Whenever you are out of town and want to keep track of an event in the Larch Hills, check out the web cam on the Larch Hills web site, www.skilarchhills.ca, which refreshes itself every few minutes.
This is what Pauline and Peter Molnar did when they were called to Courtenay for a family matter and watched the start of the Reino Keski-Salmi Loppet on the cam.
Pauline has been co-ordinator for the last 15 years and Peter has been involved as long so they both were missing the event greatly. The web cam helped fill the void. They could watch the set-up on Friday, which converts the stadium into a colourful flag and banner filled start area. Then they could watch the various starts on Saturday as the 34-kilometre skiers took off, then the 30-km and various other recreational distances followed by the under-13 set.
The web cam is situated on the chalet, pointing down the stadium to include King’s Castle, the new announcer’s booth christened by Steve and Jean King at this year’s RK-SL, and up to the Metford Road/Larch Hills Road split. Perfect coverage for events.
So when we found ourselves in Penticton on the Friday of the Pirate Loppet, for which we had volunteered since its inception, we took a page out of the Molnars’ book and checked the web cam starting mid-morning. As the pirate kids and adult volunteers amassed, we could feel the excitement mounting. Then we watched as each of the grade levels left the start area in waves. Impressive.
Many thanks to the folks who provide us with the web cam, not only to check weather and snow conditions but give us the opportunity to feel part of the action while away. The Muloin brothers, Darren and Paul, through Mascon Cable Systems have donated the web cam for several years now but when the temperature in the web cam was giving false readings this year, Darren and Paul installed a complete weather station with a new router.
This gives us wireless at the chalet and allows us to transmit results. Into the electronic age! We much appreciate the Larch Hills community involvement of Mascon and the Muloin brothers.
Skiing around the province – Nickel Plate, Sovereign/Silver Star, Dawn Mountain, Panorama, Nipika – with Vic Emery for the last 10 days was wonderful but sure brought to mind that we have here in the Larch Hills the best to be found. As Vic says, he has skied around the world and can honestly say he found his experiences in the Larch Hills to be the best. We have terrific tracks, he likes the variety of trees, the snow conditions were wonderful, the sense of community throughout.
On our final foray into the Larch Hills with Vic, we joined the Geezers on their outing to the Summit. Spectacular! En route down we took Vic into White Pine Walk to check out the old growth of huge pines et al. He was blown away. Such variety of experiences available in one ski area is tremendous.
The Junior Race team has shown well in events. The sea of yellow Larch Hills race jerseys is so exciting to watch! This weekend Larch Hills hosts the BC Midget Championships, with skiers coming from around the province and from northwest Washington. Two hundred-plus skiers. Happy Sochi Olympics watching.
Think snow!
