Big White Photo Gallery

Just finished up the Big White photo gallery — Week THREE & FOUR of our mega ski trip. We took lots of photos and had a really great time. The skiing ranged from slush to powder to packed powder to hard pack to powder on hard pack. We had snow and sunshine with temperatures around 32°F. We skied, snowmobiled and tubed. We had soak time, followed by Happy Hours, followed by dinners in our condo. We did dine at our favorite restaurant, Kettle Valley, and experienced the unique gun barrel coffee and chocolate at Snow Shoes. It was an amazing week. Catherine and Gene hung around for another week with Shirley. The season ended with the usual Dummies Downhill. We are another great Big White trip coming up for 2010. We plan to cruise for LA to Vancouver days before the start of the Olympics. We will then bus to Big White for 5 days of skiing while enjoying the Olympics on the Big Screen. Since we will be in Canada we will definitely catch the Olympic fever. Prices will be announced soon but you can get a sneak peak at Big White Olympic Fever.

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Week Sixteen: Photo a Day 2009

Here is WEEK 16 of our "Photo a Day" project. This was week FIVE of our month-plus long ski trip. We were in Big White for two weeks. We skied everything from slush to fresh powder to ice to packed powder to powder on ice to firm pack. The last day stayed cold and we skied on some pretty firm stuff that was unbelievably fast and fun. The trees were skied out. We hung around Big White for another couple of days to clean, repair and schedule repairs. We love our home at the Stonebridge Lodge in Big White.We are still in catch up mode. Catherine has a bunch of "ski club" awards stuff to administer while Gene is refurbishing his rental unit for new tenants. We have another week before we cruise to Alaska and visit McKinley and Denali.

Paper and elements from Nicole’s Digi-Designs by Nicole “Summer Days.”

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Week Fifteen: Photo a Day 2009

Here is WEEK 15 of our "Photo a Day" project. We are in week FOUR of our month long ski trip. We have been in Big White for over a week now. Claudia & Robert flew out on the 13th as Shirley arrived in Big White. Tom, Shelia and Amanda left on the 14th. We've had spring skiing and cold winter storms. We even had 10 cm of fresh powder one morning. It's been fabulous.Paper and elements from Vicki Parker's A Work in Progress "Lucky Fish.”

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Week Fourteen: Photo a Day 2009

Here is WEEK 14 of my "Photo a Day" project. We are in week THREE of our month long ski trip. We left Keystone, CO on Saturday and put in two long days of driving to arrive in Big White, Canada by Sunday. We left in a snow storm which cleared up by the time we drove through Salt Lake City. We over nighted just short of Boise, ID. Sunday we drove Hwy 84 to 395 to 17 to 97 through Oregon, along the Snake River, and Washington, along the Columbia and Okanagan Rivers. Beautiful scenery.Monday, Gene drove to Kelowna to pick up Robert and Claudia. Tuesday, he drove to Kelowna to pick up Tom, Shelia, and Amanda. Tom got a great deal on some demo skis. The skiing has been mostly spring-like — hard pack early and slush in the afternoon. It's been spitting snow off and on but nothing of note. We've been having a blast.

Paper and elements from Nicole’s Digi-Designs by Nicole “Dream Big.”

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Keystone Photo Gallery

Just finished up the Keystone photo gallery — Week TWO of our mega ski trip. We left for Keystone in snow. There were some amazing views along the way. We stopped by a number of ski areas along the way — Grand Targhee, Jackson Hole, Howelson Hill and Steamboat. It was really COLD by the time we got to Keystone. It snowed most days and we had some fantastic powder skiing. We left Keystone in a snow storm and arrived in Big White around midnight on Sunday. Spring skiing around here is fun.Later.

Big Sky Photo Gallery

Just finished up the Big Sky photo gallery — week one of our mega ski trip. We left for Big Sky in rain and then later snow. There were some amazing views along the way. It snowed once we got to Big Sky where we experienced some snow days and some blue days and lots of fresh, deep powder. We were captivated by Lone Mountain which towers over the three ski resorts that share the peak — Big Sky, Moonlight Basin, and Yellowstone Club. As usual, it was a wonderful trip and we can't wait to return again next year.Later.

