"I'll never do that it's stupid." Kids, teens, and let's face it, even adults should be forced to write down every time they say something to that effect. It may take a month, a year, or even a decade, but more often than not you'll eventually give in and realize that in fact you do enjoy green eggs and ham.
Many moons ago, I freely admit, I uttered those words regarding mountain biking. Luckily those were delicious words to eat, and now I'm a community advocate whose gone so far as to host a bike event for seven straight years (holy crap is right: Beyond the Valleycliffe of the Dolls (BVOD) is seven this year). So it came as no huge shock last week when another "never" was crossed off my list. This time it was in the Callaghan Valley where I went cross-country skiing.
Un-be-lievable! They say there's a time and place for everything, and I now know that when there's too much snow on the trails but not enough fresh on the mountain, the right time and place is the Callaghan Valley for cross country skiing. Dare I say it's tee-hee-hee fun.
Information on the facility is difficult to come by since the name keeps changing, but it's now officially tagged as the Whistler Olympic Park. The only slight twinge of a bummer about the place is that it's so far from Squamish. Being a ways off the highway, it's the better part of an hour's drive from Squamish, and it really is a shame that the Outdoor Recreation Capital of Canada doesn't have something like this.
There certainly is an appetite for it is as when I was there, it's no exaggeration to say, two out of every three people were recognizable Squamolian faces.
Realistically though, the only place to put a facility like that in Squamish is up Diamond Head. But that's a provincial park and the only thing possibly going into parks are heavy-duty hydro towers. Sure they're only "considering" it, but forgive me if I remain pessimistic towards our provincial government's commitment to parks.
That said, I'm glad Squamish seems to be embracing the facility as our own with massive representation on the runs and heavy involvement with CALOC (the facilities organizing committee). And as much as the facility is Whistler's in both name and proximity, many in Squamish are rightly clinging onto anything positive, as the promised Olympic windfall seems to be giving us nothing but an arrogant freeway dividing our community. (I'm still waiting for you to prove me wrong VANOC.)
But back to the Callaghan. For those who haven't experienced it yet, I cannot recommend it enough. If you're one of the many to feel timid, fear not. Yes it's called Whistler, but there are none of the aggro lunatics one is constantly bombarded by when learning to ski on Whistler or Blackcomb.
In the Callaghan Valley there are only people out for a nice walk (or jog) on snow in our own beautiful backyard.
