NSR Task for Lost Skiers at Grouse Mountain

The pager went off at around 6:30pm or so saturday night, and the team was paged out to look for a pair of skiers who had skied out of bounds at Grouse Mountain. The Father & Son team had pitched off the north side of Grouse Mountain to enjoy the couple of feet of fresh snow ... and neglected to think how they were going to climb back up into the resort area. They called 911, and our team was dispatched to find them and get them out.

The avalanche hazard was high that night - a team of about 9 of us went in ... Jeff, Curtis & were held back as an advance backup team while the others found and brought the pair out. While we were waiting, we set up a shelter system, and got some warm drinks going - ready for when the rest of the team brought the pair out an hour and a half or so later.

Jeff, along with the son & father in our shelter.

Although it was a straightforward rescue into an area that we've operated in before, suffice to say that the high avalanche hazard added additional risk to the team. The father & son really should have known better than to ski out of bounds in these conditions.

Not All Ski Days Are Fun Days

Killaine & I had a fun, but not terribly fun, day of skiing at Whistler. The skiing was good and conditions were great, but:

1. The restaurants were beyond packed out - packed lunches on the side of the ski run from now on!
2. We had to ride one gondola ride with some sort of wierdo who got overly excited in an angry way about a story he was telling (you had to be there)
3. We were accosted by some dweeb trying to sell us timeshares in Whistler
4. Another gondola ride with kids who "just about" pulled out their joints and started smoking them ... and
5. My truck was broken into while parked at Whistler Creekside (in the underground parking). Fortunately, "only" around $100 was stolen from Killaine's wallet.
   

Killaine praying for respite from the crowds in the restaurant.

My truck - without a window!

Boxing Day Powder

Boxing day was a clear, sunny day in Vancouver, albeit cool, and the previous day had dumped a fair amount of snow on the mountains. So, in the spirit of a lazy boxing day, Killaine and I headed up Hollyburn Peak (near Cypress) to ski the back side of it.

The ski up Hollyburn is incredibly popular amongst the snowshoeing crowd.

The recent snow was plastered all over the trees near the summit.

As I mentioned, the summit is very popular ... but (virtually) everyone stops here. Killaine & I dropped over the north side of the peak and skied the foot or so of fresh powder along the ridge that leads NE from the peak of Hollyburn, kind of up and above Tony Baker gully.

The runs were short, but the skiing was great, and it was a beautiful day - all in all, not bad for an afternoon powder run!

Christmas Day

What better way to celebrate Christmas in our new home by doing a short ski!

Killaine and I went up the Alpine trail on Mount Seymour - just for a single run 'cause we had to get ready to go for Christmas supper at Hugh's.

So, a short climb up, and a good run down in the new snow.

On our way up

Killaine tromping up the Alpine Trail.

A windy, snow blown Christmas afternoon at Brockton Point!

Christmas Eve

We had Killaine's family over to our new house Christmas eve for a special dinner.

As usual, Baxter & Mille were the focus of popular attention.

Sophie, Baxter, Mille, Lynn & Dag in the kitchen.

Hugh, Killaine & their Dad by the Christmas tree in our living room.

Killaine made an awesome vegetarian meal - very yummy!

NSR Avalanche Practice

On December 23rd, I got together with a number of other North Shore Rescue members to practice our Avalanche procedures up on Mount Seymour.

A number of us, including myself, are going to be taking the Canadian Avalanche Association's Avalanche Operations Level 1 course, and thus wanted to bone up on our avalanche transceiver search, Rutschblock, and snow profiling.

Analyzing our snow pit, under the guidance of Fiona.

Fiona doing a hardness profile of the snowpack.

Curtis doing a temperature profile.

Digging out a Rutschblock - yes, we've been getting alot of snow!

Mount Seymour Dawn Patrol - December 20th

The tradition continues ...

For "fun" (and, 'cause it's something you can do in Vancouver), once a week I try to wake up at 5:30am, drive up to Mount Seymour, and do a couple of laps of skiing up the Alpine trail and down the ski runs on Mount Seymour. I get around 560m of vertical in, finish up by about 8:30, and get to work by 9:30.

This morning, I started my first downhill run in the dark - skiing by headlamp. This picture kinda shows how awake I was that morning:

My New Bumper Sticker

Unfortunately, she isn't the Green Party candidate, but, hey, anyone but Bush in 2008! (Killaine ordered the bumper sticker especially for me!)

Our New House!

Here's our new house! Killaine & I just removed our conditions on the purchase this morning, and we move in December 14th! We're very excited!

(and, yes, it is asbestos free!)