Heavenly Paradise@AdelineAng.com

Winter can be long, as you may have realized. Well, if you’re not into skating, skiing, or any fun adventures as such, you’re missing out a lot! Guess what? There is always something you can do, ensuring an exciting season with a wide array of winter activities!!

Are you curious now? What are THEY??

Fun #1: Dipping (more like sinking) feet into the deep, soft, white snow! How deep does the snow get? Check it out!

Fun #2: Climbing to the top of a 10-foot snowbank!! Smiling at people who look at you as a weirdo, while enjoying the scenic view!!

Fun #3: Making snow angel!!! You’ve experienced winter? Really?? Not if you haven’t made a snow angel!

How to make one? First of all, make a jump on a cushion of soft snow. Be sure to stay clear of obstacles.

As you land on the snow, on your back, move arms and legs in the snow to form an angel!

Skiing is a great sport. It requires body strength, flexibility, and endurance. This is my sixth winter in Canada thus far. I’m an amateur skier who usually visit the ski mountain 2-3 times every season. I’d have gone more often if it’s easily accessible; and having my own ski equipment would help too, I supposed.

Listed below are some tips you may find useful for your upcoming ski trip:

Use ski poles appropriately. They are useful when you need to speed up, do a turn (sometimes), and release skis. Ski poles can also be extremely helpful, as a support to get up after a fall :) You’ll be surprised that good skiers can ski without ski poles! Hence, use them only when needed.

Use hip and leg strength to maneuver skis. Try not to rely so much on ski poles.  

Useful tip for ski beginners to reduce speed: Keep skis with tips pointing each other at a sharp angle, and form a “V” shape.

Ski in a zigzag pattern on steep slope. This allows better control of speed and body balance. Wider zigzag results in a lower speed, and vice versa.

Keep skis in contact with the ground. The moment skis are lifted in the air undesirably, body will most likely lose its balance.

Avoid ice patches. Skiers are prone to losing balance on ice, due to the lower friction between ice and skis.

Prevent ski goggles from fogging up. Moisture from the air or sweat may cause fogging of ski goggles. Hence, try not to rest goggles on forehead (though it looks cool); release of body heat creates moisture that promotes fogging.

Read the signs before proceeding. There are different levels of difficulty and steepness for each trail. Understand the trail map and avoid any unfavourable route, e.g. an expert hill for a ski beginner and a long, flat trail for an advanced skier ;)

Skiing on ungroomed trails can be challenging. Skis often lose its flexibility when covered in snow. Skis are harder to maneuver due to the friction with snow. More often than not, you’re left with no choice but to ski straight down the slope!

Powder snow is great for skiing, especially after a snowstorm! Try to avoid skiing on ice patches or icy snow. It hurts real bad when you fall!

Skating techniques help in mastering skiing skills. It’s easier for someone to learn skiing if he/she already knew how to skate.

Dress appropriately. Ski hat, ski goggles, neck warmer, ski gloves, wind breaker (if not winter jacket), ski pants, and a pair of warm socks. Avoid overdressed. Why? First of all, winter clothing can be rather bulky; it reduces your flexibility. Also, body warms up as you ski. Try to avoid sweating as the moisture will cause freezing in the cold air. Overdressed is as bad as underdressed. Thus, doffing and donning of ski attire according to weather and comfort level as you ski.

Fall safely. Huh? What does it suppose to mean? If you have to fall, fall on the snow rather than bump into the tress. When you lose control of your direction and self-balance, be sure to land on a clear spot.

Ski with a buddy. Anything can happen when you ski. Seek help from your buddy when something goes wrong, especially to pick up skis that are few feet away from where you landed :D

Last but not least, ski with confidence and full concentration. Stay positive and ready to be challenged. After all, you’re just going to stumble on a cushion of white snow, if you lose balance. What’s the big deal?!

Ski safely. Have fun skiing!

Today’s weather is perfect for skiing! High of -2 °C, low of -8 °C during the day, with sunny periods and light flurries. Honestly, I can’t ask for any better ski day; especially with 27 cm of fresh snow at the mountain for the past three days! It’s too bad that all my ski buddies are unavailable. There I was, got up early and arrived at the Crabbe Mountain around 9:30 a.m. It was about a 45-minute bus ride from the city.

Kids at the ski school were getting ready for their lessons.

Chairlift ride (~ 5 -10 minutes) back to the mountain top.

Each ski trail has a designated colour code, depending on its condition and difficulty. Details can be found in my previous post.

This is an intermediate trail. I skied Dave’s Dream via Upper Dave’s, and met some adorable kids who attended ski lesson.

