British Columbia Ski Trip 2006

I recently returned from an amazing 4 day trip to Britsh Columbia to ski with my cousin Megan and her husband Mike who live in Vancouver. Lucky for me, he quit his job not long ago when the law partners he toiled for could not understand that he did not want to work 100 hours a week like they do. The fact that this winter has been one of the best ones in 15 years has not exactly been a motivating factor for hustling back into the workforce either. The result of this perfect storm is that he's had more than his share backcountry ski days this season and has witnessed the changing conditions from week to week. This is important when trying to properly evaluate avalanche risk. He knows where all the good snow is, too.
I arrived on a Wenesday night to a rainstorm that is typical for this time of year. We planned on heading up to Blackcomb/Whistler the next morning before departing on an overnight backcountry ski trip the following day. Megan secured a slopeside condo for the night at the Aspens at Blackcomb. We were stoked to see they had 2 saunas and it was ski in/ski out.
The drive up to Blackcomb/Whistler is about 116 km which takes about 1.5 hours in good conditions. They're in the process of widening the mostly 2 lane highway for the 2010 Winter Olympics which is an amazing feat of engineering in many places along the rugged highway. We stopped off near Whistler to pick up one of their friends who happens to be a ski instructor on the weekends. One of the things that makes skiing an unfamiliar mountian extremely enjoyable is skiing it with somebody who really knows it.
Whistler/Blackcomb is really two massive mountians separated by a drainage and linked together where the bases meet at the bottom of the drainage. There's a separate base along the road before the village called The Creek. The sheer size of the combined mountians makes it feel like a European resort; much more so than any other place I've been in North America. The snow was uncharacteristically light and fluffy. Usually the snow is much like what is typical of the Sierras, which is affectionately known as "Sierra cement".
The four of us enjoyed an excellent day and received about 2 inches of new snow over the course of the afternoon. We finished the day by skiing the Peak to Creek Run--the longest continuous run in North America. Yeah, it's a thigh burner.
After Happy Hour we were fired up for a sauna session.We were disappointed to learn that the saunas they had advertised as being on premise were in fact hot tubs. However, we made the best of it and consoled ourselves with a six-pack and a hot soak.
Whistler night life is fairly renowned as far as ski towns are concerned. The whole town is a flowing, master-planned community. There's no shortage of restaurants, pubs, clubs, and shopping of every kind all within easy walking distance of eachother. Since we were planning on an early start for the backcountry the next day, we opted for an evening stroll rather than a raging night on the town.
The next morning the weather was clear and calm, so it was apparent we were going to have a bluebird day. We packed up and headed two hours north east to the drainage below Mt. Duke and Vantage Peak. The scenery along the way is absoultely stunning. Once again I was reminded of Switzerland, but with a more remote feeling. Lakes, glaciers, glacial cut peaks, forests and rivers were everywhere you looked. We pulled off the road at one of the numerous old logging roads and got our gear together. Our plan was to ski up the drainage about 7 miles and gain about 3,500 vertical feet and set up camp below the saddle between Mt. Duke and Vantage Peak. I lathered on the sunblock and busted out my sun hat and Mike said, "you're not from around here are you?"
The ski in was marvelous; nothing but calm, blue skies the entire way and the same light, fluffy snow that we had at Whistler--just more of it and not another soul within miles to track it up! We reached our camp spot about 2p with plenty of sunshine left in the afternoon. Mike offered to set up camp, so Megan and I wasted no time heading higher for some late afternoon turns!
Some of the nice things about winter camping include: no bugs, no carnivores, you can always make your tent area flat, and you can carve just about anything out of the snow; in this case a table, benches and a sunken vestibule for storing boots and packs. Whether or not these conveniences offset the bitter cold once the sun goes down is debatable, but it's a debate best left until you're huddled in your sleeping bag crammed in the tent.
When we got back from skiing it was happy hour, so I broke out what has to be the best thing to make an appearance on the camping scene since gore-tex; a 2-litre bag of red wine. We had soup with our wine and Mike made an amazing pesto pasta dish that rivaled anything you'd find at your favorite Italian restaurant. Drinking the wine before it turned to ice proved to be quite a challenge--fortunately we were all up for it. Finally, the sun was down, the wine was gone and all the tall tales had been told, so it was time to settle in for what turned out to be an uneventful clear, calm and cold night.
Not long after dawn broke Mike hopped out of the tent and made us each a mug of hot chocolate. In case you haven't noticed this is the kind of person you want on your trip. Not only did he willingly carry the heaviest pack; he set up camp, cooked dinner, brought us hot chocolate before the sun was up and made breakfast as well. A real renaissance guy if there ever was one.
Once mid-morning rolled around it was clear that we were going to get a bit of weather before the day was through. We were planning on summiting and skiing Vantage Peak, but we determined the hike may not be worth it in the heavy wind that was sure to be on the ridge--besides the snow on all the easily accessible leeward, north facing chutes coming off the saddle right before our eyes was way too tempting to ignore.
We skinned up to the saddle and peered toward the north east at Mathier Peak and the many glaciers that made their home on the mountian. I learned that all of that terrain was accessible from the next drainage over if you were committed to a multi-day trip.
After marveling at the sublime nature of it all, it was time for some well earned turns! We headed over to the chutes and enjoyed about a foot of fresh Utah-style powder on top of a solid winter base--pure bliss! I took a tumble in the fluff towards the bottom and got back up and fell again for no good reason. After I pulled myself up a second time I noticed my ski had come off. Upon further inspection I was horrified to see that the rivets that secure the toepiece of my binding had been sheared off; rendering my binding useless. Immedlately I began to calculate how long it might take to hike through thigh deep snow to the car 7 miles and 4,000 vertical feet below-not a pleasant scenario any way I sliced it. Of course, Mike had a plan. Afterall, he'd dealt with this particular problem at least 300 times just this season. ;-) I gave him the duct tape I had in my pack and he gave me his fatboy skis and instructed Megan and I to go ski while he tried to fix my binding. Solid. He headed back to camp while Megan and I took another run on a different aspect of the mountian. The conditions were not as good as the first run, but that's like saying chocolate syrup is not as good as a chocolate bar.
When we returned to camp I could see the binding would require both of our strength to fix, so he cranked down on the toe piece while I did laps around it with the duct tape. To my surprise it looked like it might work just well enough for me to survival ski out of there. Fortunately that turned out to be the case. The obvious moral of that story is never leave the house without duct tape. Ever. Megan and I attempted to thaw the cheese and sausage that was to be our lunch under our armpits (yes it was wrapped in plastic) while Mike took another run. When he returned it was beginning to snow lightly, so we rolled up camp and enjoyed the kind of ski that makes you want to come back for more all the way back to the car.
The drive back to Vancouver was pleasant and mostly peaceful--in between Tool songs anyhow. That evening we met a couple of Meg and Mike's friends at a Belgian tapas place called Stella's on the east side of town. I was a little disappointed in their beer selection at first--Corona, Labatt, a few Belgian beers on tap. Then the bartender passed me the "special" beer menu chock full of all the beers you should see in a Belgian beer hall. All of the sudden I could see why the restaurant had been receiving accolades around town.
No trip would be complete without a little reminder of just how small a world it is that we all share. I was sitting at the bar when I noticed this guy that looked more familiar with each step coming my way. He introdced himself and remembered my name, and then it all came back to me: he helped my wife and I organize and entertain our wedding guests in Mexico 2 years ago. He was there in Vancouver visiting his new girlfriend, probably the flavor of the month. He is quite the character, but that's a whole nother story.

