Skiing on Whistler Mountain

First time skiing together - Whistler



Our housemates Tim and Pepi

Having fun with the childrens balancing pole


21st Nov 2010
First day hitting the slopes together. It was so cold -20 that my feet froze and I was really close to tears as we warmed them back inside the round house food stop. Feels good to be on my own skis and wearing my own boots, no more hiring for me. Only 9 runs open for now but no bother as I'm still re learning how to ski again, beginner woes. Hope to get out there more before I start working, waiting for temps to warm up a bit. Yesterday it was -20 in the village and colder on the mountain, so I left it to the die hard skiers and snowboarders to head out, I figure I've got all season to get out there. Even managed to go ice skating, not Lee's favourite sport it seems ;-) I'm still hunting for another part time job, but when your competing against 350 people for 20 jobs its not proving to be easy, still have to continue trying....... Lee is still living in Vancouver and up on the weekends to play in the snow.

Snow is falling, all around me...

Whistler singing pass hike and the ski runs getting snow on them now



Vancouver city skyline by night

Big black bear on the Olympic downhill ski jump

Well, I lie, kind of. It's actually raining in Vancouver but it did snow on Lisa on Monday night.

Our current situation is that I am in Vancouver committed to the office for another 4 months and Lisa has just moved up to Whistler. The plan is for me to do some sort of semi live in the city, commute a few days a week from the mountain retreat style setup like all those high flying city slickers. Except for the fact that my city pad will most likely be a dirty hostel for a few nights a week, the mountain retreat, great as it is, is a room in a shared house and the commute may end up being a 2 hour bus trip each way. Still, the skis area ready to be set up, the boots need breaking in and the first few flakes of snow have been spotted in Whistler village so that will keep me going.

The ongoing work saga for us is still, well, ongoing. People being slow at keeping their promises, annoying and inefficient bosses who change their minds every 5 minutes, etc, etc. I still have no contract in place although I have been told that it will be with you in writing soon and Lisa's job description and hours are proving to be a nightmare to juggle with her other mountain job.

Fingers crossed that things will work out as it's almost time to start enjoying the snow for 5 months and then looking forward to some travelling again around Easter time if we can save our pennies and not blow them all on heli-ski trips and more winter gear. Ha ha yea right!

Thursday is remembrance day here as it is the UK but in Canada they give everyone a day off work and organise loads of parades in the city. My plan at the moment is head off and make the most of the 1 zone all day travel and do some exploring on the outskirts of the city and push the limits of the metro Vancouver transport system. Got a few ideas as to where to head off to for my picnic lunch but it is going be (as I am getting used to saying now) weather dependent. Hopefully there will be a few cool photos to put up and I won't end up hiding from the rain in museums and coffee shops all day. That's pretty much all the news for now from the Vancouver side. More from the mountain resort shortly no doubt...

Here in Whistler, there are black bears crossing the roads in daylight and more excitingly we had quite a snow dump here last night, snow remained on the garden and cars this morning and has given the groomers something to do high up on the slopes. It shouldn't be too long now until the ski season begins. Work issues as Lee mentioned are super tough at the moment, but through friends, family and the support we can give to each other, we really hope things will start to go a little more smoothly soon. So for now its a skype call from the Mountain to the city that will have to suffice...... Updates to continue

Happy Halloween

Our carved Pumpkin :-)

We got dressed up and joined the lost souls parade around commercial drive then settled in for a few drinks. Cold night but great costumes and awesome atmosphere = fun Halloween in Vancouver

Seattle

So my extended birthday celebrations continued last weekend with a trip to Seattle.

We rented a car from Friday and headed down straight after work hoping to miss the worst of the rush hour and border rush but getting out of work late and then skytrain delays meant that we didn't leave Vancouver until nearly 5pm. Once on the road it was a simple enough drive down to the border. We had address's, passports, ESTA's completed etc to try to keep things smooth but we knew that a previous trip to the USA for Lisa resulted in some paperwork being left in her passport and she was warned that next time it could be tough getting in as it look's like she's never left. We got to the border and we sent over to the main building to complete I94 visa waiver forms. The queue was the best part of 30 minutes before we got to speak to someone and fill out the forms. We got the usual USA customs grilling and explaining a BC address, an Alberta rental car and a British and Australian passport caused less grief than we expected so it was straight forward. We had to leave the car keys with a guard outside and assumed that he was checking the car so when we heard people around is being asked if the had any fruit, veg , alcohol or tabacco with them we freaked a little as we had food the weekend and my secret birthday cake was lying on the back seat of the car. However when we got back to the car the keys were lying on the windscreen and it looked like no one had even glanced inside. The cake was safe!

