A Not So Perfect Saturday

So for the first time in quite a while I was without a solid plan heading into the weekend. It was not for lack of ideas however.

I am constantly reminding myself of how lucky I am to know such great people from within the athletic community. Here were the options presented to me, each by a different group of people, for a Saturday that offered up nothing but sunshine and snow covered mountains:

A) X-country skiing in the brand new Callahan Valley facility (site of the 2010 Olympics)

B) Downhill skiing on Whistler-Blackcomb (constantly rated as the best ski hill in North America)

C) Snowshoeing into The Black Tusk and back (one of my favorite routes due to the incredible scenery up there)

D) Ski touring up at Elfin Lakes (although there would be quite a few 'city folk' up on a Sat this place never misses for a great day out)

E) Running 50km through an 'off limits' area (with a group of people all decked out in black clothing and playing catch me if you can, at least that's how it went down last year)

So with all these amazing opportunities which one did I pick...

F) Drive to Vancouver on Friday night, attend a pretty happening Christmas party amongst a group of people I hardly knew (I knew three people in advance of the night), drink a bottle of rum (not the small bottle), and fill the roll of 'that guy' (something I have managed to perfect over the years, sometimes for good reasons, mostly for bad reasons)...sleep till noon on Saturday, drag my ass outta bed, drive back up to Squamish and crash out on the couch while watching Hockey Night In Canada. Not exactly how I envisioned spending my day today!

I'm getting up early tomorrow to atone for this sin of missing out on a perfect day in the mountains!

On another note, the pics I put up here. Brackendale, which is basically Squamish, is 'The Winter Home of The Bald Eagle', and as you can see they are everywhere at this time of year. That's all of a five minute walk from my front door and a pretty typical scene around Christmas time. The darker colored birds are actually the babies. I guess they don't get their white feathers until they're wise enough to deserve them!

When they do the annual count in Jan they usually top out at about 2,000 eagles!! Pretty amazing area I live in, well when you're not sleeping in at least!

GR