Skiing at Mount Washington
Skiing was amazing, I loved it!
We drove up to Campbell River, our base for the weekend, on Saturday afternoon and despite the rain, it was lovely to get a little further up-Island - the Campbell River region is alive with beaches, luxuriant forests, crystal clear lakes and lots of streams teeming with trout. Simply put, the further we travelled, the more rural and beautiful it became and the more excited I felt!
We were fortunate to be staying with one of Sami's friend's, Deanne, at her parents house while they are away and Deanne being such a generous lady made sure we were comfortable and ate well all weekend. I was doubly fortunate to be able to borrow Sami's sister's ski wear and Deanne's ski boots and skis. Lucky me, a relatively stress free ski trip!
So on Sunday morning Derek, Sami and I headed out at 8.30am and drove the 40 minutes or so up to Mount Washington - the small ski resort with silly amounts of snow, something like 479cm this year or something like that, regardless I have never seen such thick snow so that often all you could see of a tree was its top poking through the snow!! You have to love the mountains, such an incredible energy and especially with all that snow!
After kitting up and paying for our passes we headed out to the nursery slope and Derek and Sami explained to me how to ski and - more importantly - how to stop skiing!! And then we were off...and after 2 runs on the nursery slopes we decided to embrace the green runs and built up to the main one, lovely and long.
Of course I fell over lots and I experienced moments of huge fear - not so much about hurting myself (although admittedly I was not to excited about the whole twisting knee thing when falling over) but more so about hurting someone else. I guess I didn't feel in total control and if the slope was clear ahead of me then hat was fine, I went for it, but if there were other beginners falling around then it made me really uneasy in case I happened to inadvertently run into them! Plus sometimes the slopes can seem really steep!
Anyhow Sami and Derek were really patient and great teachers - introducing me to the lifts and just talking me through everything. It was seriously so much fun - especially when I happened to career off the path and ended up sinking in really deep snow by one of the lift pylons and spent 5 minutes trying to ease my skis out, thankfully only Sami and Derek seemed to notice and even they didn't have a clue what I was doing!
After lunch the weather really deteriorated, lots of snow and poor visibility and it was so cold. I was tired too - I had been unintentionally using my poles quite a bit and putting too much energy into the whole experience - so we only lasted one more run. Derek went off to do a blue run and said there were people falling over all over the place as the snow was all messed up and it was difficult to see clearly - amazing how quickly the weather can change in the mountains.
Back at the car it was a relief to remove my ski boots, I am not used to having my ankles contained like this, let alone carrying around that extra weight - such an incredible feeling, the feet all light like that! So all in all a fantastic experience although I think I would opt to snowboard next time as I was once a very committed surfer and the idea of being on one board seems much more natural to me than being on two skis. In fact I can't wait to give it a try!
Anyhow after a lovely dinner that evening and a game of cards I was in bed by my usual 9pm - honestly I have no idea what has happened to me recently, I am barely able to keep my eyes open beyond 8.30pm - and up by 6.30am on Monday morning so that we could drive back to Victoria in time for Derek to get to work by 11am. Yet more rain but we did get to see some eagles and lots more trees and even a rainbow - hoorah!!
Back at Sami's we spent the next day or so chilling out with Rosie at home and after bath time I got to give her her evening bottle and read her bedtime story before Sami and I collapsed on the sofa with rubbish American television and salad!! I am so sad to be leaving them - Sami is a great mother and Rosie is such a good little girl with a lovely temperament so that she is constantly smiling and giggling and is interested in everything - especially my crystal pendulum and hair!! She is trying to stand at the moment, and crawls really fast so that you can't afford to turn your back - especially as she is teething and tries to chew her way through her books!!
So I would just like to say a huge thank you to Sami for such a great trip - you are indeed an angel and I love and miss you guys already!!! Hope to see you al again soon.
xxxxx