Should have been good. Turned out to be just the opposite.

I couldn’t have gotten any wetter. I was out on the trails all day clearing fallen trees with my buddy Delmar, and it poured down with Noah-like, er, wetness. Whatever, it just rained solid. I’ve been bitching about these trees for months as they’re on the trails that I run on and nobody had been doing anything about it. That’s because nobody had been out on the trails doing any inspections. So now that I’m working on trail maintenance again, I persuaded Del to bring his chainsaw and come out and play (I have buddies with chainsaws now). The first one was a really big bugger and it had to be done in sections. It didn’t help that Del’s chain kept flipping off; he really needs to service his machine properly. The second one was more of a hike and a clearup to start as there were branches everywhere. And did I mention that it pissed down literally every second we were out there? Did I also mention that it was like someone standing over you with a really big hosepipe pointing it straight down at your head? Actually the worst part was that this second one was the top 20 foot of a tree that had fallen off. It was bloody huge with branches thicker than my thigh. That’s what happens when the trees get really wet. So while Del was revving the nuts off his chainsaw to cut through the log, I realised we wouldn’t hear anything if another one broke off. I tried looking up to keep checking but kept getting blinded by the rain. Exciting times.

I hiked up Seymour today with Cam, one of the new snowshoe guides. I made the offer at the last training day and he’s the only one to take me up on it. As it turns out he’s a hell of a hiker. We got a really good pace going right from the start and once we’d warmed up and lost a couple of layers the mojos were working. Even the fresh snow towards the top didn’t slow us down, and we got to the snowshoe hut in 2hrs 15mins. I’m pretty certain that’s my quickest time so far. I had to sort a set of keys out while I was at the top for work on Wednesday, and once that was done we set off back down. We set a good pace again and once we’d crossed the last big creek took the snowshoes off and stuck them on our backpacks. The pace just kept getting quicker until we eventually just started running. That was pretty cool, running with standard backpacks and hiking boots. Anyway we made it down in 1hr 21mins – that’s only a minute longer than the first time I ran down, and that was with trail shoes and lightweight backpack. Cool. 2hrs 15 mins to get up. With a bit of running and a faster hiking pace I’m convinced we could get that close to 2hrs. I’m feeling inspired.

This is my grotto. Also known as the freezer as it’s f####n’ freezin’ in there. Check out the shiny newly-waxed boards – I’m very proud of those babies. I just hope they ride as good as they look. Cam will pick his up in a day or so and then give some feedback. I had a minor disaster doing his board. I’d prepped the base, waxed it, ironed it twice, scraped the wax off, brushed the rest of the wax off, then instead of polishing it with the nylon brush I picked up the bloody steel brush and took four or five good swipes before I realised what I’d done. Dopey get. So that was it. I had to carry on all over the board, then wax it again etc. Cam’s board has had two waxings – should last him a bit longer.

Hiking up the mountain on Tuesday. With the fresh snow that we’ve had over the last couple of days it should be a good one. I’ll have a snack at the top then hike back down again.

It’s been crazy cold this week. Not damp and miserable cold; bright, sunny, freeze-your-nose-off cold. Most days have seen significant minus figure temperatures with frosty clear nights. But no snow. This weekend is supposed to be giving us some new stuff but so far we’ve only had a few centimetres on Seymour. Fingers crossed for today.

Monday
I took some new friends, Roly and Abi, snowshoeing. They came into the shop asking about snowshoes and places to go, so I offered to take them up Seymour for a hike. When we got out of the car at the top it was epically cold. The wind was blasting across the parking lot taking the windchill to a cosy -12 apparently. Once we got onto the trail we were out of it and it just became another beautiful day on the mountain. We had a steady climb up to Brockton and then I gave them the choice to carry on up to First Pump (one of Seymour’s true peaks – there are three). They said yes and off we went. Conditions were very firm which was good for climbing up but not great for coming back down. At the top the view was stunning. We had blue sky 360° views of downtown Vancouver, the lower mainland, the Coastal Mountains, the Fannin Range, Vancouver Island…wicked stuff. We couldn’t hang about up there though as the wind was cooling us down pretty quickly. Getting off the peak proved to be interesting. We couldn’t go back the way we came as that was just too steep and slippy so we traversed down the front face. Luckily there’s a little gully that is well used as it has some trees in it that provide good grab holds. All in all a stonkin’ good hike.

