept at manoeuvring large vehicles as she was at guiding nervous hikers acros