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Published: February 21st 2009
Last Saturday we went on our snowshoeing excursion to the Lost Lake. Snow shoes are great as they make it really easy to walk along even fairly icy slopes. Iain who had been quite indifferent was immediatley converted and even made noises about getting some of his own. Walking took a bit of getting used to as they make your feet about twice as wide and at least twice as long so you have to adjust your stance for that otherwise you are forever treading on yourself increasing the potential for tripping over. The trail we followed lead us through the woods, it was a lovely sunny afternoon and very peaceful tramping along in the snow listening out for hungry bears (think that was just me, in case the sunshine had woken them early). The trees have a lot of lichens and mosses attached to them which gives an aged slightly other worldly appearance, many of them look as if they have been dressed with little tufts of green candyfloss. At points the footpath meets the cross country ski trails. That particular sport looks very much like hard work, it appears to be a motion somewhere between waddling and gliding and
not everyone we saw looked like they were having alot of fun, going uphill in particular seemed to cause some pain. Eventually we arrived at the Lost Lake which was completely frozen over, there were even a couple of people sat out enjoying the afternoon sun in the middle of it. It was a very nice spot with Blackcomb mountain as a backdrop. The trail on the way back went uphill quite steeply at some points and we were able to test the grip of our snowshoes to the full - conclusion very impressive. We had a great time and will definitely be going back to try some of the other trails.
This last week has been another one of sunshine, luckily it has been quite cold so the snow has stayed surprisingly ok. Iain has been trying his hand in the park with mixed success I believe, he needs to get out with some of the guys we have met over here so he can improve his moves. Apparently we should be due some snow on Sunday but I have pretty much stopped looking at the forecast because they never seem to deliver, Iain however seems to be
holding his faith. Yesterday, Friday, we had the day off and went to see the womens luge world cup at the Whistler sliding centre. It is truly amazing how fast they get round the course, I think the winning athlete reached a top speed of 89mph, and broke the track record. It must take some guts considering they are lying on their backs on what is basically a very technical sledge going along a tunnel of ice that is open on one side. Due to the speed it took us a few attempts to actually capture the action, but we managed to get a few ok shots. For anyone thats interested Germany got Gold, Silver and Bronze, I don't think the Canadian team did as well as hoped, and there was a mass exodus before the medal ceremony which we speculated maybe down to a touch of sour grapes perhaps???
Iain is on his Avalanche Course this weekend, it is two full days, 8am till 7pm today and 8am til 5pm tomorrow so I expect he will be exhausted. There is alot of hiking involved as they go off piste to learn about avalanche terrain, so he has hired
some snowshoes - good thing he had the practice last weekend. Iains brother Dave and friend Jon also arrived last night for their holiday so we took them out for a few beers which I think they were hoping would help with the jet lag by stopping them waking up at 5am. I am waiting to hear whether it just caused them to be awake at 5am with a hangover....
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