The Luge Event

Last weekend was the 113th annual winter carnival in Rossland. This is the weekend in the winter for Rossland, perhaps the event in Rossland for the year. Everything happens this weekend, from freeski compitions, the blizzard music festival, the king of the mountain (the best skier, snowboarder and teleier), and various other events including a luge course set up for an official race on the Sunday of the weekend.

Thanks to the photographers (including my mom) standing at the end of the course for the awesome action shots! 

On the Saturday though, anyone could show up and borrow a sled and try their hand at the luge. This is an interesting proposition, not much new snow on the mountain so why not give luge a try! And try I did. Now, in the olympics, the luge is on a very ice narrow course with banked corners, out here it is on a groomed track with not much to bank on in the corners.

The only way to the top of the course is a 20 minute hike up with the sled on your shoulders. But it is well worth it for about a minute of fast, bumpy, wild action.

Rick Mercer even showed up to give it a try, reports were that a small injury on the luge course delayed him from other events he wanted to film over the weekend for his show. Not tough enough I guess...

But I can see why, I ended with a giant bruise on my hip, luckily I wore a helmet as one crash had the sled landing on my head, and various other little bruises and sores from the day, it is a tough sport for sure!

It ended up being like riding a bronco, just hold on, try to steer 'er a bit and see what happens. Well there is a lot of technical aspects of it, but sometimes you just got to let it ride!

But smiles all around for another awesome day!

p.s. in case your wondering, two posts in one day? After a month of inactivity... I am nursing a cold on the day off.... A wierd feeling after doing something every day for the last little while so thought I'd catch up on here.

Cat Skiing

A little under a month ago (January 6th to be exact) I woke up at 5 am to eat a hearty breakfast, gear up and drive for an hour out to the launching point for a cat ski adventure. The company was Valhalla Powdercats and, as everyone I have talked to suggested, offers the best terrain out there. Everyone was jealous. What did I do to deserve a free day of cat skiing? I showed up to the staff christmas party after only 1 or 2 days of training and my name was called... There are people who have worked their whole lives at Red and have never won anything close to this. My friend, Christine, won a pair of sweat pants, and another friend won a child's puzzle... So how did I luck out?

On January 6th it didn't matter though. All that mattered was how was I going to cope with the most powder I've ever skied in. I have only really skied in bounds at resorts, sticking to groomers and the odd mogul run for most of my life and the past couple of years venturing into the black diamond territory and more challenging steeper terrain. How were the legs, mind, and body going to cope with true backcountry snow?

I was pretty nervous leading up to this day as I heard stories of contempt within the group for the slow one, there's always one slow one in a group of 12. Was it going to be me? Could I keep up? It is pretty easy to lose a ski if it comes off in the deep powder. I have seen it happen a couple of times in the rental shop, people losing one or two skis and having to rent a pair for the day.

But, after talking to Norm the day before and borrowing a pair of K2 Apache Outlaws, I was confident that morning. Lots of coffee, muffins, cereal, and with day break just around the horizon the 12 of us were off on a school bus out to meet the snow cat to take us off for the day into the Valhalla Range.

That day, we got in about 7 runs. Everyone was magical, started out with a nice gentle run called Kut Korners. And on it went, 30 min ride up to different points to launch down into the deep powder and perfectly placed trees. The extra width that the Outlaw skis provided helped very much to stay on top of the snow and make the perfect turns and launch off the softest cliffs. The cliffs and other various jumps attempted usually only occur for me after a couple of beers, but this day it was all about adrenaline. And somehow they were all landed, no face plants, well maybe one, I accidentally cut too close to a tree and ended up in a tree well but it was easy to get out of. With the dins on the bindings set super high, there was no way the skis could get lost in the snow. In the group of 12, all Red mountain staff who either won it at the christmas party or through their exceptional work, were of similar ability, no slow ones, no one super fast, everyone was there to have a great time and we did!

Smiles were had by all including my knees and legs. A unique and awesome experience. How can I cope with resort skiing and other peoples tracks now.... haha well I am going to have to because there is no way I will be able to do this again for free and at a minimum of $300 per day for cat skiing... it ain't going to happen soon.... Ah well, if it only happens once, then I'm happy it happened at all!

And at the end of the day, all anyone could do was lie down like a tired dog.

Big Red

The snow has finally started falling and the mountain operations have finally opened. Missed the opening weekend due to a quick but important visit to Winterpeg (it was good to finally feel a real cold though) and a quick week of working have left me without a full day to actually explore the mountain. Hopefully that will change tomorrow and I will be able to shred it up!

But when there is a month between being hired and the mountain opening, one gets antsy to actually ski regardless of the effort that it takes. Time to get the hiking boots and shoulder geared up for some boot packing trips to the top!

The first picture is verrry early hike up. The mountain there is Red Mountain, we (Christine and Todd from the Hostel in Rossland) hiked inbetween two mountains, that was enough hiking...

But ended up with a good pair of rock skis as the snow was all powder and no base....

