I always find it funny when I see bags of potato chips in a town that is at a high elevation. Whistler isn’t that high at 670 m/2,198 ft but when the chips are packed at near sea level and then brought to a higher elevation, it’s a bit puffed up – enough to be used as a pillow in a pinch. But I wouldn’t take my food to bed with me.
It’s simple science and great entertainment as explained by this science teacher in Mussoorie, India (elevation 1,826 m/5,991 ft). I wonder how puffed up the bag would be if I took it to the top of Blackcomb Mountain (elevation 2240 m/7349 ft). Maybe this has to be done.
The original goal was to hike/climb 7th Heaven on Blackcomb mountain – which we did. However, on the way up we started collecting garbage. We found the usual objects including water bottles, beer bottles, cans, goggles, clothing, skis, ski poles, two-way radios and the best of all, $125 (US) and a money clip. Maybe that was some good karma for picking up garbage and lost objects.
During the winter season, similar objects are found every day – especially cell phones and wallets. Whistler is a fairly good place to lose thing and have them returned. I recently left my credit card in a restaurant. I didn’t discover it missing until a few days later. When I did realise where I left it, I called and they did indeed have it. I retrieved it shortly after that without any hassle of getting it replaced.
I normally don’t carry cash with me – maybe for fear of losing it? However, banking is different that what it used to be. With ATMs and credit cards, cash is almost unnecessary in large cities and popular resorts. I can’t think of any place in Whistler that does not accept credit cards; and I think every merchant does because Visa is a worldwide sponsor of the Olympics. Even my lift pass is connected to my credit card so I don’t even need to carry a credit card with me when I’m on the mountain. Replacing a lift pass is easier than replacing a credit card or wallet. I’m not sure why people still carry cash.
The set from the day is below; click on the larger image to advance to the next one. If you’re on your iPhone or can’t see it, click here.
Palm Inc, an off shoot of the 3 Com company, made the PDA a mainstream object – it was the Palm Pilot; a name synonymous with the PDA. I never owned a Palm Pilot until they merged that item with a phone. The Palm Phone was born and I was a fan.
I got my first Palm Phone, the Palm Treo 600 in 2004 and then the Palm Treo 650 in 2006. The Treo 650 works so well, that I still use it to this day. I think It still works better than the Apple iPhone.
Recently, the Palm Pre was released on the Sprint network in the US. I got to test drive it when I was in New York last month. It is a worthy successor, unfortunately, in North America, the new Palm Pre is only available in the US on the Sprint network – a non-GSM network. I refuse to get one because I wouldn’t be able to use it outside of North America and I’m on Rogers in Canada. It it were available on GSM, there would be a much larger market for this phone.
However, they did produce some good commercials as seen below…
After hiking to Rainbow Lake in Whistler, I started to think about where our drinking water comes from and how we use it.
In 1988 when I traveled to Europe for the first time, it seemed a bit odd to drink bottled water. However, everyone seemed to do there and it was the norm for Europeans. Growing up in Canada, I drank unfiltered tap water. As the population grew, so did the strain on the system. Water treatment facilities started to add (more?) chlorine to the tap water and I could really smell it in tap water. In the summertime when it got really warm, the Toronto tap water smelled like algae. This was really unpalatable to me and I started drinking bottled water – like the Europeans. However, this was costly and also created a lot of waste. I moved to an in-home water filter system, however, this removed the bad things (chlorine, algae, eliminated plastic bottles, etc.) but also removed the good things like minerals. This was a no-win situation.
When I look at where the water supply comes from, it makes me shudder. In Toronto, the tap water comes from Lake Ontario. Lake Ontario is also one of the most polluted lakes of the great lakes and dare I say it – in the world. There have been instances when periods of heavy rainfall caused sewers to overflow and have raw sewage run into Lake Ontario. Toronto, Kingston and other Canadian cites are have had similar instances. This happens worldwide and there are probably worse instances than these, but it doesn’t make it acceptable.
The treatment and necessary measures to ensure a safe water supply are required by the large concentrations of population in large cites. Even our food supply is similarly concentrated in factory farms and agriculture that also pollute our environment. I’m not sure what kinds of long term effects that this environment could cause to our health and economy, but the possibilities are frightening.
It is tough to find a healthy balance between our health, lifestyle and food choices. However, after moving to a smaller town, I have one less thing to worry about and drink unfiltered tap water with peace of mind.
