Covid Skiing at Blue Mountain

Covid skiing protocols at Blue Mountain requires that one use their car as the change and lunch room. You are required to wear a mask when in line and on the lift and in the chalet to warm up. Luckily we have climate change and with global warming so sitting outside your car and eating is not that cold. However, it becomes more difficult to recognize old friends when they are in the lift lines or sitting next to you on the lift. I could barely recognize my ski club members with their faces and mouths covered and could barely hear their distinguishing voices. Nonetheless it is great to be outdoors, seeing friends  and making turns on artificial snow where there has been grooming.

Climate change has affected the ski resorts, and those with the best equipment, and locations are the ones that will survive. Unfortunately, it appears that Collingwood skiing is less covered than the locations near then snow belt of Barrie. The direction of the low pressure winds and the exposure of the slopes becomes the deciding factor when mother nature seems to be shrugging off her responsibilities. This harsh reality makes me wish I had brought my rock skis on my Blue Mountain day. There was moderate coverage and many brown spots and on some trails serious exposure to rocks. I will have to fix the bases of my nearly new skis before taking them out again. I will not expose them to that region until the snow flies properly.  However, my positive message of the week is to bring a pair of rock skis (if you have) when skiing this winter. The east has not been blessed with the correct ingredients for mountain coverage of natural snow, so be prepared. We need to adapt to the changes in climate and the resorts are doing their best to keep us skiing.

The other interesting change is the push to online in advance purchase of ski day passes due to Covid protocols. However, the cost of day passes have increased dramatically with inflation and there is another subtle push to upgrade to seasons passes such as the 5x7 or Ikon pass. Alterra is the big international ski resort developer and owner of Blue Mountain, with many resorts under its management including Tremblant. Vail is the other major conglomerate. Ski resorts are working to get more steady cash flow from their regular ski customers in advance of the ski season to fund all the additional expenses required to make skiing fun during climate change. Therefore the cost of a day pass has increased ($104.00 + HST) for Blue, with partial coverage etc. If you can plan your winter look at buying the 5 x7 pass at your nearest mountain or the Ikon pass which is good for Blue and Tremblant and many other destinations.

It is getting more expensive and technologically challenging to keep skiing, but I hope this helps to keep us all outdoors this winter. In the words of Warren Miller, skiing is the ultimate expression of freedom. 

The Adventure Guy

Covid Skiing Life

Downhill skiing during the Covid pandemic has really complicated  a beautiful sport. However, I wanted to help readers navigate this inconvenience, due to the positive mental health rewards from this mountain activity. The value for people to be off their electronics and in the outdoors cannot be underestimated. Some of the lessons I learned from Yale School of Happiness course, by Dr. Laurie Santos (available on Coursera for free) is to spend less time on social media and more time in nature.  Savor the moment. As I write this post I hope to savor the great feeling with you.

Covid skiing requires that your car is your chalet. Boot changing and lunch is to be done in the vehicle. I recommend to bring a camping chair to extend your vehicle footprint and give yourself  space to change and eat comfortably. In addition, bring a thermos for tea or soup in the car and keep it warm for lunch. If you have a truck open the back gate above your head as a roof and wind break. You can even hang some plastic sheeting over the tail gate to create a tent. These camping experiences are reminiscent of my days as a ski bum travelling in my van during the 70s. (See Ski Zen Love on Amazon).  Your are not in high mountain elevation as in the Himalayas, so it is really not that uncomfortable. A small inconvenience for your family and  public health. 

Covid skiing, requires you  buy your tickets in advance of the date you want to ski. If you are organized, you may have  a seasons pass for your local mountain.  At Mt. St. Louis they have a rechargeable card that allows you to load it for each ski day. Once you have your ticket loaded, you arrive at the mountain and when changed approach the hill to present your vaccination status. Once approved you enter the ski area. You can use washrooms and warm up, but no food eating in the buildings. In the lift lines and chairs and chalet you must maintain a mask to protect those around you. One more idea is to bring a snack with you on the mountain, so you can ski longer before returning to the vehicle for lunch. 

As I skied Mt. St. Louis today, I was impressed with the full snow coverage of the slopes, considering there was very little natural snow to date. This is the miracle of Mt St. Louis Moonstone. Located in a beautiful snow belt, the well managed slopes are serviced by top of the line the ski making and grooming machinery. These are the elements for success during climate change skiing.

I had the pleasure to meet skiers from as far as Windsor who cancelled plans for Quebec due to the lockdown issues there and were happy to be in the small local Ontario hills north of Toronto. Others were supposed to be in Dominican, but had flights cancelled.

I was impressed with the tenacity of  families to enjoy skiing no matter the complexity and inconvenience of it. Take care of your health, both physically and mentally and get out on the slopes and enjoy the mountain life. Wear your mask, and smell the fresh air without one on your way down. 

