December 31, Lake Keechelus

Cross country trails were in good shape.  Went out past the first bridge, then cross country to the Hidden Valley trail.  Skated back down to river, then slapped on skins for the slow slog back to house.

Rocking the pair of skis that marked my driveway last year.

Dec 11, It's getting Deep

Second cleaning of deck.   As I write, will need to go blow another foot.   Great start to winter at Snoqualmie Pass.   Alpental opening day was yesterday.  Scott was in the morning line-up with Matt and Heidi.  He reported fairly quick opening of Chair 2.  After one lap on chair 2, he said the line was so big he went home.   One and done!   Lines at Central and West looked very reasonable.  Noticed the Commonwealth was growing a cornice over the front of the building.   Could be an impressive cornice collapse when things warm up.  

December 6, 2016 OPening Day for Summit West

View from my desk.

Blog has been a little empty.  Still have another month before I can think about skiing, but that hasn't stopped the snow from falling.   Looking like an excellent start to the season.   Almost too cold.   Not used to this light stuff. 

Fibula   6 weeks out from surgery

Big pow skies for Francine

Digging out the deck from our
first major storm at Hyak.

Oct 17, Forced Relaxation

Unfortunately, my fibula fracture on May 20 decided to never grow back together.  Although I was pretty mobile and only had a dull ache, it was recommended that I get it pulled apart, scraped, and pinned back together.  Downside being six weeks of non weight bearing on my left leg.  Surgery was super smooth and easy.  Foot pain and swelling is less than the original break.   Hopeful for a quick recovery.

Kevin gets goldfish
 in the recovery room

Freshly plated fibula

October 12, Miller Peak

Last ride of the year.   Scheduled for Monday surgery on my broken fibula that never fully healed from my May 20 tipover.   Couldn't have had better trail conditions, and it was a great ride to finish my dirt bike season.  Got out with my neighbor Scott and my co-worker Eric H..   Recent rains and even a little snowfall had made the trails primo.

Kevin near the top of Miller Peak.  Mt. Stuart in the distance.

 

October 1, Coyote Offroad Dual-sport ride, Cashmere, Wa.

Scott

Hit the road at 4:45, in the morning, to make it to the second annual Coyote Offroad dualsport ride in Cashmere, Wa.   With little rain last month, the trails were extremely loose and dusty.   The first couple hours were quite challenging on fresh cut singletrack and roads covered in flour like dirt.   As the day progressed, the trails got better and the roads even improved.   Good challenging ride of 95 miles for the day.  



Mike

Scott

Scott

Mike Greene

John

Kevin

Mike

Sept. 28, Whistler - Lord of the Squirrels

Yeah!!!  We made it to the lake up high

We had an exciting night.  Tom thought for sure that Kevin got up in the middle of the night and was loudly crunching the fritos bag and crunching super loud while eating fritos and the crackers in the closet.  Lori thought Francine got up to pack the cooler and her food.  They weren't quite sure what to think when they heard snorting in the living room.

Francine, however, woke up to crunching rocks and snorting.  She thought for sure there was a bear on the gravel rocks below our 2nd floor balcony.  While running out to the balcony to look at the bears, she realized there was something in our unit.  All this woke Kevin, who went into the living room and made banging noises and tried to scare whatever out of the unit.  He got our patio door closed, which we had purposely left wide open.  It wasn't long before we heard an animal back on our patio.  It was a raccoon, eating the crackers dropped on the chase out of the unit.  He didn't seem concerned about us, shining a light thru the window.

In the morning, Francine went to the front desk to report the wild animal that was in our unit.  She thought it was a bear, while Kevin thought it was a raccoon.  The girl asked Francine if there was a mess and if anything was broke.  No, only a trail of empty baggies that had held gorp, crackers and fritos.  She confidently said it was raccoons then, and that they also get up to the 4th floor.  They snort when they get full and sleepy.  So, no bear.  Kevin did speak to a maintenance guy who said that yesterday a bear did get into a unit, and made a big mess.

Tom and Lori went home after breakfast.  Francine and Kevin had to hit the new descending trail, Lord of the Squirrels (L.O.T.S.), built by the bike club, WORCA.  The Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) is building a climbing trail, which isn't quite finished, but it seems the locals were doing the loop, and hit the climbing trail and then descended on LOTS.

It was quite a grunt going up a descending trail, but was worth it.  This is the first high alpine trail that bikers are allowed on.  20 mile day, and Google Earth said total elevation was 5800 feet today, starting in Creekside base area.

