Ski day 61: Fun SnowHosting duties

YTD cum vert: 387,980 m   YTD cum runs: 834

You should read about the snow conditions today over on my other blog here first.

We do all kinds of jobs as SnowHosts, and today I was fortunate to do one of the most fun ones: a VIP tour. For some (including today's), our constraints are off and we can take people anywhere their little heart desires (except of course the Dive or the Wild West, both of which require special equipment we don't carry).

My VIP? Someone with their own Wikipedia page and his family, all very good skiers.

However, the logistics of the day were entertaining. I was working Map Board in the village for the morning, and just as I was skiing in to commence my duties, my phone rang with my VIP tour assignment. I was to intercept the guests at ~11 AM, ski from 11-1:30, take them for lunch, then ski with them after lunch, too.

However, they were late, as VIPs sometimes are, for very good reasons. They arrived at 12:45. So my day started standing for 2 hrs in front of the Ski School office, saying hi to people, waiting for my guests. Mostly in a raging blizzard, sometimes in a swirling white out, but I had to wait.

Around here, I should mention that the ski suits they give us are very good.

So I was only able to manage 2 quick runs with the family before lunch. Fortunately, the viz was good enough to get them up near the top of the mountain, and we got some nice powder runs in.

Then we ate lunch. For 90 minutes.

So at 3 PM, I was able to get them back out. My guests wanted gnarley, so I headed to Goat's Eye. Sadly, the red signs were on the South Side Chutes, but we had fun on some good tree runs -- right up to the moment where he had to do a live interview by phone with TSN. Smack dab in the middle of the Scapegoat run.

We just made last chair on Goat's Eye, and when we got to the top, the Chutes had miraculously opened. In we went to a rockingly great run through boot top or better fields of untracked powder, which my guest loved.

I was sad we only got in 5 runs with them, but really glad I was able to show them a tiny slice of the best that Sunshine has to offer.

Silence is golden?

My mother always taught me that if I didn't have something useful to say, put my tongue between my teeth and bite. Now, my friends will tell you that I've never been really that good at heeding that particular bit of advice. But I haven't really had much to write about recently, so my blog has been silent for a few weeks. Here's some small things to catch up on.
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Today was ski day 58 for me. I'm up to over 369,000 vertical metres (1.2 MM vertical feet) and 800 runs. Last year, I only did 54 days, but I got in a LOT of vert (461,000 vertical meters, or 1.5 MM vertical feet). My vert per day this year is low because of snow hosting, but even the days I'm not hosting aren't 10,000 days. Ah well. It's a marathon, not a sprint.


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My girls competed in the Canadian National University Basketball championships and placed 4th in the nation, which impressed the heck out of me. That's better than the men's team did. They won their first game in the tournament by trouncing Regina, who had a 22-1 record (and beat us 3 times during the regular season). We won that game because for 3 quarters, we ran a killer, up tempo game and got up 20 points. We slacked off in the 4th quarter, and Regina fought back to within 6, but they were too deep in a hole to get out of (we had them 41-22 at the half).


But we lost the next two games (against Windsor, who went on to win the championships, and Ottawa) because we didn't play an up-tempo game. We played a slow, churning game and we're not good at that.


Ah well. Fourth in the nation is pretty damn good, if you ask me. I was proud.


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This week, we kicked off our next reno project. We received plans for our new kitchen, and met with several contractors to "get this party started". We have a bunch of hoops to jump through, so expect to be starting in mid-July, just after Stampede. We picked then because my brother is (finally) coming out to visit with his family for Stampede. I have to find a mountain for him to climb...


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Last May was Amsterdam. This May it's:

The Carolinas (with a lot of stops along the way).

(I have to work on my branding). We're going on a big lap of the South East USA, with stops in Devil's Tower, Mt. Rushmore, the Badlands of South Dakota, Kansas City, Memphis (both to eat BBQ), Atlanta, Charleston, Cape Hatteras, Washington DC, the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Great Smokey Mountains and then home -- just in time for me to go to Montreal for the Grand Prix.


Retirement rocks.


