A Pineapple Express may sound delicious but this warm Pacific airflow created some interesting weather conditions for our week up at the Blanket Glacier Chalet from March 8-16.

We arrived in Revelstoke Friday evening to Spring like conditions which had many of us worried about skiing but the flowers were a good distraction! Saturday morning Marion, our host, started a mad dash to meet the helicopter when she informed us that we had our departure times wrong and where an hour late. We were soon whirling our way from the muddy valley through blue skies into the snow zone surrounding the Blanket Chalet.

Everyone quickly sorted their food and gear in the chalet, grabbed a quick lunch and headed out the door for some avalanche rescue practice. We left the recovered beers for Alex, our co-host for the week, to resuscitate while we skinned up to Caribou Ridge to get our bearings and check out the snow conditions. We did a few laps and found some good snow before heading in for the first of many great meals.

We had a bit of everything throughout the week including snow, strong winds, sun and rain which made for a challenging snow pack. Cabin fever set in on the rainy days which led to the first annual “Wet Blanket Special Games“ which was won by Kelly (K1) who cleaned up in – Axe Sticking, Doodling and Snow Carving with runner up prizes going to: Vance – Back Country Luge, Andy & Steve D – Cricket and Kelly (K2) – Loud Drinking. Due to the loud drinking competition running late some participants were relegated to sleeping in the wood shed.

Even with the damp weather most of us had a good time and the week ended too early. Our host Marion injured her Achilles tendon and had to be helicoptered out early so we hope she has a speedy recovery and can get out on her new skis soon.