Author: Blake

Since it’s that time for more personal writing, I’ll be providing yet another trip report, with some eventful stories, because what trip would be complete without some entertaining stories? I’ll be diving into my latest trip, to Smithers yet again! For many months after the 2022-23 ski season ended, my excitement for the next ski season was remarkable. In early October of 2023, an Arctic outflow came through the province, cooling down many places, and dusting snow in the mountains, even on the ski hill. However, this was soon to change. The 2023-24 ski season was predicted as an El Niño year, which is a weather phenomenon that makes the ski season exceptionally warm. I tried my best to be optimistic, but the weather simply did not deliver on Vancouver Island. The ski hill was bare, only having a 40cm base for a time. As everyone who was on the ski trip knows, the snow was decent on that day, but things only went downhill from there after the trip. It rained, hard. There was so much rain that over half of the snow base was washed away, and the ski hill had no choice but to close operations entirely, for a period. It snowed a little more which pushed the hill to re-open, but there was simply nothing there. My solution: book a plane ticket to Smithers, and then I could go and fulfill my desires for winter adventures.

I booked my ticket a month prior, and began the wait to go to winter wonderland, probably the best way I can describe it. My dad decided to book tickets for him and my siblings not long after, as he decided that a ski trip sounded epic after all. I booked these tickets conveniently on Family Day long weekend, so I only had to miss a day of school for this 4-day trip. The night before, I packed my bag, and had a short-lived 5-hour sleep, as the flight left at 6:25am, from Victoria (YYJ) of course. I loaded our single suitcase into the trunk, and we headed to the airport, which is about 40 minutes away for me. I arrived at the airport, and made a beeline for the bag drop, as I had already completed the online check-in the day before, where we the bag was checked and sent off on the baggage belt. I made sure to get some of the high-quality boarding passes at the desk as mementos for later, which was essentially a nicer looking, sturdier boarding pass with the signature Air Canada stripe over the top. The self-serve kiosk prints flimsy receipt paper passes, which I learned early on last year when I went through the kiosk. I arrived at TSA, uneventful, other than the fact that I was randomly selected to be hand swabbed. I made my way to Gate 8, which is an interesting gate because the planes can park horizontally to the gate. What this means is that no pushback tug is needed, which speeds up the departure.

I reassured my dad that we did not need to go to the Harbour Walk for a muffin, and instead made the claim that the Tim Hortons in Vancouver Airport (YVR) would be completely fine for breakfast. I messed around with my music until our boarding time came around at 5:55. I walked towards a 7-year-old Dash 8-400, registered as C-GYJZ, in the new 2016 livery. I boarded, and filed all the way down to 20D, quite possibly the least favorable seat I could imagine, as it’s the back of the plane on the aisle. It wasn’t the end of the world for this flight, as it was just a quick hop over the Strait of Georgia to YVR. This flight only has a block time of 32 minutes, with an airtime of just 12 minutes, based on the runway configuration of 09 in Victoria and 08R in Vancouver. I was sat next to an older gentleman, who was off to Orlando, FL, to visit his daughter for her wedding. I made conversation with this fellow for the entire flight, where we talked about air travel, Florida, along with news and such. We taxied out to runway 09, as mentioned earlier, and were airborne on time headed towards Vancouver, with a cruise altitude of just 4,000ft. This route is only 45NM, and when you’re in a plane doing 200kts over the strait, you do reach the mainland quickly.

After just 6 minutes in the air, Vancouver came into sight, as we started our approach onto runway 08R. Our touchdown was right on schedule, where I had a 1hr layover in Vancouver before connecting to Smithers. As we taxied to gate C39, we parked and had the classic “Panic and try and hit as many people as possible with the bags in the overhead bins”. Not actually, but probably the best way to describe how everyone got off. A noteworthy element about the place in the airport I got off at was the fact that Air Canada essentially owns Concourse C. If you look on the departure board for the C gates, it’s all Air Canada. With the return to my claim where I assured my Dad we could get Tim Hortons in Vancouver, I’ll preface the line with ‘I did not think what I was saying through, at all.’ We arrived slightly ahead of schedule, only to be met with a line 70 people long, which shot down my super confident statement of “Everything is 100% okay”. Admittedly, the reference for the Tim’s being totally fine was from when I was there in the summer at 2pm on a Wednesday, which is definitely quite a different comparison which I clearly didn’t think of, so whoops.