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My posts are not complete without photos. So here are some critters that have been visiting us recently.

A squirrel pulls a break and enter on the bird feeder

A herd of Pine Siskins on my feeder

My Clark's Nuctcrackers (who like suet)

A White Winged Crossbill (kinda rare)

The Drive Home: Part 2

It was +8° and raining when we awoke in Cranbrook this morning. The road reports all called for poor winter conditions on most of our choices of routes, but all were open, so we decided to go the fastest route I mentioned yesterday that looks like this:

The plan for the day

and is ~300 km and 4 hrs. Just as we got to Radium Hot Springs, they closed Hwy 93 through the Sinclair and Vermillion passes. But surprisingly, the Trans Canada was open, and road conditions were reportedly good until the Alberta border. So we continued north on this route:

The revised plan

It adds almost exactly 100 km to the route, so is ~400 km and 5 hrs.


Temps were in the +5° range, and the roads bare and wet (from rain) from Cranbrook to Golden. The roads stayed just fine to Field where it started snowing. As if by magic (or more likely, government maintenance intervention), the roads went from fine to horrible the moment you crossed the Alberta border, and we drove the last hour in a raging blizzard with sloppy, snow covered roads.

Between Lake Louise & Castle Junction

So in the end, this was our 2 day journey:

Could we have a more circuitous route?

According to Google Maps, it's 1,068 km, and 15 hrs 30 minutes of driving time. Vernon to Golden via the Trans Canada Highway is 300 km. The detour from Vernon to Nakusp to Nelson to Cranbrook to Golden is an 810 km detour, adding about 510 km to the commute.


Sadly, the two friends I know along our route (one in Cranbrook, one in Invermere) were unable to see us along our journey.


On the bright side, we saw 3 bald eagles, one deer, 5 bighorn sheep and a small herd of elk. And a whole lot of the BC countryside.

Traveling Western Canada in the Winter

Done our vacation at Big White for the year, it was time to head home. Our normal route is north to the Trans Canada Highway (TCH) then east, as shown in the map below.

The Normal Route

By this route, it's ~550 km and 8 hrs drive time.


However, the lovely snow we've been having in Big White has caused no end of grief for the TCH. Last night, when we were packing to leave, the TCH was closed for part of the route (between Sicamous and Revelstoke) due to avalanches that were being cleared, and closures/delayed openings were threatened for the part through the Rogers Pass from Revelstoke to Golden due to the avalanche danger. The alternative route here is pretty long; the Selkirk and Purcell mountains are in the way. It looks like this:

The South route

By this route, it's ~800 km and 11 hrs 45 min. Based on this, we figured taking this route we were committing to an overnight stop somewhere (crossing mountain passes at night is ill advised). We didn't like it.

When we woke up this morning, the TCH was still closed between Sicamous and Revelstoke, but the forecast opening (with moderate confidence) was several hours before we would get there. The section through the Rogers Pass was slated for opening around the time we would get there, too. So we headed north.

All the way we were getting regular updates that the road ahead was opening bit by bit. But we got to Vernon (just north of Kelowna) and found out that the Sicamous-Revelstoke stretch had now shut due to multiple avalanches, and wouldn't open until tomorrow. Oops. Now what?


Our two choices at this stage became pull a 180° turn and head right back the way we came to take the south route, or to cut across the mountains and try to avoid the closures, using a route via Nakusp that looks like this:

Big White to Vernon to Nakusp to Revelstoke to home

This route? 675 km and 10 hrs, 45 min. It takes a long time because there are two ferry crossings of Arrow Lake.

Guess where?

It's a pretty drive full of windy, twisty roads. We got to Arrow Lake and the ferry, and what a fun little thing that is. The lake is so narrow and the ferry ramp angled just enough that perhaps, just perhaps, with enough speed, you could jump it. James Bond could, anyway.

I figure about 300 km/hr ought to do it

The ferry is a cable ferry, running a 5 min crossing back and forth every 15 min.

Part the way across 

Getting closer. Cables visible.

Almost there. Packed with cars...

This lake is used for moving logs, too, and there was a boom full next to the ferry dock...

