The lounge, complete with Blake Jorgensen photo book on the coffee table
Here in British Columbia there are more mechanized ski guiding operations than everywhere else in the world combined. Part of the reason why heli ski companies are so successful here is because of the remoteness. You can fly hundreds of kilometers to ski a line and no one will be around to witness it, save the heli skiers themselves.
But heli skiing is expensive. Skilled pilots, aviation fuel, maintenance – it all adds up and the price is passed on to the guest. The more affordable, all-weather alternative is cat skiing – and yes – BC has a lot of that too.
I have been cat skiing a few times with various operators, usually on assignment with my camera in tow. But I had never envisioned that I would be here at Retallack. My fortune came from winning BackcountrySkiingCanada.com‘s Expose Yourself contest last year. My prize was one night’s stay at the lodge and one full day of cat skiing for me and a friend. Coming off two deep days at Whitewater for the Kootenay Coldsmoke Powder Festival, I wasn’t sure if it could get much better. Good thing Retallack lived up to its expectations.
About 1.5 hours drive from Nelson, Retallack Lodge is built on the remnants of a late nineteenth century mining boom town. The lodge is enormous but only sleeps 24 guests, allowing plenty of space to spread out, relax in the lounge, chill at the bar, play foozball, get a massage (from the resident masseuse!) or soak up in the hot tub. When the dinner bell rings you will be treated to fine dining cuisine, three courses of deliciousness and an optional wine list with some impressive reserves.
Breakfast is served at 8am, allowing everyone ample time to get geared up and climb into the cat. Our guide Mark meets us at breakfast to run through today’s plan. There is not a single cloud in the sky today but the alpine terrain is not ready. The huge storm that just passed through (the neck-deep snow we skied at Whitewater) has left roughly 40cm of fresh on top of settled snow on top of a weak layer. The gist? We won’t be skiing any high alpine today.
But that’s ok. Everyone loves skiing the trees, particularly when the snow is this light and fluffy. Throughout the day we skirt the big exposed slopes and head for the safe areas, looking longingly at the high alpine but enjoying the fact that we have expert guides making the decisions. All we have to do is get out of the cat and go skiing. Our cat driver Carl shares his words of wisdom at the top of every run, telling everyone to stay with their buddy and not veer too far from the guide’s track.
After six runs of some of the most impressive terrain i have ever skied, Graeme and I load up and head back to Nelson for the night. We had been considering another day of skiing or touring, but after a snow-filled festival, an epic day at Retallack and more faceshots than I could count, we decide to drive home on a high note.
A big thanks to Phil Pinfold and the staff at Retallack Lodge for a comfortable night’s stay and sick day of shredding!
Waiting for the radio call to drop in
Carl the cat driver, right before he flipped me the bird.
I must admit I have a soft spot for the Kootenays. This series of mountain ranges in south eastern British Columbia seem to be in the perfect geographical location for snow – the quantities of the Coast and the dryness of the Rockies. Sure, it’s a long drive to get out there along some sketchy roads, but once you immerse yourself in the deepest, lightest, tree-skiing powder you quickly forget the arduous drive. This road trip had its fair share of hiccups (including numerous flats and tire changes and gear being left behind in remote lodges) but the skiing was some of the best I have ever experienced.
Our first stop was Nelson for the Kootenay Coldsmoke Powder Festival (read about it in the Pique here) and we rolled into town on the Friday night just in time to head over to the Capitol Theater for ’A Toast to the Kootenays’. Peter Moynes from Kootenay Mountain Culture put together a series of slide shows short movies featuring footage only captured in the Kootenays region. A brief roast of photographer Steve Ogle (who always seems to get to the top of the hill first to reserve the best shooting location) was followed by a slide show from the local Nelson photographer. Greg Hill presented a short film summarizing his year-long quest in 2010 to climb and ski 2 million feet, of course the Kootenay footage (of which I learned Revelstoke is a part of) was front and center.
