'The barrier' near Garibaldi lake.
Rainbow Lake at sunset.
So it is March and winter has finally arrived. It is hard to believe that in the two seasons we have lived here, we have seen one of the best ever, and one of the worst. Add to all this a bung worldwide economy and the original plan of staying an extra winter to save up some travelling money has gone out the window. Never mind, we still have found ourselves in a better position than most, with many of our mates being cut back on hours or laid off altogether, we have both been able to get full time work even if we are not making the money we had hoped. The especially late winter did have some upsides too.....with all the summer touring we had done we found that at the end of the short Canadian summer, we had hardly seen much of Whistler itself. We took full advantage of the snow free trails doing plenty of spectacular (if a little chilly) hikes. Not such a bad thing to be freezing cold when you are slogging 10 Km uphill!
Adam, Claire and Nick join us at Wedge Mountain
Christmas and the New Year went by in a flash, we chose to work most of it as it was almost the only time the resort has been busy for most of the season. We did manage to make it down to Vancouver for New Years Eve though, kicked off the night with a crazy party on the skytrain - a large group of artists and other alternative types piled onto one of the city trains playing live music, decorating the carriages with streamers and preceeded to party all the way to the outer suburbs and back again. It was priceless to see the looks of shock and amazement from those waiting on the platform as the train pulled up at each station and the doors opened spilling out happy tunes and good vibes onto unsuspecting commuters. After the train we headed out to meet some mates at a bar, but once we arrived realised it wasn't really our scene and headed last minute to a nice low key little warehouse party.
My buddies on planks will be pleased to hear that I have popped the snowboard on the shelf and taken up skiing. My ever troublesome back finally went out in a big way right as the season started, leaving me in 24hour pain and with some pretty uncomfortable sciatic issues. With 5 months of intensive chiropractic tratment, I have almost recovered but the constant bending to deal with bindings and the inevatable falls on your ass when boarding were really not helping. With some good luck, I was able to pick up some pretty decent gear at the local secondhand shop for next to nothing and have been thoroughly enjoying getting that 'half out of control' thrill as I throw myself down slopes I would handle with ease on my board, but which are far more advanced than my skiing skills are!! Suddenly realising mid-slope you might have bitten off more than you can chew....priceless! I have dropped a lot of day shifts, Working more nights in the cab to given me plenty of time to work on this, not to mention my goggle tan!
Our big news is that we have bought a van. A big old chevy that drinks at least 3 times the fuel that the Camry ever did, but we love it anyway. It has a fold out bed in the back, big comfy seats and even shag-pile carpeting and mood lighting. It is literally a living room on wheels!
Pimped!!
Our good buddy Cromie came to visit and we figured it was an excellent opportunity to take it on its maiden voyage, a nice little roadie over to Banff and Jasper. After unsuccessfully trying to sell the Camry to a couple from Queensland, we ended up taking them with us to Banff to save on petrol costs! Once in Banff we realised that the friend we had hoped to stay with lived in on-mountain accommodation (only accessable before 5pm and with a lift ticket). Ooops, it was 9pm and we had no ticket either. Thankfully, as we were seriously discussing the unattractive possibility of sleeping in the van in icy -25 degree weather, my buddy Keirsten chase that moment to call and say that she was headed to the pub and that we simply must join her, and sleep on her couch after. We drank the night away, leading to some very amusing games of 'rock band' on the in pub Xbox and also leading to us being somewhat hungover and not being able to face the ski hill next day, even with perfect bluebird skies.
We instead made our way out to Sunshine Village ski area to catch up with Jez and Cromie, then set off for Jasper with a quick stop at Lake Louise to take a bit of a wander out on the ice.
Next came possubly the most amazing stretch of road you could ever see, the Icefields Parkway stunned us with its sheer scale and incredble vistas at every turn. It is certainly a challenge to keep your eyes on the road and watch for wildlife like elk and bears which are often hit by cars, as your eyes are led to the spectacular surrounding scenery.
Once in Jasper, we cought up with some Kiwi chicks we know, Ange and Julie really sorted us out with a yummy dinner waiting and also put us up for a couple of nights. Ange took us on a bit of an expedition up the Maligne canyon, where we marvelled at frozen waterfalls and did a little scrambling and sliding around on the solidified river. It is pretty amazing that an entire river can stand frozen in time. Can't wait to visit again in the summer and see how different it is with water cascading through it.
