Outdoor Vanisle

Gab360 Kayak race

2011-08-15T09:26:00-07:00

The Gabriola 360 event takes place on August 21, 2011 - It is a free event in support of BC's maritime community. This Fun race is designed for both serious and not so serious paddlers, although, the twenty nautical mile course demands a good level of fitness and skill. The paddling class is open to any kind of human-powered open boat, while the 'Raider' class allows for any combination of paddling, rowing, and sailing in open boats. There is also a three-part team relay with stops/changes at Pilot Bay and Brickyard Beach.

There is more information available on the Silva Bay Kayaking site.

Mt Washington open for Canada Day Weekend

2011-06-29T11:41:00-07:00

For the first time ever, Mount Washington Alpine Resort will open the mountain to skiers and boarders on the Canada Day weekend. The resort will open for riding from 11am to 4pm on July 1-3 and tickets will be $25 per person. The mountain will determine what lifts will be spinning closer to the event dates.

So if you are going through withdrawals, get up there and get some summer turns in :)

Monthly Meetups

2011-06-05T17:50:00-07:00

For those not aware, OVI hosts monthly meetups the first Wednesday of every month upstairs at the Longwood Brewpub in Nanaimo, and occasionally in Victoria and Courtenay as well. These meetups are pretty casual and provide a venue for old and new friends to get together over some drinks and food to socialize, chat, plan trips, find other people to try new activities with, etc.

Remember, OVI is a community - there are no memberships and everyone is welcome!

Reminders and dates are posted on the meetup page of this site as well as to the OVI Facebook Group - which if you are a member of, you'll be automatically invited to each meetup when it's posted. Occasionally we'll have presentations, and if you have something you'd like to present - let us know.

Hope to see you there!

Speak up against Coal Mining on Vancouver Island

2011-05-24T19:38:00-07:00

Public meetings about coal mining on vancouver island are taking place, including a questions and answers period around 6:00 – 10:00 p.m. This is your opportunity to show up and have your say about the issue. The presentations are by BC Environmental Assessment Office, Canada Environmental Assessment Agency, and Compliance Coal Corporation (Raven Coal)

2:00 – 10:00 p.m. Monday, May 30 - Florence Filberg Centre, Courtenay
2:00 – 10:00 p.m. Thursday, June 2 - Port Alberni Athletic Hall
2:00 – 10:00 p.m. Friday, June 3 - Union Bay Community Hall

More information

Reels in Motion

2011-05-24T13:53:00-07:00

For the first time ever, sit under the stars on the Legislature lawn and watch a film on a giant 20-foot-wide screen. The Victoria Film Festival unleashes Reels in Motion, a screening of bike-themed films with big air, BMX, and acrobatics. Join us at the finish line of the Hotel Grand Pacific Harbour Sprint Series. May 27th, 2011. 9pm.

More information on the VFF Website

Chris & Brads No Horses Shootout

2011-05-11T12:58:00-07:00

The Fifth annual Chris & Brad’s No Horses Shootout is happening on Sunday, May 22nd. This is a grassroots event, ride at your own risk! You can register on the himba.ca website (scroll to the bottom of the page).

Puntledge River Festival

2011-05-10T14:43:00-07:00

The Puntledge River Festival takes place May 28-29 in Courtenay, B.C., on the famed Puntledge river. Playboating, Creeking and just good old river running. This is the last year of the recreational use study. Spread the word and look forward to having a good time out here again this year.

There will be shuttles from Maple Pool Campsite, and there is a lot more information on the surfkayak.org event info posting!

Here is a video for the event:

Paddlefest 2011

2011-05-04T08:52:00-07:00

Paddlefest 2011 is coming up on May 14 & 15th -- is a weekend festival with activities and events for paddlers of all ages and paddling abilities. Located at Transfer Beach in beautiful Ladysmith, British Columbia, participants can attend this free event and enjoy a variety of activities including vendor/trade show, workshops, demonstrations and fun activities.

