You can't escape it, it's in every chairlift ride, in every café, in every corner and it’s on people's minds.
The Vancouver/Whistler 2010 Winter Olympics are the biggest thing in town. People talk about athletes skills, their favourites and about snow conditions at the venues. Excitement is definitely in the air and I'm sure there wouldn't be a better time to be a Snow Bum here in BC than this winter.
My fourth week has been so diverse! On Monday a group from the Canadian Tourism Commission and TV Record from Brazil arrived in Sun Peaks and invited me to join them in several winter activities, some of which I still hadn't yet experienced here. To see the full story they aired about Sun Peaks in conjunction with their 2010 Olympic coverage, click on this link - TV Record Sun Peaks Story.
If you think winter is the season in which inevitably you have to be inactive and gaining weight, then you should give snowshoeing a chance.
It is a great cardio exercise! And as they say: If you can walk, you can snowshoe. We did a 3km tour, got to do some bird watching, saw a lynx track and had a nice cup of hot chocolate and cookies at the end. Like skiing, the deeper the snow the more fun you have!
Tuesday I discovered a new way to slide on the snow: Snow Biking. After 5 minutes of instruction we were cruising down Sundance and on our second run we were riding the glade area aside Grannie Greene's. It's really easy to learn and super fun!
Snow biking is probably the only snow sport that allows you to go to the top and explore almost the whole mountain in your very first day! I was so thrilled with the speed that after the lifts closed I joined some Aussies for a few tubing runs, and since it was Australia day, of course we were sliding carrying a huge Australian flag.
When you mix locals night and Australia day in the same party, the only way to ski early the next morning is by having a double espresso. So Wednesday morning I went to Bolacco Café where I had the opportunity to meet two real local ski bums.
Dave and Danny have been bumming around these mountains for the last 35 years. They have a kind of worship for the Burfield Chairlift and the 3k vertical feet that it provides you. More than passionate local skiers, the two made skiing their lifestyle! On every chair ride they told me a different story about this area, and as you can imagine, both have their secret stashes, but they wouldn't let me reveal it on this blog... hehe.
After lunch it was time to go to Kamloops, after all it's not everyday that you have the opportunity to be part of the Olympic torch relay.
It was a huge party, there were about 15,000 people ignoring the cold evening and celebrating that special moment. Everyone had smile on their face and a Canadian flag in their hand, and the crowd got totally crazy when Nancy Greene passed the flame to Mark Recchi.
Thanks Ron and Lora for inviting me to spend the night and join the torch party, I have no doubts that if the five member Brazilian Olympic team doesn’t succeed in the games, I already have another team to cheer for.
Thiago,
The Snow Bum
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