For this ski season, we decided that we were not going to ski at Whistler. It’s become super expensive and a hassle to access, so instead we thought we’d try a couple of new places, and plan on a couple of weekends at other resorts in the province instead. It seemed like a good plan.
Our friends Stuart and Jo had gone to Mount Washington on Vancouver Island last year and had had epic snow. Mount Washington is renowned for extreme snowfall, with the 2010/11 season setting a record of over 18m/60 feet of snow, often featuring deep snowpack. The resort frequently records some of the largest, if not the largest, annual snowfalls in North America.
They were planning on going back this year, so we decided back in November to book a weekend in February. The conditions should have been good, but we’ve been having a warm wet winter, and it had not looked promising for most of the year. But we had paid for everything, so off we went.
This was where we were headed…
…and this is the route we were taking.
We had booked Thursday night through Sunday, so we headed out around 11:30 for our 1:20 ferry out of Horseshoe Bay. Traffic was manageable, and we were at the terminal early enough that we could head into the village and grab some lunch for the sailing.
We had a beautiful day, heading out of Horseshoe Bay.
The ferry rise over was a little bit more than 2 hours. It was generally calm, but we immediately ended up in the fog so there was not a lot to see. Sadly, we got stuck on a lower deck so we could not stay in the truck and watch shows, we had to go to the main passenger decks. So we ate our lunch and did a bit of work while the Wi-Fi held up.
You could see the fog thickening, as we headed out from Horseshoe Bay. Still, it’s a pretty great view with Mount Baker and the city in the background, peeking out through the mist.
After arriving in Nanaimo, it was about an hour and a half drive up to Mount Washington. As Stuart and Jo were not set to arrive until Friday, we figured that we would grab some food in Courtney, along with a few groceries and other supplies that we needed, before heading up to the mountain to check in.
As we were driving up, we discovered that there were quite a few breweries in Courtney - more than we would have expected. We had actually wanted to stop in Cumberland, just south of Courtney, but when we got off the highway there was a big accident that had the road into town closed. So we got back on the highway and continued north. We made a stop for gas and noticed that Ace Brewing was nearby. So we popped in for a quick drink.
My flight at Ace Brewing.
After that, we thought we’d try a different one for dinner. We ended up in the center of town, at a place called Gladstone Brewing. We had some food and a drink. The place was pretty interesting, and Justine really liked their Red Ale, so we got some to go. Fro there we made a stop at the local liquor store and grocery store to grab the last provisions we needed, before making the final half hour drive up to the mountain.
Our home for the weekend. You’ll note that there is no snow in the parking lot…
The inside of our little suite. It’s a bit dated, but has everything you need and was right slope-side for ski in/ski out.
We got checked in figured out all the details about the place. It is actually really well set-up, with your own storage lockers in the parking garage for all your gear. So you don’t need ot bring it up to the unit and it’s easy access out of the parking garage right onto the ski slopes.
We got settled in and unpacked, all set for the weekend. We had a relaxing evening with hopes that we could get some runs in, in the morning.
The view f the ski hill from our balcony. There were a lot of brown patches on the hill that did not look promising.
Jo and Stuart and the girls were not supposed to arrive until mid afternoon, so we had a leisurely morning before heading out to see what the conditions were like. We were on the mountain by about 10:00. Sadly there was only one lift and ~5 runs open to us (excluding all the learner areas). We did all the runs available to us, and eventually found a path that had decent snow and was relatively fun.
We ended up skiing for a little more than two hours and got in 8 runs. While the snow was OK, after a while it gets a bit dull just doing the same run over and over again. We decided to head in for some lunch and not overdo it. It was our first day after all. And there was some hope that there might be snow overnight.
Our day of skiing. As you can see, there was not a lot of variety.
Stuart and Jo and the girls arrive around 3:30, which gave us enough time to get organized and go out for the last hour of tubing. It was a lot of fun, despite the conditions, and the girls seemed to have a great time. They showed us some photos from last year at roughly the same time - so much more snow!
Making the best of it - the tubing was fun!
We tubed for the full hour before heading in to get changed and cleaned up. We went down to their unit, which was a bit bigger, and we made dinner together and had a fun night catching up, playing games and socializing. After the girls went to bed, we had a few round of euchre before calling it a night. It was lots of fun!
