Organize a Cat Skiing Trip, Ski at a DiscountWritten by Lockie Brown
What’s better than backcountry powder shared with a couple of good friends? What beats chasing your buddies through trees, sharing great lines on open slopes and watching your mates “pop” off bumps into “pow”? Now, if that though brings a smile, broaden picture to include 12 good friends. Think about a day of great powder shared with 12 people you most like to ski or ride with. Then expand that thought to three or four days in succession. Oh, yes, and throw in some uphill tranportation that gives you 12 to 15 great runs a day.If it seems like a wild dream, it’s not. Snowcat skiers and boarders are doing it every year. Assemble your own group to share a snowcat and two guides and to control pace of each day’s skiing. The cat rides back up mountain become almost as much fun as runs down, filled with old lies and jokes and stories that you all enjoy sharing. Evenings in bar at lodge playing pool or darts for “shots” or soaking in hot tub just continue fun of day. Our Favorite Chatter Creek Photos (http://favorite-chatter-creek-photos.blogspot.com) were taken by a number of cat skiers including some old friends who go cat skiing together every year. Many cat skiing operators in BC encourage groups. At least two operators offer no particular incentive to group leaders, but point out advantage to having companions that know one another and are all compatible skiers and riders. However, at least three BC operators provide group organizers a free seat and one operator offers two free seats (take 12 people, pay for 10). Other operators offer a discount ranging from $1200 per day, to $1500 for a 4-day tour. Typically, it’s all or nothing and group size must be 12 to qualify for a discount. As nice as it is to get a great discount, Group Organizers shopping for a cat skiing tour should think about group discounts last, after making a short list of operators having terrain and skiing conditions that best suits their group’s needs. Organizing a group is no cakewalk. The group organizer is sole point of contact with company. He or she collects and accounts for all funds, makes lump payments on behalf of group, distributes company literature, collects client information and submits it to company. Above all, organizer ensures that group members understand tour dates, transportation arrangements, meeting times and special conditions like baggage restrictions or clothing needed for trip in to a remote lodge. The real effort goes into filling group with compatible skiers. A sign-up list circulated at end of each tour always generates lots of interest in following year. Everyone’s ready to be back next year; same time, same place, same group. Fantastic! However, things change a bit in following weeks, when deposit becomes due. People return home and remember (or are reminded of) family vacation promises, visiting relatives, budgetary constraints and other priorities. Then it’s “scramble time” for Group Leader. The deposit is due shortly and group is not full. Some Group Leaders end up subsidizing group deposit.
| | Do Fish See in ColorWritten by Cameron Larsen
Fish do indeed perceive color. Every fly fisher knows that or ought to know that. Like humans, retina of a fish have rods and cones. Cones are used in day and rods at night. Color vision evolved to help fish identify potential food. In environment of fish, background will either be bottom, water itself, or if looking up for food it could be sky. The bottom is normally tannish olive to green. When looking across water, background appears pale silver blue. But if water is off color due to algae or high water one must take that into consideration as well. Skylight becomes more important at dusk and dawn when it contains more reds. Thus for opportunistically feeding game fish, flies with bright or contrasting colors and/or a lot of flash will make them stand out against above mentioned backgrounds. The Mickey Finn, tied with yellow and red, and a silver body is one of most effective attractor patterns. As for dry fly attractors , Royal Wulff is still hard to beat, with its red and peacock body and white wings. Black flies, because of their strong silhouette also are easy for fish to spot. Let’s not forget patterns that contain strands of flashabou or other tinsel that reflect light when stripped or while drifting through current are easy for fish to spot. The fly fisherman also must remember that color behaves differently in water that it does when seen in air. Water is denser, and colors are diffused quicker. Cloudy days where there is less overall light will offer less visibility, and colors will disappear quicker in depths of water. And clarity of water obviously greatly effects this as well. This is important in fly selection because certain colors travel farther in low light than others. Red is first color to disappear, usually at about 15 feet in clear water, followed by orange and then yellow. Blues and greens are visible to fish as long as there is light. Yet silver and white will be brighter.
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