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Tuesday, January 5, 2010

New Years Day at Red Mountain Cabin

Posted by Melanie at 20:48 0 comments

On the first day of 2010 I drove with a friend to a tiny place north of the Fraser river and East of Prince George called Penny. We left the truck at Clarence and Olga’s house, skinned up and began the mammoth climb to the cabin. It actually only took us five and half hours. We arrived just as it was getting dark and the others were getting back from a days skiing. The cabin was a bit crowded with eight of us but after a much needed dinner, and a glass of red wine we all managed to find a place to sleep.

back view of cabin

The next day was warm, minus 4. A thin raincrust had formed over the snow and it was snowing some more. It was disappointing but we skied anyway. I could hear the crunch of the raincrust as we poled up the slope. Visibility was poor and there were no views anywhere. The warmer weather had also made the snow a bit heavier. Even so we did five runs and had a relaxing two hour lunch.

By 3:30 PM it was getting dark.

After dinner and some more wine we tuned the short wave radio to CFMI the best classic rock channel of all time. It came in loud and clear. Apparently it is only available in the evening along that stretch of highway sixteen. Seems weird that the signal can beam so far north all the way from Vancouver.

Sunday dawned clear, I could see the Big Dipper above the cabin door. The rain crust had evaporated and we could hardly wait to eat breakfast and get out he door. We headed straight up Green Mountain for a look on the other side.

wanting to look over the otherside

The sky was endless blue.

archway

The trees were frozen into weird, royal icing like sculptures. The powder was almost perfect. Skiing was awesome.

Go to my flickr to see more photos

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Sunday, April 26, 2009

Slush Cup

Posted by Melanie at 20:25 0 comments

Today I watched a bunch of kids leap into an enormous hole full of slushy water. It stopped snowing just in time, the sun came out, the sky turned blue, the kids shed their snowsuits, some put on bikinis (shiver) shorts and t-shirts. They hiked up to the fifth tower then skied or snowboarded down as fast as they could in attempt to remain upright and sort of waterski to end of the slush filled hole, a distance of maybe twenty feet. Most of them sunk like a bag of books the second they hit the fridgid water. A couple of them managed to remain upright long enough to make it to the opposite bank and clamber out, their skis still attached.

It was a lovely day the snow was soft and even skiable in the trees. Too bad it is their last day. I'm sure with conditions as good as this we could be skiing there well into June. Maybe we will just have to go back there with our skins. I'm still waiting for that quintessential spring ski day, you know the one, where you strip down to your t-shirt, turn your face to the sun and lie in the snow after lunch soaking it up.

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Sunday, March 22, 2009

Spring Skiing

Posted by Melanie at 20:24 0 comments

My shins are killing me, It's from snowplowing and side hilling down off Sugarbowl late this afternoon. I caught the sun a bit on my face. It was a fabulous day. This was our second attempt at trying to find the big glade we skied last year. We wanted to find it from the road so we could spend all day skiing it. We wanted to avoid the steep arduous trail and the trek along the ridge.

This morning we hiked 1 killometre up the trail then headed East. We crossed a lot of gullies, they all look the same, we were sure we had missed it so we started hiking upward. Somehow we managed to stumble onto the bottom of the glade and into the sun.

We spent the rest of the day hiking up to base of the cliffs, no further, because one of us forgot their avalanche beacon, and skiing down. The snow was surprisingly decent. The sun was warm It was a very nice early spring day.

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Sunday, March 1, 2009

The Elusive Glade

Posted by Melanie at 19:42 0 comments

I finally got out today on a ski trip although we didn’t do any turns. Instead of climbing the usual route up Sugarbowl ridge we hiked eastward along the creek. The intent was to find a glade, a really good place for turns, we discovered last year on our way back out from a trip up the usual way.

Today we hiked too far east before turning up through the trees and instead coming out into a massive open area. It would have been a great place to ski except the slope was too steep for the conditions, slabby snow.

Snowball

After much discussion we decided to head west in the hopes of stumbling across the glade. By this time the air temperature had warnmed up above zero and the snow was like porridge. I fell down numerous times trying to not kill myself, dodging trees, as we slid down the wet slope. We had given up on the glade. It was nice to finally burst out of the trees and see the truck waiting for us on the highway.

The best part of the whole trip was being outside in the fresh air with friends. We're going back next weekend to continue our hunt for the glade.

