Bryan Crosby Dot Ca

I spent the last two days bombing around Quebec’s Mont Tremblant ski resort.  I wanted to get the Eastern Canadian ski experience while I’m still out east and get a coffee mug to prove it.

Tremblant is an IntraWest instant resort-in-a-can, with the standard pedestrian village,  hot spring spa, tubing, skating and over-priced food stuffs.  

Snow conditions were very good, although some of the terrain became very slick in the late afternoon.  I’m told that Tremblant is usually like that.  Hard ice (not surprisingly) is quite difficult to cut across and I definitely felt my Western weakness and instability when navigating through some blue ice patches.  

Tremblant has the largest number of good skiers I’ve ever seen on a mountain.  All hills have their share of good skiers, and in the case of Western hills, they usually cluster around the alpine bowl and other steep areas.  In the case of Tremblant, they are all over the mountain, 80% know how to carve an arc and hold a bump…and there are lots of them.  I credit the strong racing program at Tremblant, the multi-generational nature of skiing culture in the area, and the hard snow conditions.  I also could argue that the limited terrain options on the mountain has everyone slicing corduroy at a young age.  Boarders, however, are a minority

Despite terrain limitations, it’s a good hill and left me with a fairly decent  impression of Eastern skiing, but I think that two days is enough on the trail system.  Run design is really good where a combination of long verticals and wide cuts creates excellent cruising trails.  The hill could use about an extra foot of snow to cover up the numerous rocks, roots and stumps that are very common throughout moguled and gladed areas.  My skis sure were not happy about those.   

I had a fairly close encounter with a tree somewhere in the glades.  Actually, close encounter is kind of an understatement.  I bear-hugged this tree, bounced off it like a rubber ball hitting a wall and slid a good 15 metres down the hill before realizing what happened.  In my whole life of skiing, I’ve  been sucked into tree-wells, smacked branches, face-planted, yard-saled, landed in open creeks and fallen down rock faces…but I’ve never hit a tree.

I’m quite confident in the trees and know how to move through them, yet snow-snakes attack the best of us and that was what sent into a juvenile maple tree.  I wasn’t moving fast at at all.   My up-hill ski hit a hidden root, knocking it off and causing me to pivot sharply on  my downhill ski.  With one ski off and no balance, the pivot acted somewhat like a sling shot and blasted me counter-clockwise directly into the tree below, which promptly threw me back  down the hill like a rag doll.  I consider myself very lucky.  My upper body took most of the hit, avoiding my face but the shock vibrated up through my helmet and into my head where I probably suffered a mild concussion. 

I now fully appreciate the danger of trees.  I didn’t hit the tree that hard, the force being nothing more than the momentum from the pivot, but it totally knocked the wind right out of me.  If someone hits a tree at even at moderate speed…it’s death.   

I took a 40 minute break after that, but was back at the moguls a run or two later.  Battered ego more than anything, especially after I just said to my friend “just follow me” :-p

Technorati Tags: canada, laurentians, mont tremblant, mountains, quebec, skiing, travel

Tags: canada, laurentians, mont tremblant, mountains, quebec, skiing, travel

Yeah, it has been out for awhile, but in my ignorance I had no idea its saturation level into some countries, notably the USA, Japan, Australia and Europe.  I’m quite impressed. 

I’m going to use Cape Vincent as an example of some of the places Street View has documented.  Cape Vincent is in the US, just south of Kingston.  Some friends and I cycled there in October via Wolfe Island.  Cape Vincent is quite rural and while not really in the middle of nowhere, it probably won’t make the any 1000 places to see before you die lists (although it is a nice, quaint example of rural America…apparently wealthy too, I might add).

Canadian street penetration remains very limited.  However, if US rural coverage is any indication, in a few years one will be able to drive the Alaska Highway without ever stepping into a vehicle. 

Street View Greenland would be cool too.

Technorati Tags: google, google street view, maps, travel

Tags: google, google street view, maps, travel

My colleague and I gave our final presentation about Fudan University and the China exchange at noon today. I’ve never been sad after a presentation.  Usually I’m ecstatic.

In some ways, this presentation could represent the end of my China adventures…and I’m quite sad about that.  Standing up in front of the dozen or so interested SURP students, I couldn’t help but think “Man, you folks have no idea how jealous and envious I am”.  Experiencing China for the first time, perhaps going abroad for the first time, or even just going abroad for another round.  I want to be you!