During the night, it sounded like it was pouring with rain. But as it turned out, it was actually snowing, and you could see that there had been a good 4-5 inches overnight. That seem promising, but it was still really warm, and as the morning progressed towards the time that the ski lift opened, it turned to rain.
So, we had a decision to make. Was it worth it to try and ski and hope that up high the conditions were better? The girls has a two hour of lessons, and while we were unsuccessful in getting Stuart out with us, Justine and I decided to give it a try. It was raining as we got on the lift and headed up. It did sort of turn back to snow as we got to the top, and at first glance things seemed really positive. There was a good 4-5 inches of fresh snow. So we headed down, and almost immediately Justine wiped out!
Now that was a surprise, as Justine is a better skier than I am. But the conditions were awful. What it looks like happened was that we did get that fresh snow overnight, and after they had groomed all the run. But it had turned to rain after the snow fell, so the snow was saturated with water, making it really heavy and sticky. It made it almost unskiable. We did our run down tot he bottom and called it quits. It was not fun, it was raining and neither of us wanted to get hurt. Too bad.
So we had a bit of a chill rest of the day. We hung out, played games, watched the Olympics and eventually got around to making dinner again. Not long after dinner, the girls headed off to bed and we continued the euchre rivalry. Stuart and I dominated once more, taking the win for the boys! It was a fun day, despite not getting to ski.
We had a fun weekend hanging out, even if the weather did not cooperate.
Sunday we were heading our separate ways. It was SuperBowl Sunday and we wanted to get home to watch as much of the game as possible. If the conditions had been good we would have skied, but that didn’t pan out. The temperatures had dropped, but we didn’t see how the mess from yesterday was going to make it worth while. So we planned to head out fairly early and planned to catch the 1:30 ferry from Nanaimo.
We packed up and were ready to leave by about 9:00. We didn’t expect much in the way of traffic, and as we headed down the mountain we were pleased to see that the weather was nice and there were some great views!
We had some time before we needed to be at the ferry, and we wanted to do something with our free morning. Looking at the drive back, there were a few options for some reasonable length hikes along our route. So we decided to stop at Nymph Falls Nature Park, just outside of Courtney.
The initial trail was a nice, wide easy path. You could hear the river almost immediately.
Nymph Falls Nature Park protects 61 hectares (151 acres) of second-growth forest located on the north side of the Puntledge River. The river and falls rage over series of exposed bedrock ledges, from fall to spring, to the delight of white water enthusiasts. In summer, the glacial waters run calm, clear and cool, making the park and nearby Barber’s Hole popular spots for a refreshing dip on hot days.
We had a really nice morning walk.
The spectacular Nymph Falls cascade over fish ladders blasted out in 1977 to help spawning salmon swim upstream. Apparently you can watch fish returning in October and November to leap their way up the falls. A rock outcrop at the shore provides a good location to view the river, the falls and fish ladder, as well as a sunny site to picnic, sunbathe and swim. Steps to the river located just 40m downstream of the falls provide access to the rock outcrops and pools of clear water. The falls are an easy ½ km stroll from the parking lot along a wide and gentle trail.
You could see how high the river was as it lapped up against the viewing sites.
We had planned to take the river trail downstream for a little while, then turn back and return to the parking lot. But the river was so high that it eventually flooded and cut off the trail. There were many places where the river was pushing up into the forest. I don’t know if this is normal for this river int he spring, but it certainly would not be for this early in the season. All that water should still be snow up in the mountains - it does not bode well for our summer.
The map of our hike at Nymph Falls.
We ended up hiking a little more than 3 km - not a lot, but really all we had time for. The river was crazy and the trails were really nice. It was very green and mossy and we really enjoyed getting out.
After the hike we headed back to the car and continued our drive towards the ferry. Our timing ended up being pretty good, we were a bit early but too bad. As we had some time, we stopped at a local brewpub for some lunch, so that we did not need to deal with the ferry food. It was a good choice.
The ferry ride back was easy, but again we had to go to the passenger deck. We played bridge for a while then randomly ran into a mutual friend that was also coming back from Nanaimo. That was a nice coincidence and gave us a chance to catch up.
The drive home from the ferry was a bit of a mess with traffic, but eventually we got home and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon watching the big game!