QOL - Snow Gods are Smiling on SkiingFiend

[skiingfiend]

Up until a week ago it looked like the local mountain ski season here in Vancouver was going to be a complete washout, as in zero ski days all season. Boy did that change fast.

I completed my first chemo cycle a week ago friday and during my 3 sessions (wed-fri) and then over the weekend it dumped like crazy in the local mountains, over 1.5 M (4.5 ft).

So far I've got 4 days in, Mon-Fri except for Thursday since I had a bone scan scheduled.

The mountain forecast is calling for another dump of 1.5 M this weekend and I forsee 5 ski days next week and 1 more ski day the following week before my second cycle starts.

So out of 11 possible ski days between cycles (I don't ski weekends) I'm planning on hitting 10 out of 11 on my first break. My goal is to hit 11 out of 11 on my second break.

[gsun]

This is Whistler creekside this morning an hour and a half before the lift opened. And the top of the mountain is closed due to high winds. whistlerpeak.com/wx_img/cre...

[skiingfiend in reply to gsun]

Are you skiing today?

[skiingfiend]

The graphic on these Rossi skis is seriously politically incorrect. I didn't even notice when I bought them from a ski shop in the BC interior after a demo, but are they ever a great ski.

Is this a rorschach test or me sitting on the ski lift with my 3 favorite ladies?

[gsun in reply to skiingfiend]

It’s a Brahma bull. Looks ok to me.

[skiingfiend]

Why not Both?

Vancouver is kind of special in the spring.

We get real spring at sea level but there's still 12 ft of snow and winter in the mountains. The peaks in this picture are 4100 ft above sea level so the skiing happens in the band at about 2500 - 4100 ft above sea level.

On a good day you can ski in the morning and golf in the afternoon.

Vancouver North Shore Mountains

[Kaliber in reply to skiingfiend]

It is both … down here in sight of enormous snow loads around Mt Whitney , it a monumental spring wildflower bloom , and up in the nearby Sierras, it’s a magical abundance of powder. The Sierras between , Tahoe… mammoth, and China Peak have had a rare kind of fluffy powder rarely seen around here. Best of both worlds.

[Kaliber in reply to Kaliber]

down here in the valley countryside, another super bloom like this.

Central Valley wildflower bloom

[skiingfiend in reply to Kaliber]

Awesome. Great looking dump. I'm envious.

-----

But can you beat this though:

- I've got a 10 minute drive from my house to the parking lot.

- Then it's a 10 minute ride in a 100 person gondola car up the mountain to the base of the skiing area.

It's great for squeezing in some skiing into your daily routine without making a big production out of it. Normally, we're uploading at 9:00 am and downloading at 1:30 pm. That gives us 3 hours of skiing with a break halfway through.

Sky Ride

[Kaliber in reply to skiingfiend]

Nope… yayahahahaya can’t beat 10 minutes , for sure. from Fresno, it’s a 45 minute drive up to the deep snow / snow play, prolly half an hour to the massive flower fields , 30 minutes to the closest Surf Park and over two hours to the fabulous central coast of California / Monterey / whales .

When you see some of the pictures here, boy we are lucky to be so well situated for such fabulous outdoors recreational opportunities.

I’ve lived in places like Central Texas ( Ft Hood ) and southern Indiana …. It makes me double appreciative of the good fortune I enjoy now.

😂😂😂

[Cancer2x in reply to Kaliber]

Also stationed at Fort Hood for a stretch. Remember going out to the North Ft. desert area for a Rattlesnake Roundup! The civilian firemen on base would also catch rattlers and make an awesome rattlesnake stew. The huge skins, heads, and rattles would be getting dried out on the roof of the nearby firehouse. They would make extra money making belts, hatbands, purses and wallets from the snakeskins. Whenever we saw the skins on the roof we knew there was a great stew available!

[Kaliber in reply to Kaliber]

local China peak , they have a webcam too.

China peak a few days ago …

[Kaliber in reply to Kaliber]

plus nestled near nearby Lemoore Ca , in the middle of the wildflowers is a Surf Ranch where you can surf locally without a drive to the coast. You can surf watching the wildflowers and see the snow pak all at the same time yayayayaya pretty trippy. I’m mostly in a wheelchair but it’s still fun to watch all of it.

