The Final Week

We leave for our Christmas trip in two days. It's been a busy couple of weeks packing and getting organized, but we've managed to get outside whenever we could to enjoy the nice weather.

We survived the Arctic outflow winds which, despite some discomfort, caused a lot of early season ice to form around Squamish. I took Elise skating outdoors, something she'd not done before. She enjoyed it so much that she wanted me to take her every day after school. In the end we managed to skate three times: twice at the ponds on our local golf course and once at One Mile Lake in Pemberton.

Inspecting the ice at the golf course...

A blurry shot, but she was moving so fast!

Elise is very excited about Christmas and there have been lots of festive school activities. The school Christmas concert was greatly anticipated, as usual, and Elise's class performed "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", which they'd practiced for weeks. Elise got to sit on Santa's lap, bid on items in a silent auction and buy treats at a bake sale after the performance. She and I both indulged.

Here she is wearing the special Christmas dress that Grandma made for her.

Pam and Elsie skied last Saturday in stormy conditions, but it cleared a bit on Sunday so we hiked the Chief, our last time this year. It was a nice outing, but the freezing level had gone up significantly, which is bad news for the local ski areas. The ski season is not starting out that well this year.

Breaking ice on the summit. Always a popular pastime.

The hike up was comfortable, but there was a wind on the summit which cooled us off fast!

Elise and I did a portion of the Chief hike this week at night using our headlamps. Surprisingly, we weren't alone as we passed a number of other groups. Here she is eating skittles at the big boulder about 2/3 of the way up the mountain, our turnaround point.

Hot chocolate break at the saddle viewpoint above the Squaw, a hike we did during the outflow conditions. It was freezing...

The packing is almost done and we head to the airport Friday afternoon. Our next report will be from Chulilla, our destination in Spain. It's a small village about 50 km inland of Valencia.

Metal Dome

Looking for a backcountry ski objective this week, Jay and I decided to check out the zone around Brandywine Meadows despite the lean snowpack. There was very little snow on the approach up to 1,200 m so we opted to climb Metal Dome to get a summit under our belts in case all else failed. As we gained elevation the snowpack improved and we found ourselves skinning through lovely old-growth hemlock toward the wind-scoured summit. Miraculously, the weather cleared as the morning progressed.

The outflow winds from the previous week had wreaked havoc on the exposed ridges and we found some very hardened surfaces as we approached the summit, which lies at 2,050 m. Here's Jay on top, looking north toward Rainbow Mountain.

Looking west toward Brandywine Mountain, which is just out of sight on the left side of the photo.

And looking southwest toward the volcanic peak of Mt. Fee.

After hanging on the summit for awhile - the weather was amazing - we decided to continue along the ridge and check out the option of a traverse over to Brandywine Mountain. A cloud layer was building in the valley but Mt. Garibaldi was still visible to the south.

Looking back toward the summit of Metal Dome.

As we gained elevation along the ridge it became apparent that a straightforward link-up wasn't likely, so we opted to stop. The peak of Brandywine, the feature we were headed for, is in the upper right of this photo.

Jay at our turn-around point.

Looking south over the valley cloud toward Cypress, Tricouni and the Tantalus Range.

After taking in the view, we headed back toward the summit of Metal Dome and then descended the south face of the peak toward Brandywine Meadows. It was steeper and more complex than we anticipated, but by continuing to angle leftward we found clear passage and some decent powder in trees, a nice treat after a very pleasant day out.

Kentucky Climbing and Squamish Ski Touring

I just returned from a rock climbing trip to Kentucky. As always, we climbed at the Red River Gorge, one of the top sport climbing destinations in North America. The weather was fickle, but that always seems to be the case out east. I came home to a glorious week of weather in Squamish, a nice treat for mid-November!

Pictures from the trip:

The sunny weather in Squamish was a great welcome-home present, but the mountains need snow. Whistler is open, but the snow pack is low. Regardless, yesterday I did my first ski tour of the season into the south end of Garibaldi Park with my friend Jay. We worried about not finding enough snow to ski, but the terrain was very skiable, much to our surprise.

View of the Tantalus Range on the skin up.

Passing a couple heading out, not far from Elfin Lakes.

View to the east of Pyramid Mountain, Trick Peak and Mamquam Mountain.

Our objective for the day, Columnar Peak, the rocky mound on the left.

Atwell Peak as seen from The Saddle with Mt. Garibaldi just poking out from behind. The snowy pyramid right of the ridge line is The Tent.

The final ski up to the summit of Columnar Peak. We descended the slope in the shawdow on the left of the peak.

On the summit!

Great light during the descent.

First Day of Skiing

Whistler Blackcomb opened a couple of weekends early this year, so when I got back from Kentucky Elise and I took advantage of the nice sunny weather and spent a day on the mountain. Elise had new skis which were longer than last year, but she took to them immediately and skied well, better than I was expecting. She also has new ski boots, ones lined with pink fur much to her delight. We're in a bit of a drought right now, which is good for hiking and climbing but the mountains need more snow. Hopefully, it will be a good year...

Elise just finished a round of swimming lessons. Here she is goofing with her instructor Tyler on the last day. That girl loves to swim!

Four weeks until Spain!!!

Silver Star

Pam and Elise went to Silver Star ski resort near Vernon for this past weekend with some friends from Squamish. There was plenty of snow and Elise had a great time sledding, snowshoeing and making maple syrup candy! Here are some photos of her playing in the snow.

Ski season is just around the corner!

Halloween 2013

Here are some pictures from Halloween 2013. Elise dressed as a witch and had a fantastic time with her friends. The event started with pumpkin carving at Tavis and Anita's house.

The witch is ready to trick or treat!

The kids and the parents head out. It was nice it wasn't raining for a change!

The loot! I might have to help her with that...