This year Vancouver Island Paddlefest hosts its 13th year! There are on-land and on-water workshops offered both Saturday and Sunday to help you hone your paddling strokes, pack your boat, practice rescue techniques and many other helpful tips.

There is lots more information including the schedule available on the paddlefest website. In addition to the festival, the weekend marks the opening of the BC Marine Trails network.

Mud Run Ride in Campbell River

2011-04-13T10:42:00-07:00

Spring is here, which means it's time to get muddy! On May 7th in Campbell River there is a fun team race called Mud Run Ride :

You and a partner alternate between trail running and some easy mountain biking. You switch riding / running at a series of challenges on course. Past challenge examples are a ladder climb, run a set of tires, knock down some cans or a puzzle.

You don't have to wait for your partner at each challenge, you have to wait for the bike you share. If you run the first leg, at the first challenge you will need to wait for your partner to get there on the bike, then you would do the second leg running. And so forth at each challenge. The final challenge at the finish line will be our wall and slide, and of course the MUD pit, you have to do these challenges together before crossing the finish line.

Everyone gets a prize, it's all random, some are small and some are large and it doesn't matter how fast you are. We do have special prizes for the top winners, and draw prizes at our post race party

You can register online, or check out more information from the Mud Run Ride website!

Free night skiing @ Mount Washington

2011-03-31T20:25:00-07:00

Night skiing tomorrow night is free at Mount Washington!

From their site: "Bring a donation for the Foodbank and night ski for FREE!!! April 1st 2011 from 3:30pm -10pm everyone who brings a donation to help the Foodbank rides for free. This is no April fools joke!"

Traverse of Big Raven Plateau

2011-03-07T17:43:00-08:00

For those of you who missed Gord Johnson's presentation of his Mount Edziza hike at the OVI meetup in February, you can catch it on March 17th at the Institute for Coastal Research (ICR) Lounge on the 4th floor of building 305 at VIU.

The presentation is about an hour long and is on their 8 day backpacking traverse across Big Raven Plateau in Mount Edziza Provincial park, in northwest B.C.

Mount Cain Telefest

2011-02-14T17:58:00-08:00

Mount Cain's annual telefest is this weekend, and it looks like they will have some pretty good snow for it.. For those who have never been, it's worth checking out - lots of shenanigans, races, and by the looks of it, powder!

The festival is on Saturday, Feb, 19th. More information on conditions and event schedules is available on the Mount Cain website.

Strathcona Centennial Expedition Presentation

2011-02-09T10:48:00-08:00

In August 1910 an expedition through the mountainous heart of Vancouver Island returned to Victoria and filed a glowing report to the Provincial Cabinet. The resulting legislation passed in March 1911 was the birth of Strathcona Park the first of BC’sProvincial Parks. In July & August 2010 a group of British Columbians from all walks of life retraced that expedition to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of BC Parks. Joinus at Dover Bay Secondary School, 7 pm Thursday, February 24, and be among the first tosee the documentary of the Centennial Expedition.

Journeying from Campbell River by canoe up the lakes to Strathcona Park the Strathcona Centennial Expedition climbed to the summit of Crown Mountain on July 29th, 2010 exactly one hundred years to the day that the Hon. Price Ellison and his pioneering party had in 1910. Continuing through Strathcona Park the expedition covered around 300 km, finishing in Port Alberni, the journey took a total of three weeks to complete.

Join Philip Stone as he tells the story of this grand adventure with slides and a documentary video on the expedition at Dover Bay Secondary School on Thursday, February 24, at 7pm. The evening is supported by the Island Mountain Ramblers. Admission is $10 with proceeds going to the Strathcona Centennial Legacy Fund.

There is a Facebook event if you want to RSVP or share it with your friends!trathcona Centennial Expedition

VPO in Nanaimo Clearance

2011-02-09T10:42:00-08:00

Valhalla Pure Outfitters in Nanaimo is having their end of year clearance sale this weekemd from Friday (11th) til Sunday (13th)!