❤️❤️❤️

Valley surf ranch

[skiingfiend in reply to Kaliber]

Ok, no local surfing in Vancouver, have to go to Tofino Vancouver Island for that (6 hour trip) and you're not going in without a wetsuit even in high summer.

[Lettuce231 in reply to Kaliber]

Wow ! Incredible, nice picture Kaliber 🤗

[skiingfiend in reply to Kaliber]

Hey we lost the picture, you need to re-edit your post and add the picture back.

[Kaliber in reply to skiingfiend]

yayayaya remind me what it was a picture of ? Sometimes the site OS or mods edit/my content for various reasons.

❤️❤️❤️

[skiingfiend in reply to Kaliber]

It was the dump of snow in the Mt. Whitney - China Peak post.

[skiingfiend]

Now you can pick me out in a crowd.

SkiingFiend Selfie

[Kaliber in reply to skiingfiend]

Yayahahahaya …. We’re gonna give everyone a case of the jaws …. Rage of envy. Well, don’t lust after Fresno too much, it can be 110f here, in the summer, for over 60 days in a row.

Great picture tho…. K e w l as it gets.

❤️❤️❤️

[skiingfiend in reply to Kaliber]

This picture was taken during one of the 10 sunny days we get per year in vancouver, the other 355 days are rain and drizzle. Really got to make the most of those 10 days.

[Kaliber in reply to skiingfiend]

Rotflol …. ❤️❤️❤️

[MouseAddams in reply to skiingfiend]

Well at least you know how to protect your eyes and noggin😜

Nice use of a helmet and shades

[skiingfiend in reply to MouseAddams]

Its a system, the googles are designed for use with the specific helmet, even color coordinated.

[Maxone73 in reply to skiingfiend]

May the Force be with you Boba Fett!

[treedown]

Goodluck enjoy. My kid has been enjoying the same storm result just a bit south. As for me, I am looking forward to forecasted warmer weather next week to get on my bike for nice long rides after the time change.

[skiingfiend in reply to treedown]

I'm going to enjoy it as long as it lasts but I've also got golf on the brain. I was out for 9 holes two weeks ago when it looked like there wasn't going to be any skiing this year.

[Kaliber in reply to treedown]

I loved ebiking , taking them to different places . Pacific coast trail, San Diego, S.F. / Golden Gate Park. When my wife worked she was all over the state , I went with her and took my bike then e-bikes. Can’t ride them anymore , but I loved biking up to the end.

Biking has become a big deal for the newer generations around here, esp electric bikes these days. Much of the marking on the roads in town have been redone , sacrificing car lanes for special bike lanes and the h&b trails vastly expanded. My etrike is allowed to use them all as well … I still ride my etrike all over when I can …

[skiingfiend in reply to Kaliber]

I'd like to see a picture of you on your etrike!

[Kaliber in reply to skiingfiend]

me , on the trike ( looks like a moped from the front, looks like a handicapped mobility chair from the back. I’m reflecting in the w indow.

M e on the trike , reflecting in a window, At a local shopping center.

[skiingfiend in reply to Kaliber]

Nice horns, I should get some for my ski helmet.😀

[Kaliber in reply to skiingfiend]

Yea, they are magnetic and pop off easily if impacted hard enough. There are unicorn horns that friends get two of and use them like mine. Turned back, like the picture …they are ram’s horns. Turned front …they are bull horns. Turned facing each other … Shogun. Lol. Amazon has a lot of them.

[treedown in reply to Kaliber]

I know e-bikes are huge. Taking a bit bite out of conventional. I may need to go that way at some point but will fight it as long as I am able. I am glad it led to opening up places for people in similar situations as yours to get around more. Though it seems cheap batteries exploding is in the news a lot lately as well as ebike companies going out of business and shutting down their servers. There's a lot to be said about good old pedal power even when it means getting past by little old ladies in parkas.

