There were five bald eagles in one of the trees across the river (and at least one seal playing in the river), but they were beyond the limits of my little G10.  It was a beautiful morning.

after oohing and awing, it was on to the park (where we bought a pack of ten tickets, so we know that we’ll be back).

A totem outside of one of the day lodges. Look at all the snow, and unlike most of my previous days on skate skis, it was dry snow and it wasn’t raining.

The conditions were sparkling.

I was clearly moving too slowly to make it into the shot, but I’m close enough that you can see my fish-mouthing..

Searching for technique and any groove to make it up another climb

Emily moves around a track

Wonderfully good times were shared

Patiently waiting for me to put my camera away

Emily heading out to squeeze in another loop

Taking the camera into her own hands, since I was unable to keep up

Passing back through Squamish on the way home, this eagle was watching the passing cars

I knew that if we were going to get out for any ski touring that didn’t involve a 200+ km drive past the fraser Valley (see Scott’s goal of self propelled kms > driven kms), that a trip up the Sea to Sky corridor had to happen before the Olypmic travel restrictions started.  Saturday we went to Elfin Lakes just outside Squamish.  It’s the closest bc tour to Vancouver and there is little to no avalanche terrain on the trail from the parking lot to the cabin.  It’s very popular and very crowded but soooo convenient. Wooohooooo finally out in the SNOW!!!!

Scott showed that making the transition from long-time snowboarder to skiier is easy for the uphill (once we actually hit the snow line at around 1000m).

smiles. No doubt he can climb. 

The trip out and back to the cabin is a tour and we didn’t peel off the trail for turns until the return trip.  The few cms of new snow were wet and heavy keeping speed in check.  The downhill is harder than the uphill when you’re learning to make alpine turns.

Luv the snow. Luv the skiing.  Luv the hubby.

Personally, I think November and December are for being lazy and gaining weight.  I picked these up a Trader Joe’s on our last trip to WA.  PB and jelly covered in chocolate with crushed potato chips.  300 calories in only 2 oz.

It was 10 or 11 people that rolled out of Vancouver and the suburbs.   My inexperience in group riding was evident as I hit more road junk than anyone else, including elbowing one of those bendy, plastic reflective things that stick up 3-4 feet.  Mad skills.

The first 70 kms were uneventful with temps between +1 to -3.  Timmy Ho’s in Mission was the first refuel stop and where the snow started falling.

As we went south towards Langley the snow kept coming.  Coming and then accumulating.

For the most part, the cyclists stayed upright, but not all the cars did.

I was scared with road conditions as I don’t have the snow cycling experience as Scott.  I think my top speed was 37 km/hr on a downhill and it was exhilarating.  Several of the guys, including Scott, were on fixies, and  they were very skilled.  Even with the icy roads, one of the guys kept bunny hopping to clear the snow from his fenders and take a series of short skids to scrub speed.  My heart stopped everytime he did though!

2 of the fixies.

Emily warming up with a bit of CO goodness.  Fixie Dave….did you know he was such a pusher when you got him addicted??

It was about 3pm with only an hour or so of daylight and another 40-60 kms (?) to go.  Scott and I were going to skip the next food stop and keep rolling and take advantage of the daylight.  Fortunately, the group settled for a quick coffee stop so we stayed with them.  I think Scott’s brain was impacted by doing this ride fixie.  He ordered a gingerbread latte.  Latte?  Scott?

The last bit of the ride was stressful for me.  Poor road conditions, darkness, snow, not always a bike lane.  Scott supported my desire to cut the ride short and get on the SkyTrain in Surry.  A couple of the other remaining riders joined us, while the other crazies kept it rolling all the way back to East Van.  Cat napping on the SkyTrain.

I am happy that Scott is so  much more social than me and we joined this ride.  This was the most fun and welcoming group of people that I’ve met since coming to Vancouver where cliques and competive bad attiudes dominate.

Our marriage has given Scott a reason to ditch the board and take up skiing.  His second day ever on skis was at Cypress Mountain.  Home of Freestyle Skiing and Snowboarding for the 2010 Olympics.   

Scott had a lesson in the morning while I tried to find my tele-legs (I’m still looking for them).

We convened for a beer with a view of the grandstands for the Olympic venue.

The following weekend, Scott took skate skiing lessons while I nursed a corporate Christmas party hangover (I think it was the taxi ride that did me in…I don’t get hungover when we ride home from downtown). 

We went out for another snow fix on Sunday and my first day skating this year.  We’re still getting Scott’s skate gear dialed in.  His boots don’t work with the bindings on his Craig’s List skis, so he’s been renting skis.  Scott is doing great and I think another couple of days skating and he’ll have it down.  Now we just have to wait for the lit night skiing to start!

November was also to be our 30 day yoga challange.  A very simple agreement to practice asanas regularly.  I did my yoga teacher training in 2002 at the wonderful Salt Spring Centre have a collection of classes in my files so we could practice at home and not spend $20 each on a drop-in class!  After only 2 years of dabbling in endurance cycling, I felt like a normal person.  It was very humbling to have so many asanas no longer accessible!

We were on a really good track until my unfortunate incident with the agressive driver during an evening commute.  Scott had noticeable improvement and is getting close to mastering sirsasana (headstand).  I think that we missed 5 out of the 30 days (and I missed getting a good picture of all of Scott’s headstands), so this is a goal we will have to keep working towards.