Mt. Baldy in review

"Where's Mt. Badly?"

That was the question we had asked our friends a year ago when they told us they discovered a gem of a ski resort. A year ago we were still stuck in our household bubbles and confused if people living in Burnaby could go play at a park in Vancouver. I really didn't think we would get a chance to drive the 5-ish hours close to Oliver, BC but we did and it was fantastic.

The Good.

• Wapiti Creek Lodge is beautiful and big enough so we could stay there with 2 other families. Even the other family that stayed at a different place came over at the chalet for meals. 
  

  

  
  
  
  
• We rented 2 floors so we had two hot tubs. One of the kids and one for adults.
  
  
  
• No lift lines -my Garmin watch says we did 14-21 runs a day! 
  
  
  
• Two of our friends were injured so they couldn't ski with us but Mt. Badly has an option where you pay $15 to take the ski lift to the top and you can snowshoe back down on a trail that parallels one of the ski runs. That was great to be able to see them as we skied down.
  
  
  
• it's actually affordable - a day pass for an adult is $65 and kids is $45. That's cheaper than a ticket at Cypress
  
  
  
• lots of fun terrain - there are 2 ski lifts and something everyone liked. The kids liked a blue run named Power Keg and their favourite black diamond runs were Southridge, Honky Tonk and Rock Star. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• they have hot foods at the Corduroy Cafe and the burgers are actually pretty decent but we only ate at the café once. All other meals, we took turns cooking for the entire crew of 8 adults and 9 kids.
  

The Bad.

• super old school ticket booth as in there is one person sitting in a hut and everyone has to line up there to get your tickets. There is no option for online tickets or buying multiple days in advance. We needed to wait about 30 minutes to get our passes in the morning. They literally need to write your name on the ticket with a Sharpie pen
• there's no village or shops or anywhere to walk around so don't expect it to be like Whistler or Big White but at least it's nice and quiet at night and you can see so many stars!!!
• it's such a small population that the lifts are not open 7 days a week unless it's peak season. During the winter season, the lifts only run Thursday to Monday so plan to end of the week and for the weekend!

The Snowy.

so much snow and sunshine and since it's a fairly small mountain with 2 chair lifts, the older kids could go ski with their friends on their own and we always found them at the end of the day 

• there was lots of powder in the glades and this year the kids could keep up with us

• the dads got to go do some black diamond runs together

The verdict : we would definitely go back again especially if it was with these lovely people 

Treasure.

Last year covid cancelled the majority of our Christmas plans. We couldn't go to Big White with my family. We couldn't go to the interior to see Simon's family. We couldn't have any of our friends or family inside our house. Our annual covid card from 2020 reflected the kind of crazy year it was…

Its end of 2021 now and I had hoped that covid was over by now but sadly, it is not yet over but at least we can celebrate that our family has been healthy and vaccines have allowed us to gather as a family. Even the kids were able to get their first doses before Christmas break.

Aside from Covid complications, 2021 also brought the historic heat wave, forest fires and floods. The floods washed out the main highways to get to the interior so we couldn't get to Big White or Simon's family.

It was great that we booked Sasquatch mountain instead this year, we had discovered this little gem of a mountain last year and it was so great to have the opportunity to share a chalet with my parents and sister and friend.

Ski vacations are the best because they are so simple. 

We play in the snow.

We eat easy meals (thank you Costco).

We play board games. New family fav is now King of Tokyo. 

We sit in the hot tub (this one was a smoking 105 degrees which we made more enjoyable after adding in some fresh snow)

And repeat for 4 days.

So good for the soul.

Christmas Day was just with our own family again this year. It was quiet but lovely.  Little bro (my early riser) slept in til 9:30 am which is a Christmas miracle and Big Sis slept in past 10:00 am. The quiet morning alone to sip my tea was God's Christmas present to me. I made my signature cheddar bacon waffles  before we opened presents. 

The kids had opened some presents already when we were in Sasquatch and were happy to open a few more  presents on Christmas morning. Even our beloved bunny had its own little Christmas stocking. We enjoyed a wonderfully lazy afternoon. 

God brought an incredible amount of snow the next several days and our family did what we do best - PLAY OUTSIDE!

Just after Christmas, we hiked Mt. Seymour - it was a beautiful but ridiculously cold -18 day. The kids are super hikers though and we go some epic shots.

It snowed more a few days later and there was enough snow to even ski from our front door to the ravine park beside our house. That was so fun! We sledded, skied and I attempted to teach the kids how to snowboard. Pretty fun to do this at the park beside our house without a lift ticket.

I always like choosing a word to focus on each year and the word I have chosen for 2022 is 'treasure'. When I was re-reading the Christmas story during advent, Luke 2:19 resonated with me, Mary experienced firsthand what the angel had foretold and seeing the wonder of it all, she "treasured up these things and pondered them in her heart". That is the posture I'd love to cultivate this year...to treasure the moments and ponder them. Be in awe like Mary was. 

Treasure the moments with kids.

Treasure the moments with my husband.

Treasure the moments with my parents and my sister.

Treasure each birthday that passes.

Treasure the job I have.

Treasure the health I have.

Treasure the community of supportive friends I have. 

Treasure the house I live in. 

Treasure the financial security we have right now.

Treasure the freedoms I have.

Who knows what 2022 will bring. But I hope that I will treasure what lies ahead.