Obviously there is an element of never-say-never and the fog of life tends to cast an interesting shroud over the future,  but I’m not seeing too many opportunities for international adventures in the next coming years.  There are other things I’m looking forward to, and there are also important things I’ve been neglecting in Canada, but travelling, seeing new things, and strapping on the complete freedom of a backpack was such an important part of the past years and (I could smugly argue, myself) that it…well…sucks that it could be over.

There is just something about an international life…I don’t think it is a good good long-term choice…but man…they are unique and exciting.

Looking forward to debt, meaningless research filled with academic bureaucracy,  property payments, owning a car (ouch), general administration nonsense (fill out this, fill out that, ask permission here, ask permission there), cubicles, short-holidays, loss of mobility, 9-5, credit, discussing investments/RRSP’s while wanting to drive an ice axe into my head,  commutes, zoning by-laws…

Real life?

There are equally annoying things about life abroad too and a plethora of good reasons for being in Canada…but I don’t think I’ve ever been this nostalgic…I usually never get nostalgic.

Technorati Tags: career, china, fudan university, future, life, personal, presentation, rat race

Tags: career, china, fudan university, future, life, personal, presentation, rat race

I had a great opportunity to hear Brigadier-General Jonathan Vance speak yesterday via the School of Policy Studies (the folks who inhabit the bottom four floors of Robert Sutherland).  Given the nature of campus activism among under-graduates and media flamers in regards to the often touchy topic of Afghanistan and Canada, the talk was advertised on a limited basis to keep the haters out (you know the kind of folks I mean…one can be critical of the mission, but at least be civil about it) and the more open, balanced and level-headed in.  It’s quite special to get such a chance as I believe they keep their speaking circuit to a minimum.

Like most Generals, Vance is well-read, well-educated, well-spoken and very rationale and pragmatic when it comes to discussing the situation in Kandahar.  He provided an brief outline of the events of previous strategies employed from 2006-2009 and spoke about General McCrystal’s (apparently General Petraeus’ protégé) new approach to the situation.

He discussed the immense complexities of the conflict, the fragmented and under-strength efforts of past ISAF/Alliance initiatives and where Canada wants to be/accomplish by 2011.

Some interesting items that I took away.

• ISAF made friends with the wrong folks in 2006.  Friends with people the local population wasn’t friends with.  The war waged was counter-terrorism, not counter-insurgency.
• The Taliban is a player, but not nearly as large a player as one might think.  The stage is opaque with a myriad of actors, gangs, corrupt officials, tribalism and narcotics among others.   
• 85% of the population of Kandahar province is centered very close to Kandahar City.  As the core of counter-insurgency is to protect the people, this is where ISAF/Alliance efforts must concentrate on holding Kandahar and it’s suburbs.
• This leads to the Canada’s deliverable by 2011 – A stabilizing Kandahar city and surrounding suburbs (I wish I had a map of their goal).
• This stabilizing area consists of the city proper and surrounding suburbs/villages.  Villages are targeted for heavy infrastructure investments beginning with large, visible signature projects like water canals and wells.
• Low home front support for the mission is a product of media failure to properly convey a detailed overview of the Canada’s 2011 goal.
• The Canadian battle-group is the best equipped, most agile force in Afghanistan and is the only organization to have US forces under direct command.

I like the last point.  I follow our folks in Afghanistan and while I’m aware of McCrystal’s much vaunted urban strategy, there has been nothing regarding what Canada is planning to accomplish by 2011.  Vance outlined it in less than 10 minutes.  A simple map.  A simple strategy, and based on his opinions, it is apparently working.

I built up enough courage and asked a question about the stabilizing (model) villages being invested in regards to types of infrastructure being constructed, how they were being built.  I sort of have a latent interest in post-conflict urban planning.  Actually, luxury interest is a more appropriate term as it is an interest that is quite far from the task at hand (ie. Canadian planning, finishing my report, and getting a job).

I got a “good question” response :-p

Apparently the Canadian military is the only organization willing to tackle mosque repair and reconstruction.

Proper water facilities is of main concern, as is adequate roads and transportation networks.  One thing I found interesting was the addition of solar-powered lamp posts in the markets to extend their business hours.  Micro-loans to women for poultry farms is another. 

I still have concerns regarding the sustainability of the strategy.  I still believe that Greg Mortenson’s (Three Cups of Tea fame) efforts represent the golden standard of development in conflict stricken areas. Mr. Mortenson can travel and operate in areas no other western organization (government, military, NGO) can based solely on his 20+ solid years of building relationships in the region.  He is completely trusted.