My dad still stood strong that he wanted his food, where I said we wouldn’t have enough time. When my dad was about 4 people from the front of the line, the gate agent for the flight called my dad’s reservation to the desk, for an ‘important change’. Of course, because I clearly lacked cognitive thinking abilities from not sleeping, I didn’t just walk myself over the desk and ask what was going on, rather I stayed right where I was. Great decision, (completely not my dad lost his spot in line). Guess what the ‘important announcement’ was? “The seats were going to be moved from row 15 to row 18. Whoa. Long story short, my dad was a teensy bit livid that I didn’t just ask what was going on so he could keep his spot in line. Again, my thinking failed me, twice. I took my entitled self, passport and all, and boarded one zone ahead of my dad and siblings at gate C33, onto yet another 8-year-old Dash 8-400, registered as C-GUJZ, also in the new 2016 livery. I settled into 3F, a window seat on the right of the plane, where I lucked out with a free aisle seat for the short 1hr 20m hop across the Coast Mountains and Tweedsmuir, 650km north. Pushback started shortly after, and we started up both engines right on time for the taxi to runway 08R. This is the moment I saw a plane parked at gate C32. Not just any ordinary Dash 8, but the one where I sat in the pilot’s seat, four years ago. Of course, I had to get a picture, since I recognized the registration as soon as I saw the Dash, C-GGMU. The takeoff was uneventful, but nonetheless we started our climb to our cruise altitude of 23,000ft.

The inflight service started shortly after our initial climb, where I got a water and some Air Canada pretzels. We cruised over the mountains, which slowly turned to the plateau, and soon enough the Nechako Valley came into sight. We began our descent into Smithers over Houston, BC, and were inbound on our approach to runway 15. The town of Smithers came into sight on final, where we cruised over into onto the runway, with the wind, where the plane was set down quite firm. It is unusual to land with the wind, as normally you always land into the wind. However, the reason for this is because Smithers Airport is completely uncontrolled, meaning that there is no ATC, and you simply report your intentions on the Smithers radio. We taxied into Gate 1, which is the only gate, but besides the point. We were welcomed by a brisk -15 with perfectly clear skies. We headed into Smithers Airport (YYD), which is quite modest, as we waited for our singular checked bag. Our bag came around the belt relatively quick, and we were soon in my Grandpa’s truck headed towards Tyhee Lake, where their house is located. After a short 15 minute drive through Smithers, we went through the outskirts down the country roads, until we reached the house. I immediately made a beeline for the lake, which is frozen over in the winter, where I just sprinted as fast as I could, before returning to the house for a hearty breakfast of back bacon, eggs, and pancakes. Soon enough, we headed to the ski hill, where we went to our cabin, which I would say arguably has the best views out of any cabin on the hill, since my Grandpa built it on the top of the hill off of the Green T (For clarification the Green T is a ski lift that tows you with a T shaped bar, and called the Green T since the towers are painted green). The cabin overlooks the Telkwa Mountains, and I can see the whole range from my bed every morning, which is so incredibly satisfying.

After a few runs, we headed back down to the house for the night. A new day came along, where I was welcomed with yet again another hearty breakfast. After my meal, I experimented with the strength of the ice on the lake, to say the least it is super strong. I was able to drive an ATV onto the lake with no issues, if you can see where this is going, I’ll just say doing donuts is so much fun. We and my Omi headed into town for some birthday shopping for me, since I’m not in Smithers on my actual birthday. I went into quite a few stores downtown, before going to Heartstrings, a local gift shop with fresh fudge and clothing. Here, I got myself a Smithers hoodie, and a bag of saltwater taffies, before heading to Mark’s for wool socks and a new belt. Heading up King St, I immediately noticed something different, the paint was washed away! I remember when me and my cousins were biking down that street, on clear summer nights overlooking the mountains. I don’t know what it was about that street, but it just brings back so many indescribable memories that warm my heart. I’m still mentally in Summer 2023, which brings me to some core memories of fishing on Babine, driving around through the rolling hills on a warm summer night, and The Twin. You may ask, what is The Twin? In short, The Twin is this smaller motel on the Northeast side of town, that serves delectable ethnical food. In our family, The Twin was reserved for almost a reward after hard work. You finished cutting all the trees down and making firewood? Good! Let’s go to the twin. You finished making four truckloads of firewood to the skihill, good! Let’s go to The Twin again.

