back in alberta i took full advantage of the snow and the cold crisp weather. one day after christmas my dad, colin and i strapped on some snowshoes and set out to explore the promised land, a small plateau tucked up in the rocky peaks just south of the crowsnest pass.
the trek took us over 5km up an increasingly snowy and beautiful valley. my dad took this picture of me at roughly half way along the approach. the pass we were aiming for is just at the left of the frame.
we made it up to the bowl, approaching the treeline, but the snow was around 2 meters deep and the going became extremely tough. we stopped at this beautiful spot for lunch.
we could see the steep final ascent rising directly in front of us, but decided that if we used our energy getting up to the promised land, like the israelites, we would never return (a destination like the promised land makes for a plethora of old testament puns).
instead we turned around and clumped back through the snow, contenting ourselves with the amazing views and trying to guess what animals made the many tracks we crossed.
fast forward to one week ago, and a short hop over the majestic rockies, a la westjet.
back in the balmy fraser valley i was able to bike up a similar elevation gain and enjoy dry grippy singletrack, wearing only shorts and a hoody over wool long underwear. pictured above is one of my favourite stunts, recently crushed by a falling tree. typically one would ride along the fallen log in the bottom centre (~15m long), pop hard left and hurtle over the smooth kicker on the far left of the frame.
this picture shows the jump head on. when i first encountered the newly fallen tree a few weeks ago it took me almost half an hour to clear all the detritus from the trail and open the jump for use. the balance trick unfortunately is no more. in the top left you can see the remainder of the double trunk that kicked off its twin and spawned such destruction. thanks nolene for helping me get these pics off kylie's cell phone.
on thursday i went for a run up elk mountain with niko. i take too many pictures of niko, so this time i gave him the camera to get some shots of me. not bad, but he has trouble holding the camera steady, and all his pictures have a very low perspective.
again the trail was dry, even halfway up the mountain. thank goodness for the moderating influence of the pacific ocean!
i love the snow. i particularly love going to visit the snow, when i choose to. i love mountain biking and trail running in january. i love the west coast.
back in alberta i took full advantage of the snow and the cold crisp weather. one day after christmas my dad, colin and i strapped on some snowshoes and set out to explore the promised land, a small plateau tucked up in the rocky peaks just south of the crowsnest pass.
the trek took us over 5km up an increasingly snowy and beautiful valley. my dad took this picture of me at roughly half way along the approach. the pass we were aiming for is just at the left of the frame.
we made it up to the bowl, approaching the treeline, but the snow was around 2 meters deep and the going became extremely tough. we stopped at this beautiful spot for lunch.
we could see the steep final ascent rising directly in front of us, but decided that if we used our energy getting up to the promised land, like the israelites, we would never return (a destination like the promised land makes for a plethora of old testament puns).
instead we turned around and clumped back through the snow, contenting ourselves with the amazing views and trying to guess what animals made the many tracks we crossed.
fast forward to one week ago, and a short hop over the majestic rockies, a la westjet.
back in the balmy fraser valley i was able to bike up a similar elevation gain and enjoy dry grippy singletrack, wearing only shorts and a hoody over wool long underwear. pictured above is one of my favourite stunts, recently crushed by a falling tree. typically one would ride along the fallen log in the bottom centre (~15m long), pop hard left and hurtle over the smooth kicker on the far left of the frame.
this picture shows the jump head on. when i first encountered the newly fallen tree a few weeks ago it took me almost half an hour to clear all the detritus from the trail and open the jump for use. the balance trick unfortunately is no more. in the top left you can see the remainder of the double trunk that kicked off its twin and spawned such destruction. thanks nolene for helping me get these pics off kylie's cell phone.
on thursday i went for a run up elk mountain with niko. i take too many pictures of niko, so this time i gave him the camera to get some shots of me. not bad, but he has trouble holding the camera steady, and all his pictures have a very low perspective.
again the trail was dry, even halfway up the mountain. thank goodness for the moderating influence of the pacific ocean!
i love the snow. i particularly love going to visit the snow, when i choose to. i love mountain biking and trail running in january. i love the west coast.
2 comments:
thanks for the shout-out! love the photos but love the fact that you're home even more...
The snow is finally mostly gone here (it stayed unusually long!)...why don't you come HERE and do some trail running before our next dump of snow?
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