Ski Season Grand Finale

 

Today is day 4 of our week long adventure at "Mike Wiegle Heli Skiing" in Blue River B.C.

This is a spectacular operation tucked between the Cariboo and Monashee mountain ranges.  Each day we are skiing in a group of 10 along with 2 guides.   Morning stretch class starts at 6:30 am, breakfast at 7 and then we board the helis as soon as weather permits.   Morning fog or snow can delay our start, but it very rare for them to miss a day of flying.   Our highlight of the first 3 days was day 2 when we skied from 9 am - 4:30 pm, had 11 heli lifts, and skied over 35,000 vertical feet.   The entire day was spent on glaciers in the high alpine above the tree line.   Every run is fresh tracks.   The pace is fast and the helicopter is usually waiting at the bottom to haul our tired butts back for another run.   Lunch is flown in for an on mountain rest.

The lodging, food and all services are truly first class with wonderful buffets each night.   Their ski shop provides a wide range of powder skis and you can try different types and models of skis each day.   Our room is a small suite with a Jacuzzi tub, steam room and laundry.   The base lodge includes a large gym, exercise room, and massage rooms.   

We had skied over 50 days this season before we got here, but you can't be in too good enough shape for this.   We are certainly keeping up and doing well with our group, but we are in the "slow" group.   Most of the folks in the other groups have been here multiple times.   One guy in our group is on his 45th week here over the last 20 years.

More to follow ........................

Eric

Skiing Whistler

Eric with his daughter, Margaret

No views were to be seen at Whistler/Blackcomb but that meant snow, snow, snow! We had three days of fresh powder skiing in the mountains where we rented a condo right on the slopes for easy access.

The Whistler ski resort is an amazingly huge area. Its skiable terrain is almost twice the size of Alta and Snowbird (Utah) ski areas combined! Three days didn't do it justice and left us wanting to return for more.

Family time in Canada

Oak, Margaret and Shirley

Oak, Margaret, Shirley and Eric

Four generations of Bloomquists gathered in Vancouver this weekend for some good old fashion family time. Great-grandma "Boo" flew in from Minneapolis for the weekend where she didn't let a little rain stop her from trekking across the suspension bridge at Lynn Valley Canyon Park! We also visiting the Vancouver Aquarium to watch the Beluga whales and dolphin shows.

What's up for 2011?

After 3 months of great skiing and visiting family and friends in Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, and Vancouver, we are starting to shift gears and think about returning to Oso Blanco in Auckland.  Oso has had a lot of scheduled maintenance since arriving in Auckland in November and will be "better than new" when we begin our 2011 cruising season.    I will arrive in Auckland March 30 to oversee a haulout for new bottom paint and minor stabilizer repairs and Ann and Bear will return the next week.

 

We hope to depart Auckland mid April, work our way up the coast of New Zealand, and head back north to Fiji along with our cruising partners on N64 Mystery Ship.   We plan on being in Fiji until late July, then turn west to Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and on to Australia by early November for cyclone season.   We expect to travel less than 1/2 the miles we covered last season and are looking forward to spending much more time at each location.

 

Eric

Bear Earns a Yellow Belt - Round Two

For the second time in his life, Bear tested and qualified for a yellow belt in Shotokan karate. The first time was over a year ago in Mexico and this time was in Salt Lake City. Bear really worked hard to show his sensei (teacher) he could relearn the moves to American standards in a short amount of time. We were very proud of his efforts!

Best Friend Helicopter Skiing

Friends since grade school, Eric and his best friend, Rich Howe, have dreamed of going helicopter skiing together for more than twenty years. That dream was finally realized a few weeks ago when the two of them flew with Powderbird Heli-guides in the Wasatch mountains in Utah.

It was a picture perfect day. More than three feet of new snow had fallen in the mountains in the previous few days and the birds hadn't flown that week. Needless-to-say, plenty of deep fresh powder was found nearby and the guys enjoyed first tracks all day long. They came home exhausted and giddy from the fabulous day!

Tsunami Impact in NZ

Many people have emailed us wanting to know what impact the recent earthquake and subsequent tsunamis have had on our in New Zealand. Bottom line: we were unaffected.

NZ's earthquake was on south island, new Christchurch. Oso Blanco is in Auckland which is on the north side of the north island. So no affect there.

The tsunami that originated in Japan was a nonevent by the time it arrived in NZ. So again, there was no impact on Oso Blanco.

Thank you to those checking in with us!

Nordhavn Skiiers

After years of cajoling and unrealized plans, a Nordhavn employee and owner reunion of sorts finally took place on the ski hills in Utah.

During construction of three Nordhavns over the past ten years, the people at Nordhavn have become friends as well as business associates. Outside of boating, we discovered another common interest in skiing. In February, Dave Harlow, Jeff Leishman, and Brian Leishman, came to Utah to party and ski with us.

Pictured on the mountain top at Snow Basin Ski Resort on a beautiful sunny day!