Week Ten: Photo a Day 2009

Here is WEEK 10 of my "Photo a Day" project. We concluded our ski adventure in Fernie, one of the resorts in the Kootenay range of the Canadian Rockies in B.C. with Pacific Rim Alliance Snow Sports Club. The snow gods smiled upon us. We had up to a foot of fresh snow and our awesome week was sandwiched between a week of rain/ice and a week of freezing cold. Lucky us.
Paper and elements from Manu Studio’s “Celebrate Spring Add-on” at scrapbookgraphics.com”.

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Week Nine: Photo a Day 2009

Here is WEEK 9 of my "Photo a day" project. We've been having a great time skiing the various resorts in the Kootenay range in B.C. Canada with Pacific Rim Alliance Snow Sports Club. We are now headed for our last three days in Fernie where we expect more new snow and lots of powder. The large photo on the layout is of Panorama. The views are breathtaking.
Paper and elements from Digi-Designs by Nicole’s “Fresh”. Template by Lauries Scraps.

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Week Eight: Photo a Day 2009

Here is WEEK 8 of my "Photo a day" project. It's still fun doing. Week 8 falls between two ski trips. We just got back from Alaska last Friday and will be heading to Canada on Saturday. We will be doing this Safari thing visiting four ski resorts in eight days in the Kootenay range of mountains located in eastern BC. Eight of us will be skiing Kicking Horse, Panorama, Kimberley and Fernie. See you next week. Papers and elements from Stacey Tower's Random Musings "Purple Power" kit.

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Week Seven: Photo a Day 2009

We had a great week, what with Valentine's day and then heading up to Alaska for some awesome skiing. We arrived late Monday night pretty much on time in spite of Alaska Airlines notoriously bad on-time record. Tuesday, we were upgraded to a junior suite. Sweet! Gene skied Tuesday in a snow storm and through fog. Wednesday was clear and beautiful and we wore ourselves out. Thursday it was snowing but the visibility wasn't too bad. We've been having a great time. Love that the lifts don't open until 10:30 am and then close at 5:30 pm. Be sure to check out our Alyeska Photo Gallery.

While at Alyeska in Girdwood, we were introduced to a great local Cajun restaurant— Double Musky Inn. The owner, Justin Persons, showed us his very impressive wine cellar. If you ever get anywhere near Anchorage, you must eat at this restaurant. Layout paper and elements from Amber LaBau’s Stolen Moments “Someone To Love.”

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New Zealand Summer Ski Trip

Pacific Rim Alliance, our snow ski club, has announced a fantastic trip to New Zealand this summer. Here are the details. For more information check us out or download a pdf New Zealand flyer.

August 6 -19, 2009
11 nights for $2,269 (dbl occ) includes—

Round trip Air from LAX via Air New Zealand.

Ground Transfers.

Auckland

• 1 night Bay of Islands at Copthorne Hotel.
• 1 night accommodations in Auckland at 4-star Rendezvous Hotel
• Half day Fuller’s Cape Brett “Hole in the Rock” Cruise.

Christchurch

• 2 nights in Christchurch at the 4-star Rydges Christchurch Hotel.
• Optional day trip to Mt. Hutt for a ski day at $23. Per person.

Wanaka Lake

• 2 nights in Wanaka at the 4-star Edgewater Resort on the lake.
• Private coach for a ski day at Treble Cone Ski Field.
• Private coach for ski day at Cardrona then on to Queenstown.

Queenstown

• 5 nights in Queenstown at 4-star Novotel Gardens Hotel Queenstown.
• Welcome buffet dinner and Maori Haka show at the Skyline Gondola.

All local Taxes including New Zealand Goods & Service taxes of 12.5%.

Does not include—

• New Zealand departure tax of NZD$25 which must be paid upon departure.
• Airport taxes and fees and fuel surcharges are currently USD$301.
• Lift tickets are not included.

There will be an optional extension to Melbourne & Tasmania. Hope you can join us.

