After an early rise we grabbed a quick breakfast and loaded
our bags onto the bus for an 8am departure to Apex Mountain.
Our bus driver was Dennis, a knowledgeable local, who was
originally from Winnipeg. He was quite
informative and we learned that it was abnormally cold for this time of year in
Vancouver, and also that real estate was even more expensive than Melbourne in
the city centre.
The bus trip was 5 hours in length but the views were
spectacular. We went from the city, to the outer suburbs, to rural flat
communities surrounded by snow capped mountains in the distance. Many of the students slept, and woke to
beautiful white landscape of snow-covered pines. As we drove we passed many frozen waterfalls
and rivers.
We passed old mining towns and stopped for lunch in a town
named Princeton. We didn’t realise how
cold it was going to get until we got off the bus. It was at least -15, and the
walk from the bus to the supermarket could not be made without a hat, scarf,
gloves and winter coat. It really took your breath away. After refuelling, we boarded the bus again
and completed our final leg of the journey up the mountain to Apex Mountain
resort.
IT WAS COLD!
Even the locals commented on how abnormally cold it was. It
was -24 and it didn’t take long for someone to comment that the difference in
temperatures between here and Melbourne was over 50 degrees!
We are staying in a hostel with communal bathrooms and ‘two
to a room’ dorms. The blankets are the warmest I have every experienced, but I
guess they have to be in these conditions.
Apex is not one of the biggest ski resorts in the region,
but that is its appeal. All the staff
here are lovely and friendly and give you time of day. They also have a
regional Canadian accent that makes you smile when you hear it and reminds you
of the characters out of the film Fargo.
Ms Bowring Checking out the views with a frozen waterfall on the side of the road.
More frozen waterfalls
Remnants of a mining past still in the hills
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