The King’s Horn! An expert (black diamond) trail with an extremely steep slope at the beginning. I’ve skied on this trail twice with my buddies.

Caution sign!! Too late… There I was, exploring “The Glades” trail cautiously.

Then, I bumped into this trail named “Little Brave.” The condition of this ungroomed trail was quite bad.

And… It was a steep slope too!!

Interestingly, there was a more challenging trail ahead of me. The “War Dance” which has the black diamond code. Looking down the trail… Should I proceed?

You bet! There is no such thing as turning back in downhill skiing. After going through this mess (on left), there was another huge slope (on right).

My next adventure was “Lower Norm’s Nightmare” via the “Tippy Canoe” trail.

The “Norm’s Nightmare” with the intermediate code.

The wide and steep trail ahead of me (left), and what lied behind (right).

My favourite trail at the Crabbe Mountain thus far, is the last stretch of King’s Horn (expert trail) via the first half of Hume’s Flume (intermediate trail). Basically, it provides the level of difficulty that I’m comfortable with; wide and steep slope with barely any ice patches, and well groomed.

Taking a glimpse at the King’s Horn trail while waiting for my chairlift ride.

A snowboarder was making a graceful descend via the King’s Horn trail.

It was one full day of skiing! I skied from 10 a.m. till 4:30 p.m., with an hour lunch break in between. Downhill skiing is always a fun, challenging, and exciting sport! I’m looking forward to another nice winter day with excellent snow condition for my next ski trip ;)

Participating in the dog sled tour was an excellent experience! After out trip to Lake Louise, we had a stopover in Canmore before heading to Banff. The Snowy Owl Adventures offered an unforgettable dog sled tour, as it turned out. It was a two-hour tour, including a van ride to Spray Lake, where we began our exciting adventures!

We were given a short briefing about the huskies and some useful commands before driving the dog sled on our own! Here are a few commands we learned:

On by: Pass another team from the opposite direction

Whenever the puppies did a good job in obeying the commands, we said “good puppies!” These puppies are very tame and smart. We had six huskies for our dog sled, the two puppies in front were the leading dogs; whereas the puppies closest to the harness were among the strongest.

Gee: Turn to the right

Haw: Turn to the left

The sled dog breeds at the Snowy Owl:

Canadian Inuit Husky: “Original” sled dog, the closest living relative to the wolf
Alaskan Malamute: Very similar to the Canadian Inuit Husky, also a close relative to the wolf
Canadian Indian Husky: Indigenous to North America, the closest living relative to the coyote
Siberian Husky: The most well known sled dog breed, typical “Hollywood” Husky with blue eyes

(From left) Julian, myself, and Annie posing with the puppies during a short break.

Good puppy!

Is there anything exciting you can do over the Thanksgiving weekend? Of course! If I was sailing in the summer, I wanna try kayaking in the fall! Something different (my favourite saying) ;) We left at 8 a.m. in the morning (another working day?) for kayaking at the Spednic Lake. It’s about an hour’s drive from Freddy, located west of McAdam.

Here we were, getting ready for the big day! Dave took the kayak on the right, and I had the other one. The vivid fall foliage was simply gorgeous! I felt as if I was in a dreamland… The green foliage in the summer has transformed into the autumn palette of glowing topaz, vibrant orange, and blazing crimson! Some turned into dark purple instead. Looking out to the mainland U.S.A. across the lake, I couldn’t believe how close I was from the border! I can literally swim over! Haha..if I try hard enough :P In this case, I’ll paddle the kayak instead ;D

The Spednic Lake encompasses part of the St. Croix Heritage River. Apparently, this lake is also open for recreational activities such as boating, canoeing, fishing (some do ice fishing in the winter, wish I can try out one day), camping, snowmobiling, ATV use, and hiking.

After our first 1.5 hours of paddling, we stopped for an early lunch at the shore. Then, off we went again for another 1.5 hours or so, and landed on the Big Island for a break. There are some cottages that are build individually on an island. How neat is that! Having the whole island to yourself and partying all night! *Sweet*

At last, we spent another hour paddling back to where we first launched the kayaks. It was an awesome day (slightly below 15 degrees Celsius) to stay out, perfect for a fall outing! I wondered how many warm days (-40 degrees in the winter, what do you expect?) left, before I’ve to put on my winter coat…

On our way back to Freddy, we paid a visit to the old railway station in McAdam. The railway station was opened in 1900. As a National Historic Site since early 80′s, it attracts approximately 25,000 tourists each year! The building is 285 ft long and 45 ft wide (with the east and west ends built in 1910 and 1911, respectively). With its unique combination of Gothic, Baroque, and Victorian architectural styles, it’s known to be an important reminder of McAdam’s past.

