Oh Canada....

The good thing about a good snow year is good snow. The bad thing I suppose is that that snow also falls on the roads.

We were used to some hairy road conditions for the drive up to Baker but then we were in for some more during our drive to Revelstoke. The first part was going over the Coquihalla pass. On the way up it got progressively more and more snowy, heaps of trucks stopped along the side putting chains on. I started to wonder if we were actually going to make it! Of course I'm exaggerating here cos it's probably just another snow day for local Canadians but was getting hairy.

We eventually made it and stopped in Merritt for some A&W. I think the boys appreciated this particular brand of burger. Jarrod took over the rest of the drive and got lumped with driving into Revelstoke in the dark, snowy night. I'd say he was concentrating pretty hard, I decided it was just better to go to sleep!

Once in Revelstoke though we were greeted by a VERY snowy city, the snowbanks were big but the main think was the roads were covered in snow. It definitely made us feel better about leaving our now beloved Mt Baker.

I also had a brush with the law this night. Pulling out of a gas station we decided to nip the wrong way up a one way street. The road actually looped around and who should we meet coming the other way? The RCMP. Thankfully he let me off!

We all went to sleep that night with the snow PUKING outside. I could see it out my window cos I had to leave it open cos once again my room was like a sauna! Anyway we had high hopes for tomorrow.

How deep?

I forgot to look at the snow report this morning but we were speaking to some guys in the spa today and they said over 20 inches in the last two days. It was definitely deep.

I didn't get onto Chair 6 again today and the goodness in the Canyon area, it was open but you needed backcountry gear and a partner. They did open it in the arvo but I didn't see that till later.

Instead I made do with some runs on Chair 8 and Gabl's off Chair 5. It's nice and steep there and I got some nice turns.

Having skied here 4 days we have already found our favourite runs by now. Mine included mostly lift line on Chair 4, 5 and 8. We also found some nice turns around Chair 3 but you needed to walk about 5 metres in fresh pow. It was quite deep and Jarrod had a few problems starting. Bruce was into it though and although it was short there were some nice deep turns in there; total white room heelside turns.

So today is our last day here so we skied till our legs fell off. I was definitely finished by the last few runs but you just can't finish early when there is so much snow about. To be fair it was getting pretty tracked by the end of the day but it's still fun.

It snowed again all day and there is more forecast for tomorrow. It's pretty hard to leave when conditions are this good but we have our schedule... Mt Baker has definitely lived up to the hype. Revelstoke has a tough act to follow.

Have I found it already?

There was always a chance I suppose. Mt Baker has a reputation for massive snowfall; it has a world record for the most snowfall in a season. We can't really have asked for a better start to this trip, bascially we have been skiing powder every day.

Today we got 7 inches overnight, and it PUKED all day to boot. All the way up I was wondering if we would actually be able to make it. I'm glad we did cos it was pretty great. The bummer was that Chair 6 was closed due to high winds which meant the remaining terrain would get tracked hard but that's okay.

We started off with a quick run on the green. I got a total white room turn ducking under the "no jumping" rope. It would be one of many. Bruce got stuck on this first run, that would also be one of many!

Then it was up to Chair 8. I took off for a few quick runs and in the end we all went at our own pace, the best way to do it on a powder day. Because it was so stormy the vis was pretty bad sometimes; but of course it was fine in the trees.

I ended out checking out some new terrain off Chair 5 and Chair 4. Found some really nice pitches, mainly lift line runs. It was pretty tracked but still plenty of soft stuff. Also found a nice tree run on the last pitch to chair 8.

Caught up with Bruce and Jarrod again later in the day and finished off with a few runs with them.

Easily the best day of the trip so far. The powder was definitely good. About thigh deep when you're ploughing though it on a flat part. The question now is will anything top this? If it snows again tonight then maybe....

Baker Day 2 - New Discoveries

Well the big dump never arrived and we woke up to "trace inches" as the snow report. There was still a light dusting over everything though and some plenty of new places to go exploring in.

We managed to get up to the hill a bit earlier this time and the carpark was much less full. Apparently for a Monday it was a bit busier than usual but the rest of the week might be better.

Chair 8 was the call for a start. Top to bottom. We continued on for a couple more runs and then Jarrod had to go into the lodge to warm up. So decided to check out Chair 6 which is only black runs; Bruce decided to come with me. There is some nice terrain here and with a big dump it would be pretty epic, some nice steep pitches into an area called Canyon.