We have made a bad habit of having coffee and cake much too often, so it was then off to the bakery in the afternoon to indulge and catch up with Julie who was stuck at work.
All too soon it was time to get back in the van and start heading home. We stopped off at the Columbia icefields. Weather was terrible but went exploring anyway. The whole place was very mysterious shrouded in cloud. We decided to climb a big pile of moraine, only to come to the realisation that it was probably a pretty idea! The backside of the pile had been eroding away and periodically collapsing - we quickly decended again.
Ride that mountain!
Driving in Canada....always a pleasure if you can find the road!
Stayed the night in Golden and next day got to do something I had wanted to for long time....ski Kicking Horse mountain! It didn't dissappoint with some of the gnarliest terrain you could find anywhere and about 9cm of freshies, we had one hell of a day. Still makes me laugh to recall the ski patrollers we heard hanging shit on the determined individual who had climbed an electric fence to poach the fresh pow in the Grizzly habitat! Dumbass!
You in BIG mountain country now.....
Cromie gets a gnarly line at Kicking Horse
Ahhhh, sweet pow
Back to the van for a hard earned beer
It was then on to Revelstoke, a bit worried as we had heard that Roger's pass was closed. Sure enough, the sign in the trans canada highway said it would be closed all day for avalanche control. Thankfully the day was almost over, so we headed off anyway, figuring that it would be done by the time we got there. It really amazed me how primative sections of the highway are....The 1 road across Canada, I had been expecting dual carriageway all the way. Some sections of the road, with snow piled high are barely wide enough to squeeze past the endless stream of oncoming cemi-trailers. I can't find words to describe the moment of panic as you plunge into an avalanche tunnel from bright sunlight on snow. Even with headlights on, they are all but useless as your eyes seem to take an eternity to adjust to the relative darkness.
Revelstoke would have to be one of the highlites of the trip, with some of the most amazing gladed runs I have ever seen, we were still finding untracked lines at 4 in the afternoon. Boy were we tired that night!
Sweet hero shot Cromie!
Oh happy day....
Awesome tree runs are everywhere at Revelstoke, they have funny names too like 'Conifers of gnarnia'!
Wicked view of Revelstoke township and the Columbia River
Thankfully Shelly was ready for us with a yummy dinner and some Apres drinks in Kamloops.
In the morning it was back to Whistler via the beautiful Marble Canyon. Arriving home, we were delighted to find that it had been snowing almost since we left, finally winter seems to be here with snow forecast into next week -its only 5 months late!
So I will try to get my ass out of bed and go up the hill for 'fresh tracks' tomorrow - a great concept where you get to go up the mountain early, they serve a big fry-up for brekky and then set you free on the slopes before the lifts open to everybody else.
You can get lines like this, before everyone else gets there!
We have to get as much mountain time in now as we can for we will soon be leaving whistler. I must say it will be rather hard to return to 'real life'. Whatever shall I do when I have a job that I can only take leave with months of notice? How will I ever cope with a gruelling 45 minute commute in traffic after this past year, a pleasant 10 minute walk through the forest has been my preferred method of transport (even if it does involve the 'ice stairs of death' - a stairway that has become so slick somebody has attached an old climbing rope so you can haul yourself up!). Why catch the bus to go into town and collect the car, abandoned after a night out drinking when you can head up the mountain for a few runs (always a good hangover cure) and ski down the other side to collect it on the way home! Yes, life will be hard indeed - best to put it off a little longer, we probably couldn't get real jobs with the economy like it is anyway!!! The house is back up for lease and we will move into the van and head South for a few months, Not really sure where, California, then perhaps Mexico....wherever life takes us. There is still a bit of the season left but we are both ready for the next chapter and eager for new adventures. With our incomes dropping sharply, there seems little reason to stay in longer in Whistler, even if it is a little terrifying to set out on a 3 month journey with barely more than our released bond money and whatever we can get for the Camry. Call us insane if you like, you are probably right!
Check out that hoar frost! Exploring Joffre lakes in mid winter.