Anyways, after this short adventure, we went up to the ski hill, for another picture-perfect day, with clear skies. I made a couple runs before skiing shortly ended, and I was forced to end for the day. We had made the plan to stay the night at the ski hill, so I did some snowmobiling on Toboggan Hill, before coming back to the cabin for a tasty meal. My dad came up with my other brother to have our meal and brought some cupcakes, and my Omi brought a birthday cake, for my cousin’s birthday, and to recognize mine, since it was happening a week after I returned home. After the commemoration of my birthday, everyone settled down and went home, whilst I stayed and played cribbage with my Omi. A new day arose, where there was a light dusting of snow on the mountain. As I headed to the lodge to grab my pass, my cousins arrived shortly after for yet again another day of skiing on the hill. We went through the terrain park, many times, where we kept trying to hit this specific rail perfect. It somehow must’ve taken me four tries to get it proper. The rest of the day was quite fun, with many runs on the chairlift, an icy face-smashed-in run through the trees, and a backcountry run to Crater Lake with my Dad in the afternoon, where I got many lessons on what not to do when going backcountry with my Grandpa. The mountains were majestic the entire way, and the lake was even better at the summit. After a short-lived day, the sunset took place, and darkness came. We had the final dinner at the ski hill with the family, played a big round of ‘31’ with the whole family, drove the snowmobile around on the hill. There were some neighbours nearby who had the amazing idea of strapping skis to an armchair. Funniest thing I’ve seen all winter, the screams were even better.

I made many runs to the top of the hill on the snowmobile before heading back to the cabin with the little ones. I eventually fell asleep, and I woke up the next morning with that feeling. It was coming to an end. I came to terms with the fact that winter paradise was swiftly coming to a close, and trudged downstairs for my final 2024 winter breakfast in Smithers. I finished my plate and went to make some runs on the Orange T. I made 5 runs that morning, each with appreciation of the mountains. I made my final ski run, and headed back to the cabin, where I packed up and headed to the house around 2pm. The feeling is indescribable, really. I had some cocktail shrimp at the house, and said farewell at 5pm to leave for the airport. Arriving at the airport, something I found interesting is that the baggage drop and screening belt are all one thing, because of the low volumes of traffic through Smithers Airport. Boarding came around at 5:55, where I boarded another 6-year-old Dash 8-400 for the flight to Vancouver. I settled into seat 8F, with another free aisle seat, and we started our taxi out to runway 34.

Upon takeoff, I saw the town, ski hill, and mountains, all in one big sight on a beautiful sunset, which was amazing. We leveled off at 24,000ft for a rather dark flight over the mountains. On our approach to runway 08L, everything was completely fogged in over Vancouver, a good day to have ILS! On our approach seemingly into nothing, the runway came into sight just 400ft above the ground, where it was pouring rain. Taxiing into gate C39, I noticed an interesting coincidence, which was the fact that we arrived at the same gate that we departed from, four days ago. Stepping onto the wet pavement, I was soaked in 50 paces to the doors of the terminal. We had a 2hr 30m layover before our outbound flight to Victoria, so to kill the time, we had dinner at this grill in the upper part of the concourse, before heading to Tim Hortons for a much needed donut. Our flight was operating out of Gate C40, just one over from where we arrived, so there wasn’t much moving in the terminal.

After a lot of scrolling and admiring of the plane in front of me, we were notified that boarding would be delayed, slightly, for a disabled customer. Boarding commenced later than expected at 10:25pm, where we had a relatively full flight. However, as I lurched into seat 14F, I yet again had no one on the aisle! Lucky me. Boarding soon finished up, and we were on our way to runway 08R for our southbound departure. Another pitch black flight unfortunately. I find it so interesting how the announcements for landing come on during this short flight, actually just 4 minutes after takeoff. We went inbound on our approach to runway 09, where we touched down in more rain. At last, we were deplaned and out of the terminal at 11pm. The drive home was silent, everyone was more or less half asleep from the long day. From start to finish, the trip was an absolute success, and I hope to embark on more winter adventures in 2025. (Remarks, I could’ve summarized this into about 400 words, but the massive piece is purely for my enjoyment).

During last year in the month of May, I decided to take my Mom on a spontaneous trip to Calgary. I did touch on this trip a little during PW #2, but this PW will go into more detail. But all circumstantial, I’m still going to talk about this with more detail, so on with the story! It was surprisingly the first time that I had been on a trip with only my mom, because almost all of the trips that I go on involve my family, because my siblings don’t like being left out, which I totally understand, and it’s just a challenge of having a five person family. For quite a while, I was on about going to Calgary, because the prairies appeal to me quite a bit (said no one ever, but I’m going to say it). Along with this, a portion of my mom’s side resides in Calgary, so I wanted to pay them a visit. After a quick ‘consultation’ with my siblings, both of them didn’t want to come, so I ended up booking some very cheap tickets with WestJet a couple months prior.

