Grouse Mountain January 2000

When I went back to Vancouver in April 2002, I was rummaging thru my old stuff and found an undeveloped disposable camera. I had no idea what was on the film, and was a litte hesisant to develop it. Luckily it was of a snowshoing adventure Kim and I had just before we left. I think it was in January, but I am not 100% sure. Anyways, these pics are quite a contrast the the ones that we have been taking as of late.

Over the years, there has been quite a few people going "out of bounds" at ski hills. Probably the most famous person to die was Sunny Bono, when, skiing out of bounds, decided to try and catch a tree rather than avoid it. Thus the term "doing a Bono" was coined. I don't believe that Sunny is a Darwin Award winner for it tho. He definately should be. As for this Cliff sign, there's nothing to be afraid of. It's perfectly safe, and, hey, what's the worst that could happen? You'd only fall on snow, right?

Here's a picture of Kim by the cliff. See? It's stable. Nothing to worry about.

And another picture to show that the snow is stable, and there is nothing to worry about. It's all fine. Good, hard packed Canadian snow. Perfectly fine.

See? And look at all those trees. They'd surely stop you if you did something silly like try and fly off the cliff.

There's a Indian Log building about a 15 minute walk from the ski lodge. We just happened to wonder past it and thought it would make a good picture.

As you can tell, even though it was in the dead of winter, it was quite warm. The warmth and trying to struggle up the side of the second tallest mountain in town didn't help either.

Here is Kim showing her expert snowshoing skills. Fast, isn't she?

And, here's Kim showing how good of a climber she is. Go girl!

The following half dozen are random shots looking at the mountains. With all that snow and heights, it really makes you wonder what we were doing up there to begin with, doesn't it?

Way in the distance is the ski resort. I can't believe we walked all that way. And, no matter what they say, Domino's doesn't deliver to anywhere in 30 minutes.

This is a picture of just a bit of North Van, and the Capilino lake for Vancouver's water supply. I think in the top right is Cyprus Bowl as well.

A little of North Van, and just the tip of Stanley Park.

This is on the top of one of the baby runs looking down at Vancouver. And, no, we didn't do this one on snow shoes. But, we actually did this one on skis. Much faster going down.

This and the next shot are entitled "Nature 1" and "Nature 2". Remember that you knew us when we were little people.

When we went to Grouse, we didn't know that there would be a pond jumping competition. We were lucky enough to witness this great Canadian sport. Incase you have never watched one, the rules are pretty simple. Start at the top of a hill, grab something that will allow you to ski down it, such as skis, snowboard, an innertube or whatever you have lying around the house, and try and get across a pond. Simple. And, if you don't make it, there's divers to help you out.

The first contestant was actually riding a ski bike - it's a bike that has no wheels, but instead skis. I'm sad to say that he didn't make it, and he had a nasty bruise where his chin hit the handlebars. It was really funny tho.

This daredevil thought that by adding balloons, that would make them fly farther. Well, I think it did help in the floating department.

This was one of the bravest swimmers yet - the boy was about 5 years old, and dressed up like Donald Duck. It was his 2nd year. Brave, but not very aerodynamic.

This one proves they aren't wearing dry suits...

This person was smart - not trying to get any distance, but did bring a floating device for the inevitable.

This person has really great form. Plus, a cape. That will obviously make you fly much farther. He still sunk like a rock tho.

Lastly, the camoflauge approach - if you dress up like a fish tank, then you will be able to cross it better. NOT! If you ever try this, from the people that we saw, skis are better than snowboards. They go faster, and you can ski on them for longer. Sure, the snowboarders looked cooler, but usually had more swiming. Out of all of the contestants, one person made it to the end by landing about 6 feet from the end and skimming across, and another landed about 10 feet from the end, skimmed across, and got his toe caught on the edge and did a marvelous face plant at the end. Dry, but embarressed.