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Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Tuesday already?

Posted by Melanie at 08:13 0 comments

Yesterday was a blur of dragging myself through the day. I got coffee at Starbucks to help me through the afternoon. The tiredness is not because of my skiing weekend more to do with my current physical state. I'm sure.

On Saturday after lunch, we chewed up the Lump in front of Murray Cabin. Sunday at the crack of light we hustled up Greenberry to do the same in the glades. The snow was surprisingly light, a couple inches of powder on a hard deep base. Because of the buried surface hoar we kept to safer terrain.

On the way back down for lunch we met up with Al and Denise on snowshoes, heard all about their trip to Oz and caught up on almost two years of their life. I need to be better at keeping in touch with people.

On the way home in the car we stopped at the Candy Store. I spent way too much money on jelly babies and chalk licorice.

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Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Staying Alive In Avalanche Terrain

Posted by Melanie at 21:00 0 comments

Since Christmas, record snow fall, especially in Southern BC, has increased the avalanche hazard to extreme proportions, shutting down highways and disallowing access to threatened areas in ski resorts, even so there have been many fatalities.

last week some skiers went out of bounds at Grouse Mountain Ski resort in Vancouver. The skiers, who say they were equipped with avalanche gear, were rescued by helicopter whether they needed it or not, presented with the rescue bill and banned from Grouse Mountain Ski Resort for life. This event coupled with the extreme avalanche hazard and the avalanche fatalities has sparked debate between backcountry enthusiasts and the general public. The feeling is- if you venture out into the backcountry you are on your own.

I’m a back country skier. I’ve been back country skiing for the last seven years. I have never been in an avalanche and I hope I never will. I’ve taken avalanche courses and own and use all the equipment, avalanche beacon, probe and shovel. This alone is not enough to keep you alive.

Some people swear by snow pits. You dig down deeply into the snow pack performing stress tests on a suspected weak layer to check its instability.

However, knowledge of snow conditions starts well before you dig a pit. Paying attention to the weather, temperature, freezing and thawing, and snowfall over the entire ski season will help you know what the layers are before you dig a pit.

The whole time you are out in the back country you should be using your ski pole or probe to test the snow. How fluffy, wet, hard, heavy is it? what layers can you detect? where is the soft snow ? the hard snow? Use you eyes to note cornices, and slides on surrounding peaks, sluffing or point avalanches. Look where the wind is blowing and depositing the snow. Use your ears to listen for characteristic whumping sounds, a sign the snow is unstable.

Pay attention to the slope you are thinking of skiing. Most avalanches occur on slopes between 35 -45 degrees. Knowing the steepness of the slope will help you choose safer terrain. Anchors like trees and rocks will not prevent a slope from sliding.

Always remember you are participating in a dangerous activity. The potential for death is real. It could strike with absolutely no notice at any time. Pay attention to the group feeling, if someone is not comfortable then don’t go there.

The aim is to try not to have to use your avalanche equipment to locate and dig up your friends, or for them to dig you up. The possibility of surviving an avalanche is minimal.

Get educated.

Excellent books I have read are:
Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain by Bruce Tremper,
Snow Sense By Jill Fredston and Doug Fesler.

Use your brain and listen to your gut feeling. It is usually right.

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Sunday, January 4, 2009

Powder Turns

Posted by Melanie at 20:36 1 comments

The last few years I’ve been lucky enough to ski with a couple of friends whose abilities match mine. Almost every weekend we went up to Powder King with or without our families to sk. In the relative safety of the hill we mastered groomed runs, deep powder and tree skiing. After taking the avalanche course twice we ventured out of bounds and out into the back country. However, like all good things it came slowly to an end, one of us moved to Alberta, I moved to PG and our friendship dwindled.

powder turns

I miss those days.

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Monday, December 8, 2008

Skiing in the Pine Pass BC

Posted by Melanie at 19:19 0 comments

We managed to talk Jim into selling us a one trip lift ticket, yesterday at Powder King. The ridge we climbed up on the other side was crusty and windswept, the cornice was a mere shadow of the one we sawed off with a climbing rope, eight years ago, during an avalanche course.

Over The Top

Back then the cornice was the size of a couple of school buses and weighed even more. It broke into two pieces as it fell. Amazingly none of the snow on the slope pulled away. It was as stable as an eighteen wheeler on the highway. It is only in retrospect that I recognize the significance of what happened. I'm more experienced now and a better skier. The slope we skied down yesterday was disappointingly gentle.

