I guess the jet lag finally caught up with Fin.
The end of Feb finally saw my sister Jane making it over - she did have a good excuse not to come sooner - and here he is, out for the count in the back of my car
Jane brought not only Fin but his dad Mark and a bunch of their friends. The plan was a couple of days either end of the trip in Vancouver with a 10 day Whistler filler in the middle.
Fin was keen to get into gear for skiing but unfortunately the inability to stand up without skis kind made the odds of standing up on skis a little too steep so he sat out the activities in favour of hangin' in the village.
I managed 4 days with them sleeping on the floor (thanks for finding a space guys)
Some days it snowed. Wave Mark....
Some days it didnt - here's Al getting in some steep tree skiing at Seventh Heaven.
I couldnt help but notice Fin's unusually large hands....
We ate well - this is the Japanese place where they not only cook your food fresh in front of you but....
....they also juggle things - very theatrical.
Oh, and the food was really good too (dont ask about Korean place)
On my last day I took the lads up Flute - the lovely GLC waitress Yarrow recommended it to them so they were keen for the 20min hike
here's Nigel S getting to the top - he'd flown in late the night before so wasnt quite on top form yet!
I did my first cornice drop today - although I was severly upstaged by this guy dropping the big cornice - but I was happy with my 8 footer :-)
As you can see, it was pretty crowded
Triumphant!
Mother's Day at the GLC
I think Fin must have seen some of Kiyoka's self portrait photos on my blog cause he nabbed the camera an snapped this one off before I could get it back ;-)
Back in Van, saw a little sightseeing tour - the obligatory sights of:
Deep Cove
Capilano Suspension Bridge - I hadnt seen it before so this was cool for me too
You wouldnt want to fall off it
Fin, me and Mark (thats Fin on the left)
Did you know "you could fly two 747's tip to tip under the bridge" - I'd like to see that!!
Finally Grouse Mountain - not too clear but not bad. Thanks for coming out folkes and especially thankyou for bringing my nephew - it was good to get to know him a little better.
Come back soon?
Some time ago we nipped over the border for some US powder action at Mt Baker. I forgot to take the camera so only took this one photo with my phone - its fairly representative of our ski days though - find a "cliff" or "danger" sign and go past it! We fearlessly follow Blue Leader into the great white yonder!
I guess the jet lag finally caught up with Fin.
here's Nigel S getting to the top - he'd flown in late the night before so wasnt quite on top form yet!
Finally Grouse Mountain - not too clear but not bad. Thanks for coming out folkes and especially thankyou for bringing my nephew - it was good to get to know him a little better.
Fin likes to do things properly:
I cant even remember when it was we went to Baker but I do remember it was fun! Mt Baker is about 45mins into the US so its a comfortable day trip from Vancouver. Rich, Jon and I met Meg and her guy Guy there for a day of fun and frolik in the sun and snow.
For those unfamilar with the term, this is Four-Cross racing. While usually done outside on a hill, a BMX track is also a great play for it. Each winter, Abbotsford BMX build a track in a cowshed and yes, they let us MountainBikers race on it through the worst of the winter. In fact, last night we even had the BMX World Champion join us - he won - Surprise!
Here's Amber leading Jen - both typical North Shore riders - FAST!
Rich and I made all six rounds this winter with the final last night
The weather was very clear but it had been for a few days so the snow was pretty hardpacked. A good start though - the only trouble was we went on chick-night. Women go free on Monday's but this meant it was rammed! Rammed with women which can never be a bad thing - unless you want to wait less than 30mins in the lift line for your 3min run!
