17.12.05
Posted in Canada at 10:30 am by AB
Well it’s only just over a week until karen arrives from Australia to spend a few weeks of her summer holidays here in Wintery Cananda. While she is here we are heading up to Calgary and the Rockies. That area of Canada is meant to be spectacular so hopefully the weather is kind to us and gives us some nice sunny days to go with the -10 and lower temps that we are bound to enjoy.
So i’ll make sure there are plenty of Photos taken and uploaded onto the website.
Karen arrives boxing day and on the 28th we fly to Calgary, and spend two night there, then we are hiring a car and spending 2 nights (and new years in Banff) then 3 nights in Jasper, before 2 nights in Edmonton. In Edmonton i intend hitting up this place… The West Edmonton mall. It is evidently the world’s largest, complete with indoor theme park, water park, ice rink, and lots more. Hitting up the indoor waterpark while it’s -15 outside sounds like fun.
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Posted in Canada at 10:20 am by AB
The store i work at had it’s staff Christmas Party the other night. We all went to the owners house where Karen the owner cooked up a wonderful roast beef that kept us all fed. Art made a dent in the owners Red Wine Collection with his fish like consumption (although he was not the only one helping).
There are some photos of the staff party online at the gallery.
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15.12.05
Posted in Canada at 10:16 am by AB
So i had my new skis and i was ready to try them out. Karl had said he was interested in a day’s skiing, and we had set the date for last Monday the 12 December. Karl picked me up at 6am and after a stop at the Starbucks just around the corner we were headed north for the just under two hour drive to Whistler-Blackcomb. One of Canada’s most famous ski resorts, North America’s biggest and host of the 2010 Winter Olympics. It had been a few years since i had been on skis so i was looking forward to getting back into the swing of things, and there was no better place to do it. Karl is a bit of a gun on skis so it was to be a bit of an easy day for him skiing with me on the blue runs when he is probably used to spending all his time on the double black diamonds.
Anyway after arriving in Whistler and kitting up and picking up my lift pass, it was onto the Gondola for the ride up the hill. The resort at Whistler is at about 600m above sea level. The Peak is close to 2200m asl. When conditions are good you can ski top to bottom. However as it is still early in the ski season here in Canada and most of the snow at Whistler is up the top on the higher ground. In fact it was still early season skiing and because of that the lift tickets were cheaper than they usually are. It was possible to ski down to the Mid Station of the Gondola if you picked the right trails, however Karl and i stayed up top.
The weather started off ok but as the day went on it got very overcast and foggy, especially on the upper-upper slopes, so there were not a lot of photos. As the day wore on we moved on to progressively harder terrain as i started to recall how this skiing thing was done. So Karl decided to move on the other side of the top peak. Karl claimed he hadn’t skiied that side of the hill and that we’d be alright, however when we came across this sign i wasn’t exactly insipred with confidence…
I managed to get down in one piece so that was something. At the end of the day it was karl who fell more than i did. Although he fell when he was trying to pull tricks, i just fell because i can’s ski!
At 3pm it was time to head back down to the village (the lifts close at 3 as it is completely dark at about 4:30 they need time to get people off the mountain), as you can’t ski down completely just yet it was back onto the Gondola and ride that back to the village. We then dumped all the stuff back into the car and had a look around the village. It was just like i had imagined that a proper ski village should be. All linked together by paved walkways and streets. We had a look around the village where the shops range from expensive name brand clothing retailers to starbucks. Also there is an abundance of Pubs and Eating establishments. I imagine it would be a great place to stay, albeit expensive.
After a stop at Starbucks it was time to head back to the car and back to Vancouver. I’m glad Karl was driving as the conditions did not make for a relaxing drive. So it was a successful first day of skiing, hopefully the first of many with my new gear.
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07.12.05
Posted in Canada at 5:08 pm by AB
Well Winter has begun to set in here in Canada. Vancouver being near/on the Pacific Coast remains more temperate then the rest of the country so it tends to be warmer. However that didn’t stop it from getting cold enough to snow a few times last week. Early Tuesday morning it began snowing but later in the day it turned to rain and left the ground all slushy and wet. Not like the picture postcard stuff you see in photos.
Karl lives up the hill at the University. It’s about 4-5km from here. However it is up the hill. (About 100m elevation difference.) The freezing level must have been somewhere between sea level and Karl’s because on Thursday went i went to Karl’s to babysit Molly. I decided to get a run in and therefore ran up there. As i ran through the trails the higher i got the more snow and ice that was laying on the trails. Until it got to the stage where you were running on hard packed snow about an inch deep on the trail. A good novelty. In fact over a week later certain parts of the trails are still covered in and surrounded by ice, it certainly makes running fun. I have been running several times a week with Laura, one of the other employees at the store. The ice certainly adds a new dimension to a run.
Anyway up at the Uni the ground was covered in hard packed snow about 1-2 inches deep and all the roads were real icy. While i was babysitting Molly we got the Heiden’s toboggan out and went across the road to the ovals where there is a slope on the grass and played on the toboggan. Not a bad way to kill an hour and a bit with a nealry three year old.
With all the snow i was starting to get itchy about doing some skiing. One of the other staff at the store, Panda (read Adam) used to work in the snow business before joining Forerunners. So Panda and I hit up the ski shops on Friday looking for some bargains. About 4 hours later i was ready to go. Boots, Skis, Bindings, Poles, the whole kit for less than $660 Canadian. All good quality stuff too. The skis were the best bargain, originally $719, i got them for $199. Today i got the call from the store that they were about to mount the bindings to the skis and they will be ready to go. Just in time for Karl and I to head to Mt Baker in Washington State, USA for some skiing next Monday. So i am looking forward to that.
Then after the marathon ski shop effort, i went Ice skating with Laura from the shop and some of her friends. Lucky all that time spent on rollerblades earlier in life came in handy and i was not to shabby on the ice for an Australian. Todd the manager from the store also turned up and he was all excited that i could actually skate. He said i was already a better skater than one of the guys on his hockey team. Which at the end of the day isn’t that much considering that he is a 300 pound Australian. But it’s a start.
So winter here is underway, and i hope to get plenty of snow in now that i have my new skis. I already have a 3 day trip to Sun Peaks in February planned as well. So it’s looking good.
Game on…
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