Enjoying the Snow

January 18th (Saturday)

It snowed last night, and it continued snowing through the day! With the wind overnight it was very hard to judge the accumulation, as there was next to nothing in the wind-blown areas, and large drifts in other areas, but we decided that it would finally be enough snow to go crazy carpeting! All of the hills that we had in mind for making a good toboggan run were a mix of gravel and larger rocks, so we were well aware of the need for enough snow to fully cover all of the rocks. After the base that had been building over the past week, and then with today’s snowfall on top, we decided it would be okay.  

Since we did not have our crazy carpets with us on board, we made a couple out of cardboard and heavy-duty garbage bags. Luckily we had some perfect cardboard from a box that we had brought up with us from Victoria last week. We had been intentionally saving it for just such an occasion, and so, using the cardboard for our form we put it inside of a heavy-duty garbage bag, and used duct tape to hold it tight across the bottom. We then bent up the front, and cut in hand holds, securing all of the open edges with the tape so as to keep the snow out. When our construction was complete, we bundled up and headed to the hill with our hot thermoses of tea.  

The first area we tried, chosen for the lack of rocks, was not quite steep enough for us to create a fun path. 

The second area we tried worked perfect. Each time we slid down we went faster and further, and as the inevitable dips formed around the rocks we took our shovel, and did a trail repair. 

We had brought along the snow shovel that the resident snowplough lady, Rachel, had lent to us for clearing the docks. Each dip that was filled in, smoothed out the run and made us go even faster and further. 

It was great fun! Just like being a kid again!  It had been a long time since Jason and I had gotten to play with crazy carpets in the snow.

We came home tired and smiling, as the snow continued to fall. Our fingers were crossed that it would not warm up overnight, and that we would get another day of playing in the snow tomorrow.  

Before we went inside, we went to pull up our crab trap, which we had set the other day off of the outer dock. We had four nice-sized females, which we let go, and one nice-sized male, which we kept to go with our steak dinner; steak, fresh crab, fried mushrooms and onions, and potatoes. Yummy!  

When we had come up island with my parents last week, before catching the ferry, we stopped at the Superstore in Campbell River. We bought some pork chops and steaks to put in our freezer, as we were unsure how much fishing we would be able to do here with the constant winds. We did not want to have to leave in crappy weather to go to Bella Bella for food, so it worked out well that we were able to pack some extra meat into our duffel bags.

Although the wind had been slightly lighter yesterday and we thought that it might be coming to an end, it had picked right back up in the evening, and howled through the night. My mom had checked the Cathedral Point “current conditions” last night, and saw that it was blowing 125 kms per hour yesterday. This morning the wind slowly started to calm off again, and we had the first moments of silence that we had had since being back aboard six days ago. The moments were short lived between gusts, but we relished in them nonetheless. Once again we made the mistake of thinking that the wind might be coming to an end, as it is now evening as I write this, and it is windy once again. However, it is not yet as strong, or as sustained, as it was yesterday, so hopefully it will remain a little calmer for us over night.