{"id":5841,"date":"2013-12-23T08:17:32","date_gmt":"2013-12-23T16:17:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mixhart.ca\/blog\/?p=5841"},"modified":"2013-12-23T11:10:42","modified_gmt":"2013-12-23T19:10:42","slug":"twas-sunday-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/index.php\/twas-sunday-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Twas The Sunday Before Christmas…"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"PC220065\"<\/a>
All photographs in this post were taken at SilverStar Mountain, BC.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T’was the Sunday before Christmas and all through the valley the creatures were stirring.
\nI, in my helmet, and Pa, in his goggles, the children had settled in for a long day on the mountain.
\nWhen,\u00a0all of a sudden, there arose a silent stillness…
\nTabby was standing in ski boots with no skis, perched over a cliff’s edge.
\nI skied toward her, fear rising from my legs to my head.
\nWhat was the matter?
\nMistaya has fallen, she said.<\/p>\n

The Christmas story took a sudden, terrifying turn…<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"PC220046\"<\/a>
Peter, Tabs and Mist standing beside the cliff we rescued Mist from. As you can see it was a sudden, deep drop. The yellow sign, back about 50m, warns skiers of this.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u00a0skied\u00a0to the cliff’s edge and, to my\u00a0relief, discovered\u00a0Mistaya, alert and smiling, only about six feet below, nestled into a snow bed.
\nI dropped my pole and tried to retrieve it, she said.
\nThe cliff’s edge looked much wider than it was. The snow can be deceiving.
\nIt was a false ledge of loose snow. She tumbled over in her skis and became trapped, unable to take off her skis. She sat precariously, in a very unstable bed of snow and trees.<\/p>\n

The slope was steep and long.
\nThe danger was the possibility that the snow would collapse, giving way to an avalanche and Mist tumbling further down and falling into a tree well.
\nI instructed Pip to stay back. Peter and I took off our skis. Tabby held onto my feet. I held onto Peter’s ski pants. Peter lay on his stomach and handed the end of his ski to Mistaya to grasp. I handed her the end of my pole to grasp with her other hand.
\nOur train of three was strong enough to pull her to safety.
\nJust in the nick of time because the pole tip she was holding onto was not stable and I feared it might come loose.<\/p>\n

\"PC220048\"<\/a>
Pip and Peter. Pip is a fearless skier.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One can never underestimate the power of snow. It looks so soft, stable and incapable of danger.
\nAnd there in lies the problem. People takes risks they shouldn’t and end up in deep snow, unable to right themselves.<\/p>\n

\"PC220050\"<\/a>
Peter and I.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was a wake up safety call for our family. I want the family skiing closer to each other. Mistaya was too far ahead of us; if Tabs hadn’t had expert hearing, she’d have skied right by and never seen or heard any trace of Mistaya.<\/p>\n

\"PC220036\"<\/a>
Mistaya helping Pip adjust her helmet at the top of the mountain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Leave the pole in the future, I told the girls. Ski down the mountain without the pole and I’ll buy you new ones. It’s not worth trying to fetch a fallen pole from deep snow.<\/p>\n

\"PC220041\"<\/a>
Top of the mountain crew. Peter checking to see if my sister Miranda’s family had text to say they were on the way up.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite the ordeal, we had a solid ski day and met up with my sister and her family on the mountain.<\/p>\n

\"PC220080\"<\/a>
Artemisia and Miranda on their way to the top of the tube run.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We took a break after lunch and decided to go tubing. SilverStar has the best tube-sliding.<\/p>\n

\"PC220070\"<\/a>
Artemisia, ready to race!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It’s always a relief to take off the ski boots and put on snow boots at the end of the day. I love that SilverStart has a beautiful ice rink and tube slides. After a challenging day of skiing, playing is the perfect way to relax.<\/p>\n

\"PC220083\"<\/a>
Pip, Anemone, Tabs and I attempt our first train run.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I admit, I am never happier, more in the moment, than when I am outside, doing some sort of sport in nature. To spend an entire day outside, on the mountain, with my family, is bliss.<\/p>\n

\"PC220085\"<\/a>
\nI liken it to the best days in childhood. The kind of day when you spend the entire day playing outside with friends and are bummed when your mom finally calls you in for bedtime.<\/p>\n

\"PC220088\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I feel spoiled, blessed to still have these kind of wonderful days in my life.<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

T’was the Sunday before Christmas and all through the valley the creatures were stirring. I, in my helmet, and Pa, in his goggles, the children had settled in for a long day on the mountain. When,\u00a0all of a sudden, there … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5845,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"kt_blocks_editor_width":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2204,104,121,24,1805],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-canada","category-fitness","category-mindfulness","category-motherhood","category-travelandadventure"],"aioseo_notices":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":2204,"label":"Canada"},{"value":104,"label":"Fitness"},{"value":121,"label":"Mindfulness"},{"value":24,"label":"Motherhood"},{"value":1805,"label":"Travel"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/PC220084-1024x768.jpg",1024,768,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"mixhart","author_link":"https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/index.php\/author\/mixhart\/"},"comment_info":2,"category_info":[{"term_id":2204,"name":"Canada","slug":"canada","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2265,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":1805,"count":179,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":2204,"category_count":179,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Canada","category_nicename":"canada","category_parent":1805},{"term_id":104,"name":"Fitness","slug":"fitness","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":104,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":161,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":104,"category_count":161,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Fitness","category_nicename":"fitness","category_parent":0},{"term_id":121,"name":"Mindfulness","slug":"mindfulness","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":121,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":158,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":121,"category_count":158,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Mindfulness","category_nicename":"mindfulness","category_parent":0},{"term_id":24,"name":"Motherhood","slug":"motherhood","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":24,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":734,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":24,"category_count":734,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Motherhood","category_nicename":"motherhood","category_parent":0},{"term_id":1805,"name":"Travel","slug":"travelandadventure","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1859,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":363,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":1805,"category_count":363,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Travel","category_nicename":"travelandadventure","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5841"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5869,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5841\/revisions\/5869"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}