Friday Skiing

Here's some pictures from a nice, sunny day skiing last week. We went up first thing in the morning and the light on the Tantalus Mountains was beautiful. The day was clear and we skied packed powder on all the runs. As you can see, the terrain on Blackcomb can still use more snow - it's pretty rocky in the bowls. Elise enjoyed going through the Blackcomb terrain park and going off the jumps (small mounds) with me spotting her. Around us were young skiers doing flips, spins, etc. Impressive...

Riding the Catskinner chair.


Secret Bowl and Cougar Chutes on Blackcomb.


Cougar Milk, a blue run on Blackcomb. This is a favourite because the bottom of the run has a forest with skiable lines that she likes to explore.



Morning light on the Tantalus Mountains between Squamish and Whistler.

Winter is Here!

Winter arrived with a vengeance in Squamish last night. When we went to bed we could see stars, and when we woke up, there was at least 20 cm of new snow outside. It was beautiful, but the shovelling was not! The forecast is for heavy precipitation all week, but most of it will come in the form of rain at out elevation. Therefore, this winter wonderland will not last, but Whistler Blackcomb will be getting major snow in the alpine as the temperatures are supposed to hold at just above freezing on the valley floor. I'm not sure what happened in Vancouver overnight, but it's a mess up here. Luckily, we'll be getting our new snow tires installed tomorrow...

Opening Day!!!

Whistler Blackcomb opened on Friday, and I did what any responsible parent would do - I pulled my daughter out of school to go skiing! We teamed up with Patrick Franz and his son Everest and hit the road at 7:30 am.

The day began cloudy, but slowly cleared and we ended with gorgeous weather. I could tell Elise was a little pensive in the morning. I think she was worried about how it would feel after a summer off. She did well on her first run and, partway down, said to me, "I remember how to do it!". She did very well, but her stamina was poor compared to the end of last season. It will come back fast, I'm sure.

It was a cold day, and we only did five runs. It was also very crowded because everyone was skiing just three lifts on Whistler due to the limited early-season terrain. Pam plans to go up today with Elise for a few runs, and then we hope to go to the climbing gym in Vancouver tomorrow.

Winter is officially here and Elise starts her ski lessons after New Years. She's excited!

View looking west from the mountain.

Riding in the sun. Snacking on gumdrops. Life is good...

Back From Kentucky

After a 5:30 am start in Kentucky, I made it to Bellingham around 7:00 pm, Pacific time. Pam and Elise were waiting for me at the airport, and it was great to see them. We had dinner in Bellingham and then drove straight into a one-hour border line-up to get back into Canada - ugh! I think we got back to Squamish around 10:30 pm - it was a long day...

We went to the climbing gym on Sunday and Elise did a lot of climbing, both on a rope and bouldering. It was the most she's ever done, and she was exhausted. I had to force her to rest. She wants to go back next weekend.

Now it's back to the work-school grind until Christmas. Whistler is set to open on Friday! Stay tuned.

Here's a final picture from Kentucky. It's one of my travel partners, Pete Lindgren, on a route called Kaleidoscope.

Halloween

Here are a number of pictures of Elise on Halloween. She dressed up as Rapunzel and my mother made a fantastic costume for her. Look at that hair! "Tangled" is one of her favourite movies, so Rapunzel was an obvious choice...

I've got just over one week left in Kentucky and then I'll be heading home to the family. I'm really looking forward to seeing them again...

Red River Gorge

I've been in Kentucky for just over one week now, and the trip is going well so far. I'm staying in a cottage near the gorge with a few friends, and am enjoying socializing with them and climbing, of course. The rock here is very abrasive, so I'm taking lots of rest days, but that's good both for my shoulder health and for my latest guidebook project (I can do a lot of work when I'm resting).



The fall colours are beautiful right now, and I'm enjoying being out east and hiking in the fresh, fall air. This area is extremely crowded right now, but on the plus side it's nice to meet new people and have others to talk to when at the cliffs. We met a nice couple from the Canary Islands yesterday who recommended it highly for a future Christmas trip.


Health-wise, my shoulder is doing well (knock on wood). I'm climbing reasonably well and managed to complete one route I was happy with (Angry Birds, 5.13c). Hopefully the trend will continue for the next couple of weeks.



I miss Pam and Elise a lot, but am having regular phone and video-call conversations with them to stay abreast of what they are doing back home. We are all looking forward to a winter of skiing and our Christmas trip to Italy!

Marc

Thanksgiving

We travelled to Penticton for the Thanksgiving weekend. It was a last-minute decision, but the rainy forecast in Squamish pushed us in that direction. After three weeks of storms, it was nice to dry out in the pine forests surrounding the Skaha bluffs. We stayed with Casey and Brenda and enjoyed their company and hospitality. It was a relaxing weekend. Pictures...

In the new parking lot for the Skaha bluffs. This new parking area has really made climbing here more pleasant. The approaches to the cliffs are much nicer, allowing for shorter days and hikes with kids. The old approach was arduous and involved a serious climb up a never-ending set of stairs.


Casey, Pam and Elise after a nice day out at "Flake Cliff". Elise is holding up a bag of rocks. More about that later...


Elise climbed a number of routes over the weekend. Here she is climbing at the right-hand end of Red Tail wall. She also climbed two good routes on the Daycare cliff. Her climbing skills are definitely improving, and she absolutely loved climbing on the steep indoor wall at Casey and Brenda's house!




In the parking lot. She made up this photo on her own with no suggestions from me.


On Saturday, we toured around and did a few different activities, including visiting the new swimming pool in Penticton which is amazing! The waterslide is huge! This photo was taken on a nature hike at the north end of Vaseaux Lake, which we enjoyed on a sunny morning.


Elise on the boardwalk.



Poison Ivy! We taught Elise the phrase "leaves of three, let them be" and she repeated it all weekend.


That's definitely not a photograph of the Coast!


Elise has taken quite an interest in geology now. We found an old rock collection in the basement and gave it to her, and now she's obsessed with them and with collecting rocks when we climb. Casey pointed us to this road cut near his house that had some very interesting rock types and intrusions. We spent some time on Saturday morning collecting rocks. I asked her what her plans are now for the future - marine biology or geology? She's now leaning toward geology!



Casey and Brenda have a new cat, Coal. He's a rescue and he's a wonderful cat - very friendly. We all enjoyed his company over the weekend. This cat has it made!


It's back to school and work now. I leave for Kentucky next Saturday and Grandma Bourdon will be visiting over Halloween while I'm gone. After that, skiing and then Italy! I read a news item last night predicting that this will be the coldest winter on record for Vancouver! Hopefully that means lots of snow, and not just cold weather!