Salish Sea

Easter monday, we headed up Hollyburn Ridge in Cypress Bowl.

I was amazed at the amount of snow that has fallen in the few days since I was last here. The top couple of inches was not exactly powder, it had the sandy quality of graupel. It is lovely to ski — as someone said, it is silky. We started down the east side of the ridge, heading into the Lake Capilano watershed.

Below the Water Boards we crossed over to the west side of the ridge and decided to make our own tracks through the old growth forest and down to the road.

At one point we found ourselves on the south side of a gully. The bench we were on vanished and there was no way forward, except down into the gully. Note how deep the snow is. We put our skins on and ascended for about 100 meters and continued to side-hill down. We emerged from the woods just above the point where the road to the nordic area meets the main Cypress Bowl highway.

Technorati Tags: Cypress Bowl, snow, Hollyburn, ski, old growth forest

I remember that my family in Quebec never cared for March. Probably we attended too many poignant funerals during that month. Here on BC’s southwest coast, folks seem to think that because it is now spring, that the weather is warming and the ski season is over. My neighbours are working in their gardens. Actually, it is not warmer. It just seems that way. The days are longer and the sun shines much more than it did in February. The truth is, we have had lots of precipitation this month, and I don’t think the temperature at sea level has yet to rise to double digits. In the hills the snow has not started to melt. As a backcountry skier, I am delighted that the mountain snowpack is still increasing.

The flowers are some of the forest canopy now growing on the forecourt of the Vancouver Art Gallery in the centre of the City. Last Tuesday, after several days of rain, the sky partly cleared, and I headed for the local hills. As the ferry departed Snug Cove, I could see the new snow up in the hills. The images are thumbnails.

An hour after I boarded the ferry, I was skiing up the hikers’ route on Hollyburn Ridge. My ski poles showed there was about 8 inches of fresh snow. A bit of a crust 2″ down easily supported the skis. I was on the top of the ridge in another hour and 20 minutes. The second picture shows a telemark skier about to make his second turn off the Summit of Hollyburn. Up there it was dark, overcast, and snowing vigorously. The cloud and the precip is a local event caused by the sea air flowing up the mountain.

The descent is always faster than climbing, so within a few moments I was out from under the dense cloud and could glimpse Vancouver and the Lions Gate Bridge. To find fresh snow I was making my own tracks through the glades. I was alone in this beautiful forest. Often the sun was shining.

The tour ends under a major power line just above the road. There are still dark clouds overhead, but a few moments after I started to drive down, I was in the sun. A beautiful spring day.

Technorati Tags: Hollyburn, snowpack, Snug Cove, Telemark

These pictures of the object, sent by David, really belong in the comments that follow the star maps for this month. I discovered that I cannot post pictures in the comment field, so they are here.

@David, thanks for the pictures. I was not at my desk for a day so I’ve been slow to post. The pictures here are thumbnails - click for the full images. I took the liberty of cropping the best to show the object, and the second is the same material enhanced in Photoshop to show as much detail as possible.

The pictures certainly match the eyewitness accounts. I am hoping that the local observers who have posted here can do a bit of geometry to figure out where, exactly or approximately, the observed object was relative to their positions.

Technorati Tags: UFO, comet, Boracay Island

There are several news stories over the past couple of days that indicate there is some political will to rename the Strait of Georgia. It would become The Salish Sea. It is a lovely idea, but it seems to suggest that the Salish Sea may not include Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

A couple of comments come to mind.

First, regardless of the name on British Columbia maps, it is The Salish Sea, and has been for a time that is longer than the current governments that claim the naming rights.

Second, it would probably be more meaningful if the federal governments of Canada and the United States, as well as the State of Washington and the Province of British Columbia and the Coast Salish people all agreed to officially naming the entire waterway The Salish Sea.

Technorati Tags: Salish Sea

Since I have a request for yet another set of star maps for finding Comet Holmes, here they are. Last night it was clear, and even with binoculars, I could not see it. The first map will work well for locating stars and planets in the evening sky for the next month or so. It is actually for 8 PM local time on April 1. The second map shows the path of Comet Holmes from March 4 to April 8. April 8 is the last day that Holmes will be in Perseus. On the 9th it crosses the border into Auriga. If you do observe it, please drop me a note. If you have not written to me before, please put the words “Comet Holmes” as part of your email subject. I’d be interested to know if you can take a picture of it.

Technorati Tags: Comet Holmes, Sky map, star map