Expedition Canada

Blue Sky in Whistler!!!!! Fred on the Piste - not overly busy Before I get on to Whistler ........ In my early BBC career I spent a couple of years working at the BBC’s Television Centre (TVC), in west London.  This was long before the BBC flogged it and it was turned into an apartment hotel and restaurant complex, plus a few TV studios for the industry to use as a nod to its history.   Amongst other things I did a stint as a studio supervisor and worked on the Two Ronnies, Morecombe & Wise and Top of the Pops.  Anyone remember Pan's People? Phwoar! Interesting times. TV Centre was huge and had several thousand staff. The restaurant block, on three floors, included a waitress service restaurant on the '2nd floor' where stars were entertained by their producers over long lunches and the odd glass of wine.  This was the late 70’s before ‘hair shirts’ and the critical public attention the BBC gets today.   Occasionally, a couple of fellow wor...

The Sea to Sky Highway Wed August 16 Sea to Sky Highway in the 50's I have no idea how many times we have driven the Sea to Sky Highway to get to and from Whistler, and beyond.  The first time was in 2013, when Ros spent a year working for ZipTrek, having transferred from their operation in NZ.   We have seen it when the snow started at the Vancouver end and at times when only when we've got close to Whistler has the snow been evident.  The first half of the drive runs along Howe Sound, until just before Squamish, when the gentle climb starts up to Whistler.  The road has not changed in the ten years we've been driving it, though it is very different to the 50's when the road was on a par with today's Forest Service Roads.   The road we know today was originally started during the early 1900's when copper mining started at the Britannia Mine (1904), just below Squa mish.  There is believed to be an older First Nations trading trail before that....

Snow Atop, Lakes Melted Thu Apr 13th A beer in Merlin's to rehydrate! If you think about it, there is something slightly odd about forcing your feet into footwear, which either at the beginning or end of the day, or indeed all day, make your feet feel like what I imagine young Chinese girls felt when their feet were broken and bound to create Lotus feet. Probably won't be so quiet Easter weekend Having dressed in multi-layers of warm clothing that have you glowing under exertion or shivering when seated, you then strap two 'planks of wood' to your feet and ascend the nearest alp (usually in the face of a howling gale) before arriving at the top in a state of suspended animation from the cold.  At that point, you hurl yourself off the top of said alp in a variety of styles and speeds, aiming to reach the bottom in one piece, before doing it all over again, and again.  If you are lucky there will be sufficient light/visibility to show all the bumps and dips on the way dow...