Sun Peaks

Yes, I've skied in Whistler and yes, I've been to all the local mountains and even over the border to Mt Baker but I hadn't skied in the interior of BC.... until now :-)



Even the food was good :-D














This is me at Sun Peaks













:-)














there was some wind though which added to the -15 temperature made it a tad chilly











Rich - or "Blue Leader" as I like to call him














and there was a moon































The snow in the interior is quite different to Whistler - its very dry and fine - not heavy like it is on the coast where I live.









This picture pretty much sums up the sunday - deep blue sky and untracked champagne powder!

We stumbled across a quiet bit that was hardly ridden so we stayed for the rest of the day - good times!








but all good things come to an end





























we had a great drive back - the sky was crystal clear and the moon was full so we could see every detail of the mountains - can you believe this picture - a snapshot out of the windscreen of the damn van!

Thanks for the invite Rich and thanks for driving

I'll be back ;-)

Whistler #6 - Rich and Shirley

As you can see, the weather sucked!

Bluebird skies, plenty of fresh powder - and on a weekday so not too many people around. Ahh, lif is good.

Sorry Rich, for snapping you between turns in a funny position...






The top of the mountain was shut yesterday and there was plenty of new snow so we had to wait quite a while before avalanche control to open everything - the whole mountain in this picture was covered in fresh, untracked powder :-D Despite being at the back of the line, we still got fantastic fresh tracks with turn after turn in fresh powder

Didnt take too many pictures today as it was just Rich, Shirley and I. This was my new cars first time to Whistler as I got the new snow tires the night before :-) A certain Canadian retailer of tires have taken FOREVER to get the tires in (since before I went home for Christmas) so I've been unable to drive to the snow myself (as I've also sold the old car now). Fortunately for me, they had one final cock up in the bag - they supplied the tires fitted to fancy alloy wheels instead of the bog-standard steel ones I'd paid for - hehe!!! LOL

Anyway, back to skiing - here's my good friend Shirley waiting patiently for Rich who was digging his skis out of the snow below the cornice he'd just jumped off (above Shirley's head in the photo!)




About the only place I did take pics was when we hiked up to the top Flute Bowl - I think I mentioned it a couple posts back - its a 30 min hike up then along the top of the ridge - because there's no ski-lift its relatively untouched

Here's the view looking back across the ridge we've just walked - I sent it to Jon from my phone just to annoy him..... here's his reply:






















LOL!!! Sorry mate, could resist - but your picture did give us all a good laugh!











Here's one of the entrances - Rich is standing above the cornice - first person from the right

We went in further over where the pitch is a little steeper









The arrow shows the line we took - it was pretty narrow in places but lots of fun :-D













and the view looking back into the bowl from the exit.

Thanks to Rich and Shirley for another great day - and to Doc Meg for meeting us for some apres ski :-)








Life is good :-)

Whistler #5

Yes, yes, Whistler again. Well it'd be rude not to go wouldnt it?

Sunday Rich and I met up with Amber and her boyfriend Chris at him familys cabin just outside the village. Amber was playing mum today by making us breakfast and packing us off with a sandwich! mmmmm free food :-)

Up on the hill we met up with a couple more friends and set about sniffing out some good snow - not so easy as it hadnt snowed for a couple days.

This pic is of the entrance to Horseshoe 5 off the Harmony Ridge. Its kinda sketchy - standing at the top I described the line I thought I'd take: "drop in from the right, turn left to scrub some speed and catch the ski tips in the ice, spin backwards then slide down into the rocks on my head!!" Fortunately it was in good shape and my skiing seems to have improved so I made it any drama :-)


Here's Amber and Rich in Whistler Bowl looking up at Peak Chair - cool light effects with the sun and clouds










We did a few runs today I'd never done before. The steepest was "Excitement" - a short hike up from the top of Harmony Chair and then down through the rocks - its where the arrow is in this pic. We didnt do it but there's an even steeper, narrower one a little further over (where the smiley face is) - its called "Exhileration" - I think I'll save that for another day :-o






more fantastic views - this is from Headwall looking down to the bottom of Peak Chair - Headwall's a great place for good snow without going to the peak






Dropping in from Whistler Peak - the entrance can get a bit tricky but this run is the gateway to lots of good snow















Whistler Peak - and Amber dancing for the camera!





We got a couple of great runs down skiers left of the Waterfall - In two feet of virtually untouched power! Peter even hit the Waterfall both runs - its a cliff that runs along the base of the hill with various drops from 10ft to about 50ft - you can just about make out Peter on the edge about to drop (middle of pic) and landing 15ft below







As ever, the day soon ended and we headed back to the cabin, tired but satisfied after a fantastic day on the hill :-D

And then Amber fed us all pasta!!! Awsome!!!!
Thanks Amber :-)

Whistler #4

The good part about not having a 9 to 5 job is midweek ski days :-)













Doc Meg has the same advantage so we the two of us hit the snow on Blackcomb

















There wasnt much new snow but there's been so much snow lately there was plenty to go around - there was even enough to ski across the parking lot back to the car :-)

Life is good

Vancouver Chainsaw Massacre

There we were riding along minding our business and BAM! there was a log across the trail! It was also about this time that Derek had yet another flat tire (when will he get proper tires?)