Saturday was jam packed day at Whitewater (WH2O) with a great turnout for the Randonee Rally and Powder Keg Slopestyle and with them, hundreds of visitors getting after the 22cm storm. I have never seen this little resort so busy, but given that it was a Saturday with great snow and the resort’s signature festival was in full swing, we can forgive the longer than average wait times for the chairs. Our Whistler friends Holly and Martha were busy racing the Randonee, so Graeme and I decided to ski a few laps of the Glory Ridge Chair, the latest and greatest terrain offering from WH2O. We were not disappointed.
At the end of Saturday there was a severe traffic jam heading down from the resort due to a multi-car pile up. Luckily the evening Buff-Eh dinner event was held at the WH2O lodge, so we all could sit tight and enjoy some appies and beverage before the main event. The food at this year’s Buff-Eh was outstanding, complete with ribs, pulled pork and a glistening fountain of chocolate fondue. Mitch Scott from KMC kept the laughs rolling all night with hilarious competitions for prizes, deploying a blow-up doll avalanche airbag and an impromptu commentary to a slide show without music.
Our crew turned in early from the Hootennany after party, as the girls were scheduled for another race in the morning and Graeme and I were jonesing for some slackcountry touring around the resort. The car park had about an eighth of the number of vehicles than from the previous day so we all managed to get started on time. Our touring destination was White Queen, a peak accessed from the Silver King Chair and about 30 mins of skinning. The trackless powder I skied for those 2000-ish vertical feet were probablythe best turns of my life, with enough snow to ski the steep, fall line trees like rock star, even with my heavy camera pack.
After two laps we linked up with Holly to be part of her Backcountry Olympics team. The event raced contenders up a steep slope on skins, then the team leader having to recover a buried beacon. We then assisted Holly to construct and deploy a rescue toboggan, which was built so sturdily that we managed to overtake majority of the pack when transporting Holly down. We qualified for the final round of the campfire-egg cook off, placing third out of the five teams in the final round. After a satisfying race performance we all went up for one last lap of White Queen before skiing down to the awards ceremonies. And that lap was full of cold smoke powder too.
This was not our first road trip out to the Kootenays, but the first time we nailed it with the timing of a snowstorm. And we will be back for more…
It has been a while since I have been active on my personal blog, and as such I will go beyond the usual “I’ve been busy” excuse and let everyone know what I have actually been doing these last few months.
I worked as a journalist
Many of you probably saw my work coming out in Whistler’s premier news publication Pique. What was originally a 2-3 week assignment turned into two months of newsroom experience. I have never worked in a newsroom, nor did I go to journalism school so those two months gave me a wealth of experience and improved my writing skills immensley. Veteran reporter Cathryn Atkinson has now filled the shoes of Jesse Ferreras, who left in November to work at Postmedia in Toronto. I am still regularly contributing the Pique so you may see my byline popping up occasionally on news articles and features. A big thanks to editor Clare Oglivie for giving me the opportunity to get my feet wet in the Pique newsroom.
I have been skiing, for real
Big deal right? Well for me it is. With my previous shoulder capsule I spent pretty much the last two seasons avoiding any big ski lines, airs or terrain park. I don’t think I’ll ever get into terrain park again (as I don’t have the fashion sense of those tall T kids) but after some precision patchwork by orthopedic surgeon Dr Alexandra Brooks-Hill I am descending the mountain with more confidence in my body than I’ve had for some time. Look out Whistler.
Graeme Bell getting deep in the afternoon sun, Whistler Mountain
I’m shooting again
The summer was pretty much a right-off for photography as I spent it mostly in a sling after my surgery in May. I also lost most of my equipment in an avalanche last Spring, which didn’t help the shooting situation. My good friend Jonathon (JD) Debney was generous enough to lend me his camera body and telephoto lens to get me through the few photo jobs I had in the summer and fall. I have now replaced my water damaged paperweights with some spanking new gear, which almost sent me broke but at least I invested in some insurance this time. My Canon 1D Mark IV takes really nice pictures and its super-fast too.
I now have a dog
I thought getting my permanent residency (and soon citizenship!) was the final stepping stone to cementing myself in Canada. Turns out getting a dog was a bigger deal. My girlfriend Julie and I decided to adopt this cute-as-hell Samoyed-Wolf cross puppy in November. His name is Link, named after the green tunic-wearing hero of The Legend of Zelda, an 80s Nintendo game I grew up with. This photo is from his play date today with his brother Spartacus, they had all sorts of fun wrestling in the fields at Meadow Park.
