Spring skiing - wow

Today was our last day and it went out with a bang.  

The sun was shining, the wind was calm and the snow was amazing.  

After ducking in at 11:45 to make sure we get the seats we want on Westjet (you need to book your seats 24 hours in advance), we decided to detour to the bakery (again).  

Just as I am sitting down with some goulash (and a chocolate croissant-how did that happen), I bumped into an old friend and his family, Robert Huter, one of the owners of Mount St. Louis Moonstone.  I've know Robert since I was the patrol leader their back in the mid 80's.  

We had a great lunch with them and even skied a few runs with them after lunch.  

Today, we even ran into our first lift line (almost 6 minutes).  Wow, that was painful.  :)

I did ski Gowabuna - impressive run with Volkswagens for bumps (but they were soft).  Carolyn and I did some really high speed cruising runs on the back side until they kicked us out.  Then, back over to the front side until they kicked us out of there.    

A great way to end the season.  I recommend this place highly.

The last of the photos are now being uploaded to the gallery.

My Garmin - what a great device

Yesterday (Saturday), I chose not to ski.  Not sure why, but it just wasn't in my head even though it was sunny, no wind and about -2C.  Carolyn went out for a few hours in the morning/lunch time.

About mid afternoon, we decided to head down into Vernon to have a look around.  On the way down (from 1640M ASL to 430M ASL - hmm... think Tour de France, and this is in about 10k's), C thought that a tour over to Sun Peaks might be worth while as it was an option for us to ski.  Especially since the Garmin Nuvi only said that it was 80k's away.  One right turn later and a quick stop at Tim's (nope, didn't win anything), we were headed up Hwy 97 towards Kamloops.

At the end of 97, we did a right turn (high speed ramp actually--I guess for the truck run outs in case they are brakeless), and about 10k's later, we turned right on a very high arc 1 lane bridge of the Salmon Arm river.  

Now, you know your in trouble when your GPS says "turn right on unpaved road".   OK, right it is.  Funny, 'did you see any signs for Sun Peaks?'.  Nope.  

Next command from the Nuvi is 'Continue for 37 kilometers on unpaved road'.  This can't be good.  I can now start to hear the banjo's playing (no, we weren't listening to the Bluegrass channel on Sirius).  By now it is 5pm and the GPS is saying we should be there by 5:42.  Hmmm... this dirt road winds its way straight up and all we see is some pretty bare field.  

At that point, I check the Nuvi (GPS).  There is a part called 'Avoidances' in the navigation.  I guess when I was storm chasing with Ron last week and we were doing cross country near Austin Texas, I had turned off the part that says 'avoid unpaved roads'.  The Nuvi, doing what it was told, did find us the fastest route to Sun Peaks.  Not the way the brochure would wish  you to go, but, as always, it will get you there.

After checking google maps on my Blackberry, we decided that this is NOT the right or tourist way to Sun Peaks, so we turned around and headed back towards Hwy 97 and start our return Vernon.

Our Ford Edge rental from Budget is now coated in DIRT.  I hope that is OK, as I was warned that since it is an SUV, that I do have to stay on paved roads.

Since this is the first time we have driven the Edge in the dark, we noticed that you can switch the colour of the interior floor lighting and the rings around the cup holders to about 8 different colours (I can hear Ted saying 'come on!' already).

Today is our last day on the mountain.  Not a cloud in the sky and you can see forever.

Vacation to Silver Star BC

Carolyn and I arrived on Monday from Toronto.  This last minute vacation managed to find us a great rate on West Jet for the 2 of us return.  We splurged a bit on the accommodation based on the recommendations of some friends that were here 2 weeks before us.

Driving through Vernon, we noticed the extreme lack of snow.  I guess we should have checked the elevations differences between Vernon and Silver Star.  Once we made the drive up here, the snow banks can be measured in meters and the view is amazing.

Monday, we could have skied for free just by presenting our boarding pass, but we chose to take it easy and unpack and find some dinner.   Snowbird Lodge is located right in the village.  This isn't Whistler (as in it is a pretty small resort), but it is very quaint.  Once you get here, you can park the car unless you wish to drive back DOWNHILL into Vernon.