New, high alpine trail for bikers

Last bit of trail before we turn around

Kev at the turnaround point.  Whistler in the background.

Almost at the end of Lord of the Squirrels for us

Now descending on Lord of the Squirrels

Francine coming up to a sporty section on the rocks

Francine diverting onto the easier option

Sept. 27 - Whistler - Lost Lake Trails

We rode with Lori over to Lost Lake.  We split up as we were going to do the Zappa Trails, while she was going to hit Molly Hogan and the other nice crushed gravel loops.  The dirt was sweet, but the wood could have been a tad drier.  Climbed Tin Pants to Gypsy Drum and then hit the singletrack.  Climbed Dinah Moe Humm to Disco Boy to The Torture Never Stops to Fountain of Love.  Started a descent on Pinocchio's Furniture to Dwarf Nebula to Zoot Allures to Toads of the Short Forest to Gee I like Your Pants to Son of Mr. Greene Genes and our final descent on Jellyroll Gumdrop.  Here we crossed the river and made our way to the float plane dock.

Francine and Tom at intersection on Pinocchio's Furniture

Francine & Kev on Pinocchio's Furniture

Tom on Jellyroll Gumdrop

Float Plane on Green Lake

Lori made her way to the ski jumps at Blackhomb.

Lori at base of ski jumps

Whistler Olympics statues all around Squamish and Whistler

Lori 

After some snacks, we made our way on the paved trail to Whistler to meet Lori.  We actually ran into her on the trail.  Finished on the Fitz Trail to our car in Lot 5, before getting coffee/muffin at The Lift coffee shop at the base of Whistler.  Did some shopping and resting by the center near the winter Ice Skating rink before calling it a day and driving the cars back to Creekside to our unit.  Nice short rest day on the bike.

Kevin and Francine resting while Lori was power shopping

Sept. 26, Whistler - Trash and Riverside Trails

We rode with Tom and Lori down Old Millar Creek trail to Function Junction.  We said goodbye to Lori and hit the Trash Trail.  The rocks were quite slippery, so we cut out on Just Another Bike Trail and took that out to the road.  Descended on the Sea to Sky Trail to the suspension bridge to the Train Wreck.

Francine and Kevin at waterfall on Trash Trail

Tom at waterfall at Trash Trail

Suspension bridge from Trash to Train Wreck trails

Part of an actual trail wreck - there are at least 6-7 old train cars strewn here

Retraced our path on the Sea to Sky trail to the road.  Pedaled thru the employee housing built for the 2010 Olympics to make our way to the Riverside Trail.  Climbed to the bridge and crossed the river and descended on Farside trail to the paved path and made our way back to the Sundance Condos that Tom and Lori rented.  Got back just as it started to rain and joined Lori in the hot tub.

Sept. 24-25, North Vancouver

We are heading up to Whistler with Tom and Lori to stay until Wednesday, 28th.  We booked a last minute room at the Lonsdale Quay Hotel in North Vancouver for Saturday night.  Had a nice drive to North Vancouver, and had a mellow night.  Hotel was right near the Seabus to downtown Vancouver, and many locals were dressed and heading to the big city for the evening.  On the ground floor we had the Lonsdale Quay Market, with tons of shops and options for breakfast.  Quite a tourist spot.

Got up in the morning and after a quick stop at the bike shop for a map, hit up Seymour mountain.  Climbed up Old Buck to a left on Baden Powell to the powerlines and a straight on Mushroom Trail to the top of Dales.  Rode the top section of Dales and went left when the berms ended and climbed back up to Mushroom Trail and the powerlines.  Went down the Powerlines to Severed D to descend on John Deere for our first descent of the day.

Climbed Cardiac Bypass to Academy Climb to RC Connector to Penny Lane to Sir Martin to climb back up to the Baden Powell.  Retraced our path and climbed to the power lines and retraced our path to Severed D.  Went right  onto C-Buster to Asian Adonis and descended to the Bridle Trail.  The Bridle Trail is basically an old road/creek bed that was a waste of downhill loss of elevation.  Made a wrong turn, and descended to the golf course, before climbing back up to the Bridle Trail and finding Empress Bypass to get us back to the bottom of Old Buck and back to the car.  We ran into some locals that said to park at the Hyannis lot the next time we are there, for better singletrack  to and from the car.  13 miles.  Got in the car and drove to Whistler.

Tom and Lori stayed in Bellingham Saturday night, and rode the Interurban Trail south from Fairhaven.  Then they got up real early to beat the border crossing lines on a Sunday.

Lori on Interurban Trail south of Bellingham/Fairhaven