JB/Feb 11/Whitewater
Tried out Nelson's local hill, Whitewater, for the first time. As ever, the approach road is a bit mental. We stopped to pick up a couple of hitchers on the way but then couldn't get started again on the steep unploughed snowtrack so we had to back down to the flats half a kilometre back, then load up with even more hitchers to get weight over the rear wheels. As a result we arrived in style with six hitching snowboarders in the the bedroom and two hanging off the back.
Whitewater's only got the two lifts but the snowfall is great, there are glades and small bowls to explore, and the people are really friendly and laidback. We can even plug the truck in by the lifts for the night for a mere $5 bucks if we want to. Skiing-wise the main idea seems to be to ignore the pistes and head straight over the top into the backcountry powder and trees (hence the hitchers dotted all along the approach road). It's important to time backcountry ventures carefully here because as the sign shows the avalanche gunners on this range seem to practice a lot. I guess they don't train the avalanche dogs to fetch, though.
Tried out Nelson's local hill, Whitewater, for the first time. As ever, the approach road is a bit mental. We stopped to pick up a couple of hitchers on the way but then couldn't get started again on the steep unploughed snowtrack so we had to back down to the flats half a kilometre back, then load up with even more hitchers to get weight over the rear wheels. As a result we arrived in style with six hitching snowboarders in the the bedroom and two hanging off the back.
Whitewater's only got the two lifts but the snowfall is great, there are glades and small bowls to explore, and the people are really friendly and laidback. We can even plug the truck in by the lifts for the night for a mere $5 bucks if we want to. Skiing-wise the main idea seems to be to ignore the pistes and head straight over the top into the backcountry powder and trees (hence the hitchers dotted all along the approach road). It's important to time backcountry ventures carefully here because as the sign shows the avalanche gunners on this range seem to practice a lot. I guess they don't train the avalanche dogs to fetch, though. No cliffs for me this time. I found an underground river to almost fall into.
JB/Feb 12/Potholing
Spent the day today at Ainsworth Hot Springs. All very nice, but in the underground caves all I could think of was the egg-cavern scene in 'Aliens'. Emily drove us back to Nelson afterwards. Her first long distance drive, this isn't an easy run in a normal car and bloody difficult in a 30' truck. She did brilliantly, we're both alive and the truck's unmarked. Now how many of you would have bet on that? Ya, boo and sucks.
JB/Feb 12/Son of Shit Wagon III (it just won't go away)
Why do I have a hate/hate relationship with our sewage hose? When you're tryng to wrestle a shit-filled six foot blue slinky back into a too-small carrier bag in sub-zero temperatures, 'slippery lil sucker' just doesn't cover it.
JB/Feb 12/Pool shark
For all those of you who questioned what sort of influence I might have on Emily, all I can say is 'Look at that bridge, goddamit. Perfect form. Right arm perpendicular...' Oh, and she's just announced she'll be able to kick MacLeod's arse by the time we return. Come on. Thursday week would be perfectly reasonable. Over to you, Iain.
JB/Feb 13/Back to school
Took a boarding lesson at Whitewater today to help sort out my erratic form while Em plotted the Central American leg of our trip. The session couldn't have been better: black diamond tree runs at speed following my instructor, no problem. Landing jumps from drop ins and kickers, easy. Switch to regular 180s off lips, piece of cake. Elated I went back out to practice on my own, hit nine trees head on, failed to land a single jump correctly, and even tripped getting off the chair lift. Money well spent.
JB/Feb 12/Potholing
Spent the day today at Ainsworth Hot Springs. All very nice, but in the underground caves all I could think of was the egg-cavern scene in 'Aliens'. Emily drove us back to Nelson afterwards. Her first long distance drive, this isn't an easy run in a normal car and bloody difficult in a 30' truck. She did brilliantly, we're both alive and the truck's unmarked. Now how many of you would have bet on that? Ya, boo and sucks.
JB/Feb 12/Son of Shit Wagon III (it just won't go away)
Why do I have a hate/hate relationship with our sewage hose? When you're tryng to wrestle a shit-filled six foot blue slinky back into a too-small carrier bag in sub-zero temperatures, 'slippery lil sucker' just doesn't cover it.
JB/Feb 12/Pool sharkFor all those of you who questioned what sort of influence I might have on Emily, all I can say is 'Look at that bridge, goddamit. Perfect form. Right arm perpendicular...' Oh, and she's just announced she'll be able to kick MacLeod's arse by the time we return. Come on. Thursday week would be perfectly reasonable. Over to you, Iain.
JB/Feb 13/Back to school
Took a boarding lesson at Whitewater today to help sort out my erratic form while Em plotted the Central American leg of our trip. The session couldn't have been better: black diamond tree runs at speed following my instructor, no problem. Landing jumps from drop ins and kickers, easy. Switch to regular 180s off lips, piece of cake. Elated I went back out to practice on my own, hit nine trees head on, failed to land a single jump correctly, and even tripped getting off the chair lift. Money well spent.
1 comment:
just read in paper 'skiers heading to North America face headache'
watch out for symptoms of altitude sickness
these include light-headedness, headache,confusion and breathing difficulties..............
sorry, I thought that was callrd something else xxx
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