Back on the Quest for Snow

         On June 31^st I packed up my little Matrix and hit the road like most people on Canada Day long weekend. But, instead of the name of some campsite or lakeside town, I had typed “Mt. Hood” into Google Maps before I left. I picked up one of my new teammates Hallie MacLachlan in Fernie and we had an awesome 11 hour drive getting to know each other.

        This was my seventh trip to Hood over the past couple summers but the first one I ever got to spend staying down in Hood River and driving the hour to and from the mountain everyday. The BC Ski Team planned a 20 day camp where we would ski from 7am-12pm, enabling us to have lots of time for dryland and recovery in the afternoons. It had been under two months since I had skied last (in Whistler) but it felt amazing to strap on to my boards again at a place where the lifties know me by name. On a nice day Mt. Hood is stunning! You have an awesome view of the Cascade Volcanic Arc and often stay well above the clouds.

            It took a day or two to get used to being a veteran after being a rookie on the Canadian Team all last season. The girls at the camp were really fun and up for adventures. Soon we became somewhat of locals in Hood River; learning where to find the local farmers’ markets and You Pick fruit farms. We also checked out the free bands at coffee shops and all the fun community events. The town became easy to navigate on my road bike and I started seeing people I recognized from the gym or grocery store.

   

           

   


                               Highlight of my trip was when my family from La Grande, OR came to visit! My aunt Debby, uncle Bob and cousin Robyn came up on a Friday night before one of our days off and treated me to dinner, a hot tub and a stay at an amazing house overlooking the Columbia River! The next day Robyn and I both finally took our maiden sail on windsurfers. We got to the “hook”, which was going to be our landlocked learning area, but were postponed due to lightning…! Within the first ten minutes of finally getting out on the water we were so in love with our new-found sport that we starting scheming a co-owned cousin windsurfing company based in Waterton Lakes National Park!

The camp ended with a huge lightning storm and torrential downpour on the last night. The storm was impressive enough that all the girls sacrificed precious sleep to stay up and watch it. We made a big pot of tea and alternated between running through the rain and sipping tea, watching the lightning crack through the night sky. Hallie and I got a head start the next morning because we weren’t able to ski like we planned. We ended up catching up to the storm in Washington and following it all the way back to Fernie where the whole town had lost power.

Epic way to end an awesome camp! Oh how I love adventures!