Knox Mountain

We didn't stray too far from home this weekend. Our get-up-and-go deserted us. Short days, really cold weather, you get the picture. In four winters of living in Kelowna we've never seen such consistently low temperatures. Lots of snow too. Except for revealing how poorly insulated a 96-year old house can be, it's been great!

We managed to pull ourselves away from the wood stove for just long enough to trek up Knox Mountain. I had high hopes that some of the grassy slopes might be holding just enough snow for a few decent turns. Alas, not quite. There was no base at all underneath the powdery snow and the tufts of long brown grass seemed perfectly designed for catching ski tips. After two cartwheeling crashes I called it a day.

We ran into David who was out snowshoeing with his dog. We know him from a trip to the Asulkan Hut last year. We also saw a couple of other folks out there skiing too. We didn't have time to say hello. Any of you guys?

December 20th 2008


December 23rd 2007

Apex Backcountry

We spent Sunday skiing with Ron and Sid near Apex Resort. Ron knows the area really well and was tour guide for us throughout the day. We made a few turns but mainly just wanted to connect some of the dots from our previous visits to Apex. The snow pack is still marginal so it's just as well that we were out for a tour.

It was a seriously cold day. I don't think it got any warmer than -19C. Okay Pat you're laughing at us. I guess three years in the Okanagan has thinned my blood.

We saw loads of moose tracks, enjoyed a bit of sun, and basically just kept moving to stay warm!

Ron shows us his shortcut

Ursus Trees

Finally we got out skiing again this weekend. Just for one day on Sunday. A big system came through and dumped 50cm of snow in the Rogers Pass area. The driving was nasty. Vehicles were stuck all over the place in the Visitor's Center parking lot. It was a bit of a zoo.

Despite all of the new snow and the attendant avalanches roaring down off of Cheops it's still looking shrubby in the Connaught Drainage. The Grizzly slide path is choked with alder. But as usual once into the alpine the skiing is fine.

My camera crapped out again so we have few photos from our day out -- just one from Fred and another taken last year showing our runs. I wonder if Santa Claus reads blogs?





But despair not, dear reader, at this meager fair! At this scanty validation of our day of toil! A boring Friday night, some very fine Scotch, and lots of old video have together conspired to bring you the first and only Fast-Freddy Fanboy video for your viewing pleasure.




Sorry Fred.