Well the lure of the white stuff was too much to resist and we thought we would brave the crowds and head up to Silver Star on Sunday. We got there and the car park was full to bursting and over eager Aussies were trying to squeeze the last Ford 150 in to a space the size of a Smart car on a diet.
We decided to park in our favourite car park which is a little way from the village but you can ski directly from your car door....there were 4 cars in the car park...things were looking up...
...things got even better when we got on the piste and there was over a metre of snow, slightly sticky in places but it was just over 1C - so springlike without too many rocks! And then the freaky space time continuum which is Silver Star managed to take all the people which MUST have been in those cars and send them into an alternate skiing dimension because for the the first 4 runs we must have seen 10 people and 6 of those were lifties! The snow was amazing (apparently Saturday was THE day with 40cm of powder on top of the base but Mr R was fire training...grrrr!) - still, pretty fab all the same and there was powder between the trees and you had that icing sugar feel on the runs! Oh and still no people! Yay!!
Mr R did managed to break one of his bindings- 'they're not supposed to break there' was the comment from the ski technican as he merrily sold us another pair of bindings for $200! I would love to tell you it was an amazing crash involving a tree, a snowboarder and a rather surprised marmot but it was more of a 'oops...hey my bindings detached from my left ski...that's odd' kind of moment...on the plus side no injuries!
Our eagle eyed Kiwi friend, Kelly, spotted us in the village, well spotted the giant which is Mr R in ski boots and helmet, so we stopped for a hot chocolate and then skied in the afternoon with Rowan, her boyfriend who is a fab skier so the thighs were well and truly burning before ended the day at 3ish....
We are spending Christmas with Rowan and Kelly, plus 2 friends of theirs who are coming over from New Zealand. They gave us the lowdown on the plans, which seem to mainly revolve around how much alcohol they could get in their truck...umm..think we need to get the livers into training let alone the thighs!
Forgot to mention the extra bonus in that we have no snow in the valley, just piles of it on the mountains, so it was only 40 mins from our front door to putting on the skis.......we like Canada!
Going to do it all again next weekend....! More yay!
Well I might...Mr R has the Fire Department Christmas Party on Saturday...apparently it can get pretty messy....I might be typing the next blog VERY quietly....! :)
Sunday, 29 November 2009
Sunday, 15 November 2009
Paramedic training
Mr R is off for 2 weeks paramedic training in Kelowna on Monday - the course is very difficult and the books are even thicker than the fireman's course!
On the plus side, it will be good for the farm to have someone trained to his level, and it might make the fire brigade course a bit shorter as it is of a higher level than the one they require...but the really good news that if Mr R passes then he will be able to volunteer as a ski patroller next year at Silver Star for a couple of days a week and get a free lift pass, and on his second year I get a free pass too!
On the plus side, it will be good for the farm to have someone trained to his level, and it might make the fire brigade course a bit shorter as it is of a higher level than the one they require...but the really good news that if Mr R passes then he will be able to volunteer as a ski patroller next year at Silver Star for a couple of days a week and get a free lift pass, and on his second year I get a free pass too!
It's snowing!
We have snow on the mountians for the past couple of weeks, but on Friday we had the first light dusting of snow in the Valley.
Our season passes have arrived, the snow tyres are on the ML and Big White opened this weekend and Silver Star will open on 28th November.
Cue the relentless Christmas music and loads of decorations - yay! (not yay from Mr R...bah humbug!)
Our season passes have arrived, the snow tyres are on the ML and Big White opened this weekend and Silver Star will open on 28th November.
Cue the relentless Christmas music and loads of decorations - yay! (not yay from Mr R...bah humbug!)
Halloween
Yep, 31st October is big news in Canada! We have the pumpkins, the costumes, the sparkly orange lights, cobwebs for the spooky looking front garden and bus loads of trick or treaters....you think I am kidding with the bus loads? Nope! There are areas in Kelowna where parents drive their spookily clad offspring to due to the high quality of the treats!
We have a development called the Lakes in Winfield and it was lit up like Christmas with the number of cars going there. Fortunes are spent on mini-sized chocolates.
We didn't go with the pumpkin option but were prepared with the mini sized chocolates...unfortunately we only had 3 trick or treaters but they hit the jackpot and then we had to eat the rest ourselves...shame!
There was a fireworks dispay being organized in Winfield by the Fire Department with a bonfire, hot dogs and hot chocolate etc etc...and beer at the pub afterwards so we decided to join in the fun and dress up.
Shaun's outfit and ghoulish acting nearly scared the living daylights out of our trick or treaters
(hint: not good to nearly give the under 7's a heart attack!) and Otter was a bit freaked out too!
Unfortunately, his stroke of genius was slightly lost on the locals and Shaun of the Dead isn't out on DVD here yet!
I braved the night ala Catwoman....not quite sure Winfield is ready for this....but did
get the best costume vote in the pub!
And on the 1st November the Christmas lights were going up on the houses!
We have a development called the Lakes in Winfield and it was lit up like Christmas with the number of cars going there. Fortunes are spent on mini-sized chocolates.
