Jan 8 - more car troubles

It was a cold day skiing. Sandy couldn't seem to stay warm. I think that's mostly because she's tired ... all the consecutive days take a lot out of you. We put in a lot of vertical when we're out there -- yesterday she put in two top-to-bottom = 10k + 6 runs on the top chairs = 15k / 25k. I did an extra 4 or so runs over that, so I'm at 35k+. She would sit in the small warming chalet at the top of the Stoke chair -- it was a beautiful sunny day, so a half hour enjoying the view isn't too much of a chore.

It was 2:30 by the time we were off the hill. They would have just stopped loading the top chairs. The freestyle qualifying runs had been held during the day on Vertigo, which is that partly gladed steep & deep part between the Stoke and Ripper chairs. We stopped a couple of times and watched skiers come down but it was too cold to do that much. The warming chalet at the top was full most of the time with competitors, often with their boots off, sometimes grousing that they had no way of knowing what was happening on the hill so they had to stand a lot waiting around. We ate lunch up there too and late in the day when we went in, I took off my boots and thawed my left big toe on the electric heaters. I then did two more runs while Sandy stayed warm, then we headed to the bottom. Sandy realized after the day was over that she should have worn her one-piece. That's what I've been wearing the last two days myself (mine, not hers !).

The next time that we come out to this area we'll probably do a sampling trip, skiing at a few different resorts. This was interesting, better than we expected after our experience of the first day. It will be interesting to watch them add lifts and runs and then come back for another go at it. One of the times that I was headed up alone I talked to a fellow on the char who was from Nova Scotia. When I asked him if he worked in town, he replied "not during the winter". He works building ski lifts -- ha -- had worked on the construction of the Ripper and the lower Revelation Gondola the prior winter. As he said -- they put in 12 months worth of work during the Spring/Summer/Fall. This is a good place for him to be since they expect to ad 22 more lifts.

When we got to our car to load up, the people at the next car struck up a conversation with us. They had Quebec plates on their car and spend their winters out here. We talked about restaurants and as it happened, ran into them at the Rockport Grill (bottom of the hill) at dinner. What was their attraction to us ? Well, for one thing 99.99% of the people on the hill are 20 years younger than we are. At Whistler, you see groups of "older" people (like us), but not here. Retired people take on roles of "Mountain Host" at Whistler too, and escort groups around the mountain, presumably earning their lift ticket and no more.

We stopped at the liquor store and picked up a couple of bottles of wine on the way back to the cottage, relaxed there for a while; Sandy used the hot tub; we showered and headed back to the hill, and or restaurant, a little after 6pm. On the way through town suddenly the car's engine got much louder, varying with engine revs. Long story short, as I found out after dinner and doing some internet research, the engine cooling fan has a clutch which allows it to spin freely at highway speeds but also allows for a non-linear increase in the fan speed with the engine speed. In other words, the clutch had failed. There are two types of failure, as I found out. The first is when the fan stops working altogether and the engine overheats. The other is when the fan locks, which is our situation, and the fan spins too quickly. At highway speeds in a high gear / low rev, it's not so noticeable but the question is ... how long can we drive like that. Further research suggested that if you rev the engine too high, fan blades can actually break off and go through the radiator. Great.

When we stopped at the hill on our way to dinner I lifted the hood and used my flashlight to check out what was happening. I realized then that it was a fan problem but had not done the research at that point. I ate my dinner, which was quite good by the way, worrying all the while about the car. We're a little ways from a BMW dealer ! It should have been a quite relaxing good-bye dinner, as it were, to this part of our trip and instead this was preying on my mind. I hoped against hope that something was just stuck and when we came back out it would have solved itself ... but no, it was still roaring. I kept my revs low and my fingers crossed as we drove home to our cottage.

Once there, it was still bothering me. We talked about options -- if it's driveable, make it to Calgary and a dealer on Friday -- today -- and if they have the part, get the car fixed. Talk to my dealer first thing today and get some advice on driving the car like this. On the way home from dinner I had wanted to stop at that car wash and rinse off the front of the engine, again hoping that dirt & gunge was causing the problem, but we'd left all our change at home. After doing the research, I decided to head down to the car wash. On the way there, which of course is about 6km downhill, I stayed in 5th and 6th gears, keeping the revs low, pondering the situation. When I got to the town, back on the flat, I shifted down expecting to hear the roar of the fan ... but it wasn't there ! Could I be lucky enough that it has self corrected ? I went to the car wash, did same, stopped at a gas station and gassed up, checked the oil, putting in my second liter of the trip, and bought some windshield washer anti-freeze. The engine behaved itself on the way home to the cottage ... who knows what will happen at this point.

It's 6:30. Sandy is still sleeping. She'll be awake soon and I'll call my dealer and get some advice. I'll call a dealer in Calgary and find out if they have the part, so that if it dies between here and there, I'll know my options. Right now I'm crossing everything that I can think of ... fingers, legs, eyes ...

We'll leave sometime this morning, stopping in town on the way to shop, but that won't be a long stop.

We have 6050 kms / 3750 miles in front of us and until we get to the last 1500 miles, we have stretches where we're a long ways from any civilization.

Onward ... with trepidation.