Havana

Sara just loves to go on guided day tours ( just like tailguiding at Wildhorse ) and taking photos. We spent two days in Havana which was very cool, stayed on the 24th floor of the old Havana Hilton, went to the Tropicana for the show and saw all the sights.

Snorkelling from Jibacoa

We got up early a couple of days when the sea was calm and walked right down to the beach put on snorkel equipment and swam with the fishes and the coral reef. I think we had the fish for dinner too.

After Snow there is Sun

Sara and I zipped down to Cuba for two weeks for fun in the sun. Sara surfed the internet for a last minute deal at an all-inclusive resort at Jibacoa. You can see the resort in the background of this photo. Quite a different scene from last spring when I was on a 2 week ski tour through the BC Interior....

The Winter Blur

Wake up at 6, get hot drinks ready, get lunches ready, safety equipment. Breakfast and a coffee. Review. Check. Greet the days skiers. Paperwork. Radios. Check. Guide, TailGuide and Driver. 12 skiers - everyone accounted for. Drive 4km. Unload. Load Snowmobile. Snowmobile 30 minutes. Start SnowCat. Safety Talks. Load Cat. Unload. Ski Powder. Load. Ski Powder. Repeat 10 times. Load snowmobiles. Drive home. Go to Ymir Hotel. Drink Beer. Eat Dinner. Clean up. Check. Sleep. Repeat.

Great Winter.

Second Ascent for the Season

I walked up Wildhorse Peak once in December when road building preparing for the season just to get away from the sound of machinery. Chris, Gordon and I walked up yesterday to ski the south face. Beautiful knee deep powder through 2,400 vertical feet. Sunny skies and -12C. Only skied this one once before. We skied a few other lines and then came up to this point and skied back down to the valley bottom from where the photo was taken.

Winter is here

Sara and I skied at Whitewater on the groomers for Christmas Day. Skied three exploratory runs at Wildhorse and then the 29th and 30th of December in epic powder conditions. It was good to let the powder pour over the goggles and let the thoughts of snowcat maintenance, chainsawing, deisel tanks, clearing snow, shoveling snow, snowmobiles, invoices, credit cards, bank balances, safety equipment and a myriad of other thoughts slip into the past. Powder keeps ones thoughts simple, pure and present. Happy New Year.

Less Blogging more Working

OK. So, I've been out chainsawing new roads, driving deisel up to Wildhorse Pass, tradeshows, invoicing, emailing and on the phone. Yeah and sold the ROCA shares from the previous posts big pump up - actually just a fun bike ride, mostly up but the descent was good too. Actually we got escorted off the property...
It looks like snow is thick enough now that the roads are closed and the snowmobiles are being pulled out and checked over. The new Wildhorse aluminum snowmobile passenger trailers are in final stages of construction. Probably will be starting work on snow roads by the end of November. No pictures.

Ready for winter

Most of September and October has been raining and snowing. Managed to fly out the toilet barrels from the Yurts and cleaned them out. Loads of fun that one. Otherwise been working on extending the snowcat trails higher and further. I've hiked into Qua Yurt a couple of times working on replacing the roof and adding a deck. It was a little touch and go getting a helicopter through the weather and getting a team of 5 together on standby to get the job done. Ready for winter. Here's a new map for the yurt and catskiing with some of the updates.

Idaho Peak Paragliding Video

I did not get a lot of flights this summer, but I did get some very pleasant flights. This video was taken by friends from Switzerland who were visiting in September. Nice ridge lift again on this day.

The Roca Mine

After getting the inside scoop at the Bar we took a tour of the mine site. Lots of guys getting the job done. It appears that they will be ready for production in the fall. The tailings pond is nearing completion and they have moly on the ground ready for processing.

Hot Stock Tip - Roca Mines

We had to make a little side trip up to Trout Lake to check out a hot stock tip. We dropped into the Windsor Hotel to get a little inside information. We found the Roca Mines office next door after testing the local beverage and listening into the hot gossip in the bar. Lots of people working up at the mine site and they are gearing up for production in the fall.

Incomappleux Valley Road Closure

I first visited the Incomappleux valley fifteen years ago doing some exploring for ice climbing. The canyon has been paddled once for sure and looks like mostly class III with a short section of class IV. The upper and lower river seem to be nice class II with some sweepers and cold water. It is a cool entrance to a valley that extends 40 km north and widens considerably. CMH and Selkirk Tangiers ski up here. The road has been closed since February. No current plans to reopen.

