http://www.flickr.com/photos/cragbetty/sets/72157623778091554/
day one.....3/26/10
the flight from reno to spokane....was very uneventful....very....got to stop in boise, but never got off the plane. met up with the crew in spokane. 12 total. the characters.....aaron, steve b, steve h, gretel, tina, mandy, pete, josh, thorsten, lenny, owen, and me. picked up the rental cars and drove through northern washington. spokane to nelson, bc, canada.
arrived at nelson around 8ish. dinner and then try to get some rest before we head out to the helipad.
day two....3/27/10
avi forecast: considerable
weathe forecast: partly cloudy
snow accumulation: 0cm
area: smuggler’s bowl
nelson to the kokanee glacier hut....by helicopter. we all gathered at the helipad at 8am in the little airstrip of nelson. nelson is on one arm of the kokanee lake (which is a pretty big lake) and nested in a pretty step lake-canyon. what neat about his hut, is the fact that it’s helicopter access only in the winter. everything has to be flown in. well, simply put, after the briefing, we waited for our turn to get flown in.
 |
| lenny and our gack |
 |
| our bird |
 |
| me in the bird |
finally, after three trips of of cargo and our first load of people, it was our (gretel, steve h and i. the custodian’s son rode with us as well.) turn. let’s just put it this way...pretty gosh darn cool, riding in a helicopter. i think i really like the fact that we are so low to the ground and the tree tops. it was as if i could reach out the door and top the treetops. since the normal way we go in (over a gigantic headwall) was socked in with clouds, we went the longer way, giving us a longer ride. the pilot was safe and didn’t really do anything to rattle us. but he did get a squeal from gretel when we descended onto the heli pad with a sharp bank and fast descent.
we have arrived. off-loading and shuttling things into the hut and after that, we waited for the last bird.
the hut itself is timber built, no nails, only pegs and grooves. the hut us beautifully done and an absolute treat in the middle of the wilderness. it’s got all the comforts of home without the distractions. yes, there is wi-fi. yes, there are comfy beds, yes, everything is heated.
 |
| morning in the kitchen |
 |
| view of the winter entrance of the hut.... |
after the orientation, we got to go out there an do a mini-tour to see the area we will be in. we went to an area called smuggler’s bowl, a save area below the battleship and the pyramid (two very prominent features nest to the hut. we did a couple of laps in what turned out to be really really fun powder bowl.
 |
| pano from smuggler's ridge |
 |
| our tracks in smuggler's bowl.... |
day three.....3/28/10
avi forecast: high
weather forecast: 100% snow
snow accumulation: 0cm
area: helen deane
it stormed overnight and it got windy. our main concern for today is the wind loading of the snow. since it was going to snow all day, we decided to head to low angle aspects in the trees and below treeline. we headed to an area called helen deane. we split into two groups. our group ran three laps in the area. since we were 45min-1hr from the hut, i decided to head back with josh and mandy, while everybody else took another lap in the area.
no photos that day...i was soaked to the bone that day...
day four.....3/29/10
avi forceast: high
weather forecast: 100% snow
snow accumulation: 28cm
area: the hut
REST DAY!!!! i totally needed it. so far, this is maxing me out a little bit. i’ve never done something like this and it’s quite taxing. really. this is my new definition of earning my turns. everything we did was awesome so far. i read. i started this post...mandy, tina, and i held down the fort and was the dispatch. we had radios and had timed calls as a check to make sure everybody was okay. folks came in by midday to take a break and warm up. gretel, steve h, owen, and steve b stayed in, while everybody else went back out. we had an hour yoga session, which probably worked me even more.
 |
| arse kickin' yoga.... |
