Mark, who always has great ideas, suggested an idea of celebrating the summer solstice with a ski up two local peaks on June 21st, catching both the sunrise and sunset.
Part 1.
Unfortunately, with a sunrise at 5am, this meant a very early wakeup to try to ski up Seymour. The early birds consisted of Mark, Sabrina, Ignacio, Charlie and I. We woke up ridiculously early to slog up in the dark towards Seymour. We slogged all the way to Pump Peak, just to see nothing up there. At least it wasn’t raining. The ski back down to the car was nice though, and the sun made a very brief appearance. The remainder of the day was spent inside the office, waiting for the evening ski.
Charlie and Sabrina on their way up towards Pump Peak. There is more snow here now in the middle of June, than of most years in the winter.
Well this wasn’t the sunrise that we were hoping for. Where are those beautiful hues of red, orange, yellow and pink?
Sabrina, Ignacio, Mark and Charlie looking surprisingly cheerful at 5am
Looking back down towards Vancouver.
Part 2:
In the evening, Mark and I finished off the long day with a ski up Strachan. There is an amazing amount of snow up there, and we were able to ski almost right from the parking lot.
Mark’s words:
“Well at the end of the day it was the old farts taking in the 5 star sunset atop Strachan… the youngsters nowhere to be seen (I thought I heard Ignacio mumble something like “way past my bedtime” and Sabrina muttered “but I have to be in my PJ’s with teeth brushed by 7pm so I can watch the Muppet Show and then be in bed by 7:30.”
We were skiing pretty much right from the parking lot and the snow was halfway decent, if a little cupped at times.
At any rate, Rich appeared in costume and scored full marks in the awesomeness category.
Thanks Rich, Ignacio, Sabrina and Charlie. Fun times and great company!”
Mark with a view of Howe Sound behind him.
Golden colours over Howe Sound.
The sunset wasn’t quite colourful enough either tonight.
Fortunately, my ski attire was colourful enough to help with the alpenglow in the snow.
Another photo of Howe Sound.
Well now that summer has officially started, spring has finally arrived.