First WINTER family trip

It was Jakub's first winter trip, in the snow, in the mountains. Originally, Tom was going to take him up to the Brockton point, the top of the Seymour ski runs, and at the same time Elena with Nika and Oskar were going to hike the first, maybe 2nd peak of Mt. Seymour. It turns out, we are hardly keeping up to the two guys, the dad and the son, as they are nearly running up the hill. I should have known... So first peak of Seymour it is, 10 months old, on the way up 1/2 hour of sleep, on the way down puzzled looks from other hikers looking at this crazy dad who runs and slides down the steep snow slopes with this little baby on his back, all cuddled up in the too big of a snow suit. And the woman taking leaps into the powder snow on her stomach, that's probably the mother...

We also took a sled, but at the end, again the adults were the ones who were having the biggest fun on it. Jakub was not interested.

So now seriously ... conditions are great, nearly skiable...

Leading peak 755m- Anvil Island

There is a small island at Howe sound. Its steep lines are visible while driving to Squamish from hwy. Last year we did circumnavigation with Jakub :) and last weekend I have got this idea of bringing Janka to the highest point of the island- Leading peak. It is obvious you start the hike at sealevel, but the description from internet was little bit misleading. Expecting 755m elevation gain, my time estimate was 4 hours (5max). We started from Lions bay at 2.30pm which was as usual little late. It took us 6.5 hours to finish our trip at Porteau cove at 21.00 with Jakub and Elena waiting for us. 1055m elevation in the legs and 12km on the kayak was really nice. The trail well marked and the gorgeous views just for us. Janka said this was the nicest day since she has stepped on the Canadian ground. Maybe she forgot already about the day spent at CAN/US border to get the working permit :-o

Looking for Angel's Crest

Yup...it took us 3 hours to find it. But let's start at the beginning...

After all the slushy snow, slushy avalanches and looking for the ski in slushy avalanches, my uncle Jano in his 2 months vacation in Canada started to be fed up with "spring skiing" after all and so for a change I decided to take him on a beautiful climbing route on the Chief. The alternate start of Angel's crest is in the gully between the 2nd and 3th peak of Chief, by climbing a tall tree. As we realized long after, there is another gully just little further up and after not finding the tree and starting our climb at a great time at 7am at the (as we thought) regular starting pitch, we spent 3 hours looking for the next pitch, walking the ledges and trees, climbing lots of vegetable.

Only then did we realize that maybe this is not "the gully"... After another real BC bushwack we eventually found the true start. By then it was 10am, we were already tired, hungry and unsure whether to start or not, the main reason being my son Jakub and his (un)sufficient?? stock of breast milk.

Well...off we go...

Right while belying Jano on the 1st pitch I sat on my phone and broke the display... can it get any better today? After all we had a great climb, Jano leading (beside the others) the spectacular "Acraphobes" towers, enjoying the views and some beautiful pitches. We topped out at 5.30, making it 7 1/2 hours, which is not too bad for 13 pitches, given we had a 3 hour warm up in the morning and Jano not having climbed for last 10 years. I certainly hope it was a good last trip for him before he flies back on Monday and he will come back for more.

What does it look like, when you...

...when you lose your ski in a small avalanche, you go there a month later with chances 1:1000 to find it, you see some fresh snow on the way up and you see some new slides on the place where the ski was lost. The day started pretty good, when we saw that the approach to the snowline (1300m) wasn't bushy and Jano lost his lovely sunglasses. There wasn't so much sun on the first half of our climb. Getting closer to the summit of Cayoosh mt. things were getting less optimistic. I was doing some planing of my next trip to Cayoosh in middle of September (3rd one this year) to rescue the ski, while the strong sun was burning our faces. Jano tried to go with his eyes closed which helped him not to get blind :-) When we arrived at the scene, after 2-3 minutes it was clear that I need to come again few months later (if not years:) cause there was still huge amount of snow around. Jano went around to the ridge and I started to go straight up approximately where the accident happened. Suddenly I couldn't believe my eyes... there in the snow I see the post of the binding sticking out of the snow and the rest of the ski just few centimeters under the surface. What a luck!!! I don't have to come to this place again, were my first thoughts. And Jano can leave this land in PEACE on Monday :-)
We have summited half an hour later and in terrible spring conditions (wet and heavy) skied down to Duffy. I was little bit disappointed Jano didn't ski this time on the other ski (only on the other ski) to have the descent completed.

Meeting Lou Dawson on mt Baker

http://www.wildsnow.com/5358/mount-baker-backcountry-skiing-3/

Mt. Rainier 4392m

Still waiting for spring snow conditions...

The weather was playing badly with us last few days. We recieved some snow, some rain but almost no sun. Waiting for the good weather, spent on the local mountains with Jano and Ela and having fun. So far Jano likes his vacation here but because he was getting nervous about the weather, we sent him with Slavo to Vancouver Island to watch the whales. Jano takes a loong ride back on bike- around 500km, crossing to Sunshine Coast, using ferry of course. We are giving him 2 weeks before he arrives. And than the ski spring season can begin.

Cernice are BACK!