Because I’m obsessed with aviation, this was obviously such a feat to be taking a one-hour flight, which was a quick hop over the Strait of Georgia and the Rocky Mountains. May 26, 2023, finally came around, the date that we were supposed to fly out. Props to my mom who made no complaints about our departure time. This departure time was the first scheduled flight out of the airport (YYJ), leaving at 5:50am. This meant we had to get to the airport 90 minutes at 4:20am, which meant leaving the house at 3:20am. We arrived to check-in and clear TSA, in which we were informed that the flight was slightly delayed until 6:00am. Onboard a slightly older 737-800 for this short-ish 800km hop to Calgary (YYC), there was the standard inflight service, with the pretzels that taste excellent. We reached our cruise altitude of 37,000ft, which we only maintained for about a half an hour, before starting our initial descent over the west side of the Rockies. We started our approach onto runway 35L, which is one of my favorites as the approach is set over the skyline, with some great scenery. Unfortunately, I was on the right side, in 12F, so I didn’t get to see the skyline on approach. We arrived in Calgary at 8:17am, MDT (yes, I did record the time we arrived).

We exited into Concourse A, where we found our way to the arrivals. Me and my mom made our way to the street where we found our aunt waiting for us with her vehicle. We got in and hung a left onto Airport Tr. Another remark is that the drivers are really aggressive, and they will honk at any minor inconvenience, which to their credit, they do get where they need to go, but it’s still interesting. After the lef, we headed onto the QE2, otherwise known as Deerfoot Tr. We had a quick 15 minute drive to OEB Breakfast near the city centre, where we had some breakfast links, bacon, and some lukewarm eggs. The breakfast was okay, but nothing remarkable. We carried onto the Calgary Zoo, which had lots of cool exhibitions. I had some fries there, heavy on the average, they were nothing special. Me and my mom got onto the Blue Line towards downtown, which was a very quick 5 minute ride onto 7 St SW, where the trains run along the street like streetcars. It kind of reminded me of San Francisco in a way, but without the streets on big inclines.

Carrying onto the Calgary Tower, I went up a 45 story elevator until we reached the tip, which had great views of the city. I bought some ridiculously priced maple toffee ($15!), and hopped onto the Red Line with my mom to take another quick train ride to Kensington, a smaller market area where my aunt was located. She lives in a rather small apartment, but I found a place. She brought out some pizza she ordered from downtown, and we caught up with her. We must’ve talked for almost 2 hours before my aunt had the idea to go and visit one of our relatives, who lived over in the west side of Calgary near the city limits. We headed in and had another long conversation, because we hadn’t seen him in a few years, since this was the first time I had been to Calgary. After we talked to him, we made our way a few streets over to visit one of my Grandpa’s close friends, who I hadn’t seen since I was only a year old. The thing was that my aunt didn’t tell him that me and my Mom were there.

Our car arrived at his rather sizable condo, where we went in and gave his door a knock. He first saw my aunt, who he was expecting, and then me and my mom, who he definitely wasn’t expecting. Long story short, he was so excited to see us for the first time in 13 years. It was really wholesome, and it is a memory that has stuck with me for a long time. We must have talked for almost 3 hours. Afterwards, everyone said their farewell’s, and we drove back to my aunt’s apartment. On the second day, I woke up to my aunt bringing out a box of pastries from her favourite bakery in the city, a great way to start the day. I had ambitions to go to one of the larger malls in the south side of Calgary, as well as spending time with my cousins that live near Okotoks. CF Chinook Center. We got back into the car and headed through downtown and onto Macleod Tr, where there was piles of traffic. We arrived at the mall, did some clothes shopping, and went to this fancy bakery store, which had very high price points. Unsurprisingly, we left that store with only a tin of shortbread and chocolate almonds, which still came to a total of $90. Believe me, it wasn’t my idea to get $60 lemon shortbread, but I still got a good laugh out of it.

We carried on to Okotoks, on Highway 2X, with a stop to pick up one of my older cousins from a sleepover. After the short detour, we yet again got back onto the highway, and continued, before exiting onto the 552 eastbound. We pulled up to my cousins house, which is in the middle of nowhere, and it essentially has prairie on all four sides of the house. On a clear day you can see all the way to the Rockies from the house. I went into the house with my cousin we picked up, and it was announced that we would be having pineapple pulled pork for dinner, which to say the least, it was really good. Afterwards, I went out into my cousins spacious yard to go on their trampoline which overlooked the rolling hills. They have two dogs which are both energetic, it can be chaotic at times, but a good chaotic, if that makes sense. We did our classic trampoline games while the dogs freaked out below and ran around the trampoline, and it was pretty entertaining. In the prairies, the sunsets are majestic. On a clear day, it has some of the best sunsets I’ve ever seen. Luckily, it was a perfectly clear night, which unsurprisingly, because Calgary is the sunniest city in Canada. On average, they receive an impressive 335 days of sunshine a year, compared to the 260 days a year Victoria gets.