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Ski Canada with Pacific Rim Alliance

Pacific Rim Alliance Ski Club has two snow ski trips going to Canada in 2009. There are still openings on both trips and air has not been cheaper in a long time. And because flying into Canada is an international flight, you get to bring two bags, one of which can be ski equipment (boots, skis, poles), for no additional charge. In addition, the dollar has gotten a bit stronger than the Canadian dollar so if it holds, the cost of the ground portion will decrease.

* All air prices quoted are for round-trip and includes all taxes and fuel charges.

You can download a one-page information sheet here.

To sign up for these trips you need to get your own air and then send Pacific Rim (10818 Viacha Dr., San Diego, CA 92124) a $200 deposit. Final payments will be due soon. We are in the process of finalizing the costs and should have them in a week.

Big White—
April 5-12, 2009 or April 6-13, 2009
These dates are flexible. You can elect to stay April 6-13, 2009 to take advantage of the lower air price of flying on Monday. Ground price of $650 includes 7 nights in hotel room (dbl. occ.) with microwave, refrigerator & fireplace, 5 days lift tickets, round-trip transfer from Kelowna airport, nightly cocktail parties and one dinner. Air costs on January 10, 2009 for one stop flights were as follows.

• Alaska changes planes in Seattle.
• Air Canada changes in Vancouver.

Mon-Mon: April 6-13, 2009

• Alaska: LAX from $425*.
• Alaska: San Diego from $522*.
• Air Canada: LAX from $334*.
• Air Canada: San Diego from $334*.

Sun-Sun: April 5-12, 2009

• Alaska: LAX from $627*.
• San Diego from $612*.
• Air Canada: LAX from $334*.
• Air Canada: San Diego from $541*.

Kootenay Safari—
February 28 - March 8, 2009
Ground cost of $1,299 includes 3 nights in Fernie, 3 nights in Golden, 2 nights in Kimberley (dbl. occ.), 7 lift tickets (3 Fernie, 2 Kicking Horse, 1 Panorama, 1 Kimberley), transportation from Cranbrook and to each resort, and nightly cocktail parties.

Air is on Delta through Salt Lake City into Cranbrook. Prices from San Diego or LAX are currently $305*. Check the Delta web site for other cities.

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Big White Skiing

We finally went skiing yesterday and it was wonderful. Temperature was around 15°F most of the day with a light snow fall. Visibility was good and the snow was soft and fluffy and well tracked. Last night we went to Big White's 1st Wine Tasting event. It was great with good pick food and outstanding wines from the Okanangan. Today we are headed to Kelowna to replace the DVD player we broke. Monday we hope to ski again. I am out of shape and my legs are definitely feeling it today.

Here's Gene at the top of Kyle's run. This was my favorite run of the day. As you can see there was no one else on it so we had some good untracked powder.
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Big White Open

After a beautiful sunset last night, we woke to a snow fall that has been coming down steady all day. Right now there are only 4 lifts open and 5" of new snow. We were suppose to leave today but our renters rescheduled their trip so we can stay a week longer. So instead of skiing, Gene has spent the day installing the wide screen TV we just bought for the unit. We probably need to go to Kelowna to get the better cables but... It's snowing in Kelowna too. And we will probably want to ski tomorrow so... At least we have another week now to get everything done. This was the view from our living room yesterday! Tomorrow it's suppose to get really cold, like -20°C or for those of us not on the metric system, -4°F.
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Prayers for Peggy

We are snuggled in our condo in Big White with the fireplace blazing as we watch the snow fall and wait for the lifts to open. It is so very beautiful and peaceful and gets us thinking about our recent ski trip to Bariloche and our friend Peggy who is struggling with cancer and chemo. She has a really hard-to-treat cancer but is fighting the fight. To date, she's had two chemo treatments with four to go.

There is a great organizations called Caring Bridge that facilitates a blog for those like Peggy with cancer. You can leave a message of hope and read her journal to catch up on her progress or check out her new do. If you know Peggy or just want to leave encouraging words, visit her here. Our prayers and positive thoughts are with her always.
I made this layout for Peggy. The pink is in honor of her valiant fight. The layout was made from bits and pieces of stuff I've designed over the years.