We didn't go with the pumpkin option but were prepared with the mini sized chocolates...unfortunately we only had 3 trick or treaters but they hit the jackpot and then we had to eat the rest ourselves...shame!
There was a fireworks dispay being organized in Winfield by the Fire Department with a bonfire, hot dogs and hot chocolate etc etc...and beer at the pub afterwards so we decided to join in the fun and dress up.
Shaun's outfit and ghoulish acting nearly scared the living daylights out of our trick or treaters
(hint: not good to nearly give the under 7's a heart attack!) and Otter was a bit freaked out too!
Unfortunately, his stroke of genius was slightly lost on the locals and Shaun of the Dead isn't out on DVD here yet!
I braved the night ala Catwoman....not quite sure Winfield is ready for this....but did
get the best costume vote in the pub!And on the 1st November the Christmas lights were going up on the houses!
Revelstoke Boosts the Critter Count
More from the summer, the weather for Simon and Tess's visit improved dramatically towards the middle of their stay and we had blue skies and 30C...so we decided that after a few good meals that more hiking was in order so took the guys off to Revelstoke which is about a 3 hours drive north east of us.
Revelstoke is on the main highway towards Alberta and Calgary and this was pretty much the last good weather hiking weekend of the summer and we were expecting the road to be busy....but we are in Canada, in the Okanagan and they just don't do busy, well by UK standards, so we had traffic like the middle of Lyndhurst at 3am....i.e. none...!
So cracking drive through the Spallumcheen valley, past Armstrong (more on this town when the CD arrives from the UK!) and through Sicamous which is the House Boat Captial (with capital letters) of the Shuswap before turning east to the Columbia Mountains and Revelstoke.
The aim was to arrive early evening, hike to the mountain lakes the following day and see how the legs were for the day after.
We booked a great little cabin about 20mins outside Revelstoke, however pictures
que as it was their website did neglect to mention than Canadian National Railway ran alongside the opposite shore of lake and the freight trains were no respecter of a) weekends and b) litttle numbers followed by the letters AM!
And these trains were long - 50 freight trucks minimum!
Smarticus, you would have LOVED it!
The next day we heading up to Revelstoke National Park - very sensibly ther
e is a road to the top on Revelstoke Mountain and from there you can hike to Eva Lake which was the aim for the day. Apparently, and this is according to the guidebook, you can hike to the top of Revelstoke Mountain instead of driving but its not worth it as it is mostly in the trees and you get no views whatsoever...honest!
We had seen Eva Lake on a documentary months ago and it looked amazing and it was on our Top 10 list to do so it was great to do it with friends - although normally there are 6 of us on these hikes, but the Smarts were not with us - however due to a flash of
inspiration by Miss T we did manage to evoke their participation through the medium of sugar coated chocolate and extra vowels.... I present The Smarties...
The hike was about 5 hours in total and was an amazing mixture of
Alpine meadows, rock scrambles, trails and waterfalls.
The start of the hike was slightly marred by my over eagerness to read absolutely every notice and information guide as one pointed out in rather big letters than there are over 18,000 grizzly bears in BC at the last estimate and that over 6,000 lived in Revelstoke National Park. Note: BC is FOUR times the size of the UK.... Revelstoke National Park?...ummm not so big....likelihood of meeting a grizzly: HIGH..... likelihood of wanting to meet a grizzly: LOW (unless you are Mr R!).
At this point we started moving all the tuna and sweetcorn sandwiches in
to Mr R's backpack!
Level of luck on this visit: extremely High - no grizzlies encountered! yay! Especially as a bear bell would be more like an invitation to lunch than a deterrant! What we did spot was a sunbathing marmot on the way back from Eva Lake.
Eva Lake was amazing, it sits right on the edge of the mounta
in, kind of like Mother Nature's own infinity pool, and looks incredibly inviting after a long hike, however it 
is FREEZING, and we didn't have our swimming togs (pity!).
You can also hike onto Jade Lake
however this involves and almost vertical climb of 700 metres, then the same downhill and then you have to repeat to get out...so we decided to skip that one! And good job we did to as it gave us the time 
to go to Miller Lake which for some really bizarre reason is overlooked by all the guidebooks however we all thought that it was more beautiful than Eva!
We rounded the day off with amazing BBQ back at the cabin,
expertly cooked by the chaps and very Canadian with wieners and salmon!
Revelstoke is on the main highway towards Alberta and Calgary and this was pretty much the last good weather hiking weekend of the summer and we were expecting the road to be busy....but we are in Canada, in the Okanagan and they just don't do busy, well by UK standards, so we had traffic like the middle of Lyndhurst at 3am....i.e. none...!
So cracking drive through the Spallumcheen valley, past Armstrong (more on this town when the CD arrives from the UK!) and through Sicamous which is the House Boat Captial (with capital letters) of the Shuswap before turning east to the Columbia Mountains and Revelstoke.
The aim was to arrive early evening, hike to the mountain lakes the following day and see how the legs were for the day after.
