Cross country skiing at Mount Washington was spring like on January 14th

by Keith and Heather Nicol

Sunny above with cloud below

     Initially we were not sure if we were going to go cross country skiing on Sunday, January 14^th at Mount Washington but when we saw the thick fog in Courtenay and the sunny skies on the MW web cams we couldn’t resist. One down side of weekend cross country skiing at MW is that it gets crowded and the parking lot can fill up quickly so we opted to arrive early. This proved to be a good bet since when we left in the mid afternoon we saw cars parked along the side of road almost to the Hawk Chair!

      But even if you had a bit of walk the skiing and the skiing and views would have been worth it. We mainly skied the trails Strathcona Park but the views from “Far East” were superb of the valley cloud/fog covering Georgia Strait while we were in the bright sun.  That trail is many people’s favourite and you can see why given the open skiing and expansive views. We joined up with one of our ski buddies Doug Rose and decided that with the soft conditions that classic skiing was the way to go. 

Doug Rose skiing along the Ponds Trail

   Another bonus is having lunch on the sunny deck of Raven Lodge with the views of Mt Albert Edward and the surrounding range in the distance. Temperatures reached 10 C on Sunday afternoon and seemed even warmer on the deck.There were lots of families up there sliding, skiing and snowshoeing and everyone was wearing a big grin. And you don’t have to ski or snowshoe to enjoy Raven Lodge- you can simply drive out the cloud and fog in the valley and have a meal in the sun! But be sure to check the web cams since it is not like this everyday.  The cams can be viewed at: https://www.mountwashington.ca/ at the top of the page and click on the Nordic cam to get views of the area around Raven Lodge area. 

The sunny deck and Raven Lodge was packed on Sunday, Jan 14

Keith skiing along "Far East" with the mountains of the BC mainland behind