UPDATE: If you think we had snow here...

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 nextpage

I'll warm up the motor: Tony Lewis digging his car out of deep snow. nextpage

Tony Lewis's home after one night's snowfall nextpage

Snow on the roof of Tony Lewis's home in Canada nextpage

Skating in the Rockies in temperatures of -35 nextpage

Here we are measuring snow depth and the various layers to assess avalanche danger. We dug down to about 15 metres that day.nextpage

This is what a Canadian winter is like. Note the skis.nextpage

A picture from last winter, when there was less snow. Mr Lewis says this view of the lake was taken near his home.

The lake has been frozen since November, and it has a shoreline of over 1000 kilometres. nextpage

Snow piled up outside Mr Lewis's home. nextpage

Tony Lewis's wife, Judy, shovelling snow outside their home. Look at the size of those icicles.