Hemlock: A Weekend Full of Skiing and Kids
We had never been to Hemlock (AKA Sasquatch Mountain) before so when a friend sent out an email that she had just booked a town house there for a weekend and was looking for other families to share it with, we immediately replied yes. The plan sounded simple enough – going up on Friday evening and enjoying some night skiing and then skiing all day Saturday and Sunday before returning to Vancouver. What could possibly go wrong? A week before our weekend came up, the road leading to the mountain got washed out and people were literally stuck there and had to be flown out with a helicopter. As much as it sounded fun and exciting I was quite relieved it wasn’t us who got stuck up there.
However, it did put a big question mark on our plan of going there the next weekend. All through the week we followed the announcements closely, to see if the road was actually going to be open. I was pretty sure we wouldn’t be going so we didn’t do any packing or organizing. But on Thursday evening Gili found out that the road was going to be open, as an alternating single lane road, and a “pilot vehicle” was apparently going to lead us through the washout. So we were going! although the Friday night skiing was not going to happen as the resort only re-opened on Saturday.
Friday was very rainy. Probably almost as rainy as the previous Friday which led to the road being washed out in the first place. Driving out of Vancouver just around rush hour was pretty bad but at least both kids were sleeping, and they slept soundly until Mission where we decided to make a quick stop at Tim Horton’s. Then came the darkest and rainiest part of the drive until we came to a huge stop sign where we needed to wait for the pilot car to come and lead us up through the washed out section. It was actually great to have the pilot car and all the extra lights on the road. After that the road was very dark, windy and even gravel. Once we got up to the mountain and started seeing stuck cars we were grateful we had opted for a Modo vehicle with winter tires.
After bumping into friends who were also looking for the place, we finally found the correct house. It turned out that since the resort was closed for a week, a lot of snow had accumulated and the first family to arrive actually had to dig to get to the door. Finally everyone was inside and we were ready for dinner. Neil was more excited to play with his friends though.
Saturday was a beautiful bluebird sky day and since the resort was closed off for a week there was lots of fresh powder. It’s a pretty small resort, only three lifts and one of them is for the bunny hill but we didn’t need much more than that. There were lots of blue runs to try out and everyone was excited about the skiing. Neil finally had a rare opportunity to ski with friends, and he even didn’t mind skiing the bunny hill and doing the magic carpet a few times.
In the evening we enjoyed a potluck of all the families together and despite the small dining area (the house itself was huge, but the dining area was small). Then Gili had the crazy idea of having a chocolate fondu. Who gives kids chocolate at 8pm anyway?!?! Luckily the kids were exhausted from all the skiing and after they fell asleep we actually had some adult time. Of course we had to play the trivia game of who’s baby/child is crying this time, and hoping it wasn’t yours. Eventually after Kai woke up a few times I just went to bed myself too which always calms him down.
Sunday was a bit icier but I was so impressed with myself that I actually enjoyed skiing, my legs didn’t hurt so much for the second day and I felt so in control. With all these thoughts in my head and a big smile on my face I had one of the worst wipe outs I had in a long time. Both skis flew in the air and I found myself in the middle of an open slope trying to grab back my skis and my dignity. Luckily no one else was actually around to see my big wipe out so it wasn’t too embarrassing. Later in the afternoon Neil had a blast skiing with his dad while Kai napped with me in the carrier for a couple of hours.
We left the resort around 5pm and had a surprisingly relaxed drive home. Somehow both kids fell asleep and even though it was pretty late we decided to let them sleep and deal with the consequences later. We didn’t even stop for dinner and just drove straight home.
It was a really great weekend – two full days of skiing and even with 8 kids in one house it was a relaxing and fun weekend. I’m looking forward to returning to Hemlock/Sasquatch sometime in the future!