Yesterday there was a minor worry about the slope sliding. We had seen evidence of two slides on our way over. However, we sussed out the safe spot and spent a few hours skiing in the soft but thick powder. Fog drifted in and out of the valley all day. Not sure how long daylight would last we left early. Giving us more than enough time to ski past the t-bar in search of more powder before traversing back, arriving at the vehicle just as darkness fell.

The willows are bad at the bottom otherwise right now the Pine Pass has the best, easily accessible snow anywhere

The photo was taken later in the season, a few years ago.

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Friday, November 28, 2008

Black Friday

Posted by Melanie at 10:39 0 comments

It’s 5.55 AM. I’m reading email from a friend, informing me its snowing outside. I can’t see out the window because its pitch black. As soon as the eastern sky gets light I’m out the door on my skis. Gotta leave early otherwise the snow gets sticky. When will it get cold?

I’m using odd poles. The still operable lifelink ski pole and my only surviving komperdell trekking pole, which I bought as a pair nine years ago. Its twin broke last summer. I have brand new, light weight komperdell poles, which were on sale, waiting for me at the MEC store on Broadway. I’ll pick them up in couple of weeks. I’m still bummed about having to spend $360 on new bindings, and now new poles. I keep thinking I should just use the old mismatched poles and forget about buying new ones until those break, except the new ones are on sale and I probably couldn’t get a better deal later.

My parents never indulged in mindless shopping sprees, so I’m blaming my tendency to think twice about what I’m buying and why I’m buying it, on them. Although agonizing over what I’m buying is good because I end up with stuff I really like and use a lot, until it breaks or in the case of clothes are so full of holes they wouldn’t even make a good rag.

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Sunday, November 23, 2008

What Price? New Ski Poles

Posted by Melanie at 20:40 0 comments

Since the bindings on my back country skis are out of commission I went cross country skiing today. The bummer part of the whole day is one of my ski poles broke into two pieces. I have no idea why?

It was cold

I love my life-link ski poles. They are light weight, adjustable into different lengths for going down hill or climbing up, and they screw together to make an avalanche probe. This is the main reason I got them, seven years ago. I'm getting fed up with all my stuff breaking. Skiing is expensive enough without having to replace things that should last a life time. The blurb on Life-Links site for my Variant ski pole says that it has " True Temper Steel lowers for bombproof, performance, " as if.

Luckily someone was able to lend me an extra pole so the day wasn't a total deadloss. We made sure to stop at Magnus and Estelle's fireside lounge, for wine, hot tea and great conversation before driving back home .

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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Torpy Turns

Posted by Melanie at 15:46 0 comments

Winter just doesn’t seem to want to stick around this year. The snow keeps melting, the mercury rises and I find myself wearing runners and a short sleeved t-shirt going for a walk. On Sunday we decided to go and see if we could find somewhere with enough snow for backcountry skiing. As we left town the rain turned to sleet. The Pass Lake road, unploughed and thus usually impassable at this time of year had a well worn track through the slush. By the time we got to the Torpy trail head we had passed two trucks full of sledders and met up with a couple of friends, also on skis.

The bottom of the trail had big rocks, tree roots and open holes in the still running stream. We put our skis on anyway and started climbing. By the time we got into the meadow the slush had turned into a soft fluffy cloud, about 50 cm bonded to a recent raincrust. I began to get excited.

We climbed the ridge, pulled the skins off our skis, locked in our bindings and went down. The slope was very steep, which I like. We were all smiling. We did another run on that slope then descended into the valley for a longer run down a gentler slope, dodging trees and the inevitable sinkholes into the stream as we hit bottom. we ate lunch and went up and down a couple more times before hiking back down to the truck. I hate these short days. We carried our skis on the bottom bit because of the rocks and holes.

Since highways have stopped ploughing all the backroads, the whole time I've been living here, I haven’t had a chance to ski Torpy, only hike it. It’s too bad since it is a really nice place to ski. This picture was taken over the top at Powder King several years ago. Looking at it makes me excited for real winter skiing.

Over The Top

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Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Remembrance Day

Posted by Melanie at 08:10 0 comments Black and White

I woke up before the crack of light, stoked up the fire, folded the laundry and filled the kettle with water for green tea. As I stood by the window I noticed the sky was lighter, I could see down the driveway and out to the road, covered now in snow. Yay skiing.

