Just seeing if there are any other skiers around DS? Seattle and Vancouver are in a great part of the world in being that they are a reasonable distance to many ski hills, back country, and resorts.
Any favorites?
I love
Whistler of course, but too darn crowded
Whitewater is beautiful
Big (Montana, not Kelowna). Big Mountain is by far the best snow I have ever enjoyed, not too busy either. Always reliable!
Jackson Hole was cool too, but very busy also.
Lake Louise is sweet after a good snow dump.
Any other skiers? boarders? I don't know how you could live in this part of the world and not? That would be crazy talk!
I ski. There is also a guy named Devil (based in Calgary) who posts here from time-to-time. He's a skiier and boarder.
We started skiing last year after a 15year hiatus. (I grew up skiing in the local hills.) We have seasons passes at Seymour. It's been a good atmosphere for Heckyl and Jeckyl to learn.
In Jan I needed to drive out to Alberta for a family funeral- no time for skiing. *sniff* I drove past Sun Peaks, the new hill in Revelstoke, Kicking Horse in Golden, Banff/Sunshine, Canmore/Kananaskis, and Canada Olympic Park. And I had the skis in the roof rack carrier the entire time. *sniff*
Seymour would be perfect for kids learning. I bet it doesn't take long either? Kids are so fearless, LOL!
Oh, I forgot about the new hill at Revolstoke. I always said that is one place that needs a hill, the snow is crazy awesome there!! Thanks Lil Me!!
Seymour has a nice laid-back vibe. It's still a family-owned and operated hill....so it's just like a ski hill out of the 1970s. One of the chairlifts still has wooden seats.
I meant Revelstoke needed a better hill than the one they had. I think they just expanded Revelstoke Mountain. Either way, great snow in that area.
Only been to Breckenridge
where...
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are abound.
I ski. There is also a guy named Devil (based in Calgary) who posts here from time-to-time. He's a skiier and boarder.
I miss Devil. [img style="CURSOR: pointer" onclick=url(this.src); src="http://www.cheesebuerger.de/images/more/bigs/c020.gif" border=0]
I've never skiied before but it was just recent (2006) that I've been to Whistler and then to Seymour. (snowshoeing and tubing)
One day, I will give it a go. My guy keeps bugging me. That, and camping. :)
Dont ski or snowboard. I do water ski and wakeboard alot during the uh, warmer months.
I want to try skiing and snowboarding, as does Starfish.
Me neither Russ. But put the same equipment on the water, and I'm in. Surfing is fun !
Haha.....
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This is the hardest part of surfing......getting into a bikini. (that word actually came up)
Which reminds me, I probably should think about getting my bathing suit ready for summer. I think I will probably have the pantlegs let down just a little bit....and the sleeves could probably be shortened an inch or so. (http://discoverseattle.net/forums/richedit/smileys/Happy/12.gif)
Who needs a bathing suit when you're wearing that sexXxy cat suit?
Shoot! Thanks PC!!
I need to check out mine and Starfishies bathing suits, and see whether or not we need to go shopping tonight. Blast!
Who needs a bathing suit when you're wearing that sexXxy cat suit?
Erm....I think the dry cleaners shrunk it again. [img style="CURSOR: pointer" onclick=url(this.src); src="http://www.cheesebuerger.de/images/smilie/liebe/g038.gif" border=0]
Costco has some fabulous brand name bathing suits for you and the missus, Russ. :)
I brought a Speedo for about $20.
You HAD to mention Costco. I'm out of here.....goin to Costco. [img style="CURSOR: pointer" onclick=url(this.src); src="http://www.cheesebuerger.de/images/smilie/haushalt/a058.gif" border=0]
But PC - they don't have cat suits. ;)
It shrinked? Such a delicate suit needs to be hand washed and air dryed. :)
Speaking of shrinkage, my friend brought her b/f a nice merino wool sweater. Guess what he did to it? Yes, washed it in the machine and then put it in the dryer. OMG! She was upset.
