Visitors from Germany: June 30 to July 14

Wow – halfway through the summer already!
The first half went by way too fast and has been very very busy.

My parents visited from Germany for the first two weeks in July. We got to do lots of hikes in and near Vancouver. First we wandered up the snowy slopes of Mt Seymour ski area to Brockton Point – watched even a few die-hard skiers and snowboarders!



Still lots of snow in the mountains - even for Canada!


A few days later we found an amazing patch of yellow glacier lilies just below Mt. Cheam.




My parents even came and watched us paragliding at Bridal Fall on the other side of the Cheam ridge – and as added bonus I finally got some pictures of myself in the air!


That's me in the air at Bridal (photo H. Schwab)


Kiting at Steveston (photo H. Schwab)


During the second week we spent a couple of nights at Tyax Resort in the South Chilcotins and explored a rough trail to Ault Lake. Rather impressive signs of bear activity everywhere – judging by the size it must have come from grizzlys!


By the way, this is PADDY, my new ride


My mum was much more happy back at the car and greatly enjoyed fields of orchids, lupins and indian paintbrush by the side of the road.




Jill and Robin (Pete's parents) came over from the Island for a family reunion and a Howe Sound cruise with circumnavigation of Anvil Island and seal rock visit.






But just like at home, my parents couldn’t sit still and spent every spare minute working on our garden – it has never looked that nice before!

Spius Creek: June 29, 2008

Nice to be on Spius Creek again, this time at a pretty low level. The good thing about the lower level was a much more leisurely pace and lots of time to enjoy the canyon scenery. The bad thing was that the run took 5 hrs vs a short and sweet 3.5 hrs last time. Last year with levels on the high side more focus was needed for the whitewater and I didn’t appreciate the amazing scenery quite as much. “Turbine” was the exception – it was a lot gnarlier at this low level and was portaged by half of the group.

Spius flows into the Nicola west of Merritt. The run is about 20k through an inaccessible canyon. More info can be found in my book....

Post from last years run.

Bridal: First High Flights - June 28

The many hours spent kiting the paraglider on the ground paid off making my first two flights low stress and very enjoyable experiences. This convinced me totally that this piece of blue fabric attached to a bunch of lines can actually fly! Still pretty amazing. After a long hot 6 hrs of parawaiting I got a chance to get in the air again for flight #2. No pictures of this event since I have my hands full (literally) and Pete is still too obsessed flying himself to get behind the camera, oh well...

Back to Skooks, May 31-June 1

Photo Kim Mackay

What happens if you are at Skooks and nobody else shows? Of course an excellent surfing weekend! That’s exactly what Donna and I did (while Pete spent some quality time para-waiting in Pembie). On Saturday at 10.9 knots Skooks offered a nice, moderate break. Funny enough, after we were finished a couple of the spectators told us how much they enjoyed our performance and thanked us for it! Well, we enjoyed it too... Sunday was a bit more exciting at 13 knots. The rooster tail put an end to our surf session, but a couple of Skooks locals arrived just at that time and demonstrated how the experts do it.


The pictures are actually from my trip two weeks ago. With just the two of us this time, I didn't want to leave Donna on her own (or miss any wave time) to get out and take pictures. Photo Kim Mackay


Photo Kim Mackay