It didn't take us long to find the Bakery.  It also didn't take us long to find out that the owner of the Bakery knows my sister (left over from the television show, Making the Cut).  The requirement is for at least 2 trips each day into the bakery.  Not to worry, everything is low cal food! (yeah, right)

Today is Friday.  The Internet here is about the same or worse than Lake Louise (at least at the Hotel).  Today, I finally managed to get my VPN working to the house which has allowed me to get some decent speed and the ability to upload some pictures.

Check out the gallery.

It has snowed here every day (remember, this is April).  About a foot has fallen all week resulting in some amazing skiing.  For those that are here for the K2 National Ski race, it has been work as they have had to remove snow from the race course every day.  It was great to ski right by those working on the course (hey, is that Andy Wolfe???)

Thursday we skied fresh snow all day.  We even blasted through the trees/glade in knee deep powder at times.  

Friday, we skied all morning, came in for lunch and then checked ourselves into the spa for a few hours.  As I write this, we are headed over to meet some friends from Craigleith (who were here for the K2 races).

Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and warm (make that almost 0C).  Down in Vernon, it might hit +12C.

p.s.  Sarah... I have not YET skied Gowabunga, but I will!!  However, I did do Gong Show.

Wrong blog :)

If your looking for the storm chasing blog, go here.

Rolex just loves us....

From The Hahnenkammnews

There were also a number of changes to the aesthetics to the course: The new start house facia gave the start of the race a striking new look. The racers gave this new look a big thumbs up! Precision Timing, on behalf of Rolex, had also brought new ideas to the race that were unique to Kitzbuehel, starting with their stroboscopic platform that allowed viewers to see exactly when the racers had broken the wand and started their run. The green LED lights flashed clearly for all to see.

Those watching on the Rolex screens in the finish area as well as at home were able to see the acceleration from the start as well as the speed that racers were going over the Mausefalle just after the start. All these pieces of information gave the viewers, as well as the coaches and racers, more of an insight into how the competitors were getting on when pitched against each other. 

It was in the finish area that the clearest sign of the new technology being used: The Rolex Speedometer gave everyone interested the opportunity to see how fast the racers were going as they came into the finish area. Didier Defago won The Race on Hahnenkamm Saturday and he also took the fastest speed down the Zielschuss, coming in at over 142kmh! While the technology used by the ski companies to help the racers go ever faster improves, the technology being used by Precision Timing and their partners Seltec is constantly evolving as is the partnership between the Kitzbueheler Ski Club, Rolex and the service providers. Ted Savage from Precision Timing is forthright when he says that they “focus on being the best in the world.”

Another Race comes to an end

Arrived home from Kitz late on Monday.  Our team exceeded all of our targets and left our client in a very very pleased state.  In fact, it was quoted that this was one of the top 10 Kitz races in all time (this was the 69th).  

On my photo site (where I just uploaded a ton more pictures), you can see a close up of the Red Bull helicopter.  Just keep in mind that he is totally vertical pointing straight down at me while I stand on the finish line.

From the time that the DH starts on Saturday to the finish of the SL on Sunday, it is go go go.  Once the DH finishes on Saturday, we have to gather all our equipment and move over to the SL start.  This requires getting it wired and tested (for those timing types, we use 5 pairs -- System A, System B, Headset, Display - where we feed display data up to the start.  For those of you counting, the 5th is a spare pair).

The finish is no different.  System A, System B, Headset, Photo Finish Camera and manual button.  As well, if possible, we do add a fibre optic line for the photo finish camera.  You can see the attached picture of a skier who just carved a turn over the finish line.

At the end of the SL race it is then time to pack up ALL the equipment so that it can be shipped back to Canada.  Some equipment is rented from our good friends at Alge.

Now, back to the food. Sunday night we all got back to the villa at about 7:15pm.  Just in time for a large 4 course dinner with some of the very key members of the organizing committee including the Marketting Rep for Rolex.  All great guys.

Kitzbuhel is the mecca of DH ski racing.  It all started here and is one of the safest courses in the world.  You only have to go back to when the crazy canucks raced in the 80's to see the lack of safety netting.  CBC clearly showed that on their broadcast.

I work with some of the best propeller heads in the business.  We have a lot of fun and haven't killed each other (yet).  We are family even though we are scattered to the 4 corners of the world.

Race day

Wow, what a day.  Make sure you just watch it.

The data on TV really rocked.  Brooker thought that the acceleration radar was just cool.

Speeds into the finish were over 140kph.