The railway tracks behind the station. This place is open for tours to the public with a small fee of $3. I could only look inside of the building through the windows since it’s closed for the season. I couldn’t help but to imagine the busy crowd and loud steam trains back in the old days. The benches behind the platform brought back my memories of the fighting scenes in “Wong Fei Hung” movie by Jet Li.

This is one of the places I’d like to visit next summer!

I always wonder what’s sailing all about. I’ve heard wonderful stories about it, and often amazed how sailing can be a passion of someone’s life. Here is my chance, when I found out that the Small Craft Aquatic Centre in Fredericton offers an eight-week sailing lessons in the summer. “Never try, never know” is my philosophy. Who knows, maybe sailing can be my passion too :) These are pictures taken during my last lesson:

With a personal floating device (PFD) with an attached whistle, and a pair of aqua socks, off I went sailing! First and foremost, we had to set up the main sail and jib sail (which can be a challenge) before hitting the Saint John River!

Off I went sailing with my fellow classmates and two instructors (one of them on a motor boat in case of emergency).

That’s me as a skipper ;) Steering the boat with the tiller on my left, and ensuring a smooth sailing by grabbing on the mainsheet on my right.

The river view from the front of our sailboat. The water was calm at this moment.

Who would have imagined our boat to be a few inches away from being capsized a few minutes later?! I was controlling the boat direction by holding on the tiller and mainsheet with all my might, while Alison was pulling hard on the jib sheet. We were in a similar situation at least three or four times in one windy evening! A good practice though. I wouldn’t mind getting into the water, except that the water was really chilly and I had my camera with me!!

Alison, my sailing buddy has been a wonderful companion. We’ve been helping each other out a lot.

What a gorgeous dusk! Overlooking the Westmorland Bridge from the south side of the city.

Sailing, is definitely more than sailing itself. It does not only requires experience of controlling a sailboat, but also knowledge of the wind and wave conditions. Depending on the points of sail, we’ll have to steer the boat appropriately by either pulling in or letting out the main sail, as well as bearing off (pulling on the tiller) or heading up (pushing away the tiller). If we want to change the course of the boat, we’ll have to either tack (heading into wind) or gybe (away from wind). Under most circumstances, we want to avoid the sheets from luffing.

There are lots of terminology involved. Sailing on a river was a challenge for us who were in White Sail I, I could barely imagine myself out in the unpredictable ocean. Sailing safely is one thing, sailing with speed is another level of the sport. I’m sure one will have to be determined and passionate, to be an awesome sailer. Maybe I’ll be one, one day. You never know…

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

No source of information is 100% trustworthy. It was already 8:40 a.m., and I was still searching for Skydive Moncton, in a residential area! Apparently, MapQuest has given me the wrong direction. I still can’t figure out why.

Now listen, drive along Elmwood Drive, go pass the Trans Canada Highway overpass, Irving gas station, Tim Horton’s, till you see a big sign on your right that says “Skydive Moncton.” I was lucky to be given directions from a guy in the neighbourhood, who was scraping off paints from his fence at that moment.

“Skydive Moncton, here I come!”

I felt a sense of relief to find out that the class has not started when I arrived. A piece of advice: “always check for method of payment, don’t just assume that they accept credit card.” I had to drive into town during lunch hour to get cash, certainly not a good idea if I’d have known better.

I attended a 5-hour course before my IAD (Instructor Assisted Deployment) jump. The first half of the course, we learned about the different steps, from when we were getting dressed up in a diving suit, boarding the plane, getting off the plane and hanging onto the wing, leaving the plane, making sure that the canopy is deployed properly, and finally, how to do the landing at a designated spot. Everything sounded great up to this point.

The second half of the course, we learned about “what if something goes wrong?” That sounds horrible, doesn’t it? As a matter of fact, we had to face the reality that things might not turn out as well as what we expected them to be.

“The few seconds after leaving the plane, the canopy should deploy itself, with the assistance of the instructor. If this doesn’t happen after six seconds, we should cut away the main canopy and pull out the reserve canopy instead. Assuming everything goes well, we want to check if we could stall, since we’ll need it for landing. We grab on the toggles with both hands and pull them all the way down. We should experience a moment of free fall if it works right. Next, we want to steer to make sure that we’re in control of the direction we’re moving into. We hold on to the toggles; pulling the right toggle allows us to turn right, and vice versa. Subsequently, we want to recognize the landing spot and the wind direction. Landing into the wind is what we aim for. Last but not least, when we’re about 12 to 15 ft above the ground, we want to pull the toggles from the top to bottom to completely stall the canopy, with our knees bend and put together, and get ready to roll if we need to.”