Canada rotates new guys in every 10 months or so resulting in a substantial number of new faces that have to be introduced.  I’m skeptical about building a meaningful relationship in that area of the world in 10 months.  Even if a unit is rotated back into country, they will have been absent for about a year…and they won’t be keeping in contact via Facebook.

I’m curious about how they maintain relationships within the transient nature of deployment.

Best question goes to a fellow who drilled Vance about what ISAF/Alliance is doing on a regional basis (think Pakistan, Iran, India) and the notion that Pakistan, for example, is not too inclined to take the fight into Waziristan because of the perception that ISAF won’t stick around.

Really good presentation, although there was an element of government spinning at work. 

*General Vance was commander of Joint Task Force Afghanistan from February to November 2009.

Technorati Tags: afghanistan, canada, general jonathan vance, ISAF, kandahar, military, military planning, queens university

Tags: afghanistan, canada, general jonathan vance, ISAF, kandahar, military, military planning, queens university

Map and raster geek alert. The Province of BC has posted a bunch of their geo data online @ http://geobc.bc.ca

Distributed in kind of a webGIS format, the webpage presently incorporates parcel data, forest covers, health services into Microsoft Bing Maps.  Fairly basic data set at the moment, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it expanded in the future.  Some data analysis is available via a link to BC Hectares.  There is also some free .kmz files which can be downloaded and inserted into Google Maps as an overlay.  I haven’t played around with that too much yet.

The real benefit is the high quality ortho images.  I was able to drill right down to the building level.

Mackenzie BC – Land Fabric

Azu, BC – Land Fabric

Powder King and Azu Subdivision…kind of 3D (old photos of the area)

Technorati Tags: azu, bc, canada, geobc, gis, mackenzie, maps, powder king, urban planning

Tags: azu, bc, canada, geobc, gis, mackenzie, maps, powder king, urban planning

Wandering around the downtown yesterday landed myself inside a rather busy Indigo bookstore.  Whenever I’m in an Indigo/Chapters I have a routine route I take.  I’ll wander the new releases (trade/paper/hard), move through the ‘theme’ tables, then meander upstairs the the ultra ‘no-one-would-pay-normal-price’ discounted publications.  This is followed by a stop at the travel section.  This particular branch of Indigo didn’t stock the infamous LP Afghanistan (I saw a copy in Riga, Latvia a few years ago) but it does have LP British Columbia/Yukon.

I remember reading somewhere quite awhile ago a lament regarding the very unflattering description given to Prince George by LP writers in a previous edition so I was curious to see the description in this latest edition.  The editors, probably acting upon loads of PG hate mail, have apparently revamped the description, opting instead to focus on the rich First Nation history of the area in lieu of the detailed description the areas pulp mills.

My hometown, Mackenzie, also makes a paragraph in the book.  Not surprisingly though, the majority of that paragraph is dedicated to the Mackenzie Tree Crusher.

The Tree Crusher…is…well…unique…in its own way.  It is definitely a conversation piece and it probably does drag the tourists in with it’s name alone.  Obviously, as a landmark (or a item in general) its not really keeping with the times…and it’s probably not really what one would like in the Lonely Planet which (love it or hate it) is the definitive independent international travel companion.  No mention of the amazing easily accessible alpine of Morfee Mountain or the award winning snow of Powder King.  Nope…the international image of Mackenzie is a giant machine that pushes over mature timber and grinds it into the forest floor. 

Technorati Tags: british columbia, Kingston, lonely planet, mackenzie, powder king, prince george, travel, tree crusher

Tags: british columbia, Kingston, lonely planet, mackenzie, powder king, prince george, travel, tree crusher

Sherlock Holmes has some great cg visuals of the late-nineteenth century city.  I’ve always been interested in that particular historical time period probably because the heavy mechanical stylization of the period includes the product and tech ancestors of much of the items that surround us today.   Filthy?  Unsanitary?  Absolutely.  Would I want to live that period?  Probably not.

Holmes taking it to crime on the top of the half-built London Bridge. 