My cousins and me filed back into the house and into their basement, which was nicely furnished and cozy. I made some popcorn with their popcorn machine, and we sat on their large couch and watched Percy Jackson. However, I was getting tired, and I only made it about 30 minutes into the movie before I passed out onto the couch, which has to be the most comfortable couch I’ve ever slept on. I was awoken to the sun in my eyes through the basement window, and I trailed upstairs to be met with Costco cinnamon buns, which were delicious. After my cinnamon bun, my cousin brought me back downstairs and we played some Star Wars on his Xbox, until about 11am. The ambition for the day was to make a trip to Sheep River, a provincial park 40km west of the house. I did touch on this a bit in PW #2, but I’ll go into more detail here. We piled into their Pathfinder and got on the road, first towards the Saskatoon Farm, where we had a nice breakfast overlooking the river. Afterwards, we headed to Okotoks, where we filled up the car before doing the drive towards Sheep River. Proceeding on Highway 7, we drove through Turner Valley, and Black Diamond, where the prairies turned to mountains. We reached Bighorn Lookout, where we got out of the car, took a short walk, and arrived on this large mountainous lookout, with spectacular views. After taking in all the scenery, and many pictures from my mom, we loaded the car back up, and headed eastbound, back to Black Diamond. We stopped at this diner on the main strip called Marv’s, which was a retro 80s style diner, again briefly mentioned in PW #2. I had an ice cream, as well as an Oreo flavoured cow-tale. I don’t know how to describe what a cowtail looked like, it was sort of an Oreo flavoured fondant with the cream in the middle.

We headed back to the house, and once we arrived both me and my cousin beelined downstairs to play some more Star Wars, before my aunt came to pick us up to bring us back to the city, as it was a Sunday and my cousins had school the next day. We got onto the QE2, and headed northbound to the Four Points hotel near Calgary Airport. My aunt graciously offered to take me and my mom for dinner at Joey’s, a burger joint off of Barlow Tr. We took a short 5 minute drive back to the hotel, and chilled out for a few hours, before briefly going out in 50 km/h winds to get Tim Hortons in the same plaza, where they were out of literally everything. They had only had one type of muffin, and zero chocolate chip muffins. Quite saddening indeed. We went back to the hotel and I fell asleep around 11pm again. A new day arose, and I was up at 6am, even though the flight didn’t leave until 11:30am. There was a free airport shuttle that came around every hour from the hotel, so we booked an 8am shuttle at the front desk. The guy pulled up, right on time at 8am, in his wonderful Four Points branded Dodge minivan (this is sarcasm, but it was still entertaining).

We made one stop at a sister hotel, and we continued along Barlow Tr towards the airport. My mom met a nice fellow in the shuttle, who was friendly and off to Salt Lake City for a business trip. We finally arrived at the airport after 15 minutes at the domestic terminal. Exiting this mom car and going into the airport, we printed our boarding passes at the self-serve kiosk. I guided my mom to TSA checkpoint C, where our flight was departing from. The line was massive. It was almost 90 minutes that we waited, but on the plus side we met a nice grandmother from Sudbury, ON. She was with her granddaughter in Calgary simply for fun, and to explore the city. After the tedious TSA line, we made our way to concourse C, while we waited for yet another 737-800 to arrive for our outbound flight. About 45 minutes later our inbound plane arrived and we boarded shortly after. Pushback was right on time, where our flight attendants introduced themselves with elevator music, I don’t know why, but it added a nice touch to the short journey. We took off on runway 17R, where I got a perfect view of the skyline, everything I was dreaming of and more. We hung a right before climbing to our cruise altitude of 35,000ft over the east side of the Rockies, with more in-flight service. This time, I went with the Celebration Cookie, which was fantastic. Just like the flight into Calgary, we were only at cruise for about a half an hour, before starting our initial descent over Vancouver on the RNAV 09 Y approach plate, near Mt. Tuam on Salt Spring Island. We were soon on final, and we landed at 12:03pm, PDT. As we taxied to the gate, I nerded out on being impressed about the short landing roll. I also saved the flight path for future reference. I was home on a Monday, so I got to skip the remainder of the school day. We were home on May 29, after the magnificent and eventful trip. Kudos to anyone who reads this whole story, because it’s super lengthy.

