If you have read some previous posts you will have seen I was anxious about the CAA Level 1 Avalanche Operations Course coming up in early March and I had the inclination to pull out for this season and try again next year. The ongoing support and enthusiasm of my hubby kept me from doing this, he was sure I/we could do it!
So March 3rd we set off for another big family Roady for approx 12-14 hours to Revelstoke! Cedar now 15 months old, who is running around like crazy was mostly pretty pleasant and entertaining. Its a constant growth of tips and tricks to keep him busy in that car seat when really he wants to be outside playing. He is growing to be an outdoor kid, even in the middle of winter growing into his nickname of Storm Boy. I’m so proud!
Ok so back to the tips for a baby that rarely plays with toys and who prefers whatever we use. The passenger is always handing him our coffee mugs, lunch boxes, wallets, harmonica (he’s actually getting pretty good at it and is rather proud of himself), but our biggest secret tip…. food! We have an advantage that our baby LOVES to eat which of course helps him to keep busy. If he isn’t satisfied with playing anymore you can usually tempt him with food, alfalfa being not only healthy but super fun to play with.
What? I'm eating it....
However, sometimes he has just had enough in the car seat and needs out, so we usually stop off somewhere, brew up, take a stroll or in some cases, a cross country ski and then continue on. We still drive around his napping schedule by aiming to get about an hour before he might take his nap and another hour afterwards so it gives approx 4 hours of driving before too much complaining and needing to stop.
We were actually making really good progress on the road with a big day of driving on our second day. That was until a road closure stalled us due to avalanche hazard on the Saturday night keeping us in Salmon Arm, one hour before reaching Revelstoke. The information led us to believe the road was opening at 9.30am the next morning. We decided to have an easy morning since we only had the hour left to drive. We began the final leg of the journey around 11am only to drive half an hour and be told another avalanche had slid onto the highway and due to more hazard concerns it would not be opening until the end of the following day! Eek, the course was beginning the following morning. The flagger told us there was another way around. Yaay just what we were looking for after 12 hours of driving already and only about half an hour away from our destination at that point.
Chillaxing on the ferry rides
Well it had to be done, so two ferry rides, approx 400 km’s and six hours later, we were safely in Revelstoke at 7pm only to find our cabin accommodation people were not! Yes, they had managed to get themselves stuck on the other side too! Now we have a hungry and tired baby stuck with no accommodations. We took it upon ourselves to guess which of the five cabins could be ours and so grateful it had been left open and did indeed turn out to be the correct one. Finally all was well, we moved in, ate dinner and were in bed by 9.30pm.
You can only imagine how impressed we were to find out the road opened that evening!!!!
Thankfully I listened to Joel to persevere with the CAA course. I stuck with it, endured a crazy intense week of early starts and long days to come home to feed a baby and wake up once or twice through the night for my baby. The end of the week was over before we knew it, well so it seemed at the end. The results came through, I passed, truly worthwhile. Granted, Joel made my every breaki (aussie for breakfast), lunch, dinner, snacks, teas and coffees, even woke me in the morning with tea by the bed, but the classroom and field time was intense with barely time to eat our lunches. Although I think I managed to eat, I am bit of a food fanatic.
Snow geeking is contagious....
Knowing my fitness was not anywhere close to its pre-baby level, I had some concerns for the physical segment of the course. By the last couple of days these fears became real; I could barely put a turn in, “engage the core” was my mantra and about the only thing that kept me on my ski’s. Purchasing brand new boots that needed another boot fit apparently didn’t help matters either. However beyond my lack of physical ability, the new skills, education and awareness that came with the course even after years of backcountry (BC) skiing were absolutely beneficial! Currently I am not sure if I will take this course to any professional level for a career, (although since completing the course it has given me more ideas and interest to delve into something) but I certainly found it to be a valuable facet (excuse the pun) in a life long learning process to be out in the mountains. In fact it only makes you aware of how much you really do not know that only comes with years of the snow science and BC traveling experiences.
Next stop, Golden, well after we got through the road closure in Rogers Pass which gave me some time to play in the Transceiver park. Yes officially a snow geek now.
We had a day or two relaxing at our friends house before it snowed again and not quite making it out to the big mountains due to the increased avalanche hazards, we instead had a fun family cross country afternoon on some single bike trails but obviously on our skis. The following day we had our friend baby sit and got to go play on the big hill of Kicking Horse Resort after 30cm of light freshies. It was a beautiful day and super cool for Joel to get to ski without a baby on his back, so rare these days.
Another day chilling with our Golden friends and then we were back on the road for an incredible sunny clear day of driving through the Rockies after a fresh snow fall. I was biting at the bit of course wanting to stop every 100m’s to go for a ski tour. Later on the drive we passed Parker Ridge where a van of a family with young teenage kids had just finished skiing which only made me want the pow pow even more. The old human error as I chanted “if they have been out it must be ok”. A challenging moment for Joel and I as he was a little more realistic about the conditions and skiing with Cedar. The avalanche ratings were pretty high on this weekend and it had just snowed, however there is some mellow terrain with nothing above through that zone. After a stop to brew up and discuss however Joel pointed out we just didn’t quite know enough to jump out and go for it. The responsibilities of being parents dawned upon us! Cedar is just too precious to risk any such doubt.
During our stop and little heated discussion as whether to ski or not we did manage to get distracted by a Raven that hung close by us probably hoping to find some food. Cedar loves Ravens and can even mimic their call so it was awesome for him to get to see one so close.
Doesn't want to be drawn away from the Raven
A little further down the road and approximately 20 mins before Jasper we saw a hostel hiding in the woods so we turned into the driveway and discovered a gem! Athabasca Falls Hostel which even had a private Cedar Cabin (very befitting) for us and even Sage the dog could hang out. Super friendly management, the price was right and you have cross country trails across the road or downhill minutes away at Marmot Basin or hit reverse and plenty of ski touring or ice climbing on the Southern trail. The cross county trails follow past the absolutely amazing Athabasca Falls that were mostly still in ice form and also travel down through a canyon. A should not be missed on your list. It almost felt like being on a different planet. This is part of a bunch of Hi-Hostels located throughout the Icefields Parkway and there is even one right at the Parker Ridge zone, shh top secret!
The following morning we were back on the road with a stop to visit our favourite coffee shop as they know what ‘Flat Whites’ are (the best style coffee in New Zealand). Before we knew it we were in the ‘Wild Mountain’ outdoor clothing store and with a super helpful assistant Lydia Edwards, who showed me the way to what is turning out to be the best Softshell ski touring jacket yet.
I have been searching for ‘this’ jacket all winter, well really a lifetime. Now that it is Spring I haven’t had the chance to use it in the super cold conditions but that obviously just means different layers underneath. However this Northface Summit series jacket is so breathable, lightweight (which I’m really big about) wind resistant, and most importantly the color is cool and so far no complaints. According to Lydia I can wear it on the rainy days out hiking in the summer too. Once I have worn it in a few more variable conditions I will post it on my gear review so keep an eye out for that.
Back on the road we made our destination aim to be Prince George as there really isn’t much else in between except Mcbride which is actually a pretty cool town but we wanted to be closer to home. One more stop this time in a hotel and four hours later on the road we had reached our home sweet home again. Ahhhh, its always good to be home no matter how much fun you have away.
Just in time for getting the garden ready for the spring!
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