It snowed all day yesterday, wet sloppy stuff that melted as soon as it hit the road although it managed to pile up on the trees and on the roof.

The thermometer said it was zero, better leave before it got any warmer. The only other signs of life were the neigbourhood dogs, running ahead of me, tongues hanging out, wagging their tails. When I got back home there was two inches of snow stuck to the bottoms of my skis and it had started to snow again.

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Monday, April 14, 2008

Adventures in Sledding AKA Snowmobiling (really a ski trip)

Posted by Melanie at 13:24 0 comments

Seven AM Saturday morning we loaded up the skis packs boots and sleds for a trip to the farm cabin nestled north east of Prince George in the McGregor mountains.

For decades there has been a love hate relationship between skiers and sledders, mostly hate on the part of the skiers. Sledders probably just laugh at us. Nowadays government budgets are not sufficient to keep logging roads and Forest Service roads ploughed in the winter. For skiers, sleds are becoming a necessity allowing us access to prime backcounty ski areas.

All our ski equipment, avalanche safety gear and technical clothing is topnotch and kept in good working condition. The sleds are usually bottom of the line and may get looked over grudgingly once a year.

We stopped at the Pass Lake road with all the other vehicles, unloaded the machines, packed all the gear into the skimmers and set off down the compact snow filled road for about 30 K. We turned left at the same place we did last year, an overgrown logging road thick with willows 1 ½ inches in diameter. From there we climbed over the ridge and descended down into the meadow across from the cabin. The snow was yucky wet and heavy.

our route along the side of Bob's bowl

Yesterday morning we did a steep climb up the side of Bob’s bowl, staying well back from the cornice, see pics and skied along the ridge.

along the ridge

The sun came out and we sat on the edge of Easter bowl to enjoy lunch.

the way we came

The avalanche conditions were termed considerable. In every direction we could see deep crevices, slab avalanches and snow everywhere glittering under deep blue skies. Reluctantly we tore ourselves away because we did want to get back home at a decent hour.

The steep slope made the descent back through the glades back to the sleds rather enjoyable despite the yucky snow. I even got in a few decent turns. Simon was worried about his sled running out of gas and we joked about using Joycelins hose from her camel pack to siphon gas from one of the other machines into his.

After loading everything we followed Simon along the road. So did all those other sledders (real sledders) who we had heard earlier whizzing loudly over the ice on the lake. They all passed us going as fast as they could, bouncing up and down, their skimmers hanging on for dearlife.

We soon came across Simon stopped in the middle of the road the fan belt of his sled was in shreds. Luckily he had another one. He got out his manual and tool kit. Barbara and Garnet, the other sled owners, tried to help.

One of those other sledders zoomed up to us stopped and was soon offering advice and encouragement. But Simons tool kit did not have the crucial tool a T wrench so on to plan B.

Tie Simons bigger, heavier sled behind one of the smaller ones and tie both skimmers onto the other one. Sounds great except nobody had anything which would not shred in minutes to use as a tow rope. The real sledder offered us one of his. That left only four seats for the five of us. Jocelyn loudly proclaimed there was no way she was riding with the other sledder. I asked him if he could drive slower. I wa glad when Simon We rode after their fleeting figures as they disappeared around a bend went with him.

We followed in their dust. The engine on Garnets sled was overheating, We had to keep stopping to let it cool off. Eventually we took off the hood and used a bungee cord to secure it to the seat of Simons now useless sled, although it didn’t seem to help because the sled stopped again anyway by itself. Garnet unscrewed the cap on the gas tank. It was empty. The others caught up to us I thought of the 2 big orange jerry cans, full of gas no doubt, in the real sledders skimmer.

Plan c was to siphon the gas from Simons sled into Garnets. To do it we dug a whole for Garnets sled so it would be lower. Only problem Jocelyn’s camel back hose was to short. A Nalgene, bad plastic bottle was used instead to transfer the gas, all 20 litres of it. Once again, after filling the hole back up with snow, we drove down the long road towards the vehicles. I was glad to see the numbers on each yellow marker sign decreasing as we drove by them.

It took forever to load all the gear into the trucks and onto the trailers. It was getting cold as well as dark.

It was after ten PM before I arrived home.

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