We booked a great little cabin about 20mins outside Revelstoke, however pictures
que as it was their website did neglect to mention than Canadian National Railway ran alongside the opposite shore of lake and the freight trains were no respecter of a) weekends and b) litttle numbers followed by the letters AM!
And these trains were long - 50 freight trucks minimum!
Smarticus, you would have LOVED it!
The next day we heading up to Revelstoke National Park - very sensibly ther
e is a road to the top on Revelstoke Mountain and from there you can hike to Eva Lake which was the aim for the day. Apparently, and this is according to the guidebook, you can hike to the top of Revelstoke Mountain instead of driving but its not worth it as it is mostly in the trees and you get no views whatsoever...honest!We had seen Eva Lake on a documentary months ago and it looked amazing and it was on our Top 10 list to do so it was great to do it with friends - although normally there are 6 of us on these hikes, but the Smarts were not with us - however due to a flash of
inspiration by Miss T we did manage to evoke their participation through the medium of sugar coated chocolate and extra vowels.... I present The Smarties...The hike was about 5 hours in total and was an amazing mixture of
Alpine meadows, rock scrambles, trails and waterfalls.The start of the hike was slightly marred by my over eagerness to read absolutely every notice and information guide as one pointed out in rather big letters than there are over 18,000 grizzly bears in BC at the last estimate and that over 6,000 lived in Revelstoke National Park. Note: BC is FOUR times the size of the UK.... Revelstoke National Park?...ummm not so big....likelihood of meeting a grizzly: HIGH..... likelihood of wanting to meet a grizzly: LOW (unless you are Mr R!).
At this point we started moving all the tuna and sweetcorn sandwiches in
to Mr R's backpack!Level of luck on this visit: extremely High - no grizzlies encountered! yay! Especially as a bear bell would be more like an invitation to lunch than a deterrant! What we did spot was a sunbathing marmot on the way back from Eva Lake.
Eva Lake was amazing, it sits right on the edge of the mounta
in, kind of like Mother Nature's own infinity pool, and looks incredibly inviting after a long hike, however it 
is FREEZING, and we didn't have our swimming togs (pity!).You can also hike onto Jade Lake
however this involves and almost vertical climb of 700 metres, then the same downhill and then you have to repeat to get out...so we decided to skip that one! And good job we did to as it gave us the time 
to go to Miller Lake which for some really bizarre reason is overlooked by all the guidebooks however we all thought that it was more beautiful than Eva!We rounded the day off with amazing BBQ back at the cabin,
expertly cooked by the chaps and very Canadian with wieners and salmon!
Bears!
Back in the summer (you can tell its a bit chilly over here and an afternoon catching up on the blog has proved much more appealling than helping Mr R rearrange the garage!)...anyhoo.. back in the summer top chums Simon and Tess journeyed across the pond for some hiking, wine tasting, food and general all round good times!
Have spent most of the summer jabbering on about how fantastic the weather is here of course it rained for the few first few days and we had unseasonable cold temperatures - it was a bank holiday weekend so it was a very British welcome :) !
Being chilly we very logically took them up Silver Star Mountain in 8C - sorry guys! But on the plus side we did get to see our very first bears! They post any bear sightings on the board as you enter the trails but we had been there before and not seen a sausage (which was okay by me!) but this time we met a few people coming down the trail who flagged up to us that there were definately a mum and cubs in the area (very Canadian - not letting you walking to the jaws of a pissed off mummy bear without warning!).
We turned a couple of corners and eagle eyed Mr R spotted a older cub off the side of the trail and then further on we saw the mum and the younger cub - sooo cute and just far away enough to be on the non-knee trembling side of scary!
This the photo - sorry, crap camera and then battery ran out- but there is a bear in it, honest!
Yay! Bears!....and they didn't eat us...result!
Fireman Shaun!
Since September Mr R has been training as a volunteer fireman for the Lake Country Fire Department and will be on-call for our local station at Carr's Landing and we thought it was about time we showed him and the chaps in action!
The training is pretty major, every other Saturday (8am to 6pm) and every Monday and Wednesday night from 6 to 9pm...or 11 if it is Wednesday Wings down the pub!
Having just lost him to the cherries of most of the summer I was slightly less than enthusaistic but am clinging to the promise of a fireman's uniform in the wardrobe by December!!!
They have a mixture of theory (lots of very heavy, very long books) and practical - the practical seems to be rating much higher on the fun scale than the written exams - what a surprise!
Over the last months they have been through a smoke room, crawled down tunnels, had to sit in full gear in temperatures which would roast a potato in seconds, put out car fires, gas fires, house fires and cats on fire (okay not the last one but only because they couldn't catch one first!) and taken cars apart with the Jaws of Life to save Rescue Randy, the 200lb 'citizen'.
As Dad pointed out this morning , perhaps I should be getting concerned about the amount of time Mr R is spending with an inflatable doll....!
This weekend it was the taking cars apart session and the chaps kindly made Mr R a convertible - LCFD style!
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