|
Clouds of power
Satisfy your urge to slalom and schuss
at Canada's snowiest snowsport resort
By Masa Takei with photography by Darryl Leniuk
|
| Click map to enlarge |
IT'S A COLD JANUARY DAY and I'm sweating profusely. Sprindrift blows stinging into my face and daylight is fading fast,
but I barely notice as I concentrate on the feedback from my avalanche transceiver. This part of Vancouver Island gets an
average of 10 metres of snow a year, a godsend for skiers, although not if you happen to be buried beneath it.
The device pings in the dark like the radar on a Russian sub.
I clamber back down a 30-degree slope that rolls onto a snowy bench, the transceiver held in front of me like a divining rod.
How long has it been? Five minutes? Ten? The exertion of
running in concentric circles through knee-deep snow has me panting. The signal gets more frenetic, as does my heart rate.
I must have crossed over this spot a half-dozen times. Forgoing the avalanche probe, I start digging furiously with my shovel.
A few frantic seconds later, I find my ski partner Darryl's beacon, transmitting a metre or so beneath the surface. Next
to it, cold and inert, a bottle of pale ale. I lose no time in wrenching off the top and giving the bottle mouth to mouth.
Darryl stands beside me in the dusk, shifting his gaze between his wristwatch and me as I quaff down the beer. Ice particles
have already begun to form in the cold brew.
“Four minutes and fifty-three seconds," he says. By his tone, I get the sense that he's less than impressed by my performance,
no doubt imagining himself buried for 293 seconds.
We diligently cycle through rounds of buried bottles to
blow the frost off our avalanche rescue skills, although we're
confident that we'll have little need for them over the next few
days. Just the opposite, in fact. We know we'll be completely
safe within the boundaries of the Mount Washington Alpine
Resort, one of British Columbia's most-visited ski destinations.
And even when we do roam into the neighbouring backcountry,
we'll be guided by pros leading us through gentle terrain.
We look forward to a relaxing ski holiday, a chance to explore
some of the Island's finest lift-accessed treed runs and do
some moderate touring. The only thing we'll put at risk on this
trip is our six-pack (a chilling enough prospect). After four
rounds of beer hunter, Darryl and I call it an evening.
|
