Inauguration Day - Above the Clouds

After watching the new US President take over, a small group of us took the skidoos up Bjerkness Creek FSR to a logging cut block that we can actually see from our house. I'd been thinking about it as a potential skiing area for awhile now. Today we tried it out. Actually, several acquaintances had been up there over the weekend and really liked it. So, up we went. About 30 minutes up the trail brought us to the bottom of the cut block. Skins went on and up we went to the top of the slope.

The snow was great and the views were fantastic as we were finally above the fog that has settled in the valley bottoms for the past several weeks.

There was time for lunch in the sun and several runs down different parts of ths slope before we headed back home.

Better than an inaugural ball ;-)

January 20, 2009 - A New Era

As Canadians and neighbours from the Great White North, we wish our neighbours and their new leadership all the best. Good Luck!

Back into the Backcountry

We've had a bit of respite recently from the cold weather and storms that rightfully belong in Saskatchewan or on the West Coast (just kidding, sort of...) so we've been heading into the backcountry. This does need to be done carefully because the avalanche hazard almost everywhere is pretty high. There's a lot of snow piled up on a very weak base. Keeping that in mind, we've gone to a couple of safe areas in the past week and had a bit of fun.

Last Sunday we got together with another two fellows to skidoo back into Lost Ledge. A local ski group has a cabin in there, miles back in the woods, and our job was to look at snow conditions and break a trail into where people leave their machines and take to their skis. The snow was deep and we even had trouble with the skidoos. Near the end of the trail, we were having to back up and take a run at it just to make headway in the deep, powdery stuff.

Today we took the skidoo about 14 km up the Cody Caves FSR to see if the snow was good higher up and to try and get above the fog that often lies in the Lake valley. You can see some of that fog in this picture which is looking south down Kootenay Lake. We didn't really get sun, except for a few minutes, but it was much brighter and fun to look down on all the foggy layers below us. Some of the peaks across the lake were visible poking through the layers of fog.

The skiing wasn't that bad either. There was a clearcut at the end of the Forest Service Road (FSR) that was less than a 30 degree slope, had enough snow to cover all the stumps and was long enough to provide some fun and a few turns on the way down. We skinned up and skiied down a few times, had lunch and eventually headed back down the hill.

We're probably going to be skiing at a commercial ski hill this weekend, but I hope to be back in the backcountry next week a couple of times.

Mountain Isolation

Winter storms have had their toll on all of southern BC. There have been almost non-stop "weather events" for the past couple of weeks, but the most recent was a doozy.

It started later on Tuesday: light snow with the attendant "heavy snowfall warning". We'd made a quick trip to Nelson, Catherine was playing bridge in Balfour and the roads were still in fine winter driving condition. By evening, it was snowing heavily and building up faster than anything we'd seen before. Somewhere around 2 am the power went off; it was still snowing.

When daylight arrived on Wednesday, it was clear that we were going to have a day filled with little else but snow removal. This time, however, the snow was deep (somewhere around 30 cm or 1 ft), wet and heavy. Some 6 hours later I had the driveway cleared. Our road was plowed later in the afternoon but the power didn't come on until nearly 8 pm. We'd been warned not to expect it until sometime Thursday. Not such a big inconvenience - most people here heat with wood. Kudos to the Fortis BC work crews for managing this difficult job in these conditions. I also started shoveling snow off the roofs of the smaller sheds here, not being completely confident that they would handle the weight. It was also starting to rain, adding water to the already heavy snow.

Thursday morning it was still raining and we had news that our little mountain community was completely cut off. In short, there is no way out, not that we feel the need to leave very often. There are other roads closed throughout BC: the usual collection of avalanches and mud slides, but there is no access to our part of the Koots.

Snowshoeing by Woods on a Snowy Afternoon

[With an apology to Robert Frost just in case anyone gets the reference....]

Since it won't stop snowing (another several cm last night), we decided to give the new snowshoes a workout. So, a quick drive down to Ainsworth to hike the Cedar Creek Trail.

The woods were certainly snowy, dark and deep, but we had only a couple of km to hike, going past the circa late 1800s early 1900s Historical Cemetery, down into Cedar Creek canyon and through the woods back to the highway.

Only deer had traveled this way recently. The snowshoes performed very well. A good afternoon's activity.

Buried in Snow

I'm somewhat hesitant to complain about our non-stop snow, but after a couple of weeks of a constant snow deluge, I'm thinking that if it was to stop, even for a couple of days, we could dig out and go enjoy it.

In the past week or so, I no sooner get the latest snowfall cleared and we're pasted with another. I did get out yesterday for some skiing in the backcountry. We managed to find a nice safe area, free from avalanche hazard, and carved a few turns in the knee-deep powder. It was great. I had to think that if I fell over, it would be nearly impossible to get up. So we ski with someone else so that if one of us gets into trouble, someone is there to help. I did have to wade into the snow after a small lid to my lunch container that blew away. As soon as I walked off the track, I was in chest-deep snow - very soft and powdery, but up to my chest, nonetheless.

We hear that another 10 cm is still on its way. Happy New Year ;-)