Monday night was the xmas doo from the kayak shop. It was the usual affair; free bar, buffet, no music. So everybody stood around talking and getting lashed. I took it easy as I was out early in the morning. It was a laugh seeing what people I’d been kayaking  with all summer were up to. And watching them getting fairly quickly the worse for wear.

Tuesday
Bob (my boss) took me up to Cypress for a skate ski session/lesson. I have to admit I had visions of blasting along, being a bit of a natural. I guess it’s because I’d been skiing last season and I’ve also done a bit of roller blading. It was fairly far from the truth. Bob had me skating without poles at first on the flat. Holy crap. I couldn’t believe how tricky it was just to get moving. Skate skies don’t have metal edges so technique is everything. As for balancing on one ski….I hit the deck really hard trying that one. Eventually Bob thought I was getting it well enough to try the poles and things got better. We went onto a beginners section that had some corners and one again I was missing those edges as you can’t use your non-edges to turn; you have to kind of step around corners. Mental. Skate skiing is an awesome workout, and you’re skiing! Perfect. I really need to work on my technique though.

Wednesday
My first day back on the mountain, and things have gone downhill since I left. The PFO team have really let the place slip; all the stuff I’d worked at really hard to set up had completely gone to pot. I spent the whole morning sorting the place out, then hit the trails to find that nothing had been done since I left. All the jobs that I’d highlighted as needing doing were still there. Looks like I’ll be busy this winter then.

Thursday
Day No.2 on the mountain, and working with the guy who replaced me. I took him around and showed him how stuff should be done. It’s not his fault, he just wasn’t trained properly. We had a good day; got out on the trails and cleared some fallen trees, cleared drainage culverts, and generally cleaned the place up. At least he knows how to do it now; should be interesting to see how he goes from now on.

Friday
Worked in the shop. A busy day selling skis and snowshoes, and most of the afternoon spent in the workshop fitting bindings and waxing skis.

Saturday
Worked in the shop and it was mental. We sold tons of stuff. One family came in at the end and spent $2,500 just on base and mid layers! I went to the PFO yard early on to get some wood to build a stand for holding snowboards for waxing. In the workshop we only have frames for holding skis and I’ve come up with a plan: To give me a) practice at waxing and tuning different types of skis and snowboards, and b) to get some feedback, I’ve offered a free wax and tune service to the snowshoe guides. All they have to do is make a contribution to the local foodbank when they do their weekly shop. My boss isn’t totally bought into the scheme even though I’ve promised I’ll only do the work in my own time, and supply my own wax. He doesn’t like the idea of people coming into the shop and getting something for nothing. Nice one Scrooge.

Sunday
Went into work early to finish building the snowboard bench and start tuning my board. I was embarrassed to see the state of it. The bench works well; it can be set up and taken down really quick, and it adjusts to fit any size snowboard. A nifty piece of kit even though I do say so myself. I finished my board after work and it looks beautiful. You can actually see the structure in the base, and it’s very shiny and smooth. I was hoping to ride it Monday morning but I’m working at the shop; forgot that I’m covering for Viv who’s on hols. Damn. I’ll go in early and tune the first of the guides boards.

Yesterday (Saturday) was the last day of Snowshoe Guide training. I can’t say I’m not relieved. We were out on the trails for 4 hours watching the new guides do their presentations. The first bit was great as we hiked up to one of the view points (Dinky Peak) and we were stood in the sun on a blue sky day. Even though it was cold (-1) it was warm in the sun. The problem came when we hiked down the trails into the trees and shade. Boy did it ever start to feel cold. Just standing around watching and listening was brutal. It’s all done now though, so just got to keep the fitness up ready to start SnowFit in January.