Have you ever gone on an endeavor by boat? If the answer is yes, you could easily attest to the fact that specific elements can easily make boating a challenge. Assume you are launching a boat on a lake, calm right? Take this relatively easy situation and tack on several elements, such as wind, other boats zooming past with wakeboarders on the back, and the inboard deciding to not start the minute you launch next to the rocks. You proceed to face a moment of disbelief and you say to yourself “It started just fine last weekend, why not now?!” You proceed to float into the rocks along the shore whilst cursing and carrying on. In other words, a frequent experience in my life. Almost every time, on any bigger trip, we carry this family saying: “The trip isn’t complete until there is a thing” You may ask, what is this ‘thing’? For a clearer definition, the ‘thing’ is something that happens on any family trip that is an inconvenience or a “temporary setback” as we call it. However, every trip follows this pattern of having a ‘thing’. The ‘thing’ might be small, or it might be very substantial, but once the ‘thing’ happens on the trip we can all breathe a sigh of relief and realize that there won’t be any other major event that happens on the trip, relatively speaking. It’s been the same every trip, once the ‘thing’ happens, nothing bad happens for the remainder of the trip

For example, when I was flying solo to Smithers in early August during the summer, all seemed to be normal. Since I had a connecting flight through Vancouver (YVR), I had to fly Victoria to Vancouver, and then Vancouver to Smithers. The first leg went as expected, which is Air Canada’s second shortest route in the network, at just 65km. Aboard a dash 8-400 in the old Air Canada livery, which I do prefer over the new 2016 minimalistic version, I left on time, made it to Vancouver early, (yay!), and savored Tim Hortons from the domestic terminal located in Concourse C. I also had the exact same cabin crew on both flights, which came as quite a surprise to me. I board the flight for the next leg, another Dash 8-400 as expected, as I force the person settled on the aisle to get up for me to claim my window seat. Soon enough, we were pushing back. As soon as the doors close and we start the taxi, I have a mini heartattack when I realize: “Where did my passport go?”. For the record, there were a lot more profanities as I was searching the floor for the god given thing. Finally, I find my passport on the floor underneath my bag, but still a little nerve-wracking. The Smithers Airport is rather empty if you will. The flight I was on was the only scheduled flight into the airport for the entire day. The airport is small as you would expect for a small-town airport. I think I was in the parking lot 30 seconds after disembarking the aircraft. Back to the main point, this was the ‘thing’ that happened on that trip, and I am still relieved that I ended up finding my passport in the end.

Let’s rewind further to the Smithers trip a year earlier, in August 2022, where I drove with everyone else for thirteen hours instead of flying. The drive up was uneventful, but the return home was a different story. On the drive south to Victoria, you come across a smaller town 50 kilometres south of Smithers in the first 30 minutes of the drive. This place is called Houston, BC, not to be confused with Houston, Texas. As we are towing our 55-foot monstrosity through this town on the main highway, we are following this smaller beater car through the traffic light on the west side of town at the 7/11, they decided at the last minute that they needed their gas station coffee (or something along those lines). If you have ever been in a vehicle towing a trailer, you know that you can’t exactly stop very easily, as the trailer almost pushes you forward and makes the truck skid from the load. As this person slams on the brakes, my dad thankfully has a quick reaction time and hits the emergency brakes on the trailer as well as the main brakes on the truck. This is the moment when you see black smoke off the tires in the rearview mirror. Fun times, and I still look back on it.

As you may have been able to tell from the last few blog posts, I thoroughly enjoy aviation. Aviation almost brings an entire new perspective on the world for me, as everything is seen from above. As it worked out a couple of weeks ago, one of my dad’s closer clients gave me an incredibly unique experience that I am very thankful for. I had the opportunity to go on a flight across Vancouver Island and the Lower Mountains. Of course, being the aviation enthusiast that I am, was so excited to embark on this endeavor. Even now, I am still thinking about how much I enjoyed the trip, due to a unique factor; I flew the plane, at least most of the way, with the exclusion of the take-off and the very last part of final. I have to say, the hangar that the plane was stored in was a dream. Nice and dry, ground facilities, close to the main runway, (09/27), and on the north side of Victoria Int’l Airport, in close proximity to taxiway N. The aircraft that I flew was a Cessna 182Q Skylane, that had completely revamped navigation systems, which I was incredibly impressed with. What fascinated me about this particular aircraft was the plane that I flew was Stew Young’s old airplane, who happens to be a former mayor of Langford. Since the plane had special location systems that public radars could pick up, it was visible on Flightradar24, and I downloaded a copy of the flight path afterwards. The day for flying could not have been better, especially as we were listening to the Victoria ATIS systems that said, ‘sky clear’. This line of speech is always a good sign.

