Yesterday was a lovely day. Snow abounds, beautiful, soft, and dry. Everything looked like Christmas. I dug out my carriage, drove to a few stores, and decided that the next day I would take my camera and go for some nice wintery shots on the coast or perhaps in Halifax. My carriage is a very strong vehicle and not afraid of winters.
It continued to snow the entire day, then the full night, and again the rest of the day. But the temperature went up a bit, the wind became very strong and the snow changed to very nasty tiny little granules like sand. Still drove to do short shopping but the camera would not be very good in such conditions. It would get wet in a second, walking would not be nice either. Visibility was very bad, too.
Shouldn’t complain too much, though. The Eastern and North shores were hit really badly. I think they had to proclaim a state of Emergency in Cape Breton, many roads were closed and the Government was advising everybody not to travel. But I still wanted to take some pictures, just with my I-phone and around my my home, parking lot (LOL), and of course, My Rocks.
Had to dig out my truck again, just in case I would need it, and simply didn’t want to have it covered by the white craziness totally. So here it is – the mundane, silly photo chronicle from the parking lot and the vicinities. By the way – it still snows now and should not stop tomorrow, either. If you won’t hear from me in the next few days it means that my igloo lost internet connection. So yes, to no one surprise in Nova Scotia – it does snow in Nova Scotia. As it rains in BC.
Of course – you need to have proper Sunday Church elegant shoes. As you noticed on one of my pictures I do have proper church shoes. One for Nova Scotia and one for British Columbia.
Have not skied since I left Vancouver. But my last season was probably a year before that. In a dramatic way. Drama and I seem to go in pairs, LOL. My skis and boots were – to say it politely – a bit out of style and advanced in age. Last time I wanted them to be professionally sharpened they said there is not much more steel to sharpen. So I did it myself. The boots needed replacement, too. But didn’t change them. My last skiing was on Mount Seymour overlooking the entire Greater Vancouver. Just the views were spectacular: the entire Indian Arm fiord, Burrard Inlet, Burnaby, Fraser River, Surrey, Vancouver, and the Salish Sea. Breathtaking. That day was foggy, though. Some lifts were closed due to poor visibility. I suppose, because of that the parking lot was almost empty. But the lift going to the peak with the wonderful Black Diamond (advanced) trail downhill was open. I was the only one ‘in the line’ to the lift! I knew the vistas by heart anyway, so I was happy. Went down once and ran quickly for another ride after they warned me that they would shut it down soon due to the poor visibility. Right from the top of the lift, I took a slightly different route, more steep but under the lifts – that way I could just follow the lift and not get lost in the vast terrain covered with fog. Smart. But the trail was narrow and bumpy. After hitting one of the moguls … I went down and one of my skis went the other way, not far though. Once I retrieved it, strangely the boot would not fit into the bindings. What the …, I thought, and pushed it stronger… that is when the boot actually disintegrated, and fell apart in two separate pieces, LOL. A ski boot is not something you can tie or put together, no Jose, LOL. When I finally got back to the lift base with just one boot, the other foot in socks only – the operators couldn’t believe my story. They told me that were starting to worry and were just going to send a patrol to look for me, LOL. That was my last skiing … seven years ago.
I never bothered to buy new equipment in Nova Scotia – it is a gorgeous province for hiking and swimming. But skiing – really? There are two ski hills/resorts. And they are – hills. Not mountains. Went to one once during the summer, near Windsor. And decided not to spend a lot of money on new equipment to use on these … ‘elevated terrain’ resorts. I am not any sort of expert skier, high achiever and show off. But c’mon – for the past almost 50 years I have skied in the high Polish Tatra Mountains (on Kasprowy Wierch resort, 2000 m elevation), and later in the high Rocky Mountains (Banff, Sunshine Valley, Lake Louise, 2600 m elevation) almost all other smaller resorts in BC, and of course Olympic Whistler Resort. Out of all of them (that would include wonderful and definitely overpriced Whistler) the Lake Louise Ski Resort and Sunshine Village in Banff National Park are without any doubt the best. It is just ski paradise there.
Yet, yesterday I felt so down with the neither winter nor fall weather in Halifax recently. Look at the map for the other resort in Nova Scotia – Wentworth. I know this northern part of our province because of my regular drives to Pictou. These hills there are actually mountains, not high mountains by any stretch of the imagination but mountains nonetheless. Checked the prices of tickets for afternoon/evening skiing and voila – I could buy a senior pass! Sixty-five bucks – with full equipment rental. The same pleasure would cost me over three hundred dollars in Whistler! That is insanity.
I bought my tickets online and off I went today. And what a wonderful drive past Truro. Just before the New Brunswick border, take Highway#o4. Very scenic this time of the year, with snow-covered forests and hills to the north. Probably beautiful during late summer and autumn. Traffic was less than light and I could enjoy the scenery. To my surprise, the ski area was not bad at all. No comparison between BC and Alberta – but it was actually a ski area not bad at all. I really enjoyed it. Had to be careful because the snow really was not coming there, either. Yes, a bit – but not nearly enough for skiing. Therefore all trails use mechanical snow-making which is very different and produces a fine texture and depth coverage. Watch out for plentiful icy spots. But you definitely can ski. Also, it was the first time I used the new type of short skies (no one uses the old long ones anymore, LOL). Mind you, in my time the measure of skis was simple: stand straight, raise your arm straight u,p and make sure the ski tips reach your palm. When the attendant asked me if I wanted shorter or longer skis, I naturally said: longer. And she gave me a pair, I looked at them and said: but longer in adult sizes, not a child. She looked at me and replied: they are the longer adult ski. I almost laugh. It is actually easier to make turns in the short ski but still felt funny. Old habits die slow I guess, and welcome to the XXI century, LOL. The Black Diamond trails were closed due to the lack of snow, but the advanced ones were very nice, and fast if you wanted. Couldn’t bring myself to use the Easy ones. I had to have some pride, for Heaven’s sake! Skiing in these child-length skis was bad enough for this old dinosaur.
It was a good day. I will probably do it again, maybe when some good natural snow will finally come in good quantity. It truly makes a difference for skiing. If someone asks me again if you can ski in Nova Scotia, I can finally say: yes. I wouldn’t drive for this experience from Boston or Montreal, but if you happen to visit here in wintertime – yes, you definitely can.
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