They will be having tonnes of great deals throughout the store:
40% off Clothing
30% off Footwear
30% off Tents, Backpacks and Sleeping Bags

VPO is located in the same parking lot as the Longwood Brewpub, at 5773 Turner Rd Nanaimo, BC

Backcountry Festival a great success

2011-02-06T18:50:00-08:00

February usually brings good snow and nice conditions at Mt. Cain... This year however we were faced with spring conditions, but even in the face of poor conditions the festival turned out better than we had hoped! We had an amazing turnout for the raffle, the lodge at Mount Cain was completely full, by far the most people I have ever seen in there.

This means we are very confident we have raised enough money to put proper backcountry signs and gates at Mt Cain, as well as the snow fencing to designate proper boundary lines, and possibly even have some money left over to donate to the Island Avalanche Bulletin. We will post more details on the website once we've sorted out how much everything is going to cost, but we're pretty stoked!

Thank you to all the sponsors that made this happen, to Mt. Cain for hosting the event, and to Sharon Schraud for providing an amazing buffet for the festival. A big special thanks to Jessica Evans for coordinating the whole event and contacting most of the sponsors. We could not have done it without her!

We are planning on making this an annual event and already have some great ideas for next year! Thanks to everyone who made it up, and hope to see you (and those who couldn't make it) again next year! For those on the island, hopefully we will see you at one of our meetings in Nanaimo or Victoria, dates and details are always posted in advance here on the website.

We will have more information and pictures following once we get our wet gear dried and everything in order :)

Vanisle Backcountry Festival this weekend

2011-02-01T21:13:00-08:00

This weekend we are putting on the very first Vancouver Island Backcountry Festival at Mount Cain. We're getting pretty excited as the weekend gets closer! We're doing a gear raffle (with lots of gear, over $4,500 worth of stuff to give away) to raise funding to help the Mt. Cain volunteer patrol put up backcountry gates, signs, and snow fences to help properly mark the boundary and provide people who travel there with the information they need.

There will also be representatives from Mammut and VPO in Courtenay showing how the avalanche airbags deploy and showing other avalanche safety gear, and a dinner in the main lodge on saturday night (be sure to register for the dinner in advance!).

There is more information on the Vanisle Backcountry Festival website, including registration (registration is free, lift tickets for the weekend are regular priced).

See you at Cain!

Mt. Washington Slopeside Singles

2011-02-01T15:26:00-08:00

If you can't make it to the Backcountry Festival at Cain this weekend, Mount Washington is putting on an event at called Slopestyle Singles on sunday (feb 5th). It is a way for singles who like to shred the mountain to meet like minded people. (All ski levels accepted) This event is for adults (21-55 is the target)and intended to be a relaxed, fun, non computer generated way to meet people. A similar event has happened in the past but I will assure you this will be different! No teenagers, no cheesy one liners (well maybe a few) and great prizes from Middle Beach Lodge, Oh Spa, the mountain and the Romance shop.

Registration is $5, there is a whole whack of information on their website.

Nanaimo February Meetup

2011-01-26T10:35:00-08:00

The February Meetup in Nanaimo is taking place on Feb. the 2nd, upstairs in the brewmasters lounge at the Longwood Brewpub, as per usual!

This month we will have short presentation and slideshow from Gord Johnson about his trip to Mt. Edziza!

As always, there is a Facebook event for those of you using Facebook. For newcomers, there is no membership - everyone is welcome, just show up and walk in like you own the place!

Dance party at the Romper Room!

2011-01-21T10:14:00-08:00

Dress-up and get funky Saturday Feb. 5th at the Romper Room. It is a costumer (and friends and friends-to-be) appreciation party. Bring a cup 'cause there will be beverages. Suggested donation is $5-10. Some of our best pals will be selecting sweet tunes from their collections to entice your body to bounce and vibrate.

No climbing and no minors!

Aaron has setup a facebook event for the party! If for some reason you can't make the backcountry festival, you can go party instead!

Victoria January Meetup

2011-01-15T19:10:00-08:00

This month we will be meeting at Spinnakers in the Pub, around 8:00. As usual there is a facebook event! See you on wed!