The Snowshoe Dept have come up with a mountain-wide challenge. I can’t remember what it’s called, probably The Mountain-Wide Challenge or something like that. Basically they’re trying to encourage other people in different departments to go snowshoeing and explore the mountain. You sign up for the challenge and then there are different destinations to go to. It’s based on the honour system so when you go into the snowshoe office and say “Hey, I’ve just done the Dog Mtn trail” they’ll believe you. Or they’ll at least appear to believe you. When you’ve bagged every destination you’re entered into a draw at the end of the season for a spanky new pair of snowshoes. Hopefully the challenge will hold greater appeal than the prize. Some of the destinations are ridiculously easy; seriously one of them is walking about 100m from the snowshoe rental hut. But for some of the people working on Seymour that’s further than walking to their car so that’s a big deal. I’m working out a route that bags the most possible in a day. There are a couple that can’t be done until we get more snow as those trails aren’t currently open (and therefore classed as not available – goddamn those safety-conscious snowshoers). And you can’t do them in work time which is a shame as I could nail them all in 2 days.  I’m taking a couple of young Brits up to Brockton tomorrow. They came into the shop last weekend to look at snowshoes and I offered to take them for a try-it-out hike. I’m not going to claim it though. I want to claim First Lake, Dog Mtn and Brockton all in one go. Running. (I’m getting excited thinking about it).

I did my first day of training last weekend for the snowshoe team (aka Outdoor Education department). There was waaaaay too much “Ok, put your chairs to the sides, come into a circle and let’s have some fun”.
(I’ve just deleted a big paragraph that was very negative about the event. I’m only doing two specific tours: SnowFit and Silver Snowshoers. Interpretation isn’t really going to be a part of my tours. )

What they’re doing this year is very impressive; they’re trying very hard to produce standard, high-quality interpretive tours for the schools. And as the schools make up a large part of their income that’s very important. Enough said.

I had a great run yesterday. Caught the shuttle bus up the hill and did four loops around the First lake trail. Each loop is around 2KM and has a really good mix of roller-coaster, steady climb, hard climb, mental downhill. The snow is hard and packed on the trails right now so no slipping and sliding. Perfect conditions: sunny, cold (-4°C), firm underfoot, quiet trails. After the loops I headed down the mountain. I was hoping to take some time off last week’s effort and felt pretty confident when I hit the lower trails and found they were also hard pack and fast. Unfortunately we’ve had a lot of rain and warm weather recently so the snow line is really high up. That meant I was trying to run on really gnarly, rocky, rooty, ice-covered trails for a while. It was impossible to run on it, so it was scramble, run, scramble for a while. Once I got to the better trails things improved. The snowshoes came off (much earlier than last week) and I strapped them to my backpack and carried on. I was concentrating on keeping a steady pace going and staying as light on my feet as possible. When I got to the bottom of the mountain and checked my watch I saw that I must have knocked the stop button after 21 minutes. Damn. I’ll try again next week. It’s a pretty standard run home from there so I stuck the headphones on and ran home. Not long after I started I felt pretty beat. Then I realised I’d been running for over 2 hours without putting anything in the tank. A quick gel before the run down would’ve been a good idea. I had a gel in my backpack but what the hell, I was only about 4KM from home. So it was a tough run back, plenty of gritting of teeth and mind games going on. Just before I got in the shower I weighed myself and found I was 3lbs lighter than when I went out. That’s a lot of fluid loss. I’ve made a mental note to drink more. I’ve also made a mental note to run with a lighter pack; it weighed a bloody ton with all the spare bits and pieces I’d put in, plus all the water I hadn’t drunk, plus the snowshoes. As a consequence of that my feet took a hell of a beating. Run light Rathbone, run light. All in all though, a good run. The training’s going well for the Yeti. I need to introduce some speed work at some point. Or do I? I’m just enjoying running at the moment. Why spoil a good run by getting all serious about it?

I found out yesterday that I start back on Seymour next Wednesday & Thursday doing the PFO job. Thank god for that. Working 3 days a week on the run up to xmas hasn’t done the bank balance any good at all.

Linda’s got a friend from the UK here on Saturday. She’s planning on moving here next year but has to sit an exam. She’s only here for a week and she’s staying with us. Linda’s got the week off work and has a complete itinerary sorted. They’re off to the Island for a couple of days as Wendy fancies working and living in Nanaimo so they’re going to check out areas and schools. My buddy John is also staying here for a night next week as he’s back in town for work. I think we’re farming Joe out to his buddy’s for the night to make a bit more space.