However as Mr. Holmes dashes through the decrepit London brick warehouses and dockyards, I can help but think that some of those very same buildings are now the hippest, most expensive, most coveted places to live in a city.   Steam punk (love it, hate it) takes a lot of inspiration from that industrial period also seems to have more of a presence these days.  Bar 88 (the bar in Shanghai as of summer 2009) is designed in steam punk fashion…although barely anyone knows that.  Steam punk is one of those styles that everyone has probably seen before, but didn’t know that there was an actual word for it.

* update – damn Wikipedia…some interesting sub-genres of steam punk…
atompunk, biopunk, clockpunk, dieselpunk and not necessarily a derivative, but its sounds cool; the retro-futuristic.

*update II -  Stone punk, bronze punk…

*update II – Steampunk pics

Technorati Tags: industrial cities, london bridge, movies, sherlock holmes, steam punk, urban planning

Tags: industrial cities, london bridge, movies, sherlock holmes, steam punk, urban planning

CBC radio has been covering the Haitian earthquake disaster around the clock.  For the past two or three days, one of the most discussed talking-head topics was the seemingly slow response by the international community in physically importing aid into the country.  Aside from the tiny airport and minimal port facilities, one commentator mentioned that coordination between the dozens/hundreds of private/NGO/governments in providing relief was quite poor.  The chain of command is shaky, or non-existent.  The UN, in conjunction with local government is probably suppose to act as a headquarters/coordination entity in such events, yet with the Haitian government in ruins and the UN HQ in a similar state

It seems with large natural disasters becoming annual event that hit the most vulnerable countries, it might be time to develop a dedicated international disaster response organization that would form a command hierarchy that all aid/rescue/security groups would fall under and take orders from.  It wouldn’t be a standing disaster response army, but rather a command&control unit delegated with the task of efficiently moving and allocating international resources throughout the affected area.  There would be no maverick organizations or individuals in the disaster area.  While the Sichuan EQ in 2008 is not a very good comparison, one of the issues affecting response was the flood of well-intentioned, yet naive volunteers into Beichuan.

Obviously there would be sovereignty issues and command concerns regarding military units (the US armed forces usually doesn’t place it’s troops under non-US command).

Maybe there already is something like this.

Interactive before and after satellite images.

Technorati Tags: disaster response, earthquake, haiti, natural disasters

Tags: disaster response, earthquake, haiti, natural disasters

Ant tribes in the Chinese suburbs

They are like ants: clever, weak and living in groups

A new term (for me, at least) describing a sub-cohort of China’s massive migrant worker population.  From my understanding of the article, name is applied to the 22-29 year old, largely rural floating population in China’s major cities.  Rather than forming the minions of construction and labour workers, the ant tribe are recent university/college graduates a product of the China’s massive increase in post-secondary enrollments earlier in the decade.

Extremely poor salaries combined with the extremely high cost of living have forced many belonging to this social cohort to the outskirts of the cities into China’s latest migrant urban spaces.    

Technorati Tags: ant tribes, china, migrant workers, urban planning

Tags: ant tribes, china, migrant workers, urban planning

Nice to see hear of folks who still carry compasses around with them when they travel.  Moscow Times:

Another attempt at one of the most discussed and coveted travel routes ends in failure.  Sorry, only Ewan MacGregor-types allowed.  Actually, I’ve looked into this possibility in the past as a potential “interesting path home” and several routes exist…all of which require a solid month’s salary (US$$) and quite possibly the donation of one’s life to the Alaskan King Crab feeding program.

I wonder where this fellow was planning on obtaining an American visa?  Reminds me of this Japanese guy I travelled on the Trans-Mongolian Railway in 2006 on my way to Mongolia.  His grand plan was to circle around through Siberia and drop back down into Japan via the Sakhalin Islands. He hadn’t yet obtained a Russian visa, but was surprisingly optimistic about receiving one in Ulan Bator.  Maybe visas come easily to Japanese passport holders, but getting a Russian visa anywhere is a rather obnoxious ordeal and foreign embassies Ulan Bator are notorious for their inconsistency in issuing travel visas to anyone going anywhere for any reason.

Travel visas is such areas of the world require rather extensive research…even if you are the holder of a powerful passport.  Yet it never ceases to amaze me how many people seem to think they can just waltz up to a consulate or embassy and buy one.  It isn’t Southeast Asia.   

*added a random post generator to get a little replay value on some old stuff.

Technorati Tags: alaska, beijing, bering strait, china, russia, trans-mongolian railway, travel, travel style, traveling

Tags: alaska, beijing, bering strait, china, russia, trans-mongolian railway, travel, travel style, traveling