Sunshine 2 - Friday, January 2

On