Thought Police 1; Free Speech 0

Larry Summers, the president of Harvard, resigned today. I shouldn't really care too much about this since I have nothing to do with Dr. Summers, Harvard or higher education for that matter, but the circumstances that led to his resignation are what compel me to post on the subject.
In January of 2005 he gave a speech at a conference on diversfication of the science and engineering workforce. He discussed possible reasons for the current underrepresentation of women at the top in many fields, especially in science and engineering. He said that although his remarks were provocative, it was vitally important to study the underlying reasons. These may include social issues, such as willingness to commit fully to a highly demanding career, and biological differences between the genders.

Here's the part of the speech that was so controversial:
"So my best guess, to provoke you, of what's behind all of this is that the largest phenomenon, by far, is the general clash between people's legitimate family desires and employers' current desire for high power and high intensity, that in the special case of science and engineering, there are issues of intrinsic aptitude, and particularly of the variability of aptitude, and that those considerations are reinforced by what are in fact lesser factors involving socialization and continuing discrimination. I would like nothing better than to be proved wrong."

This was too much for poor, hyperventilating Nancy Hopkins to bear:
Nancy Hopkins, a biologist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, walked out on Summers' talk, saying later that if she hadn't left, ''I would've either blacked out or thrown up." Five other participants reached by the Globe, including Denice D. Denton, chancellor designate of the University of California, Santa Cruz, also said they were deeply offended, while four other attendees said they were not.

Soon after there were demonstrations on campus demanding that he resign because of his "insensitive" and "sexist" remarks. After a month of the situation smoldering the School of Arts and Sciences gave Dr. Summers a vote of no confidence, an unprecedented step in the history of Harvard. Since then it is apparent they have been unrelenting in their pressure for him to step down. Today he finally capitulated and he had this to say:
"I have reluctantly concluded that the rifts between me and segments of the Arts and Sciences faculty make it infeasible for me to advance the agenda of renewal that I see as crucial to Harvard's future. I believe, therefore, that it is best for the University to have new leadership." (Read Summers's letter.)