Gear Junkie Confessions has a new outlet
My gear reviews have now found a new home on BackcountrySkiingCanada.com This website is an excellent source for route info, gear reviews and forum discussion on all things backcountry skiing in British Columbia. I began to work with these guys after I won their Expose Yourself Photo Comp last year, the prize being a day of catskiing at Retallack Lodge. Here is the link to that winning entry if you didn’t see it last April. I’m currently on the lookout for other outlets for my gear reviews so stay tuned.
So here we are in February. Snow has been consistent, Whistler has been busy as hell throughout January and now everyone is getting some turns in. The blog will breathe some more life now that I have finally got the ball rolling again.
Last week I was walking through Whistler Village on cold, sunny November day. I had just picked up my new ski touring boots from the post office and I was incredibly excited to get them fitted and ready for ski season. I had just walked into Surefoot when I got an email message from a friend who works at The Question. She reminded me that their ‘Day in the Life of Whistler’ Photo Competition was today. I had completely forgot.
Leaving my boot fitting for another day, I quickly ran home (I conveniently live in Whistler Cay Heights), grabbed my camera gear and started scrambling for ideas on what to shoot. I had until midnight to get five photos worthy of submission. The catch: every photo had to have at least one person in it. I had no models, no available friends to shoot and no idea what I was doing. Lifestyle photography isn’t my strongest point, but I wasn’t about to back away from a challenge. Even if it was last minute.
As the name suggests, this competition is about capturing local residents in their daily lives. At work, at play or getting to and from home. These are the five best photos I was able to produce. I’d like to thank my colleagues at Canadian Snowmobile for helping me get shots of ATVs on Sproatt Mountain and the crew at Fanatyko for letting me get in their way.
I would first like to excuse the image quality of the iPhone photos in this post. The story will fill you in on the details…
Just another backcountry shoot…
Back in April this year I was on a backcountry skiing/shooting day on Rainbow Mountain with some friends. The day started out great. After our heli drop and amazing first lap, we began to skin towards the east face to ski an unnamed couloir. I had skied this couloir a number of years ago and I was keen to get a shot of it. When I arrived at the top I began to look for some suitable angles. I had already made two errors by this point- I was walking around without skis attached to my feet and I was inspecting the couloir without being tied into something. I was back from the edge a good 8-10 feet from the cornice, on snow that I had just seen my friends skin across. I had my tripod on the ground and I was taking a couple of test shots when all of a sudden the day got very interesting.
The aftermath of the avalanche. Where do we start probing?
I triggered a cornice collapse which sent a couple of multi-ton blocks of snow into the couloir, and me with them. This in turn triggered a size 2.5 avalanche. I remember falling and sliding, trying to keep the camera around my neck. I ended up getting spun around when all the slide washed over me, forcing snow down my airway and everything going eerily dark and quiet. By this point I had forgotten about the camera and began to claw in front of my face to try to get some breathing room. After a few seconds my head resurfaced and I coughed the snow out of my throat and mouth. My shoulder was dislocated (this happened quite often pre-surgery) and my camera gear was nowhere to be seen.
My sympathetic crew was glad that I was ok and helped me probe for the camera for the rest of the day. Humbled after being spanked by the mountain, I learnt my lesson. The following week I read in an online article a similar story of a man caught in a slide around the same size in Colorado. He hit a rock outcropping and broke his femur, almost losing his leg and his life.
Salvage Attempt #1
After I got home that day I began to consider my options. If I recovered the gear within a few days, I may get it back with minimal damage. A few weeks, who knows? I wasn’t about to write off a pro level DSLR, lens and tripod without a fight. Two days after the avalanche I made a dawn attempt with randonee racer Alex Wigley. We made it to the top of the tree line before getting completely weathered out and turning around. I even rented a metal detector from Sabre and dragged it all the way up there. The remainder of spring was near-endless rain with no signs of a sunny window to make another attempt. My shoulder surgery was scheduled for May 25 and after that date it would be months before I could hike again.
