I was about 45 minutes from finishing my column from the Whistler World Cup this afternoon when Doug Haney, a PR guy for the U.S. Ski Team, gave me the nudge I needed to take a break.

“We at the U.S. Ski Team encourage skiing,” he said.

I looked at my watch and saw I had about an hour before the lifts closed, just enough time to bag two of my favorite Whistler runs. I took the shuttle to my car, grabbed my skis then jumped on the gondola. It takes three lifts and about 35 minutes to

Read more »

I think I parked next to the janitor at the Whistler World Cup today.

Just saw this story in the Idaho Statesman.

By Ken Dey
Tamarack Resort won’t fail, even though the two investors who own 75 percent of the resort filed bankruptcy last week.
Experts say the Chapter 11 filings by Tamarack CEO Jean-Pierre Boespflug and resort co-founder Alfredo Miguel Afif could keep creditors from taking over and let the two men finish the expensive creation of the resort.
Tamarack is already too well known and established to be closed, said Michael Berry, president of the National Ski Areas Association. Even if Boespflug and Afif fail, plenty of investors would be interested in picking up where they left off.

Read more »

If you like your smelt fresh caught, you might want to head to the Cowlitz River on Saturday.

There are reports that some anglers caught their 10-pound limit last Saturday.

State test dipping early this week at Longview (Gearhart Park) and at Kelso produced no fish, but birds and seals were working the east bank just below the Kelso Bridge and the riffle just upstream from the park.

Samplers got a few smelt per dip (best dip about a pound) at Lexington. Mostly mature males of assorted sizes. There were sea lions/seals and birds present upstream as

Read more »

Hats off to Alice Few and other members of the Tacoma Astronomical Society. They helped an estimated 300 people view last night’s total lunar eclipse at three locations — Lakewood, Puyallup and Olympia.

I hung out with Few at Pierce College in Lakewood and had a great time talking to folks and looking through the telescopes Few and others had set up, as well as using binoculars. We got great views of Saturn — the best I’ve ever seen through a telescope — as well as the Orion nebula, the Pleiades and other celestial sights.

It was great

Read more »

Greetings from Whistler.

The weather was perfect for watching the eclipse tonight.

I actually tried to take a picture of it, but it was hopeless with my generic camera. I won’t even post the picture here. Just imagine blackness with a little white dot in the middle.

But trust me, it was cool seeing the eclipse above Blackcomb Mountain. The only other lights you could see on the horizon were those of groomers preparing the ski runs for Thursday.

After a few minutes of moon gazing I headed into to the Whistler Brewhouse to have dinner

Read more »

Conditions are improving for South Sound residents to see tonight’s total lunar eclipse.

The timing of the event couldn’t be much better. The moon will enter the penumbra, the initial stage of the eclipse at 5:43 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, shortly after it rises. At 7:01 p.m. ithe moon enters the umbra, the darkest part of the Earth’s shadow. The total eclipse ends at 7:51 p.m. The eclipse will come to an end at 9:09 p.m.

Members of the Tacoma Astronomical Society will have telescopes set up at two locations tonight. Some members will be at the

Read more »

Our man on the snow, Craig Hill is in Whistler to cover the World Cup skiing events there this weekend. In tomorrow’s Adventure section he interviews U.S Ski team member Libby Ludlow and her family about what it was like skiing on Crystal Mountain as she grew up.

Check out Craig’s race coverage at our 2010 Winter Olympics blog.

In my column, local kayaker Ken Campbell talks about coming to terms with the shoulder injury that halted his attempt to paddle around Vancouver Island.

We’ll also have updates on chinook fishing seasons in the Columbia River

Read more »