Rink Time

We have had steady below freezing temperature for quite a few days in the Bella Coola Valley, with no snow or rain.  Bella Coola has no indoor ice, but these are ideal conditions for the small outdoor ice rink which is operated and maintained by Recreation Commission and numerous volunteers who get out in the freezing cold east wind and get it flooded so that everyone can use it.    That's where my son went who came home for Christmas from places with no shortages of indoor ice, but the appeal of playing hockey with the guys under poor lights, with the wind blowing and the odd fir tree branch landing on the ice was too appealing to miss.  The rink is located just west of the bridge crossing Snootli Creek on Highway 20.   

We hope you enjoyed the lunar eclipse where you were last night.  When it started we had poor visibility due to thin cloud, but then just before total eclipse the cloud completely disappeared and we enjoyed watching it go into totality, then the orange phase and clear views as it started to come out.  Normally Bella Coola is a terrible place to practice celestial gazing  - it seems it is always cloudy when we get an 'event' or the high mountains limit our horizon too much.  Last night we got lucky. Grizzly