The Last Chance
On Thursday I got a call from a good friend up in William’s Lake, asking me if I had made it up to Rainbow to search recently. I gave the frustrated answer that I had been weathered out, or unable to get someone to come with me. The recent 20cm of snow in the alpine meant I was running short on time. We decided Sunday was the day, weather permitting.
The forecast wasn’t looking good, but at 5am on Sunday morning it showed a morning of sun then clouds coming in for evening rain. We began the hike up Rick’s Roost in Alpine at 6:30am with backpacks full of food, water and enough clothing to push through a storm on the way home. After some annoying bushwacking, we began the climb along the ski-out route. We had a topo map of the area, but had no land marks other than Nineteen Mile Creek. We began to climb.
Landon on the boulders where we made the first wrong turn
After trudging through steep forest and a couple of smaller creek crossings, we encountered a boulder field. We had the choice of bashing through more trees, or walking up the boulder field. We chose the latter, believing it was the easiest route. At the top, however we had to scramble up some steeper faces. No sweat, at least it beats getting whipped by wet branches. Hoping that we would soon be on top of the ridge, we kept climbing.
The slabs got steeper and the options were starting to dwindle. We had no ropes and a fall could severely injure both of us. Without exact location (I keep wanting to buy a GPS) and no safe landing zone this was a stressful part of the day. Luckily, we topped out straight into the alpine after about an hour of negotiating the sketchy faces. Back on track, we began the now leisurely walk towards the snow line.
After a phone call to my friend Shaun (who was present the day I lost my gear) we located the correct ridge where the couloir was. The excitement was starting to build as we scrambled down into the bowl. Once down there I looked around at a 50cm base of snow and my heart sank. Could it be buried under this still? We had reached our agreed time to call it a day and began the hike out towards the bottom of the ridge. Around the corner was an almost identical couloir with snow that we had to cross. Landon began walking down and quickly broke into a jog. He didn’t let anything on until he waved my camera proudly in the air. We found it!
This morning I took some photos of the recovered gear. The battery took charge and is good as new, as is the memory card. The body managed to turn on but the electronics are only partially functioning. The lens unfortunately has moisture on the internal elements, meaning even if it dries it will grow mold and eventually become unusable.
The gear will be sent off this week to Canon for hopeful ressurection, or at least salvaged for valuable spare parts. I can now lay the incident to rest and feel better about the new equipment that I’ll be purchasing.
Last week I was finally capable to do a proper mountain hike. After 16 weeks of slow recovery from shoulder surgery, I was able to haul a heavy overnight pack into the alpine. The trip wasn’t meant to be too demanding, the plan was to hike to Wedgemount Lake on the Tuesday and set up camp, get up early and make for the summit of Wedge the following morning. We would hike back down to the valley by Wednesday afternoon. There were seven of us in the party, six who would be travelling on the glacier. This conveniently gave us two groups of three for roping up.
The Wedgemount hike is considered one of the more difficult hikes in Garibaldi Provincial Park, due to its steep gradient and scrambling sections. The hike up was tough, since everyone was carrying heavy mountaineering gear of some description. We had plenty of time and took a few breaks, which got us up to the hut in around 3.5 – 4 hrs. The glacial Wedgemount Lake was a visual reward after the arduous ascent and we all had a well-earned rest in the sunshine. In mid September you would expect all non-glacial snow to be gone, but we were able to find a patch of snow less than 50m from the hut. Last winter’s massive snowfall had endured.
James executing ice axe arrest
This inclined patch of snow was perfect to go through some rescue scenarios. With only two of our six party members having glacier travel experience we all needed a crash course in how to walk across a glacier safely. I’ve had plenty of time crossing glaciers in the winter, but this is when crevasses are filled in and snow bridges are solid. Summer glacier travel is inherently more dangerous, as weak snow bridges can hide the crevasses.
Our first exercise was in fall arrest. If you (or anyone in your rope team) fall on the glacier and start sliding, the first reflex should be to roll onto your front and dig in the pick of the axe. We all tried this several times until we were confident in self arrest. The next excercise was in crevasse rescue itself. Setting up an anchor with ice axes and running a Z pulley was a great refresher, one I’ve never had in the summer months.
