Photo: Alex Fraser Bridge

This was a first for me: I had a particular image in mind, waited for the right conditions (a dry night with outflow wind), went out and got exactly what I wanted! Alex Fraser Bridge at Night.

First Day of Sping, March 20

First day of spring and not very spring-like!

Since mid February the coast has been pounded by a series of storms, associated with cold temperatures and big dumps of snow. Last week Grouse had 167 cm, Whistler 170 cm and Baker comes in on top with 110 inches in 6 days (279 cm!).

Nice turns on Mt Seymour

Unfortunately these storms often came just before (or on) weekends, making for rather harsh skiing conditions. Despite this Pete and I skied Whistler in 50 km/h winds. With another friend I got stuck on a chair at Seymour on a cold and windy night for half an hour. Unfortunately, heavy snowfall combined with high winds also make for tricky avalanche conditions, so we haven’t been out in the backcountry quite as often as we would have liked. But early in March we got some nice runs at Hemlock Resort (and found 50-60 cm fresh pow behind it) and later in March did a moon-light tour at Hollyburn and hit some sweet snow in the whiteout conditions at First Pump (Mt Seymour).

Now forecasts are for warmer weather by this Friday, maybe spring is starting after all?

From BC River Forecast Centre

From Canadian Avalanche Association

"Spring" Olympics in Vancouver, February 12-28

Cherries in blossoms, spring-like temperatures and snow from Manning Park - that was Vancouver in February 2010. Not very wintery, but we enjoyed the Olympics in Vancouver more than expected. Since we didn’t have to travel downtown and everybody else seemed to be on vacation or work from home, traffic was much lighter than usual. We ventured downtown a couple of times and immersed ourselves into the Olympic crowds, went to a women’s hockey game (very exciting as it was tied 2:2 until the last few minutes) and I even got close and personal to an olympic torch (no longer lit).