This morning I finally got some payback while I was running; everything just flowed. It was looking dark and moody with very low clouds so I went out dressed for a cold soaking. Halfway up the first hill I took my jacket off, rolled it up and carried it in one hand. Then off came the iPod; it was just too annoying and for some reason I wanted to listen to my feet and my breathing. And that was the moment it all came together. Footsteps were light going uphill, breathing was steady, recovery was quick at the top. I was loving it. When I got to Quarry Rock I was covered in fine water droplets from running through the cloud in the trees. A quick pause for the view on the Rock and then back on the trail for more of the same. The hills that have been killing me were suddenly fun again. I passed my favourite tree, said hello, and cruised on up. And it stayed like that for the rest of the run. Not a very long one as I didn’t take a drink or gel out with me, but a totally satisfying one. I’ll have more of those please.

I was listening to Terry Wogan this morning and he played “The Things We Do For Love” by 10cc. It took me back on one of those mind wanders. I went back to 1976 when my girlfriend’s mum became an agent for Littlewoods catalogues. I was browsing through her catalogue for something to buy to help her get going, and finally managed to stop looking at the womens underwear section for a while. I went to the sports section and spotted a rowing machine. It was pretty crap by todays standards, all springs and pulleys, but I was sold and had to have it (I forget how many easy weekly payments it was). When it arrived at home my dad saw it and scoffed in his usual cheery “what a load of garbage” fashion. Undeterred (as always) I hit that machine hard. I was on it every day. I didn’t realise it but the whole house shook while I was using it. I just knew I was getting an awesome workout and I was loving it. And then one afternoon I came home from college early and heard this incredible racket coming from upstairs. I asked my mum what was going on and she said “oh, it’s just your dad on your rowing machine”. OH YES!!! I legged it upstairs and threw my bedroom door open and there he was in his shorts and vest sweating happily. We shared it after that. Apparently it drove the neighbours nuts. Makes me smile.

I’ve been given a spanky new pair of running snowshoes for the season (get me – sponsored runner!) so I took them up to Seymour yesterday. The plan was to a couple of loops of First Lake and then run home down the trails. The First Lake loop is 2KM with everything you could want in a run condensed into a short loop. It’s only got a tiny bit of flat (about 50m) and the rest is up and down. Most of the up is steep, the climb up from the lake being particularly steep. So 3 laps and then the run home was the plan. And for once it all went to plan. I caught the shuttle bus at the bottom of the mountain and blagged a free ride by getting on with a Seymour full-timer, Ellen, and getting her to vouch for me (I don’t have a staff pass yet as I’m still not officially employed by the mountain). Conditions at the top were good for running, but I wasn’t sorry not to be riding my board as the mountain was sucked in with cloud. It was snowing and windy out of the trees, but once I hit the trail it was still and quiet. There was maybe 6cm of fresh powder on the trail, and nobody had been on it. Perfect. The new shoes performed just as they should; nice and light, stayed snug to my feet, a little bit of suspension from the bindings. The big difference with running shoes is that in fresh snow they don’t have the tons of grip that I’m used to with my working snowshoes, so I have to get used to the slipping and sliding that comes with them. I had a few good slides into gullies on the first lap but remembered them for subsequent laps. The big downhill was wicked – lean back on the tails and take massive sliding steps. I ran most of the climbs with just a couple of hikes from one pole to the next.

(I’m listening to Radio 2 and they’re playing Rod Stewart’s version of The Same Old Song. Somebody please tell him to f***in’ leave the classics alone. He really needs to pack it in now)

So 3 laps and then I reset the watch for the run down. I expected deep snow with lots of slipping and sliding. I wasn’t disappointed. It’s still early in the season so this part of the trail system hasn’t been used much. Once I got off the Seymour snowshoe trails the snow was knee deep and bloody hard to get through in running snowshoes. As the downhill started the fun started; I could run a bit with a lot of sliding on the tails and on my arse. Some parts were dodgy where a creek was still washing across the trail. The snow was thin in these parts and that meant rocks lurking just below the surface. I took a couple of spills on these sections. It was good fun; plenty of “oh f**k” moments but a great challenge, staying focused on the trail in front of you. When I came to the section where the bridge was washed away last year I took the snowshoes off and strapped them to my racing pack. There was still plenty of snow on the other side but it was do-able (and a bit quicker) without snowshoes. Eventually I ran out of the snow line and it was just the usual big downhill run. I got to the parking lot in 1hr 20mins which was pretty good as that included a couple off pee stops (that’s a good coffee on the way up, and good hydration for you) and stopping to stash the snowshoes to the pack. I’m looking to take 15 minutes off that time.

