Powtastic Weekend

Ok, it's been snowing a lot. The planned trip for Heady, Nick and myself to the Asulkan Hut was changed due to insane amounts of snow and sketchy avalanche conditions in the alpine. Not to worry. The spontaneity of Karl, Jo and Al allowed us to experience some of the deepest and lightest snow around. We spent the weekend skiing the trees in Grizzly Shoulder just above Glacier Park Lodge in Roger's Pass. No joke, it snowed over 1 m in 3 days!!! There was so much snow that you needed to time your breathing between turns as not to inhale the snow.

Nick (aka Mr. Beardsickle) taking a dip.

Face shots anyone?

Karl holding his breath. I wasn't kidding about timing your breathing.

I'm in there somewhere...

Jo with her frequently observed Pow Grin. Sorry Al, this was the only picture we got of you, nice legs though...

Unfortunately, they closed the highway on Sunday night and "forced" us to stay another night. The sun came out on Monday morning and we were treated to a blue bird day.

Heady in a opening on Grizzly.

Karl skiing the steeps. Any less of a pitch on the slope and we would have been stuck!

Better than work?

Tryst Lake

We discovered a jem in K-Country! I think the ski gods rewarded Heather after having to work while I skied in the pass. Despite several days of really intense wind, we discovered a little heaven of fresh snow in the chutes above Tryst Lake. The guidebook warned us that some of the chutes were pretty steep... this was putting it mildly! The first chute we came to was a 30 footer into a straight line. Needless to say, we declined. However, we found 3 amazing, but still steep, chutes that looked great. We only had time for one run, but the recon mission is complete and we'll be back again soon!

Heady halfway down the chute. These were her first "real" turns of the year. Looking pretty good for the first day!

As you can see, there is plenty of terrain to choose from...

Kinda gives you an indication of how steep it was.

A look back up our chute.

New Years at Roger's Pass

What a treat to come home to... After the balmy temperatures in Ontario it was pretty exciting to hear about the conditions in Roger's Pass. Nick, Lindsay, and I were pleasantly surprised to find untracked snow in and around Balu Pass. We spend a couple of days skiing and Lindsay got her first taste of backcountry pow!

On the way up through Urses trees. The peak in the background is Sir Donald.

On this day we made our way up to 8812 bowl at the end of the Conaught Creek drainage. It's quite a hike to get up there (about 4 hrs) but well worth the views and long run down to the valley bottom.

This is the ski run that awaited us... Stupid poachers...

The last ascent up a pretty steep ridge.

Almost there...

Finally at the top of Bruin's Pass where we could access the bowl.

Lindsay meet pow...

Nice New Year's treat!

Baja - Part 1

Six months in the making, a sea kayaking trip in the Sea of Cortez off the coast of Baja was what we all needed to cure the transition season blues! Heather and I have visited some beautiful places, but never with 6 of our friends on an isloated island. The group of us (Heather, Jen, Aric, Jay, Sharon, Steph and Shawn) spent 7 fantastic days travelling around Isla Espiritu Santo. It was an unforgetable time and Baja2 is in the works for next year.

This is a satelite photo of the island. We travelled counter-clockwise and our campsites are marked in red. The entire trip was about 70 kms.

Fearless paddlers on the first day. We took a boat (skiff) ride out to the island from La Paz.
The weather for the first few days was a little cloudy, but still offered some amazing sights.



Not a bad way to wake up.

Gathering the troops before breakfast.

I am a rockstar!

The island was much more mountanous that we had anticipated. Despite being in the desert, the landscape was really diverse.

Our guides, Manuelito and Fransisco.

Some cool caves along the coast.

The one-armed-amputee crab didn't stand a chance!

It was pretty easy to feel separated from work, cities, people, you name it!

Baja - Part 2

The majority of these pictures are from the east side of the island. It is much more exposed on this coast, but the weather co-operated and the winds calmed down. However, we did start one day with 2 m swells! Stark contrast to the pictures below.

The view from behind our beach site.

Isolation on the beach...

The water was crystal clear.

Yaj, Norahs, Dowling and Paco.

See what I mean about the isolation.

Dowling in fine form.

A rare picture of the photographer.

Storky along the coast. This side of the island was really rugged and we had cliffs towering overhead.

Steph paddling in to our last beach.

2.5 miles of white sand beach, all to ourselves!

Sunrise on our last morning.

Our last shot on the island. None of us wanted to leave...

Anniversary Photoshoot

Our friend Al made me look like a hero! As an anniversary gift for Heather, he agreed to take some pictures of the two of us. As you can see, Al is incredibly talented and we are so thankful for his generousity. If anyone is interested in a phenomenal photographer for weddings, anniversaries, family portraits, he's your man. Check out his work at www.alanmaudie.com.