A ski weekend in Nelson

Nelson, a small town in the Kootenay region is home to the Whitewater Ski Resort which is part of the famous Powder Highway. Known knee deep powder, cat skiing and other outdoor activities my ski buddy Erna and I decided to check it out.

Since it's a long drive from Vancouver, we booked a flight to Castlegar Airport, which due to its location in a valley is more closed than open in the winter due to weather conditions. Apparently, the instrument approaches are considered amongst the most challenging of any in use at a commercial airport in North America. Lucky us, the weather gods were on our side and upon landing at Castlegar, the passengers, some of whom had been waiting for 2 days to fly out, cheered and clapped their hands, happy to have made it.

A group of guys from Vancouver whom we ran into on several occasions were on a mission to get confirmation from the locals that Nelson was indeed the weed capital of the Kootenays. The story goes that the weed is transported by backcountry skiers across the border into Washington state.
Whitewater is a small ski resort with only 3 chair lifts, however, there is some great terrain to be explored and despite the lack of fresh snow, we were still able to find stashes of powder on some of the glade runs.

It is really a local's resort, apparently, 70% of the locals have a season pass and the atmosphere on the mountain is very relaxed and casual. The ski shuttle from Nelson to Whitewater only runs once a day and is a great way to meet locals or run into our male friends each morning. The shuttle driver is a lucky guy, he drives skiers up to the mountain, spends his day in the backcountry before driving the shuttle back to Nelson at the end of the day! What a hard life being a ski bum!

The Fresh Tracks Cafe at the base of WH2O is known for it's superb food, in fact, the recipes have been published in several cookbooks that became national bestsellers.
We had 3 days to explore the mountain and enjoyed the varied terrain from great groomers to moguls to glades with stashes of powder. Tracking our progress on our ski apps and comparing maximum speeds, vertical drop, distance and number of runs was part of our day.

We didn't run into the bear though….

In the evenings, we explored downtown Nelson which is basically a few blocks along Baker Street.
After 3 great days, my ski buddy headed for Red Mountain while I made my way back to Castlegar to catch the afternoon flight back to Vancouver. The shuttle driver was a funny character, for some reason we got into talking about religion and politics and he was so convinced that if women ruled the world, it would be such a better place!!! He might have a point there. When I finally got to Castlegar airport, the Air Canada guy greeted me with 'You must be Ms. Risler', I was the last of about 15 passengers to check in. Gotta love small town airports.

A winter with Vancouver Adaptive Snow Sports

This winter I volunteered as a ski instructor for Vancouver Adaptive Snow Sports (VASS). Last December, I attended the 3-day training session on Grouse Mountain where we got familiarized with the teaching methodology as well as the use of different adaptive equipment depending on the needs and abilities of students. The sessions covered teaching visually impaired skiers, 3-track and 4-track skiers as well as sit skiers.

VASS yurt

A 4-tracker would be a student with little strength in the lower body (e.g. cerebral palsy) who uses outriggers, a sort of crutches with little skies at the bottom, hence the name 4-track. Unlike in regular skiing the turn is initiated by upper body rotation (head, shoulder and arms) and the legs just follow like the trailer of a truck.

A 3-tracker would be an amputee who uses outriggers to balance, however, the technic is pretty much the same as for a regular skier.

A visually impaired student would have little to no eye sight and teaching a visually impaired student is very hands on as we can't show them what to do. During our training session, we practiced skiing with our eyes closed and relying on a fellow instructor to give us directions. It was very awkward as one has to rely entirely on another person and the sense of moving and balance is very different.

Sit skiing is for people who have little or no mobility in their lower body. Depending on the student, a mono-ski or bi-ski can be used. The bi-ski has two skis, is lower and is easier to learn.
At the end of the training session, all of us received the Canadian Association for Disabled Skiing (CADS) level 1 instructor certification.

Adaptive equipment

My regular VASS night was on Tuesday night at Cypress with a group of experienced disabled skiers and I got assigned a regular student with a fellow instructor. My student was a young adult with cognitive and developmental issues who talked non-stop throughout the lesson. It was difficult to keep his attention to skiing especially after we met up with the rest of the group half way through the evening. Towards the end of the season he did make some progress and we had some good laughs with him.

I also did a few drop in lessons on the weekends. One student was a 6-year old autistic boy who gave me a big hug right after I met him and his mother. His mother was surprised as he usually doesn't to that. Another student was a 9-year old boy with Down Syndrome and to keep him motivated throughout the lesson we were playing Zombies.
I also got the opportunity to teach a blind Japanese student who at the end of the 2-hour lesson was able to link turns on the bunny slope. That was so inspiring!
Another student I was assisting with is a 12-year old girl a.k.a speed demon, she had to be kept on tethers as her idea of skiing is going straight down the mountain as fast as possible without turning. We were playing catch me if you can by making wide turns across the hill.

In addition to teaching skiing I have made some wonderful friends through VASS including my two ski buddies Angie, a 4-track skier and Anya, a sit-skier. We would go skiing together outside of the VASS program and have lots of fun. These two women are so inspiring as they enjoy life to it's fullest and don't let their disability get in their way.

Skiing Mount Baker

VASS also offered ski lessons for instructors and I signed up to take my CADS level 2 exam at the end of this winter season. Part of the exam was to demonstrate 3-tracking and 4-tracking which is not as easy as it sounds as it requires a lot of upper body strength. While I was in Sun Peaks at the end of March, I managed to take part in the CADS level 2 exam there and passed it. I also got my Canadian Ski Instructor Association level 1 certification earlier in March so I am all set for next year's ski season.

The experience with VASS has been very inspiring and rewarding, there are really no words to describe it.

A snowboarder and a skier in Whistler

In January my friend Jen visited me for a few days. The highlight of her visit was the 4 fabulous days we spent riding and skiing at Whistler.

While there was no fresh powder we got our fair share of good snow, blue skies and sunshine. Due to an inversion, the temperatures were warmer on the mountain than in the valley and the views from the top of Whistler mountain were just stunning while the valley lay under a blanket of fog.

We explored a variety of terrain from nicely groomed blue runs to the more challenging black runs off of Whistler Peak and Blackcomb Mountain. After a half hour hike up to Flute Bowl we were rewarded with more stunning views of the surrounding mountains although the bowl itself turned out to be rather disappointing without any fresh powder.

Flute Bowl also serves as backcountry access into Garibaldi Provincial Park for those who want to escape the crowds at Whistler and enjoy the solitude of the mountains.

On Blackcomb Mountain we joined a free mountain tour that took us down the Blackcomb Glacier. The guides were a lot of fun and gave us good tips about different runs and how to access them.

Eventually, we dared to hike up Spanky's ladder to access the bowls off of Blackcomb glacier. While the hike was really short, it was bloody steep and nerve-wracking, one wrong step would send you gliding downhill. However, Ruby Bowl was worth every effort. The glade runs on Blackcomb were also a lot of fun.

The treat on our last days was the 5.5km Peak-to-Creek run, which is the longest intermediate run in North America. It was freshly groomed and flying down the mountain on perfect corduroy was awesome!
While we explored the two mountains on skis and snowboard we also explored the culinary delights on the mountain. Whistler offers excellent food from Japanese Udon Noodle Bowls to BBQ's to fully loaded Belgian Waffles.

The culinary exploration didn't stop on the mountain, Whistler Village is home to many good restaurants offering a variety of different cuisines. Jen had to try the local oysters, the restaurant at our hotel had a happy-hour special of a dozen oysters for $10.

Whistler, we will be back on a powder day!