Didn’t feel like getting out of bed

But I am sure glad I did. Day 9 in a row and feeling like a break, so it was easy to lie in bed and think up a tonne of excuses. None seemed valid enough and Dave, Bryce and I headed up Volcan Nuevo.  Dave’s roommates , Sean and Sarah, used the lifts and were ahead of us and we finally caught up to them. Did I mention that it was windy around here?

We all made it to the top and enjoyed the summit together and then Dave and I headed down the SE chute, the first line I skied here. I had hopes it would be good  but it was wind slabbed, but ski-able.

Cool line though, I wish it was as good as the first time.

I am starting to understand  the mountains around here,  its more about being out and experiencing the mountains than the powder experience. Its about ski mountaineering, and not powder turns. Though you may get some sometimes its not a recurring theme. Luckily I just love being out there.

After Nievo, Dave and I skinned up Viejo and summited under 80km winds and then skied the West down to the Aqua Caliente river and toured back up and home. 9300 ft of good times.

Finally some sun and no wind

Which meant I could finally take the kids skiing and we would be able to enjoy ourselves.  There is potential at the hill but to pay 120$ for Tracey and me to take the kids skiing is not viable. But luckily they have a t-bar/poma lift at the bottom that costs 20 per adult. So we took Charley and Aiden skiing today. On our last day in Revelstoke Charley(4.7yrs) dropped the harness and started snowplowing her way down, and today she repeated this feat and did super well. Confidently carving her way down the little groomer, and most importantly really enjoying herself.  We also rode our first T-bar together.

And Aiden(3.5yrs) was doing well, laughing and enjoying himself. He still does not understand  the whole pizza wedge thing but he has fun and loves it so that’s all I can ask for.  It may be because the “treats” they enjoy while skiing.

Great times with kids and then at 3.45 pm I headed up and toured to the top of Volcan Nievo in 2hours and then pulled in another 2500 feet to tour 7500 ft. I can’t let up now.  Looking forward to a day off but not yet maybe tuesday. The sun sets at 6pm, and I had some great Alpen glow turns and then the stars were out for my final lap and they were gorgeous.

Rain, rain go away come back another season

Wow did it ever rain today, we headed up for a morning jaunt and barely made it out of the truck since it was raining sideways. It poured all day and finally changed to snow and let up in the evening. I thought I would take the kids skiing but instead we went and tried to poach a hotspring/pool at a hotel. Is tough being inconspicuous with two kids but we went for it. The hotspring would normally cost 28 $ per person and 14 for the kids, so a total of 84$ for the family. Not a realistic price to pay for anyone, especially since it was just for one dip. Anyhow, Tracey was too nervous so Stuart, the kids and I went for it. Funnily enough the pool was cold with barely any hot in it and we ended up freezing, and the kids were shivering and crying afterwards. Somehow we did not get caught but nor did we enjoy it.
Later in the day I headed up to get some more vertical and see what had happened in the mountains. Luckily the rain had changed to snow and I had three fun runs in the evening. I cannot imagine what the snowcat drivers think when they see me, headlamp on, charging up their runs. I don’t think this is a  normal situation here.  Anyways here I am with my suffer face on braving the winds…

Thanks William Blitz for your donation, don’t worry it won’t go towards super expensive hot springs!