Anyway Bruce and I decided to keep it simple but I couldn't resist some powder stashes and we ended out in a flat area filled with powder. It took us a little while to get out of there but once we did we found the terrain park. It's only the beginners one but it's still fun; a few boxes and a couple of jumps.

Jarrod kept doing runs on the green while we extracted ourselves from the powder and we finally met up with him in time for lunch.

The rest of the day was mainly done on chair 6. I found some nice runs into that Canyon area but it's a bit worrying dropping into there on your own not knowing where I'm going. So I either followed other people or stuck to what I know. It was good to know what was down there though.

Definitely a good day.

It pretty much snowed all day today and on a drive down to Maple Falls it puked hard, Bruce was driving; his first time. He made it there and back successfully but as we pulled into park in front of our apartment he almost hit another parked car; he must have just missed it by an inch! It's the last time he's driving.

Mt Baker delivers

Oops. Sleeping in of the first day isn't a good start! Nevermind. We got up and headed to the hill about 9:30!

I looked outside and there was no new snow on the ground or on the car. Oh well, we can hit up the groomers and warm up the legs right? Well i was sort of right and sort of wrong. They did have a snowfall last night (about 11 inches in 24 hours) and there was plenty of fresh around it seemed. The combination of it being a weekend and our late start didn't help me in my quest to have the best days skiing of my life but Bruce and Jarrod probably had it today.

We played around on the green runs first up and got some nice powder sections. Bruce and Jarrod were both getting used to being in powder but were loving it. We also did a lot of runs on Chair 8 and hit alot of the blues up there and tried to find as much powder as possible. I ducked into the trees now and then and found some little turns.

As usual i was feeling like an unco first up but by the end of the day I was starting to feel it a bit more. Plenty of time to get into it though!

By the end of the day Chair 8 was well and truly tracked and our legs were also fully done. It was a good day. We got some killer views of Mt Shuskan and played around on a little banked slalom.

There is more snow due throughout the week so hopefully we will get in some good turns. There is no snow on the ground at the moment but as I've learnt that doesn't mean much.

Fingers crossed.

Crossing the border again.

Last day in Van. I got up and met Jarrod and we both walked down to pick up the car. Hertz failed me on two counts this time around. The first was that the car didn't have sat nav and the second was that it wasn't quite as big as I thought it was going to be. We got a GMC Envoy, it was brand new (only 41 km on the clock) which was a small consolation but since I was so in love with the sat nav I couldn't be turned. Anyway we got a map in the end so we will make sure we don't get lost somewhere in BC later on.

We met up with Dean and Michelle first up at the West 4th board shops. Michelle was buying some new pants. Then we carted everyone up to MEC again so I could finish buying stuff there. Met up with Deb and Ryan who be at Big White also.

About an hour later we were done and some quick sightseeing was in order. My plans of using the GPS to find everything was gone but we managed to get to a very cold Deep Cove. I'd seen it better but today it was rather cold and slightly windy. Then we headed up Mt Seymour. On the way up it started snowing pretty hard out; quite cool. The boys were pretty stoked. We went up to the CBC carpark and did the full on tourist thing of getting out and throwing around snow! Everyone does it once I suppose! Then it was back down and off to Mt Baker.

We decided to follow advice and head to the Sumas border crossing, it was meant to be less busy and it was. The only delay was when Bruce and Jarrod decided to take photos at the border and had to get there cameras checked for incriminating photos.

The Mt Baker highway seemed really remote, just farm land. We managed to get to the office in Maple Falls just before it closed and carried on to our accommodation in Snowater in the dark.

It's a total palace really. Everything we need, heaps of room, flat screen tv! It's park of a "gated community" and has shared facilities like pools, and squash courts. I plan to head down to the river and do some exploring later too. Totally glad we paid extra and didn't stay in a dingy old motel. I guess we are just getting soft in our old age!

First day of snowboarding tomorrow!

Back to Canada for now...

I drove back to Canada today. Slept in though so didn't quite make it away as early as I had planned; must have been tired.

First order of the day was to check the coverage of the tennis Kirsten had recorded for me on Tivo. It was in HD and her flatmate had a massive LCD. The picture was real nice ;O)

Caught up with Kirsten for breakfast and she gave me a quick tour of her workplace. Pretty cool. Two gyms, soccer fields, pool, climbing wall, tennis courts, running tracks etc... I would never leave work!

Then it was full steam ahead for Vancouver. I was trying to make it back before the rental car place closed since I didn't know what the parking would be like around the hostel. I was aiming for 5:30pm but didn't make that time cos of the traffic in Vancouver. Thankfully I got the time wrong and the place closed at 6pm.