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Big White Snow Play

It snowed on and off all day at Big White yesterday. When the sun peaked out we were able to watch the "kids" walk up and hill and slide down on skis, snowboards, sleds and platters. This young lady was most entertaining as she did a header as she went off the run. It's suppose to snow again tomorrow with the mountain opening on Wednesday. We can only hope and pray. At least it's cold enough.
We have been putting our time here to good use. We are headed down to Kelowna later today to buy stuff to fix our vacuum and dish washer. Good thing we were here when they broke.

Our ski club, Pacific Rim Alliance, is running a ski trip to Big White April 5-12, 2009, when the skiing and weather is at it's finest. Click here for the details.

Pac Rim also has a ski trip to the Kootenays (Fernie, Kicking Horse, Panorama, Kimberley) Feb 28 - March 8, 2009. Click here for details.

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Big White Snow

We've been in Big White a week now and it just really started snowing today. It's frustrating that the mountain has not opened yet but we've enjoyed the peace and quite. The mountain is hoping to open on Wednesday but we need colder temperatures and more snow for that to happen.

Here's the view of falling snow from our unit looking towards the main Village Center. Although it's been snowing and blowing all morning, not much snow is expected. We continue to pray anyway.
Our ski club, Pacific Rim Alliance, is running a ski trip to Big White April 5-12, 2009, when the skiing and weather is at it's finest. Click here for the details.

Pac Rim also has a ski trip to the Kootenays (Fernie, Kicking Horse, Panorama, Kimberley) Feb 28 - March 8, 2009. Click here for details.

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Big White Announces Exciting News

We are still on the road. Spent the night in Yakima, WA and should arrive in Kelowna in time to hit the Costco. Just before we left San Diego, Heinz, a Pac Rim member, sent us an article on Big White that appeared in the December 2008 issue of SKI by Ken Castle. Interesting.

What we did know is that a 17-story hotel-condo-casino-convention center is being built at the bottom of the Ridge Rocket Chair and is expected to open in 2010. The construction at Big White looks to be outpacing many other destination resorts, and the real-estate boom could soon be matched by an equally ambitious skiing expansion, tentatively called East Peak. According to this article, the resort is about to unveil a master plan that proposes the addition of 2,000 acres of intermediate and advanced terrain on leased provincial land, with construction of the first lift on East Peak to begin in 2010. Plus, the plan makes room for a second-base, another residential community and even a golf course. Even more interesting.
You can download the complete article in pdf format here.

Our ski club, Pacific Rim Alliance, is running a ski trip to Big White April 5-12, 2009, when the skiing and weather is at it's finest. Click here for the details.

Pac Rim also has a ski trip to the Kootenays (Fernie, Kicking Horse, Panorama, Kimberley) Feb 28 - March 8, 2009. Click here for details.

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Home from the Ball

The San Diego Council Gala was a blast. It was an absolutely amazing day— warm, sunny, sparkling. In the morning we road bikes around Harbor Island to the Midway Ship and the "kissing sailor" before heading to Shelter Island where we lunched at Red Sails. After two hours on the bike, it was tough getting back in the saddle.

Our butts were so sore but not too sore to dance nonstop for hours. As you might notice in the photo below, men will be boys. Here Mike and Gene attempt a return to their roots. Ha! Ha! Too much fun.

More photos available for viewing.

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Off to the Ball

Tomorrow we are off to the Ball. The San Diego Council of Ski Clubs' SnoBall Gala was first held in 1960. While the council remains a non-profit organization, the Gala has changed a lot over the years. This year the organizers are making it a "Gala Weekend." Saturday we will be joining the bike riders in the morning and dancing in the evening. Sunday will start with a walk on the beach followed by brunch and some pool time. We will do this all in sunny San Diego while praying for snow in the mountains.

I was volunteered to put the program together. I used the following free awesome scrapbook kits for the cover.

• Background and Frame by Barbara Lee in her "Colorado" kit.
• Heart by Sweet Blossom Designs by Sara in the "Hearts & Flowers" Collaborative kit with Vicki Parker.
• String by Linda Walton in the "Festivity" Collaborative kit with Vicki Parker.
• Grommets by Vicki Parker in the "Putting on the Glitz" kit.
• Photo courtesy Jack Affleck for Vail Resorts.
  

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