Messing about at Apex

On Friday, some of Ned and Charlie's Freestyle team mates were competing at Apex, another ski resort just south of Penticton which sits at the other end of the Okenagen Lake.  We left first thing on Friday morning and drove through the most beautiful countryside, up through an ancient First Nations reserve, along winding mountain paths to Apex, an old gold mining settlement.  It's history is pretty well hidden as now there are just some ski chalets nestling in the forests, and a couple of hotels, its much smaller than Big White and more quaint. We got there about 10 just in time to watch the Big Air competition....skiing off a jump and doing tricks and of course landing it!  Most of the children can do 180's and 360's but there were the more adventurous ones who attempted 720's, with mixed results!  It was amazing to watch and something for Ned and Charlie to aspire to.  After lunch, we all went for a ski, it seemed a shame to go all that way and not explore the slopes.  We were warned that it's locally known as Scrapex and when we got to the top we found out why, blowing a gale so you could hardly move and the snow was all blown off exposing the ice beneath...very noisy! The boys became fiercely loyal to their own mountain and made some pretty rough comparisons about how it wasn't a patch on Big White, so when the lifts closed back home we came.  As we drove up the hill, Big White looked so glamorous compared to Apex, we definitely chose the right mountain!        

 The view down the valley all the way to the Lake.

 This is Ned's friend Lewis launching himself off the jump, my camera was too slow to capture him in mid flight but I did manage to get the landing!