The Adventure Guy 

Zen and The Art of Econoline Maintenance

We are put on this earth, to try to make the world a better place for humanity and our children. During this Covid19  lockdown we are in need of tools to cope with rising mental health concerns. We need to persevere to make it over the finish line, as the vaccine is now just a few months away. I attach a recent speech I gave at a  Toastmasters Open House  to share some ideas from my skiing adventures and the Science of Wellbeing course from Dr. Laurie Santos of Yale University. We must all keep learning, keep striving and doing the things that we enjoy. Spend more time in nature, and less time on social media. Strengthen your spirit and your body will follow.

This post is in the merit of the soul of the world's great teacher of ethics and morality Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. May his memory be a blessing. BDH.

The Adventure Guy

Covid 19 - The Modern Flood of Noah 2020

We are into the seventh month of pandemic living due to Covid 19, the Carona virus 2. The return to work protocols are now starting as Phase 3 arrives.  As we prepare to return to the workplace we brace for the second wave of infections to happen. This Carona ie SARS 2 virus known as Covid 19 was caused by the transmission to humans via a non dangerous bat virus from the reclusive Horseshoe Bat that lives in  remote dark and moist caves of China. The virus became known as the the Wuhan China virus as it was thought to be transmitted to humans in this city's wet market for exotic animals. This strange freak of nature has had a devastating effect on the world economy, and mental health of many people. 

The Wuhan Market cages and slaughters live animals in various cruel forms. Some animals are stacked on top of each other with feces and other excrement falling on each other. Other animals are slaughtered or tasered while alive. Health and animal cruelty rules are non existent. However, people are prepared to pay large amounts of money for supposed health and sexual performance received by consuming these rare and exotic animals and reptiles.  The virus made the jump from animals to humans in this market is the thesis. The Covid-19 virus has caused greater than  870,000 deaths as of September 3 2020 and shut down world travel and injured the economy of many sectors. 

 

 

Alternative distribution theories is that the virus was being studied in the Wuhan virology lab and it escaped due to poor safety protocols. The bat virus research initiated in the US but was transferred to China and was then funded by the US.  Concerns were raised about safety protocols in the Wuhan Virology Lab but they were not addressed and hence the breakout. Other theories is that the Chinese Communist Party withheld timely information on the dangers of Covid 19  allowing it to spread quickly around the globe and causing the catastrophe to the world population and public health institutions to weaken the US economy as Trump threatened retaliatory tariffs and to bring jobs back to America.  The flatten the curve message was sent to the world and humans were sent to their rooms, while the animals came out to play and the economy went into the tank. 

During this lock down, I have seen wild coyotes roaming ravine parking lots, beautiful white tailed deer in  ravines, and brown tailed wild rabbits by pathways. I have seen videos of bears breaking into cars and convenience stores in Revelstoke. The Himalayan mountains have become clear of pollution for the first time in 30 years to be viewable from to province of Punjab. These are all the good news for the environment and climate change concerns.

The mental health effects on humans is more troubling as a video showing the police slaying of George Floyd went viral and sent the world into chaos over the killing of a  person of color. The debate is on whether there was drugs involved or personal issues between the parties. The subsequent retaliation and protests led by Black Lives Matter opened up a new area of  tensions between the different social stratas. BLM protests became violent and  vandalize retail shops and then destroyed historical monuments. Was it a coincidence that people were socially isolated under pandemic duress and irritated and watching their computers for one violent video to spark an international uprising? Was this the pretext for the Antifa movement to destroy the Republican vote and attack private  property and instigate a systematic looting and destroying of retailers, synagogues and statues? 

One can argue that man is the meanest animal on the planet. The outburst of violence by the death of George Floyd shows what anger and hostility exists in people that are being isolated and removed from healthy social interaction. Like the flood of Noah, perhaps we needed this cleansing from the evils of our materialistic and environmental costly lives. Perhaps the Covid 19 Virus is the modern  flood of Noah required for us to reset our ways and establish new laws of peaceful coexistence  with each other and our animal cohabitants on the planet. 

I attach a graphic video about the dog meat industry Dog Meat Festival Yulin China 

We have given the planet some time to heal, which has caused trauma to the economy and the human condition. Perhaps we need to embrace the message received from this modern day Noah Flood, to return to healthy lifestyle between man, beast and planet earth.

God may have given us a time out to see how we can make a better world for the environment and each other. Use this time out to see what improvements you can make to help climate change, social respect, between man and beast.

The Adventure Guy

Protect Our Winters and Climate Change Vikings

I attended the Toronto Ski Show (2018) to see what is new in the world of outdoor sports. One of the most unique features I found was the booth called Protect Our Winters or POW  www.protectourwinters.org. The Canadian subsidiary can be found at www.protectourwinters.ca .This winter advocacy organization has some major industry players trying to engage the outdoor community to get involved with combating climate change. I have seen top tier garment companies wearing their labels to support the fight against climate change. As I have been writing in many of my posts, we can definitely see the change in our mountain ecosystems. Warmer Decembers, and unpredictable snow makes the snow sports more unstable than ever before. The large rains in the summer are caused by greater humidity caused by the evaporation of the ice caps and the warming of the oceans. The urbanization of farmlands has reduced the ability for the rainwater to be absorbed causing large floods in the urban areas. The insurance company claims are going into new levels of costs.

