The climbfish blog: A lesson in friendliness & a bonus in Loveland

BC Pow faces

I'm back in the Bmore and just went through an intense week of catching up at NOAA to get ready for our yearly research cruise in the Caribbean. Perhaps not so surprisingly nobody have been feeling very sorry for my hardship... Though good to be back the contrast from skiing in BC couldn't be greater. I thought I'd finish the story for you with some more pics and a couple of anecdotes.

Skiing through the woods we heard music and found our way to this magic cabin..

The Canadians in the Selkirk Mountains (South interior BC) have been so friendly that we almost suspected we were getting tricked, but finally realising that the bearded men and fine Canadian woman living in the area of Nelson and Rossland were just extraordinary welcoming. An example:
(Me asking the skipatroll) - I noticed the North face of Gray mountain is closed, any chance we can ski there?
(Bearded ski patroll guy) - Oh, No problem ey just be careful ey, there might be some rocks ey, pretty narly ey, but you'll be ok ey...
After skiing the face with plenty of close calls with exposed rocks at full speed we realised the ski patrol were just too nice not to let us ski, though it really was a bad idea...
Other signs of the Canadian spirit was that we did not find a single locked door during the trip. The only AH of the trip was the Canadian border control who made us empty the car and unpacked all our bags while provoking us with all his might... Not the first time that happened at the Canadian boarder (while returning to the US have always been surprisingly smooth).

The Klister Club Cabin

While skiing the backside woods at Red Mountain we (me, Sam and a three of his friends who had now joined us) heard music and found our way to a snowed in cabin. We invited ourselves and were welcomed to the Klister club 75th year anniversary (some sort of society, no tomatoes allowed). We were offered delicious homemade wine by the only present member of the club who then proceeded to show us a couple of secret runs in the woods before inviting us for more drinks. We all had a really hard time keeping up with the 60+ old man, he later departed to avoid getting home too drunk to his wife and their waiting guests. As you get older you get wiser(?)

Drinking homemade wine in the woods, an unexpected bonus

Looking good Tahoe style

Sam laying down a few sweet turns

It started snowing again in Whitewater, Nelson. The woods there are very steep and offer
some of the best tree skiing terrain I have seen. A little more fresh snow and it would have been ski heaven.

5 boys sharing an hotel room while dreaming away on Tinder...

Great Nachos...

...comes at a great cost. Stink screen applied

Red Mountain at its best

Now thats what a ski-resort sign should look like!

The last day it kept snowing and the dump we had waited for was taking shape, though one day to late. Just as it was getting nice the lifts closed for the day. As there was risk of flight delays due to yet another snowstorm both in Baltimore and in Spokane I seriously considered about pushing the trip another day to avoid getting stuck in transit and ski powder the next day (win win!). But I really had to go back for work so I reluctantly gave up the idea and we drove back to the airport through some intense weather. What happened? I got stuck over night in Denver as my connecting flight got canceled with no compensation for hotel or other expenses (credit to SouthWest...), luggage stuck in transit and next available flight the following afternoon. Should have trusted my instincts to stay another day in BC! Q. What to do to turn bad luck into an opportunity? A. Rent a car, save money by sleeping in it on a Wallmart parking lot half way to the mountains outside Denver. Wake up early, have a tele-meeting in early morning, then rent a snowboard and clothes and hit the slopes at Loveland mountain. At 12.15 I was struggling to get up a small untouched ridge (almost 13000 feet Altitude makes you feel like climbing Mt Everest...) and met yet another friendly ski patrol who just finished blasting the face. He said 2 minutes, get ready... and opened up the terrain right in time for my last run (flight leaving in 3 hours...). Made it back right on time, with all frustration flushed out and a smile cemented on my face. 4 hours later arrived happy in Bmore to awaiting Anna and a snowy Baltimore (and a fine pile of work to whip me into action the next day...)