But that did not detere us from another gallop up the mountain, this time to the very top of Granite Mountain beside Red which offers much more terrain. Erik is the other fellow in the picture, the freestyle pro roomate here in Trail.

 So a 3.5 hour hike up the hill along the ski out brought us to the top of Granite Mountain.

Oh right and of course Naomi stopped by for a visit and was the official photographer of this trip.


But after 3.5 hours, spirits were still great, perhaps it was from walking past all the untracked pow on the runs on the way up, or the fact that it was actually snowing, or maybe it was the fact that we actually had hot coffee when it was -15 around us, but most likely spirits were high because no matter what, it was going to be a great ride down after the effort it took to get to the top.

And it was a great 30 min ride to the bottom, well the last half was quite icy and chunky, but nothing beats untouched pow! no matter how bad we skied. So Erik and I actually did a couple of trips like that, you know it kills a whole day, which counts for something. But now that the lifts are open, it only takes 20-30 minutes to get to the top and much less walking, but there is a greater appreciation shared among all of us of innovation in the ski industry from 100 years ago when the Rossland ski club first started skiing on Red Mountain. Before all those lifts and parking lots and money for lift tickets.

Anyways... so that is how I spent a few days lately, work has taken over but yea will hopefully make it up tomorrow! Would love to hear from anyone reading this! if anyone is reading this.... Thanks!

Its Been Awhile (Continued)

So, hopefully I haven't lost too many readers with my lack of updates. It is surprising how the day goes by when there isn't a to do. I have been meaning to write something here for a week now but just never got around to it. What have I been doing? I am not too sure....

Well first things first. With snow and rain falling fast on the coast mountains, skiing is in the front of my mind, and has been for awhile. My last update was waiting to hear from a interview I had at Red Mountain. Well after waiting most of the day, pacing around whereever I was and contemplating what to do, I got the good news phone call! So officially I will be working at Red Mountain (http://www.redresort.com/) in the rental shop/retail!! Rossland is near by, but it is a little expensive... so I will be spending my evenings eating smoke (http://www.trailsmokeeaters.com) in Trail (about 10 km away down the valley). So that solves that.... But the mountain has not seen the snow or rain that whistler, mt washington etc has seen. So I think it won't open until Dec 18th. So what to do until then? I did go for a hike up and ski down a little while ago with some people from the hostel in Rossland. That was awesome and I do have pictures but I forgot the cable to connect my camera... But the snow was up to my knees and got a few good turns in and hit some serious rocks but it was all fun.

So, I have about a month. Well... I haven't been this close to Calgary in a loooong time (I can't remember the last time... maybe I was 12?) so why not head out to Calgary and see my cousin Lucas and Chris and uncle Harold. So that has eaten up a week and that is where I am currently. Unfortunately, both the BC Lions and Stampeders lost yesterday so the Grey Cup being held here at the university next Sunday doesn't hold my attention as much, although I know the rider fans love to party so I am sure it will be fun... I did make it to a flames game as well.... haha it was wierd as a canucks fan but alright as the Blackhawks destroyed the flames 7-1. So a big thank you to Chris for showing me around and taking me to the game, Uncle Harold, and Lucas for having an awesome place to stay on the campus of the University of Calgary! I will have to repay the favour at some point....

And yea... that is life right now.... Ol' Betsy is still running great, but we'll see how she handles the cold and snow and such. Spirits are high and life is good! So hopefully I can post a few pictures eventually and hopefully a few people are still reading... if you do let me know how your doing!

Its been awhile

Wow, over a month ago since the last post. It has been a wild ride the past month and its not over or even close to being over. The dream/plan was to go in search of snow and fun for the winter. It has taken me to places such as Penticton (Apex Mountain), Kimberly, Nelson, Grand Forks, Oliver. Lots of small towns along highway 3. It has been great to tour the area but not much happening in the way of employment.

I am currently in Rossland, near Trail. Just an awesome little town that I think regardless I would like to stay at for the season. Red Mountain is 5 minutes up the highway and offers the small ski resort atmosphere that I have been searching for. I really hope it works out here and I will have much more tales to bring forth soon. The blog and the nomading isn't done yet. Will it ever be done? haha I have no idea.... But tune in and I'll let ya know.

Fraserbench Farms and the Cariboo (My thank you)

So fall has hit and the leaves are changing and it is all beautiful and all that. The changing of the season has a new meaning for me though because my time in the Cariboo and the Chilcotin area has come to an end, for the time being anyways...

It was a very special time for me and a a lot of people have contributed to that awesome experience. For everyone and anyone that I have met and actually reads this... THANK YOU!!

First and foremost, Naomi has been my connection and travel partner and positive spirit that was needed to experience everything the past few months, basically my in. (p.s. sorry Naomi, had to post a picture of you without your permission..... I think it's a good picture though)

Of course a biiiig thank you! to Dave and Diane Dunaway (Naomi's uncle and aunt) at Soda Creek! Naomi and I stayed with them for a few weeks in August and helped with various stuff around the farm including bee keeping which I would never had imagined doing! The picture is of Diane passing a couple of frames, notice me being tough in the gloves handling the frames with Diane doing the bee keeping without any gloves. I got stung a few times but not near as many and it probably hurt a lot more to me as well. The other picture is an aerial view of the ranch and surrounding fields and the river is the mighty Fraser River that empties out near Vancouver.

