How can a person not love a trip to the Kootenays? I have been off my bikes since Friday and dedicated the weekend in Nelson to 'cross training'.
View of Nelson from Pulpit Rock
I woke up at 5 am Thursday morning to get in a couple more hours of work and do a road ride before driving 7 hours across BC. Re-jigged my geochem model to calculated total metals instead of dissolved, cycled to Lighthouse Park in West Van and picked up the rental car all by 10 am. The hardest part of a Nelson trip is figuring out what toys to bring. I decided to leave my road bike home and ignore the guilt of not doing the scheduled long rides on Saturday/Sunday. Just brought my tele gear and climbing shoes on this trip. Rather, I brought most of my tele gear. At the Hope Slide, 147 kilometers from my apartment, I realized I forgot my ski pants. At Grand Forks, I realized I forgot a toque. Fortunately, Greg is only a few inches taller than me and had an old pair of pants and a toque.
We lift skied at Whitewater with another friend Friday afternoon. The runs are short and there was no liftlines. My legs where shot after 2.5 hours of trying to keep up with the alpine skiers in the trees seeking pockets of powder. Doesn't anyone ski nice blue cruisers anymore?? They consoled me with a jug of Nelson Brewing Company's Faceplant and a plate of nachos. Friday night was more upper body training at Mike's Pub lifting pints while watching the constant loops of bike and ski and surf porn on the big screen TVs.
A short, sunny hike on Saturday gave views of town. We watched 'The Great Global Warming Swindle" and "Into the Wild" that night. Greg in his role of shit disturber, was trying to spark some scientific, environmentalist indigenation from me.
The reason people live in Nelson is the lifestyle. Everything you could want is close. Hotsprings are 30 mintues away, mountain biking is out the back door, lift skiing is 25 minutes, ski touring is 20 minutes, climbing and kayaling are 15 minutes away. A lazy Sunday morning including breakfast at the Cornerhouse Cafe, forgetting gear at home and we were still touring at Evening Ridge by 11:30 am. My cardio for the weekend.
A short, sunny hike on Saturday gave views of town. We watched 'The Great Global Warming Swindle" and "Into the Wild" that night. Greg in his role of shit disturber, was trying to spark some scientific, environmentalist indigenation from me.
The reason people live in Nelson is the lifestyle. Everything you could want is close. Hotsprings are 30 mintues away, mountain biking is out the back door, lift skiing is 25 minutes, ski touring is 20 minutes, climbing and kayaling are 15 minutes away. A lazy Sunday morning including breakfast at the Cornerhouse Cafe, forgetting gear at home and we were still touring at Evening Ridge by 11:30 am. My cardio for the weekend.
Top of Evening Ridge
View to the Ymir Bowl and Whitewater Ski Area
After the tour it was back to town to grab beers and kites and head to the beach. I was very excited try kiteing (sp?), but the wind was too strong for a newbie. Sitting on a Canadian beach in March means that you don't have to worry about having a killer bikini body underneath the goretex pants and puffy jackets. And the beer stays cold for hours.
Kiteing at 6 Mile
There is no scheduled date for the next trip other than a tentative spring climbing trip to Skaha :( At least that is one less thing to distract me from training for the BCBR and working. :)
Another sadness: None of the pictures of my favorite rocks along Highway 3A turned out. I can hear my sister's sigh of relief.
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