Saturday, October 11, 2014

Fall Report 2014

As usual I will start with an apology to my UK and European followers for the title of this post which I am sure you will tell me should more correctly read "Autumn Report 2014" but when in Canada do as the Canadians.

First off an update for all of you who have been kind enough to enquire after Lynda's health this year. The good news is that the chemo she received appears to have been effective and she continues to recover, mainly for the side effects of the drugs she had to take. All summer she has been getting stronger and although not quite back to full strength is well on the way to a full recovery. With this in mind we both are set for a full on ski season.

I should also apologise for the lateness of this report which I usually make a good month earlier than this. The reason for this is that our fall visit to the house in Canada is later this year than usual. In part this is due to me wanting to run the Fernie Half Marathon which I did last weekend in a time of 1:56 which was not great but ok considering I was the oldest guy in the race, and an overall position of 62/168 was not too bad either. The other and main reason was that we had booked a Grizzly Bear watching trip for early October to coincide with the main kokanee run (the fish not the beer) which meant a later than usual visit.

I am actually typing this report sitting in my log cabin up in the Selkirks having had a couple of awesome bear watching, hiking and rafting days with a couple more to go. Anyone contemplating such a vacation should check out www.grizzlybearranch.ca

Really when it comes to the outlook for skiing this winter there isn't really very much to report. There has been some snow on the ground even down to the valley floor but for the time being  it has all melted right up to the top of the Three Sisters. Days are getting cooler and the leaves are turning yellow and falling but as yet there are no signs of the first real snow base of the winter but of course that could change in a matter of days,

No significant work appears to have been done on the hill although I am told there has been a bit of alder tidying which is always a good thing. I am also told that some work has been done creating an open area to the skiers right of Emily's to help the junior racers, but even if it's true it won't affect the rest of us much.

On a personal note the hill have found my ski that was lost when I was caught in an inbound avi on Paddy's Day this year and it is awaiting my collection at some point - thanks to all concerned in the recovery and great work guys. Much to my surprise when I went to the hill last week I found Guest Services open and so we went in and picked up our passes which got the adrenaline starting to flow in anticipation of a new ski season.

There is still no official word on opening dates but the smart money is that it will be first weekend in December conditions permitting. There is always the possibility of a bonus opening the weekend before perhaps just for two days, again if conditions allow. Hills always like to get some skiing in during November no matter how poor or limited just to give them the bragging rights to say that we ski from November.

So what is the outlook for the season - well, in truth that is anybody's guess. On a positive note the Farmers Almanac, which has a slightly better record of long range forecasting than most (not saying much I know) is calling for a wetter and colder winter in the Pacific North West. This has to be taken with a large pinch of salt but looked at together with the subsiding of the El Nino effect now evident it could point to a pretty good ski season

Final analysis is that any ski season is a good ski season so I hope to be out on day 1 and then all day every day throughout the season so watch this space for reports. Hope to see many of you out on the hill or in the Griz Bar afterwards so have a great ski season and remember - keep your stick on the ice