[Kaliber in reply to treedown]

With e-bikes you can dial in as little or as much pedal effort - exercise you desire ( right on the handlebar mounted digital control screen ) . One scenario is to pedal out under minimal / zero boost until you are exhausted and use pedal assist to get you back easily. ( 15-40 or more miles ). With 40 + mile range / 3 hour battery time , they extend your biking trips considerably. I had two , fat tire, e-bikes, a Motan .750 ( 3/4 HP for the hammer ) and another… 1HP mountain style I forget the name of, but they’ve been around over 10 years and the prices have come down considerably. I regretted losing my e-bikes almost as much as my Harley but it is what it is. Too dangerous for me and my heavily met load / damaged skeleton. You would probably never regret having an ebike ….. they make you feel 15 years old again , imho. Absolutely exhilarating. The big , specially regulated lipo batteries in ebikes very rarely have flame problems but they are expensive ( in case you want to have a couple on hand to extend your biking range - session ) at around $500 each. I had three batteries for both my e-bikes. Different from the lipo batteries for my drones which are famous for spontaneously bursting into flames, esp right after being charged . “ THOSE “ drone batteries have to be stored in special , soft side , fireproof battery safes “ when not in use. The same “ safes “ are available for ebike batteries if you want them. Like a regular bike, you can carry them inside your vehicle or carry them on a standard , hitch/ bumper mounted , bike rack ….and take them anywhere to ride. Plus if they quit or run out of juice, slap them back on the bumper rack and take ‘em back home. They are most excellent for croaker guys like us , and cost only half of what they did 10 years ago.

❤️❤️❤️

[Mcrpca]

Good for you! 👏🏼👏🏼

[Stacky66]

hope you get some bluebird days , enjoy

[skiingfiend in reply to Stacky66]

April is the plan. Hoping for snow and freezing all march to build the snowpack up to survive spring temp's.

[Ian99]

Go for it !

[skiingfiend]

I thought you were cracking a joke about FAA certification and then I checked online:

faa.gov/uas/commercial_oper....

[Kaliber in reply to skiingfiend]

It’s a thing alright. You can fly the smaller , light weight drones , without a “ ticket “ …that’s why those have surged in popularity. These days they can build them with the same high quality optics in them, just they aren’t as stable in a little wind. Little ones can be a little Squirrley . That same location probably mentions the size / weight restrictions.

[skiingfiend in reply to Kaliber]

Actually, if you zoom in on your vest in the photo, we can see you're FAA registered.

[Lettuce231]

Thanks Kaliber, that's amazing, its like flying without the worry. Sometimes technologies can bring us lots of pleasure, rather than the adverse side.

Take care buddy

🚀

[Lettuce231]

Love your ponytail 😍, is that all your own work 🙂 . You hippy, cool 😎 dude , gives the Hammer something to hang on too. 🤩

[Kaliber in reply to Lettuce231]

my hair is tied up in the doo rag in that picture , it’s more than halfway down my back. Gets caught between me and the chair if I don’t. I’ve lived many totally different lives in my time on the planet, hippie only one of them. lol

[CAMPSOUPS in reply to Kaliber]

........hippie only one of them. If you don't mind I would like to coop that line for myself when appropriate. Well put.

One time in the late 90's I had I thought "cleaned up" quite well I thought. A new look in my job travelling to customer sites to do service work.

A woman at hotel front desk referred to me as an old hippie. I was shocked. "How could you tell" I asked but she didnt really have an answer lol.

[j-o-h-n]

Old but one of my favorites:

So the Red Cross is searching to rescue Mr. Levine.... who was buried in a recent snow avalanche...They are yelling "Mr Levine, Mr. Levine where are you? Mr. Levine hears that and yells back "who are you?"....... the Red Cross Team yells back "it's the Red Cross".... Mr. Levine yells back "I gave at the office"....

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n

[Maxone73]

I was checking one of those drones a few days ago. I live in the middle of the countryside, I could fly them without any complaints. I used to pilot RC helicopters outside (and the small ones also indoor!) but I have never tried a drone.

[Maxone73]

Ok! I think something between 250 and 900g would be enough. I will check the Italian certification but I have a feeling that they are standardized internationally

[skiingfiend]

I planned on skiing 5 days this week and thanks to the weather I was able to achieve that target. That makes 9/10 ski days so far during the 2-week break after my 1st chemo infusion.

I'm gonna rest and recover and get ready for cycle 2 which starts this upcoming Wednesday for three days. Hopefully there will still be some skiing left on my next break.

Mission Accomplished - 5 ski days Mon-Fri on week 2 after 1st chemo cycle started.