Randonnée: Joffre lakes

Parmi les belles randonnées que j’ai eu l’occasion de faire dans les environs de Vancouver, la piste de Joffre lakes figure certainement en tête de liste. 6 heures de marche aller-retour (11 km), une élévation généralement douce (environ 700 mètre de dénivelé sur 5.5 km), et de merveilleux paysages. La piste passe près de 3 lacs aux eaux turquoises, et s’arrête sous le Matier glacier, qui est une vue à couper le souffle lorsqu’en arrière-plan d’un de ces lac. Si vous avez la chance de faire cette randonnée par une belle journée ensoleillée, le contraste ciel bleu, glacier blanc enneigé et lac turquoise est encore plus formidable. C’est également possible d’y camper, dans un sol plutôt rocailleux, évidemment c’est premier arrivé, premier servi. L’altitude à cet endroit étant de 2000 mètre environ, je suggère des vêtements chauds pour y passer la nuit!

Le chemin est bien entretenu, particulièrement au début. Le premier lac turquoise est rapidement atteint, à environ 5 minutes du stationnement. Entre le premier et le 2e lac on retrouve un chemin plus accidenté, notamment une zone de grosses roches que l’on doit franchir en sautillant sur les roches. Puis on arrive au 2e lac, très photogénique avec un glacier au loin qui surplombe la vue. Par la suite, on rejoint facilement le 3e lac, qui n’est pas très éloigné, environ 1 km. On longe le lac dans toute sa longueur jusqu’à son extrémité sud, sous le glacier. La vue de ce lac à partir de cet endroit vaut vraiment le détour (voir photo). Une toilette sèche est également disponible à cet endroit en cas d'urgence :)

Pour s’y rendre: Le stationnement est situé à environ 1 heure de Whistler (environ 2 :30 heures de Vancouver), en suivant la route 99. En approche de Pemberton à partir de Whistler, tournez à droite à l’intersection vers Mount Currie. En ville, tournez à droite vers Duffey Lake et Lillooet, toujours sur la 99. La route grimpe brusquement, continuez une courte distance vers le stationnement du BC Parks Joffre Lake à droite de la route.

The Guardian Cycle #1: The Dark Moon by Julia Gray

This book was a pleasant surprise.

I got it from a second-hand bookstore prior to leave for a long flight, and my rule that day was to pick up a book from an author or a series I have never heard about. It turned out to be a great choice :) The world is original; the civilization is built upon islands that are floating around the ocean according to tides that are caused by the interaction of four moons. These four moons do not only control the movement of the islands, since their interaction will also affects how crops will grow, as well as other events such as earthquake predictions, and thus, the day-today life on these islands is based on the astronomical study of these moons.

The story is not extraordinary, twins are born on a night were a great hero (the Guardian) was predicted to be born. The first-born is a perfectly formed baby while is brother is a cripple with strange eyes, and thus he is discarded into a mental institution in favor of the beautiful baby that is obviously going to grow up as the prophesized hero.... or is he? Both children have hidden talents, but when the Moons start to behave strangely and the Islands begin to spin out of control, in danger of colliding with the main continents, the prophecy begins to unfold.

Some story developments became obvious after a few chapters; however, what I liked the most was the mysteries surrounding this world. From time to time we get glimpses of past events, 400 years ago, that shaped the current civilization and prophecies, and you just want to know more about it. The mysterious fixed landmass called continent, home of barbarian civilization (or so we think) are also intriguing. Honestly while reading I felt like when I was watching the TV show "Lost" and that some new elements were added up from time to time and not very much explained, and it kept me going on wanting some more.

Moving forward to the second book, I believe there are lots of things yet to discover about this series!

Book review: The Infinity Gate by Sara Douglass

Before talking about the Infinity Gate, the conclusion to the Darkglass Mountain trilogy by Sara Douglass, just a quick word about her previous works that led to this trilogy.

First of all I liked very much the first trilogy, “Battleaxe”, “Enchanter” and “Starman”. The story, embedded in the magic of prophecy, surprised me a few times and kept me going for the entire trilogy without being bored. Sure, the characters are very black and white, it’s a good fairy tale ending-type of story, but still I liked the originality of the magic system, and the good feeling I had with the way the land Tencendor was created, and the variety of its magical beings.