The pre-flight check was essentially a walk-around of the aircraft, with brief examination of the flaps, ailerons, and trim. The taxi out to runway 09 was interesting, as we had to let the engine warm before our takeoff to the east. After we waited for a WestJet 737-8 in the new Spirit of Canada livery, we started our run-up, along with a surprisingly short takeoff roll over Sidney. I took the controls over the Saanich Inlet as we climbed to 8,500ft. I cruised over Cowichan Lake, and the lower mountains. Once we were out of Vancouver’s (CYVR) airspace, I was able to perform a circle over the mountains, which was one of my favourite parts. I went about 20 degrees to the left on the heading bug, and I continued towards Port Renfrew, which looks totally different from 6,000ft. I started a very slow descent as I turned southbound towards Sooke, as I was following the coast down the west side of Vancouver Island. Along the mountains going south, there was some turbulence, but nothing to be concerned about, which was only about 12kt.  I had it planned out so that I could fly straight over my house and the lagoon. As I entered back into Victoria’s airspace, I descended to 2,100ft to stay out of Vancouver’s airspace, which was any altitude above. As larger routes fly out of Vancouver near Victoria, their airspace is expanded to the US border for the departure of bigger jets. I was granted permission to do a few circles over Downtown Victoria, before starting the approach over Brentwood Bay. Approaching the same runway, I let the pilot take the controls at around 250ft, the last part on long final. As we exited the runway, I found it quite interesting that a call to ATC was required for a 100ft taxi along taxiway N. One of my favourite aviation experiences that I have ever experienced, and I look forward to more adventures soon.

Do you remember cozy, fun, and short-lived winters we used to have? If you have lived in Victoria for most of your life, probably. Winters only used to last just a few days, and for some reason they always seemed to follow a pattern; first day it would get cold and snow just a little bit, almost like a teaser to winter. The next day would be much colder, and all the snow would arrive at once; about 1-2 feet. The third day it would substantially warm, and the snow would start to melt, and the fourth day it would rain. I am still confused as to why this pattern is so persistent. Another thing I notice during our winters is the fact that I have had snow on my birthday for the last 6 years in a row. For instance my birthday is on February 28th. I don’t know how it always happens, and the weather patterns continue to shock me every year. Who knows? Maybe it’ll happen again come the new year. The current weather is also abnormal for this time of year. 7 degrees is much cooler than a typical October, especially considering that it was 24 degrees a couple of weeks ago. There is currently snow everywhere in Canada with the exclusion of Victoria, Haida Gwaii, and the Northern Coast. If you have ever been to any other parts of British Columbia from November –  March, you would come across a sudden realization whilst thinking to yourself in the head: “Wow! The roads are terrible!” Quite a phenomenon when you cross the lower parts of the Coast Mountains and the weather goes from 4 degrees to -14 in 100km. In a way, Vancouver Island dwellers are lucky.

In the literal rest of the province, you are forced to stay put from December – February. Reason being, the roads are too unpredictable. I can say from experience, driving in -30 and snow on a one lane highway is not ideal. Say you’re driving from Vancouver to Smithers in one day. On paper, it’s a 13 hour drive; achievable in a day if you get an early start. The minute that the roads are snowed in, a 13 hour drive turns to 25 hours. In other words, not achievable, and unsafe. Markings are non-existent. This is when we play our favourite game; pretend that the lane is there and hope you aren’t slammed by a semi from the opposing side. Wow, what fun. For a skier like me, you face a dilemma in the winter; either have great road conditions and bad skiing, or have terrible roads and heavenly skiing. One might say, why not fly? Of course it’s much quicker and safer but you then face a dilemma of a dilemma; when your checked bag with your ski gear doesn’t show up, what happens to the trip? You could rent, but it would easily cost thousands for a multiple day trip with a few people. Along with this, what if you arrive at the airport and the snow bus is cancelled? These are just some of the issues that can arise when you plan interior ski trips. You then come up with a solution; Mount Washington. 9 times out of 10, the roads are in pristine condition, making it easy to get up and down the mountain. As mentioned earlier, wouldn’t good roads mean bad skiing? Surprisingly no, and skiing is usually decent. It is something that makes Mount Washington unique from other ski hills.

