What I love about Vancouver is the mountains just outside the city. Especially this spring, the contrast between the city is amazing. While here the cherries are in full bloom, 20 minutes away, on the north shore mountains there is a foot of fresh powder, adding to the 6 m of snow they have already. A brewing storm this weekend made for some great pictures.
Prince Edward Island isn’t as green in winter as it is in summer. In fact, it is rather snowy and a bit bleak. But that doesn’t mean there is nothing to do at this time of year. When I was on PEI for work recently, I decided to take a day off and meet some of the locals. I ran across Experience PEI, and asked the owners if they could organize a day for me to meet some of the locals.
Bill and Mary of Experience PEI most certainly lived up to their website’s claim of offering introduce guests to the neighbours. I started the day by carving a candle, made from coloured was and PEI sand at the Victoria Playhouse. The carving was fun, but hearing all of Ben Smith’s stories was even better. After a delightful lunch at the Maplethorpe B&B in Bedeque (best and freshest bacon in town!), we went ice fishing, or more accurately spearing. One spears small smelt with a small three-pronged spear. Apparently this is only done on PEI. It’s a lot of fun, and requires more skills than just sitting there waiting for a fish to bite a hook. Again, our guide and owner of the fish shack had many tales to tell. We finished the day with a delicious mussel and lobster dinner at the Briarcliffe Inn.
I learnt more about the island in one day than I could otherwise have in weeks. These trips are highly recommended.
What can be more Canadian than people enjoying a leisurly snowshoe stroll on a weekend? Well, try getting in with a group of 100 people eager runners, strapping on special running snowshoes (small and extra light), and running a tough 5-10km trail course through the mountains! That’s what the Yeti snowshoe race series is. Now in its seventh year, it is an ever growing event around Vancouver, attracting over 100 racers for each race. They even run a Yeti Snowshoe acadamy, where people can take snowshoe running clinics each week.
Highly recommended.
Ottawa may boast that it has the world’s longest skating rink on the Rideau Canal, but this year Winnipeg has beat them with their new nine km long rink. They’re expecting 20,000 skaters this weekend, while Ottawa has only been able to open a short 1km stretch, due to the warm weather.
It’s great to see that Canada has the two longest skating rinks. Of course, if ever it would freeze again in the Netherlands, they could easily beat either city. When there is ice, half the country is turned into one massive skating rink! Just a shame that they haven’t had much decent ice in the past few years.
Vancouver is known for its three ski hills just outside city limits: Cypress, Grouse and Seymour. And of course, there is world-renowned Whistler just two hours away, and Mt. Washington over on Vancouver Island. But there are three other smaller resorts within a three hour drive: Manning (3 hours, near Hope), Hemlock (2 hours, newar Harrison Hotsprings) and Mt. Baker (3 hours, in Washington state).
Hemlock is a great little resort with only three lifts, but lots of terrain, because the hill is in the subalpine, so you cna ski just about anywhere. It’s got 1300 feet of vertical, not bad for a local hill. And the snow is good - lots of it this year. They’ve got some reasonably priced accommodation on the hill. Well worth checking out.
Vancouver had a pile of early snow this year, making for some great snowshoeing on the north shore. However, in January, the rains returned to the slopes, bringing up the question of “what else to do in Vancouver”. While most people don’t give the Fraser Delta much thought, it turns out to be one of the biggest shorebird and waterfowl wintering areas on the west coast. And there is no better place to watch them than at the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary. A small entry fee gets you into the sanctuary, with several well-maintained paths, and over 200 species of birds. And a bonus for photographers, it’s easy to get close to the birds. Sandhill cranes walked to within a couple of meters. Made for some great portraits of ducks. While most people may see this as a local/regional attraction, I met several people from the US there. Birding is a growing experiential product, not only in Europe and north America,but also in Japan.
There are several other good birding areas, including Boundary Bay (pictured above) and Iona Beach Regional Parks.
Here’s a novel way to make your way down a skihill: snowbiking. It was only a matter of time before someone thought of putting skis on a bike. It looks pretty comfortable to me, and a lot easier on the knees than skiing. Not a Canadian invention (it’s Austrian), but a great way to have fun on the slopes.
When people think of winter on the west coast, they think skiing at Whistler, and possibly at the three local mountains. But what about snowshoeing on Vancouver’s north shore? This sport is gaining popularity, as it is a perfect family sport, costs relatively little, requires little or no training, and is a great workout. Mt. Seymour and Cypress both rent snowshoes. Both mountains also offer some great snowshoe tours: Cypress | Seymour.
If you have your own, you can snowshoe for free in the provincial parks around Cypress and Seymour. If you get up early, the sunrises on Seymour are stunning. You’ll be alone, looking down on a city of 2 million people, wondering why no-one takes the time to come up.
If you want to take snowshoeing a step further, why not sign up for a Yeti snowshoe race? Running on snowshoes is not as hard as it seems, and it’s a great workout!
Dogsledding is not only for the professionals racing in the Yukon Quest - why not try it yourself? The folks at Cold Fire Creek Dog Sledding in Jasper ofer some fun dogsledding tours, from a quick 1 hour trip to a half day or even a moonlight tour.
Many people have heard of the Iditarod dogsled race (”Alaska, where men are men and women win the Iditarod”), but the lesser-known Yukon Quest, from Whitehorse to Fairbanks, Alaska, is actually quite a bit tougher, because of the terrain and the cold. The trail follows the historic Gold Rush and Mail Delivery routes from the turn of the 20th Century, leading from Whitehorse north to Dawson city, and then west across the Alaska border to Fairbanks.