On the other hand, I hated the second trilogy “Sinner”, “Pilgrim”, and “Crusader”, plain and simple to me it sucked. Just to make a quick summary, everything that was built in the first trilogy, and that you came to care about, is completely and utterly destroyed, and everyone is killed. I mean, it’s not bad enough that Tencendor and its people are destroyed, the land mass is even wiped out of the map! It was so depressing it was not even funny. I usually don’t mind characters or world being killed or destroyed in books, like, I remember being shocked by the Land’s destruction in Covenant’s second trilogy but it was written in such a way it was made as part of the plot. However in this case there is something about the writing that makes it just pointless destruction. And it feels like reading the first trilogy was a waste of time, even though it’s a better story. And at least in Covenant’s book there was a chance of rebuilding, not so in this case when the island is under the sea!

Anyway, Douglass then put in place the elements of her third trilogy by first writing two stand alone stories (“Beyond the hanging wall”, and “Threshold”) where she introduces characters and back-story that are used in this new trilogy. Overall, these two books are nothing exceptional, but still good reads.

Now, to be fair I liked the first two books of this new trilogy, “Serpent bride” and “Twisted citadel”. Not as good as the first trilogy, but certainly better than the second one. Among the bad things are characters that suddenly come out of nowhere from the previous trilogies, even though they should all be dead, like Icariis that were conveniently elsewhere when Douglass destroyed everything, and also, amazingly, the icarii enchanter Stardrifter, that was last seen killed and dismembered at the end of the previous trilogy. I was not convinced by the explanations on his survival….And last, but not the least, the famous Battleaxe himself, Axis Sunsoar, that she brings from the dead… What the heck really… did she regret what she did with Tencendor and tried to bring these people back? It sure looked that way to me.
This last book of the trilogy, “Infinity gate” was a good read, but also a little of a letdown. There was a chance for epic battles considering the massive armies walking around, but nothing large scale happens rather some individual actions are taking places. A few copouts too, out of nowhere a 1-year old baby is the most powerful enchanter ever born and provides the solution to the final problem. Some good things too, I thought the redemption of the Skraelings was neat, the ending was also left open ended, which may be annoying for some, but I always like that since it leaves room for the imagination. With the glimpse we got of the young Stardancer’s power combined with the One and Ravenna’s baby stuck in the Nightmare world, you can expect that Douglass had in mind a confrontation between these characters in a future book. Considering her unfortunate terminal illness whether or not we ever see this book is pure speculation right now. I certainly wish her the best.

Vivre à Vancouver

La question que l'on me pose le plus souvent sur ma vie à Vancouver est la suivante: Est-ce si dispendieux de vivre à Vancouver?

La réponse courte est oui.

La raison principale du coût de la vie élevé est l'immobilier, qui est complètement démesuré ici. Par exemple, dans mes recherches pour acheter un condominium dans Fairview, ou Kitsilano, qui sont deux quartiers à 30 minutes de marche du centre-ville, je ne trouve rien en dessous de 500 000$ pour un logement de 800 pieds carrés et deux chambres. A Québec, je serais propriétaire d'une superbe maison pour ce prix là! Alors imaginez le prix d'une maison.... les bungalows valent des millions.

Par contre, si on regarde l'épicerie, je ne vois pas tellement de différence avec le Québec, à moins de chercher des items spécialisés, genre fromage du Québec. Les restaurants sont également dans les même prix, même que si on est amateur de sushis, on les aura moins cher ici. Comme il n'y a pas d'hiver (la plus basse température est aux alentours de 3-5 degrés celsius en Janvier), on a pas besoin de pneus d'hiver, pas besoin de payer pour du chauffage, ou de contrat de déneigement. De plus, pas besoin de payer 1500$ pour aller skier dans l'Ouest à Whistler, on y est déjà :) Pas besoin de linge super chaud non plus, j'ai d'ailleurs troqué mon Kanuk pour un ensemble de ski plus léger car j'avais beaucoup trop chaud avec mon Kanuk, même à Whistler!

Donc le gros coup à donner est l'immobilier, ensuite c'est très comparable avec la vie dans l'est.