Tory Leader Ousted

In Canada!

Happy is a Spaniel in snow!
Thu Feb 3rd 

I don't know what it is about Tory leaders but they seem to be, or were, in a precarious position.

If you were hoping the headline referred to the UK, I am sorry to disappoint but it is the leader of the Canadian Conservative Party, Erin O'Toole, who has upset his MP's and been ousted.  Boris hangs on in there!

We escaped up to Nick and Lizzie's apartment in Whistler for a few days on Tuesday, which is located in Whistler-Creekside.  We have always tended to stay up in Whistler-Blackcomb alongside the ski-run that returns to the main lift up the mountain.


Pony Trail Piste down to the Creekside Gondola
Nick & Lizzie chose Creekside as it's quieter and well located for Nita and Alta lakes.  Having been up here during the summer we can see the advantages of being a 5 minute walk to lakes and in winter the same to the Creekside Gondola.  Tuesday was a beautiful 'bluebird' day and we got up the hill at lunchtime for a few hours.  Wednesday was overcast but still very skiable.  There had been a reasonable dump of snow last weekend so the skiing was good.  Both days we had snow that squeaked under the skis and dusted in to the air on our turns....  powder perfect!

When I skied with Nick one Sunday after Christmas, the resort was heaving.  Then the lift queues were long, but went down fairly quickly.  


No queues
This week we did not have any queues on any lift and could not believe how quiet Whistler was.  When we took the Peak to Peak Gondola across from Blackcomb to Whistler after a rather pleasant lunch at Christine's, we were the only two people in a cabin that can take 22 seated and six standing (we have seen more crushed in and standing in the past). 

The runs were similarly quiet and we would often go stretches without seeing other skiers, thinking 'no one else is here, did we take a wrong turn somewhere?'





Olympic Park Ski Jumps

Thursday we took a break from the mountain.  It was snowing and visibility would not have been great.  Instead we drove down to the Whistler Olympic Park to go snowshoeing and have a mooch around.  

The park was built for 2010 Winter Olympics.  Located in the Madeley Creek basin in the Callaghan Valley, west of Whistler it hosted the biathlon, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, and ski jumping events, all of these are still active. 

I could see Fred eyeing up the ski-jumps but talked her out of having a go.


We set off on our first dog friendly snowshoe trail only to find that the hardly used trail still had a lot of soft snow which came up to Jack's shoulders.  There was no way he was going to make it round, so we detoured off around the Nordic ski trails, keeping to the side to avoid the skiers.  We see very few spaniels in Canada, but there were three other Springers out with skiing owners, trotting round the trails.
Jack up to his neck!



After going A over T back  on the ice in Gibsons we finally got a chance to try our new crampon overshoes, that have small studs underneath.  Brilliant and much easier for getting around some of the Creekside lake trails and tracks that were solid ice.

They really do work exceedingly well!








On our walks around Whistler in the summer and more recently we were struck that we hadn't noticed any freight trains passing through on the line up from Vancouver, via Squamish, Whistler, Lillooet and on to the north of BC.

After the summer wildfires and the devastating fire that raised Lytton to the ground, Canadian National Railways announced they were routing more freight on this line.  We have seen no sign and on this visit, the track was deep in snow and appeared to have been for some time.

Google searches have failed to establish if the line is no longer being used, or just closed for the winter, rather than have to maintain and keep open in an area that is usually affected by heavy snow.


Squamish to Lillooet rail line deep in snow

Peak to Peak cable car - 4.4km long, 49 seconds between cars, 11 minutes across.
Highest in the world, now no longer the longest

Giant chairs alongside Alta Lake

Nick and I canoed/paddled across this in the summer

Alta Lake swimming platform - somewhere under the snow









Comments

  1. BobFebruary 4, 2022 at 2:47 AM

    Oh well - I think we are slowly getting there at long last. Still waiting for some action skiing footage especially A over T! Great looking snow.

    ReplyDelete
  2. BobFebruary 4, 2022 at 7:55 AM

    Which point is that a comment on?

    ReplyDelete

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