We were staying with a friend of a friend and with the TomTom only showing the first 50km over the border we had to partly wing the last section and partly rely on the googlemaps print out which was pants. We made it to Brian's in good time though and had a chat before setting up on yet another couch but we were very grateful to be hosted by generous strangers yet again.

We set about a big day exploring on Saturday and got a decent start and worked out the bus routes. First stop was REI's flagship store (outdoor kit and clothes). An hour later we left with a few new goodies in the bag and headed down to the Chocolate festival that was on at the Seattle Centre. We stayed for a good hour or so sampling chocolates and listening to an ex NASA scientist turned choco-guru tell his tale of chocolate experiments in order to create the best chocolate and he seems to be pretty close with awards and big orders.

Later we cruised around the downtown area and also to the Pike Street Markets which are well known for the huge assortment of food stalls, crafts and bric-a-brack.

Seattle weather seemed to be pretty much like Vancouver so we didn't escape the rains but the BC brolley served us well until we got home. We headed out for dinner with Brian and Andrea and went for a crab feast up by Lake Union. They had a 5lbs of crab special so we got one of those and then 2 a la carte orders. The crab was amazing basically 2 fully dressed crabs and about 12 big legs full of meat. A real seafood feast. A few drinks later and a beer in a bar entertained lightly by some band with the same 3 songs going round and round saw us getting home at a decent hour after a good feed and fun night out.

Sunday we decided to get out to a few of the little suburbs and headed out to Fremont and Ballard Markets and a stroll up to Volunteer Park. We headed back mid afternoon and cruised through border control this time apart from the standard trip up questions.

Another fun weekend and definately worth going again for a summer time stroll and play on Mt Baker.

Stadium Glacier of Sky Pilot - A big day out

We had been suggested to join another group called meetup, to meet people in our area keen on hiking and climbing etc. So on Friday morning I did just that and in a big flurry of emails and decisions we were leaving early the next morning to tackle a long day hike to a glacier.

The track starts close to Squamish so we were lucky to get a lift with Brian, that made our team of four, Brian, Francois, Lee and I. We didn't have a four wheel drive unfortunately so that meant about 9km of road walking, groan! Being a forestry road, they've now dug large trenches out of the road, even a 4wd would struggle now I think. So it took us 2 1/2 hours to reach a smaller path, directed by a large arrow of stones pointing us off a way that didn't look right. Still making a mistake and going with someone who didn't have a full scale map, yet a print out route description only was a mistake (if I'd have known I would have got a map last minute)

Here the path became really narrow, bordered by shrubs trying to scratch you to bits and streams trying to seep water into your boots. As we got higher the views of Sky Pilot and Co Pilot were great. We were indeed still quite a way from them though, as we criss crossed the stream and entered into boulder fields, the ice became thicker. We were sliding all over the place, attempting not to end up at the bottom of the sheer cliff, having our poles with us would have been a sensible option (next time she says). Still, the ever changing walking surface kept things interesting.

Finally we made it to the bottom of the steep boulder field, where the guide book notes pretty much ended and we just had to pick a route and go up. Up continued steeply for what felt like an age, it was slippery on the ice and just full of boulders and scree, not a great mix, hands and scrambling a must here.

After 4 1/2 hours we made it to the glacier, time for a rest. We took photos had some lunch and soaked up the sunshine, we'd finally made it. After exploring a bit on the glacier (which was such a solid block of ice, crampons were needed, we wondered how it was people got up the top of these mountains in just one day. Perhaps its an earlier start than we had, longer daylight (in the height of summer) and not the slower progress we had with the heavy frost and ice over every surface. Whatever reason it was, we weren't going for any summits today and besides, we had no map or description to get to the top disappointing as it was.

