July 20, 2002Polar Peak - With a CheatThe ski hill staged a geology "Walk 'n Talk" today, which featured a ride up the Timber Chair followed by a talk about the area geology from local geologist Bob Morris (no relation, at least not that I know of). This provided the perfect chance to not only learn some interesting facts, but a rare opportunity to get a big jump on the vertical required for a trip up Polar Peak (I did hear though that Timber chair might be running in August, so perhaps it won't be such a rare chance after all). Although my son has been up to the top of Polar once, I have never managed to coax my wife and daughter up the 1100+ meter climb from the house. So after Bob's talk and a group walk up to Lost Boy's pass, I managed to coax and brow beat the troops into heading off for Polar. While the journey did at times resemble a Malcolm in the Middle rerun, we did finally make it without bloodshed or serious mutiny and the resulting vistas were, as always, just wonderful. One note from the journey down is that the stinging nettle is now in fine form and rather abundant in the mid elevations of at least Currie Bowl. :-(
There has been little in the way of construction on the hill so far
this year and at this point at least it would appear that there will
be few changes for next year's ski season. It is of course the height
of mountain bike season now and the Elk Chair busy is hauling warriors
and their steeds up daily. On the August 3rd weekend the hill will be
hosting the finals of the Canada Cup Mountain Bike Race Series which
should feature some of the finest lunatics, er, I mean racers in
Canada. It has been a hot July here in the valley with temperatures usually getting to or above 30 C, which is about 10 C higher than I ever like to see it unless I am actually sitting in water. It was considerably nicer today, but for what it's worth I see that the forecast suggests a return to warmer temperatures and little in the way of rain. |
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