After a quick dinner we all watched the sun go down behind the Pacific Ranges. The cloud in the valley had a very fluid feel to it, the North end of the valley seemed to have a giant sink hole. I had never seen valley cloud behave in this way.
Our glacier crew rose at 3am the next morning, a quick bit before setting off to the foot of the Wedge glacier. Will and Greg have a well planned route, though the last few hundred meters to the summit would have to get a last-minute assessment. Roped up with crampons, we start our trek towards Wedge.
An early start on the glacier
The ridge on the right made our decision to turn back
We make it to the penultimate ridge for the sunrise over the Wurt Glacier, an inspiring moment. Once the light hits Wedge we all stare at the final crux before the summit and we are all coming to the same conclusion – it’s beyond us. The knife edge on the North West ridge doesn’t scare me as much as the steep climb around rocks near the top. If we had have been a week or two earlier there may have been snow to walk up the entire way (as the tracks suggest). But with the limited experience in a group not equipped for a lead-climb or dry-tooling, we made the conservative decision to come back another time. I hate getting turned around from summits like everyone else, but I don’t like pushing it and risking a fall 16 weeks after surgery either.
On the hike back down the glacier and the Wedgemount trail I’m not thinking about how I missed another summit, but how excited I am for winter expeditions. Standing up in the alpine overlooking a massive glacier gave me the buzz I’ve been missing since the start of an inactive summer. The skills from a summer glacier trip has been a great catalyst for the start of a new season. It’s time.
Thanks to the Ziptrek crew Greg, Will, Steve, James and Simon for an amazing trip.
Last weekend saw the second annual RBC GranFondo road ride from Vancouver to Whistler with over 7000 participants. I was asked by Pique Newsmagazine to write the feature story ‘Rise of The Road Warrior’ focusing on road riding culture in Whistler and the Sea to Sky Corridor. With this last minute assignment I was unable to provide any photos, since I’ve never shot road cycling before. In anticipation of an equally large (or larger) media frenzy next year, I decided to spend race day shooting for potential editorial on the 2012 GranFondo.
Getting unique photos for such a big event can prove difficult, especially when a large photography firm has been contracted for the event and has exclusive press access. I decided to let these guys (and all the order press photographers) fight over space at the finish line and go for something different.
When I interviewed GranFondo co-founder Neil McKinnon and asked him what he thought of the Sea to Sky Highway as a venue, he said
“There’s absolutely no question that the route of GranFondo competes with every other cycling experience in the world.”
When I chose a location to shoot this is what was running through my head. Photos from road cycling in the European Alps are incredibly picturesque. I decided to shoot a section of the highway between Squamish and Whistler where I could get an elevated perspective. But there was a catch. The access was made easier by paths and terrain from hydro line installation, so getting up there wasn’t too hard. The problem was that my shot ended up with power lines running straight through it. Bummer.
From where I was shooting I just needed to get to the next pylon and I could get the lines out of the shot. But in front of me was a cliff, and the way around would take too much time with a lot of bushwacking. Rather than being a right off, the shoot was good experience. For the first time since my shoulder surgery I was hauling a full pack of equipment and I still did what I set out to do.
Riders on the Sea to Sky Highway
Do these power lines make the shot unusable for publication? Please feel free to leave feedback whether you are a photographer or not. All comments welcome.
“Because socks are prisons for your feet, and your feet are the foundation of everything.”
- Feet Banks
There has been no bigger hype in the footwear industry in the last couple of years than barefoot running. This in turn has ignited debate, funded scientific studies (with various results) and every big player in the running shoe industry (including Nike and New Balance) have all dived in for their share of the pie.
Vibram were the first to release a barefoot ‘glove’ shoe six years ago, a product which was the brainchild of industrial designer Robert Fliri. Vibram have a rich industry manufacturing rubber soles for mountaineering boots since 1935. Fliri proposed to the concept of the glove shoe to Vibram in 1999 which led to the release of the FiveFingers shoe a few years later.
