View from the Top

It's been a few days since I've found the time to blog, what with Christmas, walking, skiing, shoveling snow.... Even the usual nonsense that often is BC politics seems to have gone away for awhile. So nice.

A few days ago, though, a small group of us took the day to break a trail up to the Ski Club's cabin and get in a couple of runs at the same time. Snow conditions were surprisingly good right from the road (pretty much at Lake level) and got much better (and deeper) as we gained altitude. In fact, the snow got good enough that the usual 1-hour snowmobile trip took 2.5 hours, what with getting stuck and all. The hour-long ski to the cabin went well and we took two runs down the "North Bowl" before heading home. The picture is from the top of the North Bowl looking at low fog banks over the north end of Kootenay Lake and Duncan Lake. We could even see Howser Spire in the Bugaboos.

Snow conditions in the sub-alpine were OK - about 1.4 meters of snowpack, but more snow is needed - there were too many little trees and stuff to ski around, things which are usually buried. The weather word is to expect more snow tonight.

The trip down was slow as well and it was pitch dark before we arrived at the highway and the vehicles. Mind you, it's pretty dark here shortly after 4 pm....

Today we are experiencing what must be a Kootenay chinook. It's +5C and "almost" sunny. I'm busy chipping ice off the driveway so we can actually get the vehicles up the drive. That and a walk to deal with the post-Christmas stomach....