Hello everyone!
I look out our lodge windows these days to see black bears roaming in our nearby tree plantation below the helicopter landing pad and I am reminded how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful setting here in Crescent Spur, between the still snow capped Cariboo and Rocky Mountains.
In addition to the bears (2 adults and one mama with 2 cubs), we are visited frequently by deer and moose. Beavers have created a sizable lake near the Fraser River below the lodge property and that has created an abundance of bird life including swans, sand hill cranes, and geese that occasionally stop on our lawn to impress us.
We extend a warm welcome to any of you who might be heading through this way to please stop in and see us!
2005 Season...
Before we tell you about our upcoming season, we should reflect back on 2005. The 2005 season was, to say the least, one of the most unusual winters weather-wise that we have ever had. In December, we were ecstatic with the amount of snow that we received. Our base was looking great—deep and solid. Then in early January during our guide-setup week, the weather turned very cold. The guides were digging their snow pits in -30 degree weather. But this didn’t last as the cold weather was followed by "monsoon season" for most of January. Some days we had rain to 6000 ft, other days we stepped out of the helicopter to 45 cm of fresh light snow. It was changeable from one day to the next. We had a great appreciation for our guests who worked with us to have a fun week despite the challenging weather, enjoying the good turns that they had and bearing with great grace the days spent in the lodge waiting for the cloud to lift or the temperature to drop. The lodge and guiding staff worked doubly hard to make the weeks work and comments from our guests demonstrated their awareness of this effort. February brought some great skiing and we had predominately good skiing right through to the end of the season, even with a lower than normal snowfall in March. We credit the good skiing to our ability to take our groups into both the Cariboos and the Rockies as each section of our license has its advantages in different weather and snow conditions.
Our Guests
We celebrated our first ten year guest this season. Kevin Flaherty first skied with us in 1995, skiing with us every year with the exception of 2004, when he was recovering from knee surgery. We were very pleased to award Kevin an Arcteryx ski jacket and pants—hopefully to wear many more times with us here! We have a number of other skiers that are very close to their ten year mark as well and we look forward to celebrating their loyalty to our company.
This season saw many guests returning—always a highlight for us, and we were pleased to introduce some new skiers to Crescent Spur. Our first Dutch group joined us and had a great week, with lots of fun both in the mountains and in the lodge (and outside around our outdoor fireplace!!).
Congratulations
Many of our guests have had the pleasure of skiing under the expert guiding of Grant Statham. A couple of years ago Grant accepted a job with Parks Canada, as a Parks Canada Public Avalanche Risk Specialist working on backcountry safety programs initiated after a winter that saw two large avalanche incidents in the southern part of the province claim a number of lives, including a group of students on a school outing.
We recently learned of the following in a Parks Canada
Press Release:
BANFF, ALBERTA, June 20, 2005 – Parks Canada congratulated Mr. Grant Statham, Public Avalanche Risk Specialist for the mountain national parks, on his receipt of the prestigious 2005 Public Service Award of Excellence in the Citizen-focused Service Delivery category. The Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada announced recipients of the Award last Friday during National Public Service Week.
"Mr. Statham has been a catalyst for remarkable advances in public avalanche awareness, education and safety in Canada," said Alan Latourelle, Chief Executive Officer, Parks Canada. "His initiatives transcend Parks Canada and have attracted an international audience that is recognizing Canada as a world leader in the field of public avalanche risk awareness."
Grant also received the CAA Professional Award for 2005—a top award from his peers in the Canadian Avalanche Association. We congratulate Grant on this well deserved recognition! We were pleased to have him return to guide with us for two weeks in 2005 and look forward to continuing to work with him this next season as his schedule permits.
Other congratulations go to guide Kevin Taylor! Kevin has worked with us for the last 3 years as an Association of Canadian Mountain Guides Assistant Ski Guide. In April, Kevin was successful in his exam for full Ski Guide status with the ACMG.
2006 Season...
We are looking forward to the upcoming season. Mark is working (as usual for those of you who know him) on projects around the lodge. We are also continuing on our heli pad program to open up new skiing and improve some of our existing areas. We have spoken with our guides and pilots Trent and Andre and look forward to seeing them all back again this next season
Moving On
You all know Michelle—who doesn’t recognize the friendly voice that answers the phone, arranges the bookings, and then makes you pay for your holiday? She has been responsible for much more than that over the past five years, including lodge staff supervision, food ordering, and generally keeping everything efficiently organized. Michelle has decided to move to a larger center (which doesn’t give you much of a clue as Crescent Spur has only 22 residents...) and take on new challenges. This was a hard decision for her as she has said she can’t imagine not being here to see all of you again. We will miss her greatly but wish her the very best.
2006 Bookings
Bookings for 2006 are coming along—check our website for openings. Remember that 2007 spaces open up for general booking on December 1. Now is the time to start talking to your group or your ski partner to plan for 2007. We have a new company that we are recommending for Cancellation/Trip Interruption insurance. Sanderson Travel Insurance Inc. is very familiar with the ski industry. We will have a link on our web site to contact them directly once you have deposited for your ski space with us. We urge the purchase of this coverage for everyone—the peace of mind is worth the cost of this insurance.
We hope that we will see you again this coming winter. Many of you have already reserved your space and we hope to hear from the rest of you!! Please check our website for updated pictures and for our new "meet the staff" page coming soon.
Best wishes for a great summer and fall season!!
Mark, Regina and Bryna Aubrey