For those who are not familiar with the barefoot running concept, here is a great video from Professor Daniel Lieberman from the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. To put it simply, running barefoot shortens the stride and forces the runner to land on their midfoot, effectively eliminating heel strike. This differs from modern running shoes that cushion the impact in the lower joints of the body (ankle, knee and hip) as a result of the heel strike.
Since running in actual bare feet is far from practical in urban environments (think about stones, broken glass etc) the FiveFingers are designed to allow natural feeling of the foot whilst protecting it. The sole is around 2-3mm thick and flexible enough to allow natural barefoot movement.
First Impressions
I wanted to see what all of the fuss was about and recently acquired a pair of FiveFingers Komodosport. The first thing that people have issues with is getting them on, and I was no exception. After a few minutes of creeping my toes back and forth inside the shoe, I was able to line up the ‘fingers’ consistently. Over the following days this process became easier with practice.
Once you have these strange looking gloves on your feet you can help but feel a bit weird. After years of socks and shoes, your toes are now individually wrapped in rubber and synthetic mesh. Walking in the outdoors felt so different. The awareness of the surface you are walking on, the muscles in your feet engaging in every step, feeling the subtle changes in the terrain.
While I felt the urge to start running in them straight away, such a zealous move can cause injury. Think about how many times you’ve run in bare feet on a hard surface lately- probably not a whole lot. Your feet need time to adjust to their new environment, free of heel cushioning and arch support. Vibram recommend running no more than 10% of your typical running distance for the first 2-3 weeks, then increasing the distance by 10-20% every couple of weeks after that. Obviously these figures are conservative and you’ll probably be fine as long as you start slow and work your way up gradually. However, be wary of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) especially in your calves.
Science or Marketing?
There is no shortage of skeptics out there that are attacking barefoot running as a marketing fad full of misused facts and omitted results. An interesting website I came across has the author going out of his way to discredit anything related to the benefit of barefoot running. I took the time to read through an article published on PM&R, the official scientific journal of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. The paper titled ‘The Effect of Running Shoes on Lower Extremity Joint Torques’ stated some observations as follows:
“Increased joint torques at the hip, knee, and ankle were observed with running shoes compared with running barefoot.”
“These findings confirm that one effect of the typical construction of modern-day running shoes is to increase joint torques at each of the 3 lower extremity joints”
“The development of new footwear designs that encourage or mimic the natural compliance that normal foot function provides while minimizing knee and hip joint torques is warranted.”
All seems pretty revolutionary doesn’t it? Now, looking further into the discussion section of this article:
“a major limitation of this study, and of noninvasive gait analysis in general, is that the calculated joint torques provide only an estimate of the net difference between the forces on either side of a joint rather than an estimate of the actual joint contact forces.”
“It is also conceivable that the study subjects adopted a different contact style to minimize a potential increase in impact loading associated with barefoot running”
Like any reputable scientific investigation, the authors of this article have stated the factors that were outside of their control which could have potentially affected the results. Media and bloggers often forget to include this information when they publish press releases, which besides making themselves look like amateurs, reflects poorly on the folk who carried out the investigation in the first place.
Conclusions
I stopped running a few years ago after getting sore knees and shins after running middle distance. As a cyclist I always preferred a spinning cadence compared to the jolt I received from pounding the pavement. But as always, I’m curious about new concepts and designs in the outdoor industry so I decided that the FiveFingers were worth a try.
My first ~2 mile run in these shoes was a mix of pavement, gravel and a soft mountain bike trail with occasional rocky outcroppings. With the awareness that I mentioned earlier, you are a lot more careful about where your feet land, particularly off road. With the thin soles, FiveFingers are not really designed to run in rough terrain. While I was careful about where my feet landed, I had to slow down in rocky areas and gravel pits to avoid stone bruising. However the soft, loamy dirt of the mountain bike trail did feel amazing under my feet.
Vibram have been working with Merrell to produce the Barefeet series, designed more for trail runners. While the same principle applies in the Merrell Barefeet shoes (the soles are slightly thicker, especially under the forefoot), trying them on in the store didn’t feel nearly as natural as my individually wrapped FiveFingers. They definetly felt more like a shoe with that had materials removed, rather than feeling like an extension of the foot. Undoubtedly the Merrells offer more protection in rougher terrain.
