Our Winter in British Columbia

After plenty of time to reflect on our winter, I'm feeling reminiscent and motivated to document it.

During the winter of 2018, while most of the western USA saw very little snow, most of the Canadian mountains got hammered. Before the snow really started falling, sometime in December, we fortuitiously committed to a 1-month rental in Nelson, BC and 1 month in Golden, BC.

The contrast between the two locales and towns was striking, which is exactly what we were aiming for. Snowy, cloudy, hippy-cool Nelson contrasted perfectly with cold, beautiful, sunny, small-town Golden. In both places, we pretty much did about the same thing every day. Climb up, snowboard down, climb up, snowboard down, eat, drink, eat, sleep, do it again.

Nearing the top of our climb, outside Nelson, with a rare glimpse of blue sky

Snowboarding down the mountains outside of Golden

While in Nelson, it was rare that we didn't see at least a few inches of snow *everyday*.

Climbing up, outside of Nelson. Never at a loss for new snow. 

In contrast, Golden didn't have as much snow, but the stunning mountain scenery and sunshine made up for it. We learned a valuable lesson in Golden, too:  -15 F is too cold for recreating outdoors. In fact, after we learned our lesson, lucky to have our toes and fingers intact, we were grounded for 5 days because it was too cold.

The backcountry outside of Golden allowed us to get out of the trees into the high alpine.

Snowboarding outside of Golden

Sunshine was usually easy to find near Golden, even when there were clouds

While climbing up one day, we noticed some tracks (other than ours) in our old uptrack. After a bit of research, I learned it was probably a large wolf. The tracks were impressively large. I was hoping it was a large cat (cougar?) or maybe even a bear but it was probably for the best that we weren't being tracked by a hungry cat or un-hibrating bear.

Since we did a similar thing last winter (staying in Nelson for 2.5 months), it seems we're in a bit of a pattern. Having a solid structure to live in during the winter has been pretty damn cool. Both of us love it - LOOOONG hot showers after a cold, active day outdoors, followed by oven-baked food, and warm solitude on the computer, with Netflix, or a book.

Homer overlooking Scott, while he researches the weather conditions and watches streaming music performances

A Very White Winter in Nelson, British Columbia

If you happened to see our latest planny plan, you may know that we planned to spend most of the winter snowboarding in Nelson, British Columbia. It was our first return to Canada since our wedding in 2005.

Canada welcomed us with open arms

Our plans happened to coincide with a record-breaking snowfall for British Columbia and much of the west (lucky us!). In Nelson, schools were closed for the first time in 29 years. When we weren't backcountry snowboarding, we were digging out the truck, and the all important hot tub, buried under feet of snow. I'm not complaining.

One of many dumps, after which we had to figure out where to put all the snow

Well-shoveled path to the hot tub

We found a really special backcountry stash 11 miles from our house. It was a lovely treed area that enabled us to snowboard during high avalanche-danger and no-visibility days, which was almost everyday. Too many times, I was secretly hoping for a day off because my legs were screaming. Now, spring is here too early, and I wish I had never secretly thought those things...

Here are some pictures of the beautiful area:

An added bonus to our epic winter was the unusual amount of live music, especially in such a small town. One of our all time favorite bands (The Rural Alberta Advantage) stopped in Nelson between their big-city shows. It turned out to be one of the best concerts we've ever seen. The venue was small, and the band was really into it. Almost everyone there was a die-hard fan.

Other memorable parts of the winter included the time when I happened upon a pine marten (!!!) slowly climbing up a tree, all while keeping an eye on me. These little animals are insanely cute (cuter than a teddy bear?). I'm so glad I happened to have a camera handy. So was Scott, who was further down the hill, listening to me describe the encounter over our walkie-talkies.

One thing about Nelson and the surrounding area, is that it isn't exactly a sunny place in the winter. It definitely reminded us of the dreary Northwest winters we suffered through for 10+ years. When the sun came out, we took pictures (see above) and one day, Scott got particularly inspired:

Rockin' the moss-tache

Finally hippie-cool enough to live in Nelson!

"Believe me. My stylist does the moss amazing work. No toupee. Totally natural."

The snowy winter came to an abrupt end throughout the west. The rain is pouring on the mountains, so we are sadly packing our bags. Some of our favorite mountain biking destinations in Utah are reporting 70 - 80° F with sun. It's time for some vitamin D.

Planny Plan Part IV

We think we might have a planny plan!

While recently visiting my parents in Michigan, we spent countless hours trying to track down a winter rental, in a mountain town, for a season of backcountry snowboarding. As restless nomads, it's hard for us to commit to one place.  We finally settled on Nelson, British Columbia, Canada as the object of our affection. We found a rental online, sent them some money, and crossed our fingers that the photos didn't lie.

Welcome to British Columbia! Our last visit to Canada was in 2005 for our wedding.

Beautiful British Columbia

Turns out, the rental suite couldn't be a better match. We are so pleased. We live below the owners and have a wonderful little suite with everything we need. I had no idea I could be so in love with our own, WARM, DRY space. Now I can say... Living in El Tigre during the winter SUCKS!

Life is just too easy now

Another long story about what we will do after the winter...

We told many friends and family that we had plans to spend the 2017 summer/fall driving to/from Alaska. This past December, as we drove away from the Baja coastline, both of us were harboring silent regrets about wanting more (of Baja). Luckily, Scott spoke up. We realized that there were many things at play that required a change of plans. For one, since we had plans to spend the cold (potentially cloudy) winter snowboarding, we weren't sure we would be eager for a subsequent trip to Alaska. Most importantly, we both feel like we are at the cusp of becoming better surfers and good kite-surfers. At our age, this sort of competency and passion can disappear so quickly. As such, we've decided to return to Baja in 2017 to chase waves and wind and sun yet again. Alaska will be there when we are ready.