It shrinked? Such a delicate suit needs to be hand washed and air dryed. :)
Speaking of shrinkage, my friend brought her b/f a nice merino wool sweater. Guess what he did to it? Yes, washed it in the machine and then put it in the dryer. OMG! She was upset
OMG.....what a buffoon. Maybe they can hand-me-down it to the dog?
I really doen't get the shrinking wool thing. I've never seen a sheep walking around with his eyes bulging out because his coat shrunk. (http://discoverseattle.net/forums/richedit/smileys/8.gif)
[img style="CURSOR: pointer" onclick=url(this.src); src="http://www.cheesebuerger.de/images/smilie/tiere/k030.gif[/img][/DIV]
Hilarious. I had wondered the same thing about sheep in the rain.
purelife wrote:
But PC - they don't have cat suits. ;)
It shrinked? Such a delicate suit needs to be hand washed and air dryed. :)
Speaking of shrinkage, my friend brought her b/f a nice merino wool sweater. Guess what he did to it? Yes, washed it in the machine and then put it in the dryer. OMG! She was upset.[/DIV]
I dont get whats wrong here. He washed his clothes?
Hey PC.. are you SURE the suit shrunk? :) :)
<ducking and running for cover under a very big mountain>
I say that about alot of my clothes. Starfish doesnt believe me for some reason.
Hey PC.. are you SURE the suit shrunk? :) :)
<ducking and running for cover under a very big mountain>
I say that about alot of my clothes. Starfish doesnt believe me for some reason.
[img style="CURSOR: pointer" onclick=url(this.src); src="http://www.cheesebuerger.de/images/smilie/frech/p015.gif" border=0]
It's true. I swear it. [img style="CURSOR: pointer" onclick=url(this.src); src="http://www.cheesebuerger.de/images/smilie/frech/n070.gif" border=0]
it's spring now. Means only one thing. Tofino.
meh, Tofino is too loaded with tourists.
Aw, C'mon Van Dude. There's enough beach and surf for everyone.
haha. There are so many other cool parts of the west coast of the island without having to go to Tofino. It is beautiful, for now...
well I'm going easter weekend got this long break my buddy and the girls who always tag along with us. Should be fun.
Don't get me wrong, Tofino is amazing. I am just scared that it is becoming "Whistler, Ocean style". It starts with the Hotels...then the PGA sized golf course in Ucluelet...next there will be Ronald McDonald's fat ass shaking at you.
But, who am I to say? A place like that would be hard to keep nice forever, too many people want to enjoy it.
nah, it's not going to happen. They'll go the non-commercialism route if they want to keep the character of the place the same. They'll be more cape codish probably. Wouldn't fit with the character of Islanders to have Tofino overly commercialized. Tofino is still regional.
I hope not anyways. There is a PGA size golf course opening (unless it is already opened?) in Ucluelet. I have friends that opened a B&B in Tofino a few years ago and it is a constant stress to keep things indie.
hmm well i'll see soon enough where the vibe is going towards.
Tofino never seems to be over run with tourists. They're THERE....but it never seems to be 'hectic'. Long Beach and area, have really done some smart marketing. They feature storm season as one of their peak times. And rightly so. A hotel room on the beach, with a roaring fireplace and/or a hot tub, with a view of some spectacular ocean action. Genius.
yup. whales are big.
i can't remember when its the peak season.
The west coast is almost an any season time for whale sighting.....but I'm sure there are more peak times than others.
I remember driving past an area a few minutes from home, and spotting a pod of whales. Traffic (as small as it was) came to a standstill, and everyone had cameras, binoculars and camcorders out. We actually followed them all the way down island. We'd drive for a bit, then pull of the highway to the beach and wait and watch as they caught up.
The baby whale had got himself turned around....and the pilot whale was relentless in trying to guide the little guy back into the pod. It was so dramatic. The pod doesn't wait....and it was like watching a cliff hanger to see if they caught up with the pod. We followed it for over an hour and a half. It was truly a most fabulous event.
yeah the island is a completely different place. relaxed a lot.
