Cypress Mountain, Canada

Another day where we could make use of the local ski areas...  Dave had some work to do in the morning, but by mid afternoon we were heading over to Cypress mountain to catch the early evening session.

Again we stuck mainly to the piste areas, getting to know the conditions but it could not stop us slipping off.









We could still catch some good views from the top of the mountain, although there was lots of restorative work under way.




There were a couple of the back runs that gave us some great fun... unpisted and skiing through the trees gave us some great entertainment.

Sunset from the top station.

We had picked up some ex rental skis and boots for Sue, and she was trying them out on the rope drag lift at the bottom, with great views of the sun as it went down over the mountain.

Grouse mountain, Canada

Its Christmas day, the ground is white outside, and you have just had a very large Christmas Lunch...

Normally this is a time for a long walk in the countryside... however the temptation was too great, so we grabbed the sledges and went to the family sledging areas nearby.

Steph and Katie all dressed  to keep out the cold.

After a while we had to retreat to the rest area to warm up (and eat chips)!..

After the sledging Dave and I took the opportunity to do a couple of runs on the skis ...  It was not the first time I had been skiing under lights, as that have been frost bite alley in New Jersey after work, but this was certainly the most pleasant..

we just went to the top of Grouse mountain and came back down to the mid station a couple of times, and then rewarded ourselves with coffee and a plate of chilli nachos.

Certainly a Christmas day to remember.

1994 Christmas trip, Canada

Dave and Jane had emigrated to Vancouver this year so we decided that we should take a long break there over Christmas, so they were not on their own for the first year. And we could also get some skiing in.

the full story is part of a different story - Bluesky Mining - Family trips: US/ Canada trip Christmas 1994 but the mountain elements are consolidated here.

Trip Time Line

	|
	|	Arrive Vancouver
Grouse Mountain	|
	|	Cypress Mountain
Hollyburn	|
	|	Whistler Village
Whistler Mountain	|
	|	Blackcombe Mountain
Whistler Mountain	|
	|	Go Home

Llyn Idwal

Despite the weather the girls managed to get to Lyn Idwal, which was a good effort.

Dinner down the pub.

1994 Club Meet, N. Wales

A very wet and blustery weekend, another climbing club meet, thankfully with somewhere solid to take cover in - we were staying in a hut.

• Day1 - Llyn Idwal
• Day2 - Llangollen - More rain, so we set out early for home, stopping off at Llangollen to see the steam trains and the barges, before continuing home.

Three Cliffs Beach, The Gower

Today, after taking the tents down and generally getting ready, we headed down to the 3 cliffs themselves and messed around in the rock pools and scrambled on the rocks below the cliffs.
Then we all packed up and headed home

Three Cliffs Bay, The Gower

We headed down to the beach for the first day after setting up the tents and getting sorted. The tide was on the way out and the girls and Xavier found some suitable sand for castles.
Picnic lunch and general messing around on the beach.

After we had all tired of the beach we headed back. However everyone got distracted by the old castle and the sand slopes below it.

Time passed and it was dark as we left the castle to return..

The tide had well turned by now and the stepping stones over the river were covered, and provided an interesting return .. I carried the girls over, and everyone else made it on their own. It was a good job we were not much later as it would have been very deep.

1994 Short Break, The Gower

A trip to 3 Cliffs bay with Bob, Val and Xavier.

Bob had never been camping, and I guess he never will again - a little too cold and few creature comforts. I also suspect the showers were not hot enough either.

• Day1 - Three Cliffs Bay
• Day2 - Three Cliffs beach

Roman Steps, Rhinog Fawr

Last day and we headed up the Roman steps, straight up behind the campsite.

Coming back down after reaching the col, Katie had a play around on some rocks.

1994 Summer Break, Cwm Bychan

This year we were going to go camping in North Wales, and I had seen a remote campsite on the Snowdonia Map close to the Roman steps in the Rhinog mountains.
The campsite was up the Cwm Bychan valley, and we drove up there, later I would work out we had passed the one on the map, but we ended up at the lake at the end of the valley, and there was "rough" camping there.
A quick vote - water from the stream, one toilet a long walk away , and no showers - but everyone wanted to stay.

