Winter sports

One of the main reasons why I am in Courtenay, Canada is the fact that there is a ski resort about a good 3/4 hour away from here. I have always enjoyed skiing and being able to combine it with Canada seemed genius, and it is.

The ski resort here is called Mount Washington and the descent goes up to 1575m. This may not seem like much compared to the Alps, but you have to consider that the city is by the sea. You can do everything your skiing heart desires here: downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, and biathlon, as well as snowshoeing and tubing.

It takes about a good three-quarters of an hour to get to the top from the city in good weather. It can take longer if the weather is bad and the roads are not cleared. Fortunately, there is a ski bus that runs several times a day.

The ski resort here is quite simple. There is one mountain, on one side there are some slopes, and on the other side there are a few more difficult (?) slopes. Now you can see green, blue, and blue slopes on the beautiful map. All the red ones are lifts, and there are 5 chairlifts. For beginners, there are some magic carpets. There are no button lifts here. Green slopes are equivalent to blue in the Alps, blue = red, and black = black. However, black slopes here have a slightly different meaning: they are not groomed, so they are full of bumps and powder snow, but they are actually the most exciting slopes here.

I bought my ski pass at the end of September and got an early bird discount. Originally, I only had a night skiing pass, but I later upgraded it to the Gold Pass, which includes everything: downhill skiing at any time of the day, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing + discount at all the shops in the Alpine Lodge (there are 5 of them: 2 cafeterias, 1 cafe, 1 restaurant, and 1 clothing and equipment store)

Speaking of equipment: every one of my friends did it differently. Some brought their equipment from Germany, some rented equipment for the whole year in the city, and some, like me, got a seasonal rental pass. The mountain naturally has a rental center, so I go there every day when I go skiing and rent my stuff. By now, I already know which boots fit me well, so I can just pick up my stuff and have the staff sign it. The advantage of this pass is that I can always switch between skiing and snowboarding, and everything is always freshly waxed.

Right now, I'm trying to go up every weekend, and I usually go downhill skiing, once I did cross-country skiing, and once I went snowshoeing with my family, which is really the most boring thing in the world. I tried snowboarding once, and it went pretty well, but it's just too exhausting for me to learn.

By the way, I'm also on the school ski team, and I'm supposed to have two hours of training every Sunday. I've been there twice, and it wasn't that great. The main reason why I'm on the team is that there is a trip to Whistler at the end of February. I really wanted to go there.

This post is basically the January update, as nothing much has happened apart from winter sports and rugby. There will be a more detailed post about rugby (yes, I play it) at a later date, as the season doesn't really start until February/March. Until then