Grizzly Disrupts Skiing

I liked the idea that a grizzly bear had brought disruption to the ski lift system in Whistler. The following morning the 'Special Event & Info' had been amended to 'Glacier Lift CLOSED - Having a mental health day'. A few runs later the details had been erased. I assume someone had taken offence at the reference to mental health. The lift operators are wags! I discover the Glacier chair-lift is out of action due to failed bearings on the gearbox that carries the main cable. Gutted! I liked the grizzly story. Fake news!

Quiet Slopes

We had three visits in the 2023/4 season, most of which were washed out, literally, due to warm temperatures, lack of snow and rain (we managed about 4 days skiing).

Our Christmas 2024 trip had low cloud and high winds that closed most of the alpine lifts. In contrast during the last week of Jan we had 3 consecutive beautiful 'bluebird' days.

The weather forecast for our 4th day led us to make an early escape as snow and wind was coming in.

Some friends who we saw Wednesday evening stayed on and Thursday's skiing was pretty horrible. The Sea to Sky Highway between Squamish and Whistler enjoyed vehicles pointing in the wrong direction, and general chaos ensued!

The good news is that the days we have done this season, means we are quids in on our seniors' season pass (I know we don't look it), which gives us summer and winter access for CA $920 (£510). The equivalent seniors' pass for the days we have skied would have been CA $1136. RESULT!! We're back on skis at the end of Feb. 😀

Spot the skier!

We could not believe how quiet the resort was. In three days, we only had one lift where we had to wait more than three minutes (it was about 4 mins), and the slopes were beautifully empty. Probably means prices will go up next year as the company that now owns the Whistler ski system, Vail Resorts, has year-on-year pushed up prices since they acquired Whistler.

There was one heart-stopping moment while we were watching the extreme skiers coming down 'Hawaii 50' - a back-country ravine so named because of the slope angle (it looks much steeper) and the surf wave style corniche at the top. One skier was about to ski down and whilst standing on the ledge to one side managed to fall off the ledge and down the rocky outside edge of the ravine and proceeded to slide down the mountain, remaining motionless. Half an hour later the skier was still there surrounded by ski patrol medics. We know not what the outcome was. We shall stick to the pisted runs.

Back from Whistler and the snow followed us home.

The first dump was insufficient to require the use of the snow-blower. Twenty centimeters arrived a couple of days later and the machine was out. Great fun. Thirty minutes instead of a couple of hours and job done. Clearing our 100ft drive by hand is a bit of a challenge as the slope inevitably means I end up on my backside. Not so with the machine.

Seven days on, and the snow still loiters on gardens though the roads are now clear.

Feb 5th and I was in Vancouver on a series of errands and appointments. The North Shore and Metro Vancouver were blanketed in snow. More than we'd had on the Coast.

Yacht move - Leg 1

I was expecting to head back to West Vancouver the following day to help a friend (Tony) pick up his new, pre-used yacht and sail it back to the Coast over two days.

The first leg to Gibsons, overnight in Gibsons (at home in the warm) then a second leg to up the Coast to Secret Cove.

The weather scuppered the trip with galeforce winds forecast in Howe Sound of up to 45 kts.

Tony had gone over a few days earlier to check the boat out and be ready for a decent weather window. As the wind and freezing temperatures set-in for a few days he accepted my offer to gather him up the day I was in town and return him to Secret Cove on the Coast.

Yacht move - Leg 2

Thunderbird Marina, where the boat is based, was covered in ice from the freshwater creeks running in, and the boat covered in about 10" of snow.

Why he couldn't have taken delivery of the boat in Spring, I don't know.

Driving him back up the Coast 101 hwy, the snow piled beside the road became deeper and the trees were pillars of white.

The road downhill to the house and the Marina was snow covered and local residents had parked up by the highway, clearly concerned about getting out of the village. Not a problem for the truck! It's pretty good in the snow. Why did I drive Land Rovers for 35 years?

While we have been playing in the snow, Nick has been introducing Sebby to skiing.

At 2.75 years old he has his first skis and boots. He's about a year younger than Nick was when we first put him on skis in Val d'Isere. I suspect it won't be long before he is beating us, and then his father and mother, down the slopes! Just turn up the sound! Not yet freestyle skiing as he is still tucked in between Nick's legs ......

The rhetoric coming from South of the border has uniquely had the effect of unifying Canadians, which few leaders in Canada have ever succeeded in doing.

We are rather hoping our Permanent Residency comes through before we are absorbed as the 51st state! It is something vehemently opposed here and anybody we have spoken to has stopped buying produce from the USA. It will be interesting to see where this ends up. Tariffs on, tariffs off and Sunday 25% on steel and aluminium (aka aluminum). Trump is certainly shaking up the established order.

Choirs have restarted and it's heads down learning the repertoire. The community choir has established a chamber choir subgroup, which I am delighted to have been invited to join, and we're specialising in the more challenging pieces of music. The rehearsals are great fun as we are getting stuck into the music with little stopping and starting which is a feature of the larger 60-strong choir.

Fred is back playing tennis and Mahjongg and has recently completed a chocolate tempering workshop organized by a local chocolate 'artist .... and I'm trying to lose weight!

We took a late afternoon walk into Gibsons this afternoon as the forest trails are still snowbound and because on a sunny afternoon Bonniebrook Ocean Beach Esplanade will be busy with at least 4 people!

Some more pics below.

Gibsons walkabout Sunday Feb 9th