We were looking around for a place to go this past Memorial Day weekend, and because we didn't really plan in advance, every place we looked was either booked or absurdly expensive. So, we had the bright idea to look north to Canada, where it wasn't a holiday weekend.
And, lo and behold, there was nice availability and reasonable rates. So we decided to go to Nelson, BC, a place I've always thought looked interesting.
To get to Nelson, we flew into Castlegar, which is about a 30 minute drive. Nelson has an airport right in the middle of town, but it doesn't have customs and, while workable under good conditions, was not a realistic option given the weather.
Castlegar is, well, interesting... if you can, google the approach. It is located down in a tight little valley, and it has an RNAV approach which twists and turns down the valley, eventually dumping you out over the airport at 2800 feet AGL. I went in there about 10 years ago on a beautiful VFR day, and it was fine. On Friday, it wasn't that great- about 4000 OVC, but not too bad. My view is that if you don't see the airport the fix before the MDA, you are probably going to land. If you see the airport at the MAP and at MDA, there is no way you can get down in time.
Anyway, configured early with gear and 1/2 flaps, and not a big issue. I do wish I had taken a picture of the G600 during the approach, the synthetic vision really showed itself well.
On base turn, the TAWS starts complaining about terrain, because you almost have to do a dog-leg to final to land to the north (and landing to the north is much easier than landing to the south).
The gap behind the Dash 8 in my picture is the valley the approach comes through!
I'll post a few more about the rest of the trip...