Archive for the 'Travel' Category

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Anticipation

snowfall last night did not reach forecast amount, only 5 cm. we wont be in any rush to get up the mountain. It is forecast to snow theoughtout the day, but the winds have picked up a good amount. Looks like storm riding today.

Rogers Pass

with todays non-riding day we took a short drive to Rogers Pass and Glacier National Park. Moutain pass where the railway came through and quite succeptable to avalanches. Nice mountaneous area, not any one big easy accessed big tourist feature, its more an area you go hiking/snowshoe/xc ski/climbing/backcountry boarding. 

Been cloudy all day and it started snowing while we were are visitor center. Figured we better head back to town before it really started snowing.

Low motivation

Yesterday morning motivation was low and fatigue high. It was past noon by the time we got to the mountain. No lines tho! Conditions were ok, weve ridden in worse and there still were little patches of nice softies. On our very first run, we did make the mistake of getting into mogul land. That was punishing and no fun. Found better lines later and by end of day finding our snow legs. It was a good warm up day.

This morning motivation is low again. No new snow overnight. We bought 5 day passes which gives us one open day. I think we’re going to take that today and take the day off from riding since it looks like the rest of the week may be epic. The forecast has shifted, 36cm tonight, 31 tomorrow, tapering off to 13 thursday.

Day to explore town and find more good food!

Powder potential

Kelowna airport small but has everything, jetways, bagage carrousel, carrental counters, bus shuttle to Big White & Revelstoke, a Tim Hortons. The car rental gave us option of BMW X3 or Heap Grand Cherokee. Would have liked to check out the BMW but the Jeep had snow tires, this time at a reasonable $10/day upcharge. Made a stop at MEC, the REI of BC, where i was once again ashopping yenta and did a healthy contribution to Canada’s economy buying new Scarpa hiking shoes. I did need them as both my pairs gave up the ghost just weeks before the trip. The drive from Kelowna to Revelstoke was uneventful, arrived in the dark but no fog this time. Drove over to town where the streets were deserted, but the Vietnamese restaurant (not single south asian in sight) was pretty busy. It was decent but nothing to write home about. Quite a bit lighter than what wed get at home. The vermicelli fish sauce dressing was much sweeter.

Once again the parking lot of the Sandman hotel was full of trucks hauling snow machines. Eating myTimmy’s smore donut for dessert. Should know by now that the seasonal specialty donuts are intense sugar bombs. 

Its now Sunday morning. Were being lazy as no significant snowfall for last few days. Checking forecast however shows that the prediction for ths week has gone up. Its expected to start tomorrow middayband peak tuesday with a forecast 51cm for Tuesday! It might be heavy snow though, temps are warm with this system. Anyway, taking it slow today, might check out the avy demos theyre holding today. Avy dogs are cool.

Angry Mongols

after all these years of visiting Whistler Blackcomb, I finally ate at Mongolie Grill. I guess before you make a judgement, you have to try it. My judgement is I do not need to go back. It’s not awful. Let me take a step back and describe it. You pick out your own ingredients from a self serve salad bar type layout. Selection of noodles vegetables and meats. Ladle on a sauce. Then take it to cooks manning a giant grill where they stir fry your selections while you watch. They occasionally will entertain with some teppanyaki style juggling and food tossing. You are charged by weight, which quickly adds up. In fact, this meal ended up being my most expensive meal in Whistler!  So not worth it. In fact, Build Your Own Bowl that just opened in Hawaii Kai does the same thing but Ina casual dinning setting for $10 a bowl that tastes almost as good. True it doesn’t have sockeye salmon, scallops or ribeye, but then it doesn’t cost $35 either.

2 out 4 Mongolian Monkeys, the value isn’t there.

Good Morning Beer

 Getting ready to leave Whistler, gotta finish the beer!

Final ride

Final day was a iffy weather day so we decided to stay in the Whistler area instead going down to Squamish like we wanted. Rode Deliniator, Sh!t happens, Big Kahuna and back. Weather turned out ok, overcast no rain. Trail pretty technical, a few rock slabs, fun but I was totally tapped on the way back and riding in survival mode. No amount of bars and energy gels was doing any good.

Ride? Day secen

Weather clearing today, overcast patches of blue sky, not actively raining. K-man is on the way, getting ready to go meet him in village.

The plan was an easy Lost Lake warmup. We did Cut Yer Bars, which turned out to be pretty challenging, then came back Through Lost Lakes.

Ride day six

 Another wet day, spent morning cleaning drivetrain of the serious grit accumulated over the past two days. Rain eased in afternoon and we headed out to ride Rockwork Orange, Korova Milk Bar, Wizards Burial Ground. It’s preceded by a horrible gravel climb, but the trio of technical descents are worth it to us.  A couple scuffs and scratches, but everyone survived intact. Ckuckey pulled off cleaning the double black diamond section on Wizard’s too!

Riding Day 3

Delivered Akron to the airport. The rain was forecast to ease at noon so we spent the morning in Richmond and Vancouver visiting MEC (Canada version of REI) and Dunbar Cycles. We then headed back to Squamish and geared up. Headed up the creatively named Climb trail. It is however appropriate as it is a pretty good uphill slog. The goal was to hit Fred, Lower Powermouth, Plum Smuggler and Word of Mouth. With the rain it got chilly at times, humid and warm at others. The trails when we got to them were enjoyAble. Moderately high technical with root and rocks, but nothing too severe. Generally downhill but a fair bit of rolling up and downs.

We made it out intact and in tired but good spirits.