My main meals today were smoothies, a chocolate one for breakfast, blueberry for lunch and a green (kale) smoothie for dinner. In addition, I had some bananas, oranges, a nectarine and some trail mix. This is probably the best I’ve eaten in quite a while. Nutritious, but not as many calories as I probably need considering I went on six-hour hike today. I may supplement my diet with some potato chips (only half kidding).
It is true, there is more to do here in the summer than in the winter. I’ve only hiked a handful of times, but if I hiked one trail per day in the summer, it would take me several summers.
Today I did the Cheakamus Lake hike. It was a short 2.5 hour hike from the parking lot beyond the garbage dump and the Athlete’s Village. It’s a relatively short and flat hike on a wide and well marked trail. It can be done by most in a morning or afternoon.
From this area, there are several hikes that can take you to Black Tusk, Garibaldi Lake and several other places. If one skis off the backside of Whistler Mountain on Oboe, Flute or Piccolo summits, or if one loses their way on Khyber (an unmarked off-piste tree run) they would end up here. I’m hoping there is a trail to Singing Pass which can take us to Whistler Mountain and to the Village.
More information about the Cheakamus Lake Area can be found at the BC Parks Website.
Here are the images from the day. Click on the larger image to advance to the next one.
Are you reading this on your iPhone? If so, there’s more photos if you click here.
I haven’t posted in a while, but that’s because I’ve been busy with a few other things. While I’ve been busy, I haven’t been on the mountains. However, it’s summer now and I finally went on Whistler and Blackcomb mountains yesterday and today. Even without snow (somewhat) it’s still an awesome place. My time away has been fun, but I’m glad to be back.
Here’s a winter/summer comparison of Whistler peak…
My images from the last two days on the mountain are below. Click on the larger image to advance to the next one.
The new Safari interface is friendly to look at and make it easy to access my frequently visited websites. I had been using Firefox more often before this because it worked with more websites. Hopefully Apple has made it more compatible and did not only put on a new face. I’ll keep using Safari for now.
I was starting to lose faith in some Apple products after my iPhone was underperforming. I realized that it was today after it shut down in the midst of a phone conversation. Some say I talk too much, but I noticed that this has been going on since October of last year according to my photo below. After an unusually quick call to Rogers, they offered to replace my dysfunctional iPhone with a new one – hopefully that makes it all right again.
Several people have asked me for the recipe of my chocolate smoothie and the nutrition of it. I was unsure of the nutrition because I’ve made several changes to it recently. I’m not sure if it’s better or worse than the previous version. The new smoothie include less avocado, more hemp, less Vega and I also added some mango. According to Nutridiary, it’s about the same as before (685 calories now vs 660 before, 36g vs 39g fat and 79g vs 63g carbs). I updated it and the recipe and nutrition is below. It still tastes just as good, if not better and it might cause you to have your best day ever!
Ingredients
1 ripe pear
handful of frozen strawberries
handful of frozen mango
handful of soaked almonds
1/2 frozen banana
1/6 avocado
3 raw cacao beans (grind in coffee grinder before)
Blend fruit, almonds and avocado with water until a smooth consistency. Add water as needed or to desired consistency.
Gradually add cacao powder, ground cacao beans and protein powder. For a more chocolately flavour, add some raw cacao powder.
After adding water, it’s about 1.5 litres of smoothie! I usually have it all for breakfast, but most people can only drink half because it’s pretty filling. But it’s all good.
As a volunteer at the Whistler Golf Club, I’m entitled to unlimited free golf. I’m not sure if I can golf as much as I ski, but I will soon find out. I haven’t swung a golf club in almost two years. Today I spent an hour hitting golf balls. I will definitely feel it tomorrow.
I didn’t have my clubs with me – so I tried a variety of clubs – some that likely came from the lost and found. Regardless, It was just like old times. I was happy with how I hit the ball – most went where I wanted them to go. One surprise was the Nike Slingshot iron (pictured above). This was the first time I tried Nike clubs and I was pleasantly surprised. The club seemed heavy, but it was rather effortless to get the ball into the air. I used to poo-poo on Nike clubs, but I guess I shouldn’t knock it until I’ve tried it.
I can’t wait to retrieve my clubs from Toronto and play a proper round with them. I’m not looking for new clubs; but I would like to try the rest of the Nike irons. It’s going to be a fun summer.
Banner Image, Batcave, Environment, Food, Hiking, Photography, Stuff, Whistler | Garry July 18, 2009 | 
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