Mr LM and I had a bit of a "trapped" feeling on the Island. After the last ferry and the last plane have left for the night, you're DOOMED!
yeah I used to get the trapped feeling a lot here for the first couple of months. Now it's not really a big deal. I figured out though that the island will punish you if you don't get out of the towns and cities to explore the scenery/wilderness. Especially when you've got nobody to talk to on the weekends.
haha well if you're going north, you skip van, but yeah west, you've got to go through it.
It kinda bugs me that you need to pay to get on the ferry. It's part of the Trans Canada highway.
Gabriola Island folks are protesting one of these days this week, I think it was today, about the raising of the rates again by B.C. ferries. Don't think it will do any good, nobody on the mainland seems to worry about the ferries being the life blood of the island. Plus its not like the Liberals will ever listen and the NDP has all the ridings except 2 on the island. So now real urgency on the govt to freeze rates or anything; even though campbell says its "private" its not "private". The big german boat is now ready to start sailing, the 3 month training of the employees in how to read german is over. lol
Das Boot.
haha
yeah I'm unofficially calling the new cruise ship the Kiaserin/Hessian/Prussian/Pride of Duetschland the Rock stock and Barrell.
lol
Michel wrote:
Das Boot, wonderful movie.
Read german ? WTF are you talking about, they translated the stuff obviously. German do speak English. English speakers do speak nothing except English. Untermenschen ! pff !
lol it's a long running dig and gordo. The boat could of been built in Victoria, creating jobs in Victoria for the boat industry, yet he had some business deal with the Germans in Rostock, built the boat and then B.C. tax payer has to pay this huge import tax because Gordo's cruise liner just had to be built in Germany at the expense to the Victoria shipbuilders.
in my circles and from walking around town (there's this Victoria ignores Vancouver Island alienation going around, from the forests being all privately owned, to the ferries)
So...how about Mount Washington...skiing on the Island...
LOL, I do love the way the topics just drift in so many different directions. It's funny!
lol....true Van. We do have a tendency to digress.
I'm going to do it some more.
Michel....the 'trapped' feeling wears off as soon as you realize that you don't need to be so connected to the mainland. I wept for months when I first moved here, but within the year, it became clear that you couldn't pay me to go back....and I'd llived in Vancouver my whole life.
Boots, straps, snow, hills and ski lifts. (there) (http://discoverseattle.net/forums/richedit/smileys/Happy/12.gif)
Ah, being "trapped" on Vancouver Island, sounds like a pretty sweet prison to me. The only part I would have a problem with is access to the Kootenays. My soul was there, I just had to find it and it is pulling me that direction. But I could totally see not missing Vancouver if I lived on the Island, like Michel, it would be the access to the rest of BC that would be hard. I am born and raised in Vancouver and, well, Blechhhh!!!
I want to live in Riondel. Anyone know where that is? It is a small, tiny town on a dead end highway, off the main highway turnoff from the ferry at Kootenay Lake. Far away from any city. Just lush forest and a quick drive to Whitewater and Nelson. I will move there, someday hopefully soon.
I forgot to mention, Riondel is right on the lake...ahh.. to dream!!
Island's been tough for me, it's been hard to find canadian friends, ones that will actually want to do something with you. Apparently I'm not the only American in town with the same problem. Counsellor at school who was from the midwest as well, had the same issues. I find everyone to be super friendly, but they don't really want anything to do with you. I don't know if its political related or not, but the hate I get from my roommate tells me there's something there... All of my friends aren't Canadian. *shrugs*
I think I said earlier that the island especially living in Nanaimo, will drive you mad if you don't leave the town and explore. Once you get out of town and outside, this place is awesome. Maybe its the dorms lol.
then there's no gf or family around but that's not the island's fault but it does play into the "i'm trapped" feeling.
I drove through there a couple years ago, Van. Stopped for a few hours in Kootenay Bay waiting for the ferry. Beautiful country.