Once I returned the car I lugged all my shopping and bags back to the hostel. I must have looked like a homeless person but no one took a second look since there are so many other homeless around!

Caught up with Dean and Michelle for the first time tonight. Went to the Railway Bar and caught a bit of the solo piano accordion act that was playing that night. It was an "interesting" crowd, full of unusual characters.

Had two beers and that was it. Bedtime. More shopping tomorrow!

I love Sat Nav

Today I was going to drive down to see Kirsten in Portland and raid the Nike Employee store again. This time I got a car with Sat Nav. I have learnt to love this. Basically it let me drive around without having to worry about where I was going, like having a local person in the seat next to me telling me where to go. Brilliant. It allowed me to cruise into Portland and find pretty much anything I wanted.

The drive down wasn't as bad as last time, i didn't encounter massive traffic jams going through Seattle like I did on my last visit. It's a long drive though and I had to stop a few times to get food etc to keep me awake.

The damage at the Nike store wasn't too bad but I could have easily spent more. The had a ton of golf stuff in there. Clubs and all. Luckily I hate golf ;O)

I also stopped at a few other places, generally soaked in the views and caught up with Kirsten. All worth the 500km trip down.

The longest day; Toyko to Vancouver

Last day in Tokyo was pretty much a write off, we had time for breakfast and a quick visit to the market in the nearby temple area and then we had to leave for the plane. The big change this morning was that it was snowing! A total contrast to the last couple of days.

We made it to the airport with only a few minor hassles but with some luck and some local help we got there in plenty of time. We planned to take limited express but ended out on a different train that stopped heaps more; not a big deal.

Travelling into the US is always a hassle and this was no different. We all got questioned about our travel plans and then Bruce and Jarrod got called for a random baggage check!

I ended up with a window seat again but the nice surprise is that this plane had little TV screens on it! Nice! Definitely helped pass the time. This one was a night flight so didn't really get much sleep...

The second flight for the day was on an old turbo prop plane operated by Horizon Air. Very much a budget airline. I was in row 9 but still at the back of the plane. A window seat again but this time I was glad cos the views we got from teh windows were great. Also the air hostess was a crack up, a young girl but really sarcastic, very funny in a strange way.

We were all pretty zonked so thankfully we caught a taxi right to the hostel. The same price as what we would have paid for the bus but no walking with our massive board bags.

Now into "operation no jet lag". We headed to the shops. MEC and the board shops. I bought a few things but Bruce kicked it into high gear and got some boots and a bag. One thing we were noticing about Vancouver vs Tokyo straight away was how dirty Van is. Butts all over the place and chewing gum etc...gross.

By the time we got back it was dark so the only think left really was some well earnt shut eye.

Tokyo Day 2 Amendment

Just before I forget again (although I'm not sure how I could!) Between the visit to the first market and to Ginza, Bruce and I took a ride on Thunder Dolphin in the amusement park right next to the Tokyo Dome. There were hardly any people riding it so we got to sit at the front. It was pretty cool and it had this MASSIVE 80 metre drop at the beginning. I think I spent the rest of the ride recovering from it!

I love rollercoasters!

Tokyo Day 2

Today was dominated by consumer goods and retail, things were always going to head in this direction so it was useless to resist. 

It didn't start this way though.  First on the agenda was Tsukiji Fish Market.  This is really an early morning activity and turning up at 10am means that we basically get there in time to see everyone packing up for the day.  We still sort of got a feel for the place though, lots of activity and a few fish bits still about.

One interesting thing we saw was smoked fish shavings being sold.  It smelt great and I could probably just get a bag of the stuff and just eat it.  We also found people queuing to get into the sushi places for some morning sushi, I don't think we were brave enough to get involved in the world of high pressure ordering so we decided to leave it; also we were full from out usual breakfast of rice and meat.

It was onto Ginza next.  Or maybe it's more acurrate to say Bic Camera in Ginza because that is where we spent most of our time.  Bruce and I both bought cameras, I got a rather cheap Panasonic and Bruce got and overseas model Sony.  The guy helping us had good but basic english which maybe contributed to the length of the sale but i'm sure the decision making powers of Bruce and I combined probably had a bearing too.  Anyway he stuck with us for the whole time we needed him so he earned his commission.

So plans to go to Odaiba when out the window and we decided to take our tired legs back into the direction of the hostel.  A stop in Akhibara was made again for some more retail therapy and then we all finally made it back to Asakusa.  We haven't really left again today and have just been checking out the local area.