"I'll just get my chainsaw out" says Dave - "haha" I laughed
but I stopped laughing when he took out a chain with saw blades on! - some might (and indeed do) call it a "chain-saw"



a few minutes later - and will a little help from his lovely wife, the tree was cut and we hauled it off the trail

Fan-bloody-tastic
I bet Jimmy Bond carries one in his pack!!

Whistler

Holidays are over and everything goes back to normal: Skiing in Whistler! ;-)

My sister is coming to visit next month and while she's in Whistler she'll be staying at one of the hotels just behind Skiers Plaza - Sis: you can just see the roof in this pic - 2nd one in from the right. Very convenient :-)


We were only here for the day - although if circumstances had their way we would have been there over night.

The snow was great - storms had been dumping snow on the alpine and also keeping it shut so it was just waiting for us to carve some tracks in



The other thing I should tell my sister, is that perhaps maybe it is a little cold at Whistler! I'm sure this year the temperature has dropped a few degrees - wrap up warm is the advice. Long Johns, no flesh exposed and carry some hand warmers.

In case you're wondering, it's Dr Meg in the yellow - just about to drop into "Christmas Trees" - a good 2ft of steep powder between lots of little - well Christmas Tree sized trees 8-)

This was the site of somewhat of an epiphany for me - I've struggled to get used to skiing the powder, its not something I'd done before coming to BC and even the first year here I skied alone most of the time so I'll really only done one season of powder. Finally today I think I got it!
I had several runs with no falls and when I went down Christmas Trees I got my first few face-shots!!! :-D

For my mum reading this, I'll just explain that a face-shot is when the powder snow is kicked up by the ski tips right over your head - it only happens in light, deep powder but its a right of passage. Live in Van: tick. Grouse Grind: tick. Ripper races: tick. Ski in deep powder: tick. Face shots: tick.

Because of the steller conditions there were a lot of people in town and lots of ice and snow on the road. Unfortunately sometimes that doesnt mix so well and today was one of those days. When we got back to the parking lot we saw cars backed up from the highway, thru the village, into the parking lot, and in some cases right into their parking space! Time for a bite to eat!!


Several hours later (and one huge piece of cake for Rich later) and we drove home with no problems.

Thanks to everyone for a great day and big J for driving :-)

Polar Bears?

If you go down to the beach today, you're in for a big surprise.

If you go down to the beach today, you won't believe your eyes.

That's quite enough of that eh? (Genuine Canadian ref there) Well, if you went down to the beach on New Year's day you might be surprised to see girls in bikinis - always a welcome sight obviously but somewhat unexpected in January.


Well, in Vancouver its quite normal - on New Year's Day at least - because of the annual Polar Bear Swim.

Hundreds of people stripping down to their skivvies and running into the deep blue sea - utter madness. Most of them don't stay in very long - mere seconds at most, for most. Although there was one guy, one either very tough or very stupid guy who we saw in the water for at least 40 minutes - utter madness!




Maybe next year.... maybe.

New Year's Eve

I have to admit I had my reservations when Derek suggested the "traditional New Years Eve ride" and as the day approached and the trails were still snowed in practically to the bottom I had even more reservations. Anyone who's ever tried to ride a bike in deep snow will know it can involve walking and even crawl-cum-climbing across the snow - but, with no good excuse I went along anyway

We drove up which made the first obstacle the steep road to the parking lot - my car still doesnt have snow tyres so had to be relegated to retrieval duty.

Once on the snow (after climbing over the 4ft snow bank beside the road) we found the snow to be fairly rideable - if you could stay in the tracks!!

I managed this action photo of Penny with my phone - if you can make it out, Penny's back wheel is just leaving the bottom of the shot and you can make out the 2ft trench of snow we're riding with Derek's light just entering the shot at the top.

And you know what? It was fun. Thanks to Dave, Penny and Derek for dragging me out and D & P for the good food round their place after.

Happy New Year!

back home......to Whistler ;-)

Only a couple of days after riding around Broxbourne singletrack I found myself back home in Vancouver. There'd been a fair bit of snow since I'd left but spread over the who 2 weeks. Conditions at Whis were a bit unknown - basically, like a lot of 'locals' I dont go unless there's fresh power to play in. Today there wasnt any fresh but there was still some around and it snowed pretty much all day too




















There was even some intermittent sunshine today which I have to say I dont think I saw once last season - didnt stop it from being brass monkey weather - the wind chill was cruel on the lifts








Poor ol' Rich was ill so it was Jon, Michele and I. Unfortunately (for me) Michele loves to feel the burn and when combined with her passion for powder this led to a her and Jon doing the hike up around the ridge off the far edge of Whistler's ski area - I stayed in the lift-accessed luxury of Symphony Bowl and met them an hour later - they had such a good time they managed to persuade me to go with them for a second lap


(above is Jon and Michele looking across at the ridge they're about to tackle)

This is the ridge - the chair lift goes to the top of the peak on the far right, then you ski down the valley to begin the hike up and along - takes about 35mins to get up to the drop off point




Here we are just about to drop in :-)

It was sooooo nice dropping into a foot or so of powder - still plenty of untouchedlines if you looked for them - well worth the hike - thank you to J&M for talking me into it!