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Ski touring
Lets hear it for Fred Flintstone!
December 10th, 2009
checking out:
October 30, 2009
Today was a day of 3 things: 3 Bad Things.
1) The Van got away from me.
I had followed my wife to a car dealership to drop off our “good” car for scheduled service. I took the hippy wagon, with the kids inside, intending to pick up wife, then drop the kids off at daycare. I pulled into the dealership ahead of my wife and brought the van to stop in front to the “drop off area” – a slightly raised concrete platform, protected from the rain via a roof structure. I guess I stopped with the front wheels overhanging the concrete. I got out the of van and started walking back towards to wife, who was stepping out of the good car. She yelled out “The Van!”. I turned, looked and saw the van rolling forwards, towards the side of parked car about 10 metres away.I started running after it and managed to jump inside just as it made contact with a concrete curb protecting the parked car…. the drivers door was still open and as the van came to a stop, the open door impacted a fence post, forcing the door shut on my shin. A small dent in the door, a raw shin and a “how the hell did that happen?” question lingers. I had left the vehicle in drive, not park. And I didn’t set the parking brake. The bad news: The kids were inside! The van never got going more than 5 klicks per hour, but still a scary incident… if it had been a real hill, the kids would have gone for a real ride.
2) The right Hip Problem — About 3 years ago I crashed skiing and finished that crash by feeling my right leg getting stretched out with my ski still attached (thats what happens when you set your DIN to 12) — my ski was prependicular to my leg. Something about the crash felt strange at teh time, but I didn’t worry too much about it. Well, since the crash, I’ve convinced myself that I did manage to bugger my hip. At times its sore, and in the last couple of weeks I’ve experienced real pain with my hip as I twist my body when walking (turning corners with my right foot planted). 3 times in teh last week I’ve had jabs of pain when walking. Today, picking the kids up from daycare I walked around the front of the van and almost collapsed in pain from my hip. Time to go get it checked out. YEAH! Canadian Health Care!
3) Plugged Gutters:
Its pouring rain in Port Moody today. Pouring. Like 30 to 50 mm in 24 hours pouring. Well, my roof gutters are apparently plugged and I;ve got “cascade falls: pouring out of my 2nd floor gutters onto the 1st floor roof. Its a gentle sound, that soothes the children as they nod off to sleep. But to me, it means that I’ve got to get up onto the roof, in the rain, to clean out the obstructions in the 2nd floor gutters. Now, to find a 25 foot ladder.
October 24th, 2009
My wife was lucky enough to be given an amazing gift two weeks ago — a D200. It’s quickly replaced our D80 as our camera of choice. Learning curve is pretty daunting!
October 17th, 2009
When I started Ski touring in 1996, my entire setup cost me $200 used. Boots, Bindings, skis and skins. I rented my beacon from the bcmc
I already had a full goretex shell/pants/mittens. I cobbled together a decent insulating layer. I used my summer pack. I mooched rides in 4×4’s from well heeled ski touring friends.
Since i was a student at the time, i chose ski touring as a cheap way to go skiing. I used the Ho-chi Min trail in Fitzsimmons creek (Whistler) to get up to mid-station (which at the time, the lifties would check out your touring gear and give you a wave as you boarded sans lift ticket). I chose ski touring because it gave me access to the best ski terrain in the world, often with only a couple of hours of effort.
Recently, while at Mountain Equipment Co-op I figured I price out what the gear would cost me today:
skis $585
boots $795
bindings $425
skins $198
Poles $153
Goretex shell $340
Ski pants $195
Wicking layer and insulating layer: $250
Beacon $275
probe $70
Shovel $65
pack $365
sleeping bag, thermarest, stove, pots, gps, compass, first aid kit, sunglasses, goggles, tent will be at least another $1300
Total cost to go ski touring in BC: $5200
Add in a decent used 4×4 for $20,000
And you have a very, very expensive hobby.
Its about 16 Klicks with an elevation gain of about 1100 feet.
Its a good question isn’t it?
200, 300, 400, 600, 1200?
So I traded in my old SUV for a new road bicycle. I used the scrapit program. The province gave me $1200 towards a new bicycle and 6 months of 3 zone transit passes (oct, nov, dec). I figured the truck really wasnt worth $2 grand so I was happy to do the deal. I purchased a Cannondale Six 5 road bike
And have started a twisted commute in place of my SOV SUV trips of the past:
I ride the West Coast Express> with bike in the morning and ride home in the afternoon. The ride home takes about 20 minutes longer than driving. Thats 26 klicks, at an average speed of about 22 kph on the bike. I know that I’ll only get faster the more I ride.