Over the last eight or nine years, I have been to many places within British Columbia as well as a select few locations in the province of Alberta. Of course, I enjoy it, but it also comes with another fact; I have been almost nowhere outside of Canada. In fact, up until January of this year, I hadn’t left Canada ever, and I had only been out of the province once, to the neighboring province of Alberta. With this, I have knowledge of every aspect of British Columbia, as I have visited the upper regions numerous times. For example, I have flown five times this year. Four of those times were domestic, the other two were the only time I have travelled internationally. On top of this, I have embarked on too many car trips to count; at least thirty this year. Keep in mind that all of the trips I am talking about have been longer than two hours, and trips that are longer than two days. I know the ins and outs of Vancouver Island, along with many spots that are kept quiet to keep tourists away. As for the rest of British Columbia, my time has been spent in the Nechako region in Smithers, and I have learned all about the local spots from my family that are also kept quiet. Eastern British Columbia is the most scenic by far, with a large portion of the Rocky Mountains running through a few smaller towns, along with a small portion of Alberta. Alberta also has some amazing spots that are off of the tourist trail. Back in May, I made a special trip to Calgary to visit my family, and they also showed me some stunning locations that aren’t in the main core hub of the Rockies. Kananaskis Country is a separate part of the Rockies that is 50km south of Banff. It is truly amazing, and it doesn’t have the crowds that gather more north in Banff. On the journey to Kananaskis on Highway 7, you will pass a rather interesting landmark. A rock that geologically formed in a farm a few kilometers off of Okotoks. This rock led to Okotoks urban planners running out of names for buildings somehow. They have the Big Rock High School, as well as the Big Rock bowling alley. I think about eight buildings in Okotoks start with ‘big rock’. As you continue the trek to Kananaskis, more specifically Sheep River, which is the exact spot, you pass through a town called Black Diamond. It has a retro diner straight from the 70s, and the ice cream was fantastic.

I have extensive knowledge about locations in Northern British Columbia, such as Crater Lake, 5km south of the Hudson Bay Mountain Peak. It is pure mountain water in the lake off the glacier, and it is freezing cold. I also filled a water bottle and drank from the lake (don’t worry, I was fine). A local then proceeded to tell me he skinny dipped in the lake on the returning hike after I had drank the water, an interesting turn of events. Very ‘pure’ water that I drank. Anyhow, it was still a fun experience. Another lake that I enjoy trekking to is called Guess Lake, or Paradise Lake to residents (I will refer to it as paradise, as it sounds better). The road to Paradise is well, not exactly paradise. It is an extremely bumpy, narrow trail with sharp rocks, extensive wildlife, and can be difficult to tackle in harsh weather conditions. It is, to be exact, seven kilometers out into the Babine Mountain Range, with another twelve on a more well traveled trail, before you reach the main logging road to Smithers. The lake is a journey, but totally worth it to any willing to make the trip. Hunting is also good, and grouse are prominent through the trail. It is a true wonder, and Northern British Columbia is a very beautiful place.

Hello, or welcome back to those who have read the introduction! The topic is going to shift, into more of a winter focus; primarily skiing, and a little bit about winter in general. As an individual who loves winter, I am lucky enough to have family in Smithers, BC, which is paradise on earth to winter lovers, and miserable for anyone who does not like the season. Winter there can be interesting sometimes, especially in polar temperatures. In this temperature, cars need to be warmed up for a minimum of 90 minutes, and long exposure can cause hypothermia. This small community also has a ski hill, known as Hudson Bay Mountain, despite it being nowhere near Hudson Bay. The mountain is known for their unbelievable snow, hence their catchphrase: “It’s always been about the powder”. With my dad’s side residing in Smithers, the ski hill made up a sizeable part of my childhood, as I also learned to ski at the hill at around 4 years old. As a child, I always remembered the crisp negative 30 weather hitting me upon arrival via aircraft, as well as the numerous cups of hot chocolate whilst playing a board game. The trips were about a week at a time, with many runs on toboggans, skis, and snowmobiles. The terrain on this hill is good, especially on the right side of the Skyline Chairlift, which consists of the more advanced terrain on the hill; personally my favourite. I remember the hectic t-bar rides, the epic runs through the glades, and watching my cousins launch off of jumps while losing both skis.

I hold those memories dearly, and things have changed over the last few years. In 2021, I had my first ski trip on Mount Washington, when COVID was rampaging. I went on many ski trips, and 2021 happened to be one of the best years in the mountain’s history; with an impressive 390cm of base over the course of the year; approximately 13 feet. The following year was below average, only having about 140cm, or about 4 feet. Last year’s ski season ended strong with 230cm, or about 7.5 feet. The month of December and the month of March are always the best times for skiing, with lots of light snow for my jumps. The best ski area on the mountain is called The Outback; consisting of amazing terrain and fully filled with double black diamond runs. Whenever I ski the Outback, I always find new spots that I’ve never skied before. On top of the terrain, there’s also no line-ups, so I can get the most out of my ski days on the mountain. The problem, is that the Boomerang Chairlift is usually only open on weekends. If I skip a Friday to ski, I can only ski the front, which is alright, but there isn’t as much terrain compared to the back. But overall, Mount Washington is a great place to ski, as long as you have the right day. Sunsets on the mountain are also very impressive if you night ski at the right time.