So that connection allowed us to meet Charlie and Lynda at Fraserbench farms down the road. They needed a farm sitter for a few weeks and so what else were Naomi and I going to do? Our time at Fraserbench involved getting up early to record the temperature, harvest vegetables, bake, cook, pickle, jam anything possible, and of course the Williams Lake farmers market on Friday mornings! A biig thank you to Charlie and Lynda if you read this, and sorry about the bear getting in.... I think I saw it crossing the river a day before we left. In the morning I was just looking out at the river and thought I saw a log in the river. I watched it for a bit and realized it wasn't following the current of the river. It was going against the current. After a few minutes this black shape got to the other side, got up onto the banks and walked into the forest. It was big, black/dark brown, and while I couldn't see very well.... it kind of looking like it was on two legs... I am thinking sasquatch, but most likely it was a bear swimming across to the other side. Well, where it got up and ran into the forest is about 1 km down the road from the farm...

Of course it was great to meet everyone else in Williams lake, Jean (Naomi's 95 year old grandma with the spirit of someone in her early 20's) and Connie (Diane's mom). And Chris and Terri who were trying to make a go of an organic farm in Williams lake and experienced a ridiculous thunder storm out at their farm one evening.  And everyone else I talked to, saw, or whatever else the connection. It all contributed to a very memorable experience and left a great feeling about the area in my mind. Thank you!

So that is it for the "north" for now. Where to now? I haven't quite formulated a plan yet, but then again I rarely have a plan, but I don't even have an idea so it is wide open. All that I know is that I haven't experienced the Rockies, okanagon, interior, kootney's and that whole area of B.C. so perhaps that will be the next place to go. All I know is that I want to ski/snowboard/snowshoe basically anything outdoors in the winter... So I suppose that is an idea, plan, whatever you call it.

But I'll leave this post with a few pictures of Soda Creek townsite, the cemetery with bones on the ground no less, the prison, and of course the social house with a movie theatre still "in tact".

Adventureland!

Hey all! Sorry for the lengthy reply, I know my last one was vague and yea this one might be as well but maybe with a few pics to tide you over. I will leave it to you to look these places up... I know I could put some sort of google earth graphic or something... but too lazy at the moment...

but lets start where we left off. So there is a wilderness lodge on Whitton lake called Nuk Tessli, here is the link http://www.nuktessli.ca/. It took a $60, 20 minute float plane trip in from Nimpo Lake on Highway 20, about 4 hours west of Williams lake. Naomi was my connection as she is friends with the owner, Chris. The picture to the right is the sunrise and a few of the monarch ice field.

It was quite the experience but it was all about hiking the area. In 4 days there we climbed a few peaks, one being Wilderness mountain and slept on the beach on Wilderness Lake. The following picture is of Wilderness Lake in the morning.

And the next picture is of the peak, just surrounded by other peaks and rocks and lakes and not a whole lot else. It was quite the hike, and quite the humbling experience!

This is all well and good but there is a forest fire in the region. The knott lake fire is raging over a ridge from the lodge so we had to go see it. That was the next hike and here is the few of the fire.

So after a 12 hour hike out of there back to "civilization".... it was time for another adventure back to Williams Lake and the farm sitting gig at Fraser Bench farms in Soda Creek.

And what else is in the area but more forest fires. Now we took a dusty road down to chilko lake. On the way back there was a "shortcut" towards Williams lake and along the chilko river to Alexis Creek. There is a raging fire along this river that someone warned us about but that was a week before, it had goten cold and a bit of rain so the fire had to have subsided, this is the lava canyon fire. Well driving along 10 km we hit the first warning of a fire devestated area.

But the road was clear up to this point at least so it was passable and so we kept going. Choppers flying over head. Real smokey but the road wasn't closed, just a warning of a fire in the area and to avoid the back country. So lets keep going. Well A few logs accross the road didn't stop us, we had the can do attitude. So after 3 hours and 3 km of doing this every 50 metres or so we get to a point, it is 6 pm, hungry, tired, the sun is going down and we encounter this huge log accross the road. The chain saw was left in our imagination, the little hatchet wasn't going to cut it, and our super human strength was missing (canned spinach is hard to come by). So all that hard work and we had to turn around..... the next picture is of the tree that downed our spirits...

But that's ok we saw some wild horses on the way back. Beautiful creatures!

And we also had some marshmellows, but there was a fire ban for obvious reasons and so we were relagated so the stove with mediocre results.

And that brings us to the last 2 weeks at Fraser bench farms in Soda Creek, unfortunatly my time is up on the library computer so I'll get some more pics and some more adventures up here shortly. Hopefully soon. This gig is over early next week and then I am free. Don't really know where to go or what to do yet... It will come and everything will just work out like it always does. Alright thanks for reading! Hope to hear from ya!