Vacation in Vancouver - 7 Feb 2005

It looked like being a vacation instead of a ski trip.

I got into Vancouver and had a vague feeling of disquiet - it was as warm as Auckland and hosing down rain. (At least I felt at home). In my rush to get away I hadn’t been checking the ski reports in Canada. I figured I was going anyway. I’m glad I hadn’t checked, the entire Rockies was reeling under the assault from a tropical high that had popped up from the Pacific for a visit. Unfortunately it didn’t want to go home and snow up and down the Rockies was melting fast.

It doesn’t rain in Vancouver all the time. This was as good as it got and it only lasted an hour…

For Vancouver this meant endless rain and very mild temperatures. A few days after I arrived all the local ski fields closed for the season due to lack of snow. However this was wasn’t terminal, the big ski fields further east were still open and I had come to Vancouver to shop!

My list was fairly short, but not too cheap. Skis, poles, ski bag, laptop, an MP3 player and a digital camera. Surprisingly the skis were the quickest purchase. The end of season specials had started and the shop staff had very definite views on what the season winners were.

Next easiest was a laptop, the portability/price requirements eliminated most.

Buying a Digital camera was a mission. The choice was huge but the amount of useful information to help you choose was abysmal. Sure there was a heap of info on features, but virtually none on quality and usability. NZ Consumer came to the rescue and hopefully I’ve bought something useful.

An MP3 player was next on the list. I quickly decided that the iPods were out due to their difficulty to use with multiple computers. There were a few other contenders but for the amount of space I wanted they were verrrrry expensive and from what other travellers were saying, somewhat fragile. I decided to save my money. I don’t need the “in pocket” portability so music from the laptop was the way to go.

While all this intensive shopping was going on I discovered that Vancouver was a music lover’s paradise with many good acts on each night. There was even a Jazz/Blues venue that compared favourably with Ronnie Scotts! The SameSun hostel was in the middle of venue land and this led to some bizarre behaviour. Most people went to bed between 1 and 4am, those few who had jobs/interviews going earlier. Breakfast started at about 8am and stretched out to about 2pm! Before about 11am the place was like a morgue.

Finally I had sorted myself out and checked out what ski field to head off to. It was a dismal list to choose from: My original plan was to go to Whistler but its season was in trouble with closed runs and wet snow. Some of the other choices were Kicking Horse, Fernie, Silver Star, Banff, Big White and Red Mountain. All were short of snow and the reports on snow conditions varied wildly. It was time to take a stab and go for it…

Mark