Skiing in November!!

Sara and I ordered some ski equipment online a few weeks ago. We got a great deal on skis, bindings, poles, and bags for the two of us (<$600 total). There are half a dozen ski & board shops about 7 blocks from our house, so we walked there last weekend to get Sara ski boots (my mom shipped me mine from Ottawa - thanks mom!) and get our skis tuned up.

We picked up our skis from the shop yesterday, and this morning we set off to go skiing. There are 3 hills near Vancouver, the biggest is Cypress (~30 minute drive). We found out there's a shuttle that goes to Cypress with a pickup near our house. So this morning we set out - in the pouring rain - and walked 7 blocks to the pickup location. The bus picked us up at 7:30AM and we were at the hill by 8:30AM.



Until the last 15 minutes of the bus ride, I thought the day would be a writeoff - there was no snow anywhere! None in Vancouver (8 degrees), but also even as we were driving up the mountain there were plenty of trees, but not a trace of snow anywhere. And suddenly - Winter Wonderland. All the trees were covered in white, as was the ground. It was a strange experience - like suddenly transporting into a different world.

The day turned out to be great. We skied from 9:30 AM - 11, ate lunch, were back out from 12 - 1:30, took a break, and finally from 1:45 - 2:30, ending just as we were starting to get tired and cold. The snow was heavy, but there was plenty of it! At the top, things were foggy, and over the course of the day our clothing got soaked (maybe you can see in my pic below at the end of the day - my red jacket is completely soaked).

A successful first downhill ski experience on our new skis - and hopefully the first of many this season.

-Rob

P.S. We were able to buy Olympic Women's Hockey tickets.