Chilcotin Wanderings (May 23)

After returning from Europe I felt the need to spent some time in wilderness and re-visited old stomping grounds from my paddling days: Bridge River country and Fraser Canyon. Found loneliness. Dramatic skies. Lots of bear and deer.

Germany: Storks, Orchids and Asparagus (May)

In spring I took a trip to Germany to visit my family and catch up with friends.

A friend took me on a photo-tour to his favorite stork watching area north of Berlin and lent me his long lens. I liked it so much I had to order one myself.

The countryside was dotted with yellow canola ('Raps') fields, quite different from my memories of German spring time views. Interesting how eco-policies change landscapes.

With my parents we checked the limestone hills near Jena where orchids grow in great numbers.

An additional bonus of visiting Germany in May is that it is in the middle of Asparagus time and I got to feast on it. The white variety is difficult to find in Vancouver.

And I definitely won't rent a Mini again. Although I'm not prone to back problems and German roads are not worse than average, driving this car for 7 hours on one day left me with a back so sore I could feel it for a couple of weeks.

Looking for Snow (February)

We got out into the snow only a few times this year.

Few shots from our ski tour a week ago around Table Mt near Mt Baker. Skates or micro-spikes would have been better tools for the task than skis. But it is still a great tour with amazing views.

Surprise! We found some snow. 15 cm fresh at 1600m (Gold Run Pass). Skiing would have been fine for about 100 vertical meter (and before sun and wind made a mess). But we were late and without skis. Still nice to get out in the snow. No snow at all at the trail head at 1100m.

One day of cross country skiing at Lac La Hache.

No Snow Winter 2014/15

The 'snow water equivalent' graphs show the story of this winter: virtually no snow below 1500 meter. Low to average snowpack higher up in the alpine and in the Interior.