sun peaks 2008
sun peaks 2008
20 Feb – Helen had put our skis in for a wax and tune up yesterday. So we walked down to the village over the icy treacherous walkways. Caught the first lift up with Larissa. The first few runs were very crunchy and unpleasant because of the big thaw yesterday. When they groom that wet snow overnight, it can be very crunchy in the morning. We skied Sting a couple of times. The first time down was a delight. By the second time (15 mins later) enough people had been down the prill up the snow. Not so good.
We went x-country off the top of Morrissey down Holy Cow. For a while, we were following what looked to be alpine ski tracks. We eventually caught them up. Two people skiing down Holy Cow on alpine skis. They were finding it very hard going – too much uphill. We came back via Moose Track and Black Bear just for a bit of variety. Helen’s skating has certainly improved. Last year, she could not get up Moose Track. This year, no problem at all. Also, she had no problem skating up Cotton trail to Vista. She has not been able to do that before. She is now skating better than Geoff.
The new supermarket has opened at last. It was due to open last December. There was difficulty with the resort management who was insisting the new supermarket stay open all year. There would be no profit in that. There are very few people here in summer. We had to go down for a look. It has slightly different things from the other two super markets. None of the three are any bigger than a small corner store and carry the same kind of stock – lots of packets of crisps, some milk, oats, bottles of pasta sauce, toothpaste, coke. The new one is slightly bigger then the other two.
21 Feb – We went down to the lift for first tracks, however, the lift was not running. We had intended to do just a few runs anyway. So, we went back to the condo and put our x-country gear on and did the big tour – Holy Cow, Great Grey, Ravens Ramble, Nut Hatch, Blue Grouse, Black Bear, Vista. Just on 15 km. We arrived back exhausted. The 1.6 km uphill of Raven Ramble was in full sun and we got a little over heated. Still, it is a delightful tour. This time around we saw 2 woodpeckers working over a tree. And on Ravers Ramble, a huge cat shit on top of the new grooming. Maybe a cougar. It could not have been very far away. Maybe watching us. We did not hang around to meet him/her.
22 Feb – Another clear sky last night after a very warm day yesterday. We went out for a skate – Holy Cow off the top of Morrissey again. We were the first down. Absolutely perfect grooming. Beautiful. We got down Holy Cow quite fast, so we added a little loop of uphill to get a bit more practice skating uphill practice. We are both improving. After getting so exhausted yesterday, we thought doing anything much today would be too much. However, we got around very well indeed – our fitness level and our form must be improving. Until we were almost back at the Morrissey base, we had met only 4 people. Had a talk to the x-country ski patroller. A nice young woman. Only been here a short time.
This afternoon we went to visit our friend George. George is a 74 year old retired GP from Geelong. We have known George from the morning lift line for about 10 years. He had a bad prang on Tuesday and has broken 4 ribs and his scapula. He is sort of ok for a 74 year old with broken ribs.
Peter (another morning lift friend), who was with him at the time, said that they were just leaving the eatery at the top of Sunburst where they had had a break (lunch?), George had stepped into his skis and was moving off looking at his bindings and skiing on one ski, when a snowboarder fell on him. George was on the snowboarder’s heel-side (blind-side) and so she could not see him. Both had started off at the same time and neither was going very fast. The snowboarder fell on top of George and the tangle of his skis and her board probably caused the trauma.
George was taken to the ski patrol centre where they kept him for a few hours. Then, he was driven down to Kamloops Hospital where they kept him a lot longer. He has been taking it easy in his condo and planning how to get back to Oz. Still planning to be back next year.
23 Feb – a cloudy day, nowhere nearly as warm as the last few days. Much of the snow/ice in the car parks has melted. In places leaving treacherous clear ice. Geoff managed to fall over on a patch of this clear ice in the car park. Getting to the start of the x-country trail is the trickiest part. We did the same tour as yesterday. Plus a little bit more of the uphill of the MacGilvray trail. Helen keeps asking why we find the skating uphill so interesting. Our skill level has increased to the point that we can skate up most things. Our fitness lets us down, though, and we can only do about 200 metres uphill at a time before we have to stop and get the heat level, breathing and pulse rate back under control. Every time we skate uphill we improve something. We are a long way from being able to skate up Holy Cow – something that a few of the locals do every day for practice. The downhill part of skating we are also getting better at – with fewer snow ploughs and more step turns to get around corners – and that can be scary. A lot more people out on the tracks today. This was the busiest day we have seen.
24 Feb – another sunny warm day. Getting from here at the condo, across the car park, over the road and across the bridge to the start of the x-country trail (a distance of no more than 200 metres) is by far the trickiest part of the day. Ice melt from yesterday, which had been running as water, freezes again overnight making a treacherous surface. Once we get to the snow, just on the other side of the bridge, all is fine. The plastic soles of the x-country boots just makes it more difficult. Anyway, we did a bigger tour today, and skated up Blue Grouse – a blue run,1.6 km uphill, same length as Ravens Ramble and parallel(ish) to it but steeper. We have been intimidated by it in the past because it has a sign for a steep hill beside it on the map. Today, we got up it quite well. A very nice way to practice going uphill.
25 Feb – after skating every day for the last several, we decided we needed a day off or at least an easy day. Sooo, we did our Holy Cow – Great Grey loop – with the added bit of skating up Moose Track and back down it to the Holy Cow/Great Grey junction. So we did about 14 km.
26 Feb – a day off the x-country and we went downhill for a change. Back to the usual runs – Sting was ok. Broadway (which was the groomers choice) was icy all the way down – difficult skiing. We had three runs on Morrissey – but the snow was not holding well so we came in early. Flurries of snow all morning – not much more than a trace. We thinking about a little x-c after lunch but decided we would be smart not to go out.
We went out for a drink at the Delta with Lynda of the British Ski Club who we met again today.
Helen continued her cleaning of the condo. She has done a little each day. She has now finished washing all the venetian blinds, wiped and vacuumed everything in sight and cleaned all the filters. Geoff read his book.
Sun Peaks trip 2008 - week 5
Tuesday, 26 February 2008