Day 276, 6 April 2013, Whistler, B.C. TRACKS! First tracks - Fresh Tracks - Dog Tracks - Sled Tracks. What a day! Our good mate in Whistler gave us a couple of First Tracks Breakfast passes he was unable to use. Now getting up at 6 am with rain pouring outside and getting ski gear on is a big ask. But it's not when there's a hot breakfast to be had at the top of the mountain - not to mention it being the penultimate day of mountain breakfasts and a powder day! So off we went - they only let the first 650 people up each day for the breakfast deal and I think we were persons 630/631 or so. Most excellent breakfast. All the pouring rain in the valley was doing a cracking job of laying down fresh powder on the mountain. But in keeping with my recent powder-puff ways I wasn't keen on heading out into the blizzard to enjoy the new snow. We finished our First Tracks breakfast and I left James to lay some Fresh Tracks in the fluffy stuff. I went back to the condo and did a final bit of planning for our major Canadian experience - Dog Tracks and Sled Tracks. I decided on Whistler Sled Dog Co. because all funds raised go to caring for the dogs and other charitable animal welfare projects (www.whistlersleddogco.com). We had seriously considered the expense - and then seriously considered where else and when else we'd ever have the chance to go mushing a sled team through pristine wilderness. Ahhh - what else are credit cards for eh - All booked up, we were ready to go. The drive alone out to the Soo Valley was divine - up through the logging and mining roads and into the base camp area where the howling, barking, incredibly overexcited, absolutely gorgeous dogs awaited us. These guys may not look like the big fluffy husky/malamutes you'd expect - but they've been bred with other dogs - like greyhounds for instance, and that helps them function in the milder climates of Whistler. Huskies need around -30 degrees to be comfortable running - today for instance it was +10 degrees and even our mild climate pooches were frantically eating snow and rolling about to cool down during our breaks. Since we were a last minute booking there wasn't actually a guide to take our sled - so James got to drive the sled for a hair raising, adrenaline rushing zoom in the wilderness - around 18 km or so. Funnily enough, we thought they were joking... when we did the hot air balloon in the Serengeti, the pilots initially said something similar - and don't worry you'll be in radio contact with base the whole time. But the sled guys were 100% serious - so we got to know our team of 6 (Rolo, Smoky, Tuba and Surprise being the most adorable of them all). So. Guys. Be gentle - we said and with a quick Hup! sled brakes and snow hooks were released and we were off - Woo hoo! We were lucky to make the booking today because it's the last few days of the season and the snow was slushy and the track uneven... but the sled only flipped once and no harm was done. I felt like a passenger in a formula 1 car - with six dog-power under the hood. Tucked in the sled I was frantically taking photos, videos and of course taking in the majesty of the mountains, river, fir trees and the snow flying in my face as our team took off. James did a masterful job with the crew and we both had the time of our lives - our best dog was a white beauty called Surprise (so called because when his mother arrived at the kennel no one knew she was pregnant - right up until they found the puppy in the pen with her!) He's so strong that he was entered in a pulling contest a while back and pulled over 500 pounds (almost 240 kg) - after running 40 odd kilometres (he's shown in today's photo). After all the excitement of the sledding we headed into the yurt for hot chocolate and choc chip cookies warmed by the wood fire. So that was our day "making tracks". Skiing tomorrow will seem quite tame by comparison.
PS - remember that in life, as in dog sledding... unless you are the lead dog - the view never changes.
PPS - on the bus home from the village we saw something rather odd... A bloke skiing down in a suit. Hmmm. Well it was Retro Day. Looked like a bit of a nice suit for dress ups though. Whoa... another bloke in a suit. Both had roses in their button holes. Hey - coming down the mountain was a lady in a green ski jacket. And a long white dress. Accompanied of course by a lady in along purple dress. Our very first mountain wedding had just arrived back in the village - photo in the album!