Commentary

What I find so disturbing about this entire episode is that the president of what is arguably the most prestigious university in the United States should be forced to resign because he dared to suggest that there may be innate differences between men and women. In other words, he dared to stray from the liberal/PC dogma that the Arts and Sciences department preached and he paid for it with his job. He wanted to generate discussion and instead he got fully censured. I was under the impression that college--especially an Ivy League college--was a place where young malleable minds go to pick and choose from a garden of different, sometimes conflicting ideas and later assemble those carefully chosen ingredients together into what could be called their Philosophy of Life. In short--the university presents, the student decides. If a university president is forced to resign by the PC Thought Police, what does that say about the state of higher education in America in general?
I wish Harvard all the best in finding a new president. Hopefully they will find somebody who kow-tows to the Arts and Sciences department, realizes a university president should be seen and not heard, and above all doesn't court controversy by suggesting debate when trying to find answers to the problems that plague us today.

(I urge you to read the whole speech that got him in trouble in the first place and determine for yourself if his words are sexist.)

Cartoonland

"Sixty years of Western nations excusing and accommodating the lack of freedom in the Middle East did nothing to make us safe, because in the long run, stability cannot be purchased at the expense of liberty. As long as the Middle East remains a place where freedom does not flourish, it will remain a place for stagnation, resentment and violence for export." --George Bush Nov. 6, 2003

It seems 12 Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammed first published 4 months ago have caused quite a stir around the world. I can't help but feel a slight tinge of schadenfreude when I see that it's Europe in the crosshairs for offensive behavior toward the Islamic world rather than the Great Satan for once. The United States has endured endless lectures, finger wagging, and much looking-down-the-nose from our European betters concerning the way we've dealt with the Islamic world over the past 5 years. On the face of it, this current controversy may seem as though it were about free speech; the cornerstone of western civilization. But if one were to give it a little more thought, I think that one would see that these cartoons say more about the arrogance of a continent that sees religious faith as a mark of unsophistication rather than a brave statement about free speech. Although Amir Taheri argues differently here, it's widely accepted that the depiction of the Prophet Muhammed in any way is forbidden in Islam because it may lead to Idolatry.
Many people in this world take their faith quite seriously, and to intentionally offend any faith is callous and irresponsible. A lack of women's rights, the barbarism of Bin Laden and Zarqawi, the Iranian mullahs, or any aspect of perpetual dysfunction that is "Palestine" are all serious Islamic subjects that need to be discussed and could have been addressed. Instead, they rather naively went straight for the faith jugular. You want to court controversy? Here's a triple scoop!
None of this is to excuse the rabid reaction across the Islamic world. Many Christians surely find Serrano's "Piss Christ" depicting a crucifix suspended in a container of urine, and the exhibition a few years ago at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in which a portrait of the Virgin Mary was displayed festooned with pornography and elephant dung quite tasteless, but death threats against the artists and massive rioting in the streets did not follow. If I had to make a comparison, I would say the Islamic attitude toward the rest of the world is a lot like the schoolyard bully who starts by demanding your lunch money and doesn't stop demanding things until you are standing naked and defenseless--then he makes you carry his book bag home before he slaps you around one last time and locks you in the basement for good measure. In short, If it weren't some pretty mild cartoons that were the offense, it would be something else. Islam, it seems, stands ready to be offended at the slightest provocation.

"We want blood on the streets of England," said Muslim protestors in London, though no British newspaper has yet published the offending cartoons. (here's some nice pictures from London)
Saudi Arabia promoted the controversy to distract attention from the trampling deaths of 345 pilgrims in Mecca Jan. 12th, said "The Religious Policeman," a Saudi Web logger. The deaths attracted little attention in the West, but were big news in the Arab world.
Most of the anti-Western violence has taken place in Syria and Lebanon, where the Danish and Norwegian embassies were burned down.
Syria is a dictatorship. A mob could not have burned the building where the Danish and Norwegian embassies were located without the tacit permission, if not the encouragement, of the regime.
Syria also retains considerable influence in Beirut, where the rioting was not spontaneous. Syria would love to distract attention from the UN probe into the assassination of Lebanese politician Rafik Hariri, in which Syria is implicated.

Iran is going to sponsor a Holocast cartoon contest in retaliation--as if anti-semitic cartoons were not already the norm around the Middle East. It speaks of the Islamic world's deep pathological dysfunction that they have to resort to Jew-bashing in protest of secular Denmark.

I'm with Ralph Peters on this one:
For once, we Americans can sit back and watch the fight (pass the popcorn, please). The Europeans are going to get a few more teeth knocked out. As for the Islamist bigots intent on destroying what's left of their own decayed societies, they'll lose at least a few of their European apologists — the sort who make excuses for terrorists, as long as they only kill Americans (or Muslims).

Europe may be forced to give up on the touchy-feely multicultural delusion that has taken root since the end of the Cold War when they realize appeasement is really a symptom of powerlessness. If so, I fear a very sharp nationalistic backlash may be in the works. If that happens, European Muslims will come to rue the day they chose not to assimilate in their host countries; and realize that there are serious consequences for their entire community when they allow a few among them to spew hate-filled rhetoric.

P.S. Here's a fascinating piece about Shame and the Arab Psyche and Islam