Weeknight Skiing

We've been pretty lucky with the spring so far this year; there's been a bunch of nice snow, and some great sunny days. Last years spring was damp and dreary, with continuous rain apparently designed to keep the trees happy and humans sad. I've got very strong memories of several after work dirt jumping sessions in the rain last year, which is not something that happens if there's riding time available that doesn't feature rain. (If you're not familiar with the downsides of jumping in the rain, it comes down to mud. Bikes don't roll through it well, it doesn't do much for the old eyeballs, and it tends to flick up and jam there when you're moving fastest and need it least)


Anyway, with daylight saving, we can now get up to Cypress after work and knock out a couple of hours of skiing before the sun goes down. The snow quality on Cypress can be pretty average sometimes, but it's been holding together well enough I've been exploring the ungroomed runs. These runs are generally steeper, or have other features not compatible with a dirty great snow groomer (like trees, big rocks, or the occasional cliff). Depending on snow conditions, they can range from a bit harder than the groomed, to pretty much impossible, but skiing them is a lot more rewarding (I'm not sure why a recreation tends to be more attractive when it's harder, but there you go). Over the last couple of weeks the snow varied from piles of heavy powder, to corn snow and ice patches, to large lumps of heavy slush, but I'm starting to get the hang of it. For the record, I seem to be best at riding the heavy slush, but mostly waste the precious powder conditions doing a fair bit of skiing up-side down. I think I'll be waiting a bit before I spring the money for a heliskiing trip.


Top Gun's feature is the number and range of trees that you can run into; there are loads of them, ranging from some furry little guys that will get out of the way, or maybe give you a hug, to others that are somewhat less forgiving. It's not been managed yet, but the aim for this season to at least once bounce through the trees linking up a bunch of turns, rather than aiming for plain survival

vancouver in the (alleged) spring

Well, the arm is (mostly) healed, the back feels like it has been reclaimed from the irresponsible longshoreman who's been borrowing it for the last couple of years, and Vitamin D levels are climbing out of the grave. It's spring time on the North Shore, and it's time for adventures! (There have even been periods of less heavy rain, though I haven't seen any ducks queuing up to leave).

To the left is a typical North Vancouver view, including Ro, water, a boat, more water, some clouds, and a seaplane (and more water). (There really is a seaplane there, but it's a bit small, and white, and in front of some white clouds, but not behind a curtain of rain, which is unusual)

With the arrival of spring, I had a go at 'two (strenuous) activities in one day' thing that everyone says is such a feature of the lifestyle here (if you're part commando, or possibly cyborg). The spring snow has been much better than last year, so Ro and I got up for a bit of a ski both mornings. I was a bit worried that the snow would revert to the usual slush, or a sloped skating rink (the other local specialty) but some heavy cloud cover kept the snow ski-able. The emotional effects of said snow preserving cloud on the non-skiing population won't be mentioned here.

Once the skiing had got my legs nicely annihilated, I decided to finish them off by a nice little lap of Fromme. For those of you unfamiliar with what a 'lap of Fromme' means, the easiest option involves 600m of climbing, with a particularly soul destroying initial burst of 120m up a straight asphalt road. Due to the rigours of the descent, it is necessary to lug up a bike that could serve double duty as a boat anchor, meaning that you end up working pretty hard to move faster than the local pedestrians. It's a place where cycling egos come to die.

Once that particular pleasure has been dispensed with, you've only got another 300m or so to gain on a gravel road of more reasonable grade, which is pretty doable when it's not covered with snow. However, if there's enough snow to let you stand your bike up, you'll find yourself walking a bit.

Though I was a bit worried, most of the descent was pretty good; however, the first couple of hundred metres were a bit of a worry. I remember first arriving in the North Shore and being intimidated by the roots and rocks in the dry, then going through the same adaption process in the wet. If I had enough sense to think about what a crusting of ice might do, I'd still have my shiny new helmet; however I was too busy showing up a couple of boys behaving a bit more sensibly on their big bikes.

oregon & northern california

Fleeing the Vancouver "summer", our two week 'vacation' lead us to travel southward to hunt for some much needed sun!
We embarked on a road trip, of which the first stage entailed driving down the US-101 along the coast of Oregon and Northern California. Windswept seascapes, amazing bridges and of-course the giant redwoods were amongst the highlights.