Sorry it is so hard to make Canadian friends sports. I hate to say it, and I will probably get kicked off of this board for it, but I think BC is one of the least friendly places in Canada. I am not sure what it is? It is almost clicky. That being said, there are good people and sh*theads wherever you go.
Sweet Lil Me knows where Riondel is! (don't tell anyone else off of DS where it is).
I would live on the Island too. Just a shack by the ocean with a firepit and fishing line would do, LOL!
Ask yourself this: Does the Island feel cut off from the rest of BC, or does the rest of BC feel cut off from the Island. (http://discoverseattle.net/forums/richedit/smileys/Thinking/3.gif)
i think its the second. lol
they're two provinces in one really.
I've got a roommate who is 20 years old only has left the island twice in his life. Both times to the Vancouver Airport to fly to the UK. He doesn't see the need to leave the island when "everything I ever wanted is here".
The other roommate is scared to drive through Vancouver, too big and scary. lol
the island is just culturally different. Nanaimo is the only place that celebrates the historical gift of oppression from England in the form of "Empire Days" on Victoria Day, for example. Go to some retirement towns its full of old british ladies on motorized bikes. haha hysterical.
I never say never...but I can't imagine moving off the Island. However, I DO always get a sense of 'coming home' when I'm on the mainland. I don't have much family, but none are here on the island. I keep trying to talk my sister into moving here. She's still where I was 20 years ago....it's too cut off, she says. I say, cut off from WHAT? One of these days.
P.C. wrote:
I never say never...but I can't imagine moving off the Island. However, I DO always get a sense of 'coming home' when I'm on the mainland. I don't have much family, but none are here on the island. I keep trying to talk my sister into moving here. She's still where I was 20 years ago....it's too cut off, she says. I say, cut off from WHAT? One of these days.
Exactly! I don't think I would feel trapped there more than Vancouver. Living in Vancouver, I feel trapped from the rest of BC because it is such a pain to go anywhere. I am over the nightclub age and could care less about Ikeas and Sprawl Marts. Soon enough for me. I am still altering my work so it can be done from anywhere. Just building confidence with some clients first. I quit working directly for "the man". Now I charge "the man" for my services on my terms. I love it, hahahahahaa!
yeah i think you're trapped more on the lower mainland then on the island. I drove to squamish last week, rather weird drive due to the construction and the sound was all rainy and ugly looking (while the vancouver area was sunny, it was like I entered the twilight zone, which didn't help my mood any) but I still didn't get to whistler and I drove an hour.
on the island I'm an hour from mt. washington an 1:30 basically from Victoria and around 2hrs i think to Tofino. Now, if I lived in Port Hardy, then yeah you'd feel "trapped" along the way you see civilization (less so going north on the island). After Horseshoe bay, there's nothing really. (not until the highway is done, the transport minister is an ex real estate agent, that highway is being built so mansions can over look the sound)
I haven't heard of Riondel but it sounds like a very nice secret location for secretive rendez-vous! ;)
I haven't found my "secret" place yet either. One day, I hope to live at this place... hoping that it has a waterfall and a fireplace. I like the kinda garden that Jamie Oliver has. If anyone has watched his show, he cooks from his backyard. It looks very tranquil. :)
I think it's the Swedish team that has chosen Mr. Washington for their practise. [img style="CURSOR: pointer" onclick=url(this.src); src="http://www.cheesebuerger.de/images/smilie/froehlich/a035.gif" border=0]
I've been stuck in traffic jams coming in and out of Van that were far longer than a ferry trip. I spent an hour and 20 minutes once, to meld into traffic via the on ramp. Without traffic, it would have take 3 minutes to go the same distance. 'Trapped' is all in the eye of the beholder.
swedes on the island? swedes know how to party, I've heard...
(http://www.lastnightoffreedom.co.uk/images/shop/shop-viking-helmet.jpg).
Ja. Swedes know how to party.
Any of you remember the beer ads with the Swedish Bikini Team?
nope, but i know of this swedish techno guy who just has swedish girls dancing around in his videos, winking. lol
It sounds like Fernie with Aussies. They took over that hill and are a rather fun bunch.