Canada is increasing in temperature at twice the rate of the rest of the planet. The reason is the high use of natural gas to heat our homes and buildings. In addition the general large carbon footprint that Canadians have. Vancouver has started to limit the use of natural gas in new construction development.

The question is how do we slow the climate change and global warming pattern. As skiers we drive up to the mountains in our big SUV trucks and we drive great distances for it. Sometimes we fly in helicopters to get the best skiing.  I thought some little change ideas is what we need to get started on. One thing is to eat less red meat. Cattle consume a lot of land and large parts of forests are being destroyed to provide pasture. Large parts of the Amazon have been destroyed to make pastures for cattle. This reduces the amount of oxygen the jungle produces and the amount of CO2 it can cleanse.  Reducing red meat is another healthy way to improve your diet and reduce chances for heart conditions. See the movie forks over knives on youtube. Another easy idea is to consume less stuff. Plastics are non bio degradable and are choking our oceans. I have been told they will be dead in 50 years. Every disposable plastic bag, container and electronics eventually finds their way into the ocean. Try to drive less and use active transportation more. Try cycling to work once per week. By reducing time in vehicles we can reduce the amount of fossil fuel burned and increase exercise to reduce rising blood sugars and diabetes, which has become an epidemic. The amount of sugar in north american foods is horrendous.

From my recent journey to Norway, the world's happiest country (and possibly wealthiest)  I have seen their country embrace electric vehicles, and an appreciation for family hiking in the outdoors. One of the greatest contributions to humanity that the Vikings (from Norway) gave was the invention of skiing as transportation in the winter. They were outdoors men (and pirates) that embraced the winter with all its snow. Norway is now on target to reduce its carbon emissions below the required threshold. They have the highest electric car usage, and the most incentives to move people onto more sustainable modes of transportation. They also rely on geothermal heat more than natural gas for heating their homes.

It is your time to find your inner Viking and  Protect our Winters too.

Skal,

The Adventure Guy

Norwegian Adventures on Radio1190.org

I had the opportunity to speak on Climb Talk the radio show at University of Colorado Radio 1190 while travelling Norway and Sweden this summer. Michael Francis Brooks hosts the only radio show in North America specializing in rock climbing and adventuring. He interviews  authors, climbers and medical doctors with a climbing or adventure story. His mission is to widen the education of students to the outdoor community with the hope of making the world a better place.

In my interview on  Climb Talk from Norway (click on link for show) I discuss the experiences in the land of the world's happiest people, and the ancestral home of the greatest adventurers of all time the Vikings. I was impressed with the Norse ships that  travelled throughout the world at that time. They were designed like giant war canoes with an open deck and oars.  Their shipbuilding was considered mastery of their times and they were known as the Lords of the Seas. The modern Norwegians are now the operators of most of the large cruise ships that we enjoy our vacations on. Vikings were also great outdoorsmen and enjoyed the snow. The town of  Morgedal in Telemark County has an incredible ski museum that explains the evolution of modern skiing. One man called Sondre Nordheim is considered the father of modern skiing. The ski terminology of telemark and slalom turns (a lom) come from this area. Norwegians such as Jack Rabbit Johansen and Stein Eriksen brought their ski culture to North America and were the pioneers of American skiing history. Americans took the rudimentary Norwegian ski equipment and invented plastic ski boots (Lange), metal skis with edges (Head) and heel hold down release technology bindings (Look Nevada) and most importantly the chair lift (Sun Valley). From this we have the modern ski technology that we use today. Stein Eriksen was the first man to do a flip on skis and could be considered to father of freestyle skiing.

Norway has the highest user rate of electric vehicles and are working hard to reduce their carbon footprint to combat climate change.  The country has implemented strong tax incentives to support this environmental goal. Part of the secret to Scandinavian happiness is the connection between the people the environment and socializing in nature. The culture supports the importance of the outdoor life to a happier life. Scandinavian spas and saunas are part of that lifestyle. Something we can all learn from the Vikings.



Skaal,


The Adventure Guy

The Humble Tiger - Campus Edition on radio1190.org

The Humble Tiger Campus Edition is a new book by Dr. Joan Tucker Psychiatrist. On this pod cast Dr. Tucker explains how she used her life changing experience to work on the inner journey and share with others who may need strength getting out of their life circumstances. Climb Talk the radio show is produced at University of Colorado at Boulder. It is live every Friday evening at 9:00pm Colorado time. Interviewer is Michael Francis Brooks. See clip below: 

Humble Tiger on 1190.org

When life takes you into a crevasse use all your mental focus to find your way out to mental health. Focus on each breath.

Travel safely,

The Adventure Guy