After several days doing the tourist thing with the girls we took a day out to climb the Roman Steps to the mountain behind the campsite.

Fontainbleau Meet, France

We left early today so that we could stop off and see Jean and Michele in Gisors on the way back to the ferry.

Fontainbleau Meet, France

Katie climbing with her new friend... not sure which area.
Good weather again.

Fontainbleau Meet, France

At the Milly campsite.
Not sure which area we went to, but the weather was good.

1994 Fontainbleu Meet, France

Off to Fontainbleau again ...  regular may bank holiday trip with the climbing club.

Late ferry to Dieppe then drive all night to Milly la Foret

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Megeve, France

For the last day we chose to expand our horizons and visit one of the nearby resorts - Megeve, next to Les Contamines, where we had been the year before.

Getting to Megeve, involved going down to St Gervais and cutting up the second valley. Megeve itself is the only place in valley, but there are trails on all sides.

The snow level was very high, and the lower slopes were green, with a few small lines still complete.
We purchased half day tickets, and went off to be tourists for the day.. the opportunity for off-piste was limited. Dave and I got to the top of the lift on the Megeve side on Mont Jolie, just so we could say we had been there!.

The day sort of stuttered to a finish as the day past and the snow turned very slushy. Something I will always associate with Megeve.

Pas de Chevre, France

The forecast said this would be a great day ..they were not wrong on a number of fronts.

The skies were clear and the sun was warming things nicely, from the over night hard freeze. Dave and I had planned to do a route from our "hit list" that we had been meaning to do for a few trips, but just waiting for the right day.
The route went from the top station of Grands Montets, down onto the Mer de Glace and followed the Valley Blanche run back to Chamonix.

We started with a couple of runs on the normal face, to get warmed up, but also to allow the sun to take the hardness out of the surface and soften up the snow a little - we would need all the help we could get as this was technically the hardest descent we had attempted so far.
Leaving the others having a bite to eat we headed for the top station.

From the top station, we were quickly down the long line of metal stairs and onto the col. Once we had the skis on and slipped under the rope, past the danger warning sign, we slipped over the edge.


There was a relatively fierce wind blowing over the top here that had kept a crust on the surface, and we were lucky to ride it without breaking through.

Below the steep top edge the  slope eased up a little and we had some great powder skiing on wide slopes to the point where the three or so routes diverge.
We took the right hand (and supposedly easier) route. As we entered the narrow gulley it got steeper and steeper, and felt like the steepest we had been down... but probably not, just narrow.

The difficulty was over come with the "one turn at a time" method, until we got the hang of it and could string more than two or three together without panic setting in.

 Once through the narrow section the slope opened out again in to gentler slopes. This was about picking a line and just going for it, until you needed a breather.

Before we dropped too far down we needed to traverse south, (back into the mer de glace)
to meet up with the Vallee blanch route - not yet, but we had to ensure we did not drop down too far at this stage.

We knew we were in the right place as we crossed a noticeable ridge, and made the most to have a sit down and take inthe fantastic view .... skiing underneath the "Dru", with seemingly no one else around.

From here we traverses a bit further before we had to find a suitable place to drop down onto the glacier ..  this is a changeable point depending on snow conditions and also state of the glacier.

Finding a well used but exceedingly narrow little gully, we soon dropped onto the glacier by a bit of side slipping.

Down on the glacier, we picked a route through the crevasses, and picked up the well trodden route down from the Vallee Blanche.
Luckily the lower route (past the Montanvers station) was in condition and we could walk up to the buvette on the col. Here we caught up with several parties from the Vallee Blanche, and all of a sudden we were no longer alone on the mountain.

We followed the track down to Chamonix, and the Les Plannards ski slopes in the same way as we had when we came down with Brian Hall.
Very tired, exhausted but elated we waited for a bis to take us back to argentiere and the apartment. Another large step on the experience ladder, and a really great way to finish off the trip.