One of today highlights was checking out Rolly; a new device from Sony.  Bascially it is a portable music player which dances to the music.  It was doing a demo at the sony building in Ginza.  A very cool but pretty useless item, probably won't be seeing that in NZ!

Tomorrow is going to be cut pretty short cos we have a plane to catch and with a 3 hour checkin etc we only really have an hour in the morning.  Canada here we come!

Lost In Translation

So, we're actually taking the search to Japan since this part of the world is renowned for it's powder.  The airlines dictate that we have to fly via Japan in both directions so we are doing a sightseeing jaunt on the way up.

I'm writing this in Sakura Hostel in Asakusa with a dwindling battery as I have found out that my adaptor isn't suitable for the holes in the wall.  Stupid.

A run down of what has happened so far then.

Plane ride was okay.  The much hyped (well, hyped to me) screens were quite reasonable but i didn't actually find myself watching any movies.  I played the games briefly and managed to pull a 4 move checkmate on the medium level of the chess program.  Also ended out in a window seat so kept disturbing a poor Japanese guy every time I wanted to get up or go and pee.  Jarrod scored a nice seat in the exit area, i'll be after one of those next time!

After surrendering images of our index fingers and mugs at customs we headed for McDonalds for some grub.  Thankfully this wasn't going to set a tone for the rest of our culinary experimentation but it allowed us a little airport exploring which was fun.

My initial worries with finding our way with the subway and lack of english speakers has quickly been allayed since we found our way to the Capsule Inn in Akihabara with pretty much no problems.  We picked the Kensi Skyliner and then onto the Ginza.

The capsules are actually pretty spacious areas (for me anyway).  Plenty of room to shift around in your sleep etc.  The TV worked but I didn't try the radio.  The pillow was an interesting item, fully of large round beads but reasonably comfortable.  The biggest pain about the capsule hotel is the fact that everything is spread all over the place.  Lockers (which were miniscule) etc on a different floor and the bathrooms were too.  The actual capsule room itself was really hot too, at least initially. It was an interesting experience I suppose and I did get some sleep so mission accomplished.

We made the trek to Sakura Hostel in the morning and dumped our luggage.  Then took a wander around the local area. 

First order of the day was breakfast.  We decided to go local and popped into this place that served rice and stuff.  To order you get a ticket from a machine (which thankfully had pictures on it) and then sit at the bar.  I got a nice rice thing with some meat (and an egg on it), also Miso soup and green tea.  580 Yen I think.

We then headed to Sensouji Temple and checked stuff there.  Bruce and I got a prayer thing from and tided it on the thing.  I got Good Fortune and Bruce got Extremely Good Fortune.  I wonder if there are actually any bad ones.....

After wandering around the surrounding markets, we checked into our hostel and then headed back out to visit La Qua and Thunder Dolphin and also visit Shinjuku.

Thunder Dolphin did not disappoint.  Bruce and I sat in the very front.  We were one of three people on it....  The first drop was the best.  It was an 80M drop and it was pretty much vertical at one point.  I actually had to close my eyes; it was intense!  The rest of the ride was also pretty good but the drop made it. 

We continued our foray into Japanese cuisine by choosing a place called Ginkingo (or something) over KFC.  We also convinced Jarrod that this was a better plan.  They served what looked like meatballs but there actually seafood based and mostly empty!  It was okay but Jarrod couldn't do it and went back to KFC!

By the time we headed to Shinjuku we were already pretty tired.  We did a very quick look around but headed back before really exploring properly.  We actually spent most of our time in Bic Camera I think.  It had all sorts of cool gadgets and what appears to be extremely cheap digital cameras.  I'll have to do some more research and see if this is really true or not (they are about half price) since everything we have been told told us not to expect that.

Anyway, now we are pretty zonked.  I'm rocking it in my single room so I shouls sleep well.  Tomorrow, the Fish Market, Ginza and Odaiba?  We'll see how the legs feel at the end of the day this time!

PS. checked the Mt Baker ski report and it does seem like there might be some more snow coming; good to hear!

Where did I come from?

I first heard about this trip via an email from Jarrod on the 26th of June 2007 mentioning the intention to visit the great white north this coming winter. From there a three week trip to Whistler and Big White has morphed into a 6 week ski resort safari to see if these ski magazines are just telling lies to sell ad space...

It's been a typically detail driven process for me to come up with the final itinerary. I'm positive that I became impossible to understand during this time, but hopefully this obsessive planning will luck me into the some of the best skiing of my life.