So the long long trek back down inevitabley came. First the steep reverse down the icy boulder and scree field, back through the thick forest and undergrowth, crossing back and forth over the rushing stream and we finally made it to the arrow turn off point. With 2 1/2 hours as an up time we knew we still had close to that to go. This is sometimes when things can get a bit boring on the hike, covering a path you already know and it turning into a logging road, never fun, but gives you time to chat and continue to get to know each other and also just enjoy giving your own thoughts some time to surface.

Finally back to the car just as the sun had set, a quick change and we were heading back to Vancouver. A great long day out 20km of hard hiking, with perfect weather, fun company and a story to tell......
Oh and never assume when someone says they have a map they actually do! Get your own.....

A Kayak Weekend in Indian Arm - Canada

2nd-3rd October
As we live less than 5km from a beautiful area called Deep Cove, we both knew we wanted to get out on the water and explore the Indian Arm.

It was to be Lee's Birthday present, ever looming (24th October), but as I finally wasn't working on the Saturday and the week had been one full of sunshine, where this time of year is known for its heavy rainfall, we made a last minute decision to hire the kayak and go for a paddle. So Lee's birthday weekend came early.

A short bus ride, some paperwork, a few dry bags and we were packed ready to paddle in our double kayak. As I haven't had much experience kayaking, Lee took to the backseat, driving and we paddled out in low cloud.

Initially we had to pass quite a few small fishing boats and personal motor boats to get out past the marina. I quickly spotted a large log with 2 seals basking in the sun, we paddled closer to them and eventually they slid into the water. Wow seals what a great start, smiles all round. Then hugging the shore we marveled at all the million dollar houses lining the shore, still very accessible to Vancouver yet surrounded by such beauty. The further we got, the less houses there were and the sunnier the weather became. Pristine, the sun sparkled off the water as we silently glided our way through. After reading a recommendation on a website we made sure to stop at Silver Falls, a really high fast flowing waterfall, where we could paddle up close to it, quite spectacular. As we sat there bobbing we could clearly see hundreds of jelly fish floating just below the water surface, quite a sight and definetly not a place to fall into the water!

As the weather was so nice, there wasn't any wind and the current was slightly going with us upstream, we continued on. We went past the old Buntzen power station, a beautiful old building now in disrepair, where just around the corner is a new hydro power station with a massive torrent of water dispersing every second into the river.

We decided to pull up on shore for lunch, at a free campsite space, we shared the area with 2 fishermen and their dog, sitting in the sun drying out from the drips of paddling all morning. Just as we decided to head back to paddling, I was sitting in my seat, tucking my spray deck in when a huge wave from the wake of a far away motor boat washed over us, I was covered in freezing water causing a shock of a few half breaths and Lee's area became flooded. Thanks to the pump we soon fixed that and learnt a valuable lesson.

Our last part of the paddle saw us paddle past Croker island and land into Granite Falls with the free campsite literally beside it. This is quite a popular site as it's as almost as far as you can go up the Indian Arm and it's such a large waterfall, a nice tranquil place for the night. We set up our tent and went exploring a bit further in the kayak to the end. It's here it becomes more and more eerie, big logs floating in the water, everything quiet and shaded by the nearby mountains, motorised boats can't quite get this far. On the way back we paddled right past the Royal Vancouver Sailing club, a very prestigious looking sailing club only accessible by boat!!!! So we didn't stop for dinner ;-0 but headed back as light was setting behind the mountains, not yet dry from our previous soaking, we put as much dry warm gear as we could on and cooked our meal. Lee had a little bouldering session around the waterfall area and I just relaxed and soaked everything up, smiling inwardly.

The next day we were up earlyish just because we were. So we ate breakfast, packed up the tent and decided to hit the water. This was the most amazing part of the trip, no motorised boats, in fact no one else on the water as far as we could see most of the time, just us silently gliding through the water, passing by loads of seals curious to see us as much as were to stare silently at them. A magical time. The weather today was overcast, yet the rain held off. We didn't rush back just took it steady perhaps a little more tired than the previous day, slightly against the current with a high wind. We had lunch on the second half of Twin Island, all to ourselves, then headed back to the marina. Just to finish it off we glided past 3 seals happily lying on a long pipe drying off, not the least scared to move off. A great way to end a fabulous weekend. We had paddled 19km each way!

Happy Birthday Lee
I Love you