UPDATE: If you think we had snow here…
Friday 6th February 2009, 3:45PM GMT.
Tony Lewis digs his car out after more snowfall
If you think we had snow here, spare a thought for former Shropshire man Tony Lewis.
Mr Lewis, who went to school in Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton, now lives in the Shuswap region of south central British Columbia. “There’s no shortage of the white stuff here,” he says.
It’s certainly a far cry from his time in Shrewsbury in the 1940s and 1950s. Mr Lewis went to school on Featherbed Lane and later Shrewsbury Tech before studying at the Wolverhampton College of Art.
He adds: “I left Britain in the winter of ’59 - ’60 to work in Austria. I worked in various European countries including Germany and Greece (in Greece I worked on the Albanian border for UN) but mostly I worked in Switzerland.
“In Switzerland I learned to ski and climb, and spent all of my spare time through the ’60s climbing and skiing in the Alps. They were heady years for me as I was doing all the big mountains of the Alps – Eiger, Matterhorn, Jungfrau etc., and on difficult routes – my companions were a couple of Germans and a Swiss. We made a good team.
“In ’68 I headed east and spent time in Iran, Afghanistan and India before settling in New Zealand where I worked as a mountain guide and ski guide for Alpine Guides at Mount Cook National Park. There I met my future wife, Judy, also a rock climber, skier and mountaineer – she is from Quebec.
“Judy left New Zealand for work in the Canadian Rockies before going on to Germany to study at the Goethe institute in Bavaria.
“I returned to Switzerland to work, and we re-met there. From there we headed for Canada, living in Banff, Alberta and eventually British Columbia where we initially built a log cabin (wonderful experience) and made this our home for several years.
“We have two children- a boy and girl 24 and 22 years old, both living and working in ski resorts in Europe. We run a printing and graphic arts business – but hope someday to retire and continue our first loves: skiing, climbing and hiking in the mountains.”
According to Mr Lewis, we can think ourselves lucky that we had only a day or two of disruption – where he lives they have months of snow, although it doesn’t appear to slow them down at all. As Mr Lewis says: “Enjoy your snow while it lasts – you may have to wait another 20 years to experience it again!”
For more pictures of Mr Lewis’s Canadian winter, follow our gallery below
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Wow, I’m jealous! What a beautiful area he lives in.
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looks like you need to use my snow blower tony,
nigel,okotoks alberta.
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Bet the Country never came to a standstill.
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no idiots in yellow trucks there
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I’ll send you some photo’s of the snow outside my house. Ooops, forgot I live in Arizona and it’s 80 degrees with blue skies. Enjoy your snow !!
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Neil, we do have yellow trucks in Canada. They are called, snow removal trucks, thank God we have them. I live in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
This year, we have already had enough snow.
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Thanks Tony for reminding us what real snow looks like. Since it takes just a few flurries to shut our schools for days, I wonder if Canadian kids take the whole winter off. Perhaps you could enlighten us on that too?
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im sooo jealous i never even got the chance to build a snow man it defrosted to quick :-( im not that happy about that isnt the snow like over a foot think or is it my eyes deceting me
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Iv always wanted to live somewhere as nice as canada, by the way, love the insulation in picture 3 and the draft excluder in picture 9.
Any chance you got any rooms to rent.
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hi neil
there are plenty of yellow trucks but they keep the main highways clear.
as tony will tell you its a very pretty place to live in the winter and summer.90 + through the summer,thats when you will see bear on the side of the road.
well worth a visit for your next holiday ideas
nigel,okotoks,alberta.
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Having moved from Shropshire to High River in Alberta 2yrs ago its unreal the weather we have,no rain for weeks on end lots of sunshine & definately lots of snow its been snowing on & off since November & now its February but everything still keeps going schools, airports trains highways,some children back home have never seen snow so its exciting for them
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it shows global warming is a loony leftie hoax
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Silvia,
I don’t envy you over there in Nova Scotia .. my wife flew into New Brunswick last November during that first snowstorm – deicing of the aircraft, snowdrifts etc. We get off lightly in BC compared with you guys – our snow is light and fluffy with rarely any wind to cause the snowdrifts and biting cold. Also your winter lasts longer than ours – good luck.
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if you think they had snow in canada, wait until monday night in shropshire, mega white stuff forecast with drifts
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Perhaps we ought to send the council officers and highways bosses out to Canada for a winter to learn how to deal with “proper” snow, then when we have a dusting over here, they might not turn into blubbering wrecks.
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it PROVES the loony left were wrong about global warming
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Brian,
Clearing the roads is an ongoing battle through winter in this part of the world.
Federal and provincial governments, municipalities, Parks’ board staff, weather forecasters, avalanche experts, the Canadian army and private companies work together to keep the country running on time.
Keeping the country’s main artery (trans Canada) open is just one example:
Park’s personnel assess avalanche conditions by skiing into areas far above the highways (in the case of railways it is the railway company’s alpine specialists) relaying the info to ground staff. If avalanche danger is imminent highways are closed, mobile army units are called in and avalanches are triggered (gun mounts at specific points along the highway). The (man made) avalanches of course cover the roads to a height of 30ft or more and contractors then remove the snow with bulldozers, graders etc., the highway is then opened for a few hours before the next onslaught.
This process goes on all through winter at tremendous cost- but the highway is rarely closed for more than a few hours.
Just a small insight for you of the problems faced by Canadians to keep things going through our tough winters.
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Nigel – the bears are not only on the side of the road – we had two on our deck last spring and another one a week later.
Don’t tell the folks back home how beautiful this place is – we already have at least 5 Shropshire families living here in the Shuswap.
And also don’t tell them we produce the best wines here with hundreds of wineries up and down the valley – most people don’t associate Canada with wine making and generally have no idea about our wonderful long summers.
But it is still snowing here – how about
Alberta?
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