First Fresh Tracks of 07/08 Winter!!

Tess and I hit up our first backcountry ski session of the winter up at the gorge, which could be considered our new closest place. It's a just over 2 h drive parking to parking, however consists of about 12 km up an fsr which apparently gets plowed during the week but is hit and miss on the weekends. We were rather scheptical as we drove up the road with a little bit of slush forming as we climbed higher but nothing worth skiing. Luckily it changed quickly and we hit about 15 of high density snow where we stopped to park. We were semi-guided by some folks from Kelowna, one who owns the small ski shop near my (Loic) work. They had an idea where to go but weren't entirely sure and even to this moment I'm still not convinced of the best way to get up. We followed this overgrown road covered with willows for about 1 h 45 before hitting nicely open glades up top with about 90 cm of cover. We didn't have the earliest start so we had to turn back before summiting. The coverage was good however with recent thermals there was a quality crust which led to some chaotic feeling skiing. A hard way to start the season! We perservered and even managed to avoid any wipe-outs...until we hit the willows again!!! Tess had a couple good ski catches and we spent most of the time just pointing it with our hands in front of our faces.

Otherwise, we've been mostly mountain biking with lots of fun rides around the area. Many more than 2 hrs in length with a good mix of up and down. We even joined some friends on a night ride up our local spot which was quite exciting especially with our crappy lights. I think we'll have a couple of rides left before the full transition to skiing but I'm hoping that xc skiing will be starting the next two weeks. We'll see.