Back from where? From a 5 day trip to Skaha- Penticton. Place famous for Ironman, wine and of course climbing. It was Palo and Nika's idea to meet somewhere halfway between Calgary and Vancouver. Jakub was doing great on the way there. He slept, he laughed and watched the scenery. He let us climb for a while, kayak for 2 whiles and enjoy the evening with our friends. On the last day I got sick while wine tasting. Not from wine unfortunately, but from sitting outside in the wind. 2 days later Jakub got fever and all the other stuff, complicating his breathing and eating and so on. This was the hardest time for him from his birth. But as I said on the beginning, he is back again!

Varied weekend.

This weekend started for me on Friday. I was planing to take a look at one line really close to our house. Mt Harvey- North ramp. 1645 meters high offers a steep hidden line around 250m long. I've heard that it was not skied yet. I couldn't find any info about the slope steepness, so I wanted to see it live. After half an hour drive we arrived at parking lot in Lions bay. Slavo refused to grab the snow shoes. I am not a big fan of them either, but this was the biggest mistake of the day. As soon as we hit the snow line, Slavo started to sink through the crust up to his knees, sometimes more. He was for sure exhausted when we arrived at the ramp. Soon we decided to turn back, because the snow was still pretty deep. I went up the ramp to the first left bend. I was still thinking about the cornices up there was doing slow progress anyway. This is called hard work :-)I jumped on my skis and headed down. The slope was +- 43degrees, steepening pass the bend. I guess up to 50. Snow quality for skiing was even worse. Anyway I want to give it one more chance when Jano arrives and before the snow disappears. It was a nice day though.
On Saturday we skied with Elena up on Seymour. This is was she said: "my nicest skiing this season." I don't agree. Every skiing is memorable of course!
And Sunday? The worst stomach problems I have ever had. Probably some virus. No detailed description. No water for 24hours and no food for 36h. The scale shoved 68kg.
T.

Long vs Short

I always said, I don't have time to cut my hair. But now it feels soo good. I am expecting to run Grouse Grind by 10% better and increase the job offers from zero to up to 2 per week.

Little (or big?) difference

Jakub, when he is 1 day old, and nearing 3 months.

Rogers pass

Last weekend I went for a trip with a friend from Calgary- Palo. We planed this for few weeks already and at the end it was a perfect timing. Temperatures running around -10 at night, and below zero during the day, kept the snow pretty dry for us. I couldn't believe - up on Young's peak, there was 10cm of fresh snow on the summit. This was one of the best skiing ever. Ok at least when I talk about powder conditions. Last year on New year, we couldn't see any of this beauty as the weather and fog kept us down. But these three days the weather was on our site. We spent the first night at Sapphire hut (it is a shelter for 4 people or 8 Czechs) and 2nd at Asulkan. I enjoyed the first one better, because of being alone there with a friend and we were 500m higher than the Asulkan cabin. Skiing from the Dome col was just gorgeous. On the third day we went up the Youngs peak 2847m and skied back to cabin. The slope was up to 45deg. The further to the right, the steeper it got. Ascent was very pleasant. We followed the track from another group from previous day. In about 1h40min up we were and it is no more than 30min descent back to hut (700m elev.). This was a Highlight of this winter, that's for sure :-)

https://picasaweb.google.com/palochalupa/RogersPass#

Rogers pass skiing from Tomas Cernicka on Vimeo.

Coquihalla sunday walk.

There is some interesting skiing in this area and thanks to Stano, who already knows this place better than me, we managed to carve some turns into this slopes. He also taught me, what tree skiing really means. It was a nice day with an adventurous end.

Jakub just a little bit older.

Its hard to write something about our son. It would be only superlatives anyway. I don't want to be that parent, saying about his child:,, he is so cute, he is gorgeous, we love him, unbelievable..." but he is :-) I can't help my self. We get a lot sleep, we get smile from him, he enjoys his baths every day and drinks his milk diet like crazy.

I don't know, maybe I am not perfect. Maybe Elena is not either. But Jakub is pretty close hahaha :-D

Waas happenin!?

Actually not much. The weather sucks, my shape sucks, my not working sucks... only Jakub and Ela make me happy every day. When I wake up, I have the two greatest people beside me and I am smiling. Ok not exatly smiling. I always say, give me half and hour more Jakub and I'll take you for a long walk.

This winter won't be much about skiing. But there will be one highlight of this ski season. Jano Blasko is coming to visit us. And I promised to take him for a ride. And this is it: Mount Judge Howay, 2260m high located no more than 60km from our home. However to reach its top, is required to paddle 18km, hike 13km and climb 3km one way. Driving the car will be the easiest :-) I don't know how often this mountain is climbed, but my guess is something like 1 party per year, maybe less. And most times only every second party reaches the summit.

Usually 3 days are required, but I would stick with as many as possible. 4 maybe 5 to have enough time to get a good weather once we are there. When I looked at the pictures first, I got this idea about skiing it rightaway. It took me few hours, maybe days to find out what the slope is like. We can expect 45deg steepness. Maybe more maybe less. Elevation gain will be 2100m. If the conditions allow, I am expecting to ski more than 1500m. The look from the bottom will be impressive, I am sure.

Stay tuned :-)

Tomas