If you are on the fence about switching to barefoot technology, take the time to do your research on whether it will be beneficial for your feet or not. And remember, believe only the credible sources. Everything else should be taken with a grain of salt.
Vibram Fivefingers are available to in Whistler at The Escape Route.
As I sit here at my desk typing my first blog post in two months, it’s 16 degrees out with a chance of showers this afternoon. It’s the 20th of July and we haven’t seen more than a few days of sunshine in a row since some time last year. In a town where almost every person relies on the good weather for their recreation, the attitude towards ‘season failure’ seems to be omnipresent.
After a winter where we were blessed with more snow than most of us have ever seen, the fickle crowd now wants mother nature to spin 180, part the clouds and start dumping UV rays on us. A romantic notion, but we’re not living in California here people.
“But Vince, if you weren’t injured you’d be bitching about the weather too”
I’ll admit I have my moments when I get frustrated by weather. But these days, the bad weather is more about lost photo opportunities, money I could be making from imagery. On days I leave the camera at home I’m rarely concerned with how good the light is.
The other day I ran into pro skier Chad Sayers. A man who has seen many lame duck seasons and incapacitating injuries in his time. When I described my summer after my spring shoulder surgery as being mostly inactive (apart from punishing daily physiotherapy), Chad simply said that one needs to look at down time as a blessing in disguise. There is no better time to reevaluate yourself, to look at your life, your goals and the reasons you’re still in Whistler doing what you do.
I implore you Whistler, summer ain’t over yet. To get us through to a hopefully nicer August, feel better about the some of the pros of a rainy summer. There is a bit of rainy day inspiration in us all, you just have to look deep enough.
Reduced fire danger: Campfires are allowed! Plus there are less life threatening wildfires around BC
Mountain biking: Flow trails and single track are in the best condition when a bit damp. Plus the wet rocks and roots forces you to brake in the right places on the trail. Just look at the North Shore bikers who ride all winter long.
Road Trips: Weather is looking pretty nice in the interior and the Rockies!
Indoor hobbies: Everyone needs something to keep them occupied throughout the Fall months. Might be time to start them early.
New opportunities: With less recreational distraction there’s more time to pursue opportunities, both in your life and career.
If you’re body is willing and able, don’t be afraid to test it against the elements!
One last biking shot before surgery. JD rides Econoline under Mt Currie. Shot on my trusty iPhone
After a prolonged wet spring here in Whistler the summer has arrived. The bike park is open, trails are drying out and shorts are flip flops are out in force. I can’t wait to break out my summer toys and get after it.
Oh wait… It looks like I can.
I decided to do a short ride around Mosquito Lake in Pemberton yesterday. I was convinced by my friend JD to head out and enjoy the sunny day on our bikes. This was a somewhat risky move since I’m scheduled to go in for shoulder surgery at Squamish General Hospital in a few days. I took as many precautions as I could; only riding blue trails, walking the features and keeping my distance from sharp branches and alders. When we break at the end of one of the trails I get the call from the surgeon’s office.
“Just checking you’ve been off anti-inflammatories and vitamin E?”
Yes maam. Haven’t gone near that stuff.
“Any open wounds?”
I give myself a once over to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. Nope. No blood, no scratches.
They tell me to check in at the hospital at 10am on Wednesday morning. I hang up and throw in my towel for the biking season. With my rehab I’m under orders to not risk falls of any kind for 6 months. Which means nothing fast or adventurous. If I’m lucky I’ll be able to hold up a camera in a few weeks.
At least I had the pleasure of that one last ride before getting sent to the couch. I even made a list of why I chose to take surgery to miss the summer instead of the winter:
There are more low-impact activities. e.g. hiking, strolling, laying on the beach tanning etc.
Not having to hear about missing epic pow days
Still being incapacitated for the fall season is ok
I will be ready to ski when the snowflakes fall again
I am also undertaking a some desk-based projects this summer. Stay tuned for more updates from the summer cripple!