Dramatic log shot

...being pushed around by one of those little tug boats.

Out of focus, but still

The lake itself is very long (about 200 km).

The pole is artistic, don't you think?

There's room for ~20 cars, but we only had 4.

Have roof bullet, will travel

There's also an extensive on-board selection of local tourist information.

Pamphlet, anyone?

And you get to see the "outer workings" of the ship.

Cable pullies

We got to Nakusp, got back into cell service, and found out that the Rogers Pass was now closed and wasn't due to open until 6 PM or later. More oops. Now we had to head south, or go join the other stuck folks in Revelstoke. South we went, through fascinating little towns like Silverton.

I liked the building. Looked like a movie set.

So now we were on this route, expecting to overnight in Cranbrook:

Big White to Cranbrook via Nakusp

This route? 675 km, 10 hrs 15 min. Which is about how long it took us.


We left Big White at 9 AM Pacific time and rolled into Cranbrook at 7 PM Pacific. But we went through a time zone change on the way, so arrived at 8 PM mountain. We found a hotel, checked in, then went out for dinner. I had picked a Greek restaurant in town that I had found on line. As we pulled up (at 8:30 PM local time on a Sunday night), they shut the lights off on the sign and we watched them turn the sign from Open to Closed.


Oops.


So a quick check on my iPhone and I found a back up restaurant. We went there, and it too was closed (despite a sign saying open for take out from 5-9 PM Sundays). We ended up at East Side Marios. However, we were the only patrons in the whole place for the 90 minutes we were there.


To get home from Cranbrook tomorrow, this is the fastest route:

Cranbrook to home

300 km. ~4 hrs. However...


At this moment, a wicked snow storm is hitting Kootenay National Park. Parks is doing avalanche control on the road in the park tomorrow. Forecasts are for 30 cm of snow. The road is currently in poor winter driving conditions. It crosses two major passes (Sinclair and Vermillion). So there's a risk that we will wake up tomorrow and find the road closed (or worse, get to Invermere and the Kootenay Park turnoff and find the road closed). And if Hwy 93 closes, so will the TCH. This would be our only route around it all:

Cranbrook to home via Fernie and Calgary (almost)

500 km. 6 hrs, 20 min. On top of the 675 km and 10 hrs 15 min we have already done (to accomplish a 550 km, 8 hr drive).


Stay tuned for how this all ends.


And if you're coming to Cranbrook on a Sunday night, try to eat before 8:30 pm.

The end to one whacked out basketball season

In men's play, this weekend was the finals in the Canada West division of the CIS basketball championships. A stranger season could not have been had.

• Traditional powerhouse University of British Columbia Thunderbirds finish out of the playoffs for the first time in god knows how long.
• Season long Canada West second place University of Victoria Vikes, nationally ranked #5, place 4th in the Canada West Finals, leaving them out of the Canadian Final 8.
• Season leaders of Canada West most of the season and the 2009/10 national champions University of Saskatchewan Huskies, nationally ranked #3, finish 3rd by beating the Vikes. However, due to the strange rules of seeding, it is unlikely that they will get the one wildcard berth to the Final 8 -- in part because they lost the Canada West final 4 tournament that they hosted.
• Nationally ranked #4 Fraser Valley Cascades beat the Vikes to come in 2nd in Canada West. This earns them a seat at the Canadian Final 8.
• Nationally ranked #7 University of Alberta Golden Bears, beaten twice in a row by my Dinos in January, take the Canada West title.
• Speaking of my Dinos, they had a rather dismal 9 wins in their first 23 games of the season (including league and exhibition/tournament play) -- then went on to win 10 in a row, including 2 over Alberta, and one each over Saskatchewan and Victoria -- in the second half of the season. Credit the comeback to the return of 2 of 3 key players lost to injury early in the season.

No one I know or read could have predicted this outcome for Canada West.

Unfortunately, we all know Carelton University will take the nationals, so all will return to normal soon.

Ski day 49: Breaking 1,000,000 -- and snowshoeing

Vert: 8,660 m    YTD cum vert: 310,530 m (1,018,538 ft)
Runs: 20    YTD cum runs: 679


Last year, it took me 31 ski days to make 1,000,000 vertical feet, and it took until April 1st to do it. The year before that, 36 ski days and April 17th. In my 08/09 season, it was 33 ski days and May 16th. I'm not sure what these stats tell me other than (1) I'm getting less vert per day than before, and (2) I might break 2,000,000 this year...


And if skiing wasn't enough today, we also went on 5 km snowshoe through the forests of Big White at the end of the day.

Kickin' up the snow

We saw dudes on strange snow bike contraptions.

Tracked strangeness

We found lynx tracks.

10 cm tracks, back foot smaller than front

We "broke trail" -- if only for a moment.

Yours truly, up to my knees

But mostly we stuck to the trails and looked at cool wildlife tracks, while remembering how much work snowshoeing is.

Deep snow; deep tracks

You can read about our Big White week here.

Thoughts on Retirement: A 1 Year Check Up

Just over 1 year ago, on February 24th, 2011, I retired. I wanted to post on my first anniversary about what it's like, and it's kind of fitting that I'm a few days late.


Because one of the gifts of being retired is that I lose track of time and don't care what day it is. So I forgot that last Friday was my anniversary. Retirement rocks. Every day is Saturday. We have gotten into trouble because we promised to do something on a particular day, and didn't know what day it was, so missed it. Karen missed yoga. I missed a days SnowHosting. We actually need to have meetings to plan the week now so we don't miss things. I thought I would remember my last day because it's the same date as my daughter's birthday. I forgot her birthday, too (sort of -- she and I agreed on a deferred present, and I forgot to get a card).


Being in control of your day to day destiny is awesome. Do it, don't do it, and you have no one to answer to but yourself. After retiring last year, I got in 36 days of skiing. Today was day 46 of this season. I lost track of how much hiking we've done. We spent a month in Amsterdam and a month in Maui. We sold our house and moved, partially renovated our new house, and even moved out of our condo. We accomplished lots, but my stress level is somewhere in negative territory.


We love waking up in the morning knowing we can roll over and go back to sleep if we feel like it, or get up and do stuff if we feel motivated. Our energy levels are higher than they have ever been. We are never, ever bored. We have so much to do we sometimes have trouble choosing. Aside from skiing and hiking, there are books to read, trips to plan, music to make, sewing to do, walks to take, animals to watch, little projects to do, big projects to do, photos to take, wine to drink, and all of it -- ALL of it -- under our timeline.


Retirement has been hard on my liver. Wine with dinner? Every day's Saturday, so why not? Cocktails? If you feel like it. More wine with an after dinner movie? Sure, if you feel like it.


I liked working. I like this more. A lot more.

Ski day 42: Meeting my other boss

Vert: 7,150 m    YTD cum vert: 253,865 m
Runs: 11    YTD cum runs: 550


I got a note on Facebook from Rob, the owner of Powderwatch.com, the other blog I write for at about 7:30 AM today. He was coming to the hill (I suspect because we got 20 cm in the last 24 hrs and 58 cm in the last 3 days). I've never met the man, so I figured we really should ski together at least once so that he knew what I was writing about. 


We did indeed intercept each other. I offered him a warmup run, but he wanted to get straight at it. First run, in the Scapegoat glades, he faceplanted. In this stuff.

In fact, that was supposed to be a shot of him, but I lost him for a few minutes and he skied by without me noticing, so I took that shot of a snowboarder instead.


I took Rob to the two entrances I describe in this post about how to ski the best part of Goat's Eye. We took the Cleavage Traverse to the Goat's Head Soup area. The South Side Chutes were being bombed for avis at the time, so The Fans were closed. I took pains to point out to Rob the avi closure rope with the Red "Closed" signs, and we saw people poaching it. I don't poach lines, but I know where the rope ends. So we skied down to the rope's end, and took the easy route out along the roads (rather than the flat, uphill route past the weather station). And we got stopped by a ski patroller picking off the poachers. I explained we did NOT poach the rope, and that our route was an OK one that went around and below the closure rope. He didn't believe me. Then his radio squawked "Those two are fine. They went below the rope". and he sent us on our way with a sheepish grin.