I was working on the shop in the afternoon, and spent a fair amount of time in the workshop waxing skis. I actually really enjoy waxing skis. We don’t get so many that it’s production line stuff, and the people who leave skis with us are real keeners so you have to do a good job. Now I understand the theory behind waxing and structuring it makes the job more satisfying. I need to sort out the waxing area though – it’s a right old shit tip. And I’ve got to get some gloves as fibre glass splinters are a drag.

Interesting week. I worked a couple of hours extra at the shop while we were a) stocktaking  b) friends and family sale night (if you didn’t get an invite you missed out – 20% off everything) c) waxing clinic and d) putting the poles out on Seymour.

Stocktaking was the usual frustrating experience. I think it’s the same wherever you do it and whatever you’re counting; stuff is never where it should be, there’s always gonna be something missing, and there’s always something that’s a total ballache to count. I was given the ski section to deal with as it was mainly me that put it out and organised it so I knew the layout. It wasn’t too bad apparently; only a couple of pairs of skis missing! Ski poles are the worst things in the world to count by the way.

The sale was a massive success. It ran from 17:00 to 21:00 and by halfway through the place was packed. I’d moved on to the spare till to get people moving and I just couldn’t believe how much they were spending. One couple spent over $1,000; I actually double-checked that I hadn’t  double-scanned something. Aye caramba.

The waxing clinic was really interesting. I actually learned the whole theory behind waxing. I always thought that the idea was to leave a thin film of wax on the skis, but that’s totally incorrect. You shouldn’t leave any wax on the base; it should all be in the pores of the base. That’s why the brushing phase is so important – it opens up the pores. And prior to the session I had no idea what structuring the bases was about; now I know it’s crucial to getting a fast ski, and how to apply it. Very cool stuff. Last week’s session was all about applying glide wax, this week’s session is all about kick wax.

I got my nordic ski gear last week. The shop have given me a pair of skate skis and bindings, and a brand spanking pair of skate boots. Bob (my boss) decided I’m going to do skate this year instead of classic. Fair enough. The shop has a corporate pass for Cypress so at some point before they shut the whole friggin mountain down for the stupid Olympics he’s taking me up and teaching me to skate ski.

I was on Seymour on Wednesday and Thursday helping Jeremy (the full-time PFO) put the poles out on the upper trails. The preparation wasn’t what I hoped as there were no poles or signs pre-stashed on the trails, but I got over that and just got stuck in. Wednesday was awesome. We poled all the way from Brockton to the bottom, and it just dumped snow all day. It was a very good day; a hell of a lot of hiking up and down carrying poles in beautiful snow. Once we got below the freezing level on the way down the hill it was a different matter; I got absolutely drowned walking home along the trails. Thank god for tumble dryers. Thursday was intense; we had to pole the First Lake loop. The south end of the loop is easy as it’s fairly straightforward through open forest. It winds up and down but it’s easy to figure out where the trail goes. The north end is a different beast entirely. For a kick off it’s either a big climb or a big drop depending on which way you come at it, and it winds through the trees like a mad thing. We went at it from the top, heading down through the trees. The first attempt was way off the mark; when we connected with the first part of the loop we connected way too early – nowhere near the lake. So we went down to the lake and started to find the trail going uphill as I figured that would be easier. Wrong! It was just as bloody tricky. Long story short, by the time we got this section of the trail poled there were unpoled snowshoe trails going off in all directions, and me and Jeremy had probably hiked 10KM extra. To add insult to injury in the afternoon the freezing level shot up and the snow turned to rain. Another soaking. The good news is that the freezing level has come down again. They had about 20cm of snow on the hill today.

Now that the shuttle bus is running up Seymour again I’m off for the first snowshoe run of the season on Monday morning. I’ll run out to Dog Mtn and back then hike/run back down and home.