MyWestworld

Monster Mush: Celebrating 2010’s 1,635-Km Yukon Quest Sled Dog Race

Posted on 07. Feb, 2010 by BCAA.

7

The Quest racers – both human and canine – are doubtlessly losing weight. I can’t even imagine the toll the physical effort must be taking as they tackle Eagle Summit. The 1,100-metre peak is infamous for wind-scoured conditions and a particularly steep climb followed by an even steeper drop, a place more than any other – on a course filled with open water, overflows (water running over river ice), glare ice and side hills – where mushers and dogs are in danger. As a CBC correspondent quoted one race official as saying, “It’s where dreams are lost and promises to God made.”

Continue Reading

Vancouver Island’s Mount Cain: The Soul of Skiing

Posted on 07. Feb, 2010 by Andrew Findlay.

1

Somewhere in the primordial recesses of a skier’s mind is the memory of a ramshackle operation where the lifts barely limp from one day to the next. There are no double de-caf lattes whipped up by young baristas with Australian accents; instead, hearty bowls of chile con carne are served by a swarthy woman in a white apron who looks like she fells old-growth Douglas firs in her spare time. In other words: this place hasn’t been branded into some generic, four-season destination of over-inflated real estate with slick high-speed lifts whisking skiers to the top of runs as manicured as pressed corduroy slacks. And believe it or not, it exists.

Continue Reading

Vancouver: Low-Car Diet Gets a Boost

Posted on 05. Feb, 2010 by Anne Rose.

0

“In fact, it was the cost-breakdown of car ownership on the AutoObesity website that eventually convinced me to give up my car altogether and start biking and taking transit. The average car costs between $8,000 and $10,000 per year to own – and anything that saves me that much money is worth looking into.”

Continue Reading

The Kootenays: Cowboys and Ski Bums

Posted on 05. Feb, 2010 by Dave Quinn.

0

What do you get when you blend big-mountain skiing, new-school terrain-park riding and cowboy culture? Kicking Horse Resort’s Wrangle the Chute, where not only do competitors have to style their way down some of Kicking Horse’s extreme, leg-burning chutes, they then face a massive terrain park where the sky is literally the limit . . .