Incomappleux valley

Jim and I had the good fortune to visit Patrick at the Mountain Hostel in the Incomappleux valley over the last couple of days. We heard that a rock fall had closed the road into the valley from the canyon so it sounded like the Incomappleux was remote once again. We drove through Nakusp and past the Galena Bay Ferry and turned off before reaching Trout Lake. 15km of flat mountain biking up the valley brought us to the Hostel. It sounds like Patrick had a few adventures building the beautiful lodge. The following day we got a ride up into the hills for a look around the surroundings. The Incomappleux valley was apparantly named after a french phrase for land of lots of rain.... The headwaters of the valley are the glaciers at Rogers Pass.

Desiderata

I found this interesting document in the summit register on Mt. Reco. See more about this ride. Have a read.

There was also a checkbook, very old headphones, a note of great things in life and a bunch of mangled pennies.

Lots of great views too.

Idaho Peak North Ridge

I thought that this would be one of the ultimate mountain bike rides and I was not dissappointed. I started riding at 6am from New Denver climbing to Sandon by 7am on the roads and then started up the Idaho Peak Road. Once again it took me about 1hr 45 minutes for the climb to parking lot. I did continue up to the peak and then walked down the north ridge to protect the fragile alpine environment. I joined the single track following the ridge and then continued down and left from the towers to join with the wagon road. Then it was right and some crazy road traversing incredibly steep slide paths and then into the bowl with the Alamo Mine. The trail below the mine joins the Queen Bess Rd and then taking the first left which is signposted "Alamo" and becomes a very cool singletrack for another couple of thousand feet before the "Choices" turn ( left for Alamo and right for "Choices" ). Down through sweeping wagon road turns and then onto the old Sandon Wagon Rd. Yahoo. Back before 11....

My Yacht

"There's nothing . . . absolutely nothing . . . half so much worth doing as simply messing around in boats."

Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows (River Rat to Mole)

This boat belonged to a lady in New Denver whom sailed it in the evenings and was much admired. I bought the boat when she moved to the coast. I did paint it red - it was yellow. I finally brought it back to New Denver after a short stay in Slocan City. I think the boat loves it here.

Idaho Peak Paragliding

I first flew Idaho Peak about 13 years ago and have had many memorable flights including that time. This is my first flight this year. Saturday night ridge soaring. Perfect way to start the year. Photo by Sara Rainford.

Slocan City Logger's Day

This event is not to be missed. I think it was the first weekend of July and is an annual event. More info at Slocan City. Tree climbing, Underhand Chop, Chainsaw, Bucking, Axe Throw, and much more. Competitors coming from all over the world and a real demonstration of the skill and history of this area.

Pedal Power up Idaho Peak

One of my goals this summer was to pedal my bike up to Idaho Peak. From New Denver it is a 5,500 ft ( approx ) climb over about 25 km. I have been riding a couple of mornings a week mostly doing the loop up to Three Forks and back down. There are a couple of neat variations as there are three possible trails to get to Three Forks ( the highway, the Galena Trail, or the old Sandon Rd ). It is about 30 minutes up to Three Forks and about 30 minutes down. From Three Forks it is about 30 minutes up to the old Mining Ghost Town of Sandon on a dirt road. Get up there early before the heat of the day. From Sandon the grade on the road cranks up a notch. It is 12 km to the ridge top. It seemed a reasonable 1 hr 45 minutes and I walked a few short steeper 10 meter sections. Incredible views. I left the New Denver at 5am and was on the peak before 8:30 and then descended the Wakefield singletrack which was a little exciting in some steep sections where it was all I could do to keep the brakes on full and the bike on the trail. The trail connects the old mines on the southern side of Idaho Peak and connects to an old wagon road and then follows Silverton Creek back to Silverton. Yahoo. Back in New Denver at 10am.

The attached photo was taken 1902 of the town of Sandon with a sub peak of Idaho Peak in the background.

Birdie on the 9th Hole

I shot my first Birdie. Yahoo. It's was a bit of fluke. We don't keep score yet. Scoring was going to start when we could hit a par on 9 holes. Well that had not happened yet.... But this photo is of Grace, my niece when we were playing.