It’s a happy snowy Thursday in Sherwood Park! It’s the day of the week that I update my blog with clock-like accuracy, well not always,
But I am getting better for sure.
A couple of things to talk about, first if you’re not a skier you’ll want to discard this first bit but for those of you who
share a passion for skiing or boarding like I do, here’s a few quick things I have learned about tree skiing…
1. Make sure to were a helmet and goggles, I learned this one the hard way. All it took was a low hanging tree branch on a heavily
treed run to make me into a pro-helmet convert.
2. Have some skiing experience, trees can hurt real bad! Make sure you have the basics down before you snuggle in and dance with the evergreens. You can’t practice hitting trees, so you need to get it right rather quick. The tree’s are not going to move so ski in an area that’s within your ability and if your starting out that likely means gentle slopes and tree’s that are widely spaced . I would suggest being a high intermediate skier before attempting to ski heavily treed areas.
3. Use quick short turns, make your turns around the trees, always be scanning ahead to find your next line through the woods and to
scan for other dangers such as rocks and cliffs.
4. Ski With a Buddy, because it you get stuck in a tree well it can be hard to escape on your own. Keep each other in sight
if a quick rescue is needed.
5. Don’t look at the tree’s, our bodies tend to naturally go where we look. Focus on the spaces between the trees,
not at the trees themselves. This is really important at lower elevations where the tree’s grow closer together.
Keep those tip’s in mind the next time your out at the mountains and you decide to give tree skiing a try. Now to keep
this blog slightly gold related for today….
I have a very simple tip to help you spot fake gold, or gold that is plated over another object like nickel.
What you’ll need is a rare earth magnet, not the type you stick on your fridge with that real estate agents face on it.
Rare magnets can be found at a lot of places, I think Lee Valley Tools in Edmonton carries them and so does Terrick enterprise’s
in Sherwood Park but any tool/hardware type place should have them.
All you do is run that rare earth magnet down the length of that gold chain, or silver chain or pass it over your
ring and if it’s magnetic that means that the item is likely only plated in gold and would not have much
value if sold to a gold buyer.
Sometimes the clasp, the part where a chain connects, can be magnetic because often they put a steel pin into them to
make them stronger. If the clasp is magnetic but the rest of the chain isn’t then your item is likely to be genuine.
Have a great weekend! Let it Snow, Let it snow, Let it snow…