Sun Peaks - Snowboarding xmas eve!

This morning we woke up, had a look out the window and it was snowing quite heavily! Not windy at all and temps had warmed right up to -16 degrees.

We unpacked all our snow gear, got the boards and headed out.

Neri had a quick look at the trail map but we really didn't know what to expect as we arrived at night and could not really see the mountain.

We got on the first lift we could find and made our way to the top... it was so exciting to see that below there was still a lot of untracked powder and not many people around. They had reported 3cm overnight, but this was very modest... on top of the big dump they had two days ago there was some very deep sections in amongst the trees and to the sides of the groomers.

We had a few runs, and quickly realised how unfit we were... we did one run which seemed like it went on for ever. Amazing groomer with an amazingly light and dry layer of powder snow on top. By the bottom we couldn't feel our faces or our legs but we had the biggest smiles!

We've seen the "best snow on the planet" in Utah, and also riden in Niseko but this stuff was just as light and dry (although nowhere near as deep yet). We were watching the perfect snowflakes build up on our jackets as we rode up the lifts, they were so light they were just stacking up like cotton wool.

Headed in for lunch early at around 11:30 and had a couple of "B52s" which is some kind of coffee with baileys and stuff in it... whatever it was it tasted really good and got us pumped to get back out there.

The afternoon was even better than the morning as we did some seriously leg burning runs... one in particular on Mt Morrissey i collapsed at the bottom after so many deep turns and could hardly breath as my bandana on my face froze solid from all the snow hitting it.

There were a few moments of getting stuck in flat spots but other than that we are both really impressed with the mountain.
It is not huge in terms of size, and it is not the steepest / most challenging but it is definitely fun and best of all there are no crowds at all!

Highlight for neri was seeing some deer eating in the snow right under the chairlift... for those of you who know neri and how she reacts to seeing animals in the wild... she was giggling for a good few minutes.

A few pics attached (neri is in dark jacket and i'm in white jacket)... still snowing outside so hopefully we get some more fresh pow to ride tomorrow.

Special note to Tim from heresy snowbarding - This snowboard is amazing in these conditions... loving it. Thanks again.

Hope you are all having happy holidays! We are ;)

-Jase

Niagara Falls

Sitting in our lodge in Sun Peaks at the moment, 8:00am 24 December... more on Sun Peaks later but first lets backtrack a few days...

We decided to spend our second day in Toronto going out to see Niagara Falls. We ordered a hire car for 9:30am in the morning. We had no idea what kind of car were were going to get, and the last thing we were expecting was a Chrysler PT Cruiser, which is what we got. Funny little car...

We headed to queen street to a nice little crépe cafe and had breakfast. We made sure to buy a parking ticket from the machine so that we weren't booked. Anyway we had a really nice breakfast, headed back out to the car where we found a little yellow ticket under the wiper!? Somehow we managed to get a ticket for $100.00 for parking in front of a fire hydrant that we couldn't even see because it was covered in about 1.5m of snow! Needless to say i was not happy and wanted to dispute the ticket but we had limited time and made the decision to press on for Niagara.

The drive was about 1.5 hours and there was not a whole lot to see so neri had a nap while a navigated the cruiser through the snowy highway. We arrived in Niagara and as we expected it was a tourist mecca. Casinos, billboards, hotels, tourists everywhere which was a shame because the natural beauty of the falls was amazing. We spent some time taking photos and throwing blocks of ice into the water to watch them go fall over the falls.

By this stage we were starving and there was a restaurant (imagine a Niagara RSL club) with waterfront views of the falls called Elements. We had lunch by the window which was nice, but unfortunately the food left a lot to be desired. -j

After checking out the cheesy souvenier shops we made the trek back home. We were both glad we saw the falls, it would be very different in summer with hundreds more tourists and many other attractions open (like the 'maid of the mist') but the ice covering the trees all around and the backdrop of ice and snow made for a beautiful sight.

So after making it back to downtown Toronto we wanted to try and dispute the parking ticket from that morning. Unfortunately we had no idea how the traffic would affect us (not to mention a few wrong turns slowing us down a bit) and we missed the 4.30pm deadline. We spoke to the hotel and hire car people but there was really nothing they could do. If we weren't leaving so early the next day we could have probably got out of it, but we were leaving at 7.30am so again would miss the timeframe as the office opened at 8.30. We bit the bullet and paid the ticket.

First task of the evening was upgrading our smaller luggage bag, as our big one was pushing the 50 pound (23 kg) weight limit. On our drive back to the hotel we drove through chinatown, and had noticed some shops had luggage bags out the front. We set out to walk from our hotel to pick one up. After the 15 min walk we found the shop and agreed to get one for $40. Jase was a bit dubious to the quality of the bag but we thought it couldn't be that bad..... Until we had walked all the way back to the hotel, and realised the handle had come apart from underneath and it was broken!! The shop was about to close so we caught a cab back down there for $10, and raced down the street to find our shop again... and almost ran straight past it! They had packed up almost everything and had just about locked the doors but we luckily recognised it and told them what had happened. They gladly swapped it with another, and for all our trouble they gave us a "gift" of two luggage locks. Wooooow.

After all the commotion we were looking forward to having dinner and enjoying our last night in Toronto. We walked up to a little place called 'John's Italian Caffe', on Derek's recommendation. The meals there were awesome, really good pasta and fresh veggies and flavours... AND also a really, really yummy apple pie with ice cream... Thanks Derek!

Even though were were tired we decided to head to al bar called the Bovine to check it out.... We couldn't remember the number but kept walking until we saw a place with junk stuck all over the front. We had found the right place. Inside was even weirder with many crazy things hanging from the ceiling and walls, and a few people sitting at the bar. For a monday night there wasn't much going on so after one drink we caught a cab home.

We had an early start the next morning, picked up at 7.30 to head for the airport. Due to delays the previous day our flight, which was originally scheduled for 9.25am didn't depart until 11.15. We finally boarded and got ready for the 4 1/2 flight across to British Columbia. -N


We were separated on the flight but someone was nice enough to swap seats with Neri so we ended up sitting next to each other. The woman sitting next to me had a cat on board in a carry on bag! It was apparently drugged up but kept waking up and crying. There was also a puppy on board... a lot of people traveling for Christmas so they bring their animals with them. I had no idea you could even take your pets on a plane but i don't think our Milly would handle it too well.


We landed in Kelowna BC amongst beautiful mountains, collected our luggage and hopped on the bus to Sun Peaks, another 3 hour drive...

The drive was long, but the scenery was mind blowing... as the sun went down we headed towards Sun Peaks, we turned off the highway and began the climb up narrow winding roads lined by tall trees covered in snow.

Neri spotted some deer playing in the snow on the way up... the natural beauty felt worlds away from the busy streets of Toronto.

In the distance we could see some houses covered in christmas lights and as we got closer we realised this was the village!


We checked in to our lodge, right in the centre of the village and a short walk to the lifts.

We had pizza for dinner, saw santa riding through the village on his sleigh (no sign of rudolf, just some cold horses) and got some things from the supermarket before we crashed early, exhausted from the long day of travel.

This morning it is snowing lightly, -16 degrees and we are headed up the mountain... can't wait to get back on the snowboard!