At the end of the course, we had to write a test to make sure that we understood what we learned in class, and hopefully, we’d apply them during the jump. It was raining cats and dogs around 3 p.m. No jump was allowed, especially if it was overcast, because we couldn’t tell where we were supposed to land! Oh no… please stop the rain, I’m gonna have to come back another day, which means renting a car and driving for 2 hours to get here…It was 4 p.m. There was nothing much we could do, but to wait for the sky to clear up. I took the opportunity to wander around town, went to the Champlain Place and had a meal at the Arby’s (knew it from the TV commercial but never get around to trying it). Here comes my meal…

Meanwhile, I was praying hard for nice weather before dark. Finally, the sun was out around 7 p.m. I waited for another 20 minutes before checking with Skydive Moncton if they’re planning on jumps. Whoo…whoo…they were sending experienced skydivers to check it out! It was 8 p.m. when I got there. Since we had limited daylight hours, I was in a hurry to get dressed up and be ready for the jump. My heart was pumping hard. Johnny, the instructor who went with us, was taking video of me on the ground. That helped to ease my tension a bit.

The final practice on the ground before the actual jump.

At 8:30 p.m., six of us (an instructor, a pilot, and four students) were on our way to 3,000 ft above sea level. I was the first one to jump. The moment the door popped open, I felt the rush of wind through the plane. I first extended my right foot onto the step, but could hardly positioned it due to the strong wind. You’ll be amazed how strong the wind could be at a high elevation even though it was calm on the ground. Next, my right arm reached out for the wing, followed by my left arm. Subsequently, I had both feet on the step, and slowly moved my way out, towards the tip of the wing. Soon enough, I was hanging onto the wing with just both arms. Once I received the signal from Johnny to let go, I experienced a few seconds of free fall before the canopy was fully deployed. My mind went blank at the very instant. However, keeping in mind that I had to practice what I’ve learned from class, I did the procedure checking my canopy at the sixth second. I saw a gorgeous canopy above me, wow… I was actually floating… in the sky!

I was pumped and nervous at the same time, as the plane took off.

Here we were, 3,000 ft above sea level for NO REASON!! The rush of wind and the bird’s-eye view of the city left me speechless…

Urgghh… I couldn’t position my foot well because of the strong wind.

“Leave the plane when it’s time to leave, to ensure a safe landing,” said Jim, our classroom instructor. Here I was, waiting for the signal to let go both arms, with my feet dangling in the air. I was literally living on the edge!

I was pretty certain that I screamed for one to two seconds, before performing the procedures checking my canopy. “Arch one thousand, two thousand, three thousand, four thousand, five thousand, check canopy (while turning right and looking to the top).”

The serenity in the sky was beyond descriptions. It reminded me of the tranquility I experienced in the underwater world when I scuba dived. I was overwhelmed by the awesomeness of the Mother Nature. God’s creations are simply fantastic!

One of the best part of skydiving was to flare in the sky, just to make sure that stalling would work during landing. The few seconds of free fall was marvelous… The 5-minute landing seemed to pass very quickly. I was kind of worried that I would end up landing on top of the roof! Hehe… thanks to the instructions I received from the ground, I was able to land smoothly on the field beside the runway, while looking out at the horizon! I didn’t even have to roll over :P Well done!

Before this summer, I’ve been involved in different sports, such as mountain climbing, scuba diving, whitewater rafting etc. Nevertheless, it simply takes my breath away when I imagine myself floating in the sky. I always enjoy the bird’s-eye view of a city whenever I’m on a flight. The idea of reaching the sky and embracing it, is bizarre!

I’ve to admit that this has been an awesome summer, not only did I try bungee jumping (160ft) in Whistler, BC, but I also went for skydiving (3,000ft) in Moncton, NB! Skydiving has been in my mind for two and a half years. I was not able to do it sooner, due to unforeseen circumstances (transportation, skydive buddy etc.).

Have you ever experienced a strong urge to do or achieve something that you always wanted? You yearn for the day to come, day and night. There’s something missing in life if you don’t go for it. That was exactly how I felt, after putting the plan aside for two years, I started pondering: “it’s now or NEVER!” Live life to the fullest while you can. If you know you’re going to regret for not doing or achieving something in life, then by all means, run after your goals and be responsible for yourself! How many days do you have left on earth? Only God knows. Hence, lead your everyday life as if it’s the very last day on earth, prioritize things that have to be done… One fine day, you’ll tell yourself: “I’ve fully utilized my days on earth and fulfilled my dreams, for the glory of God who has given me this precious life.”