I was happy to see patrol picking off the poachers, because they were just plain in danger -- and stupid. Patrol finally got fed up of the actions of the idiots and roped off the Cleavage Traverse access for an hour while they completed work, and good for them. However...


It just so happens I know how you can take the Scapegoat Traverse to the lower Fans. Not that its worth it; the ratio of traverse to run isn't good. But it can be done.


I think I will send a note to Patrol and compliment them on their work today.

Ski Day 41: Once a SnowHost, always a SnowHost

Vert: 5,940 m    YTD cum vert: 246, 715 m
Runs: 10    YTD cum runs: 539


I got off the gondola at Sunshine today at Goat's Eye at 10:30, and as I was walking down the ramp, I saw two guys with a trail map out. Now, to a SnowHost, folks with trail maps are folks you talk to to offer advice. So I walked up and asked what they were looking for. They wanted "deep fresh powder" and were wondering where you found it on the upper mountain, because they couldn't find it on Goat's Eye.


From Toronto. Figures.


So I convinced them to come back up the chair with me, and we did a bit of powder running till we got to the top of Wildside, where I described to them the delights awaiting in my favourite part of the mountain. I basically took them through the post I wrote on my other blog here, pointing out the good stuff.


Then, because I wasn't working, and thus can go anywhere, I took them there via the Cleavage Traverse entrance.

Me and one of them

What we skied

One guy's board needed a wax job, and he was sticking in the snow. I told him to ride down to the Creekside for lunch, and drop his board off at the repair desk to get a wax while he ate lunch. They liked my advice and where I took them so much that one said he was going to name his first born after me.


We, too, ended up at Creekside for lunch, and while there, a young man in obvious pain hobbled in with his family. SnowHosts who see this take care of the people, so I got him to the infirmary and called ski patrol to come check him out.


And I wasn't even working today. But it explains the low vert on a big powder day that you can read about on my other blog here.

Ski days 38-40: Rest in bed, drink plenty of fluids...

Day 38 vert:       7,565 m    Day 38 runs:     14
Day 39 vert:       6,855 m    Day 39 runs:     13
Day 40 vert:       4,550 m    Day 40 runs:     10
YTD cum vert: 240,775 m    YTD cum runs: 529



We were skiing Wednesday (Day 38) on the second of two consecutive great powder days (which you can read about here and here) and ran into one of my SnowHost bosses around 1 PM. He was looking for someone to cover a Friday shift (Day 39), so I said sure.


By 3 PM, my nose was running, but this is pretty normal when I ski, so I took no notice. We went to a wildlife tracking talk that evening, and it started running seriously. We grabbed a pizza afterwards, and by 10 PM, I felt like I was hit by a truck. I spent Thursday in bed feeling like crap with an awful cold, getting up for exactly 45 minutes to have dinner. At 6:30 PM, I had a slight fever of 99.5°. But I had made a commitment, so at 6:45 AM Friday (Day 39) was up, heavily medicated and dressed to go SnowHost for the day.


It was an excellent day as you can read on my other blog here, and I almost enjoyed it, though I felt terrible most of the day. So far, so good. At least I got some "rest in bed". But we had a friend drop by for the night, so I cooked dinner, and following the advice noted above "drank plenty of fluids". Observation: wine and Sudafed are one heck of a combo. On the bright side, I managed to get into bed by midnight (unlike KC, who stayed up chatting until 3 AM...)


Back up today at 6:45 AM (Day 40) and even more heavily medicated for my regular duties as a SnowHost, on what we all figured was going to be one of the busiest days of the year (it's a long weekend here). I begged my boss for light duty and he graciously complied, right up to the point where he asked me to lead an afternoon tour that I talk about in this post here -- which totally drained whatever little energy I had left. I barely made it home, and crashed asleep for almost 2 hrs without even getting undressed from my ski clothes.


Rest in bed... drink plenty of fluids... I'm not sure I'm good at following those instructions.