Not an engineering marvel like some others along the road, the bridge in Florence, Oregon has a nostalgic and quasi gothic appeal. Photo taken from our favourite coffee spot "Bill's Auto".



Northern Californian rocky seascape



Giant Redwoods - did you know minute crustaceans live in the tops of these trees?



Leighton in among the redwoods



Ro and the Boy Scout Tree

vancouver burning

A quick reminder of the Vancouver riots some 4 months ago, from which the city is still reeling.
The healing process is going to take a long time, especially it goes against the way the locals like to think of themselves: happy-go-lucky, relaxed and friendly.

Subsequent outrage at the riots has been such that some of the perpetrators (and their families) have had to move house, or take extended summer holidays after being victimised due to their names and addresses were being listed on social networking sites. Oops.

The inquiry is in full flight and the collective nose is being rubbed in the shame on a daily basis on tv, radio and in the papers.

And all over a hockey game.....





































First photo taken from out balcony at around 9.45pm.
The second photo was taken 20 min after the first (note the second plume on the left!)

crankworx 2011

We undertook the annual pilgrimage to Whistler to see the Slope Style competition at Crankworx - a festival of carnage and ball crunching.




This 15 year old kid was a local wild-card entry, and we are thankful that he survived the event to ride another day! A few seconds after this video was taken, he had an almighty crash. When asked how he felt over, he responded "my balls hurt".





















Leighton and ro in amongst the crowd



















A short gondola ride away above crankworx is an amazing panorama of mountains, still with snow....and yes, skiers. A cool summer has meant that the snow is still around in abundance.



















A black bear eating grass - not an unusual sight on the slopes of Whistler.
We did see a much rarer but sadly unphotographed animal on the same trip - a Bobcat: on the prowl, roaming between wooded areas.

tyax - wilderness resort

250 km north of Vancouver in the South Chilcotin mountains
Float plane assisted cycling and fishing in the summer, heli-skiing in the winter, hunting all year round.
We took the opportunity of the BC Day public holiday to make the great escape north to do a bit of adventuring. Our main goal of-course was to undertake the spruce lake riding tour, which included a float plane trip from Tyaughton Lake (at the resort) up to Spruce Lake at a higher elevation.
Once at Spruce Lake, all we had to do was ride home through a magnificent valley surrounded by naturally occuring meadows and snow capped mountains...not a bad ride!
























Leighton attaching the bikes to the back of Gonzo using hi-tech bike rack technology



















Float plane swooping in to collect us and the bikes.
The plane is a Beaver, and is over 50 years old...i wouldn't have got in had i known that!



















View from the float plane of the mountains - absolutely stunning!

























Vista along route





















Leighton in the meadows: native wildflower include: lupins (blue); indian paintbrush (red), native lilly (yellow)



















Lake Duffy on drive home from Tyax

Muhu to Saaremaa - in the rain

Second day of the cycling adventure, so of course we encounter the first rain of the European holiday. The rain didn't start off so bad, but it soon turned into determined, soaking rain, that kept up it's efforts for the duration of our ride.

Before starting our epic semi-aquatic adventure, one of the other guests at the bed and breakfast took us for a botanical tour of the local area, showing us a few orchards. Apparently this area of Europe is still in glacial rebound after the last ice age, rising out of the sea at a rate of 1cm a year. This has meant new land has appeared since human habitation, which has resulted in a unique environment of human administered meadows, which a rich diversity of species.

The lady at the bed and breakfast was also pretty adorable. She showed us some of the dresses she made for her wedding, in the traditional Muhu style. It's pretty rare to visit a place where the old traditions are still being practiced.

Anyways, after we got going, the rain set in, and we plugged away for about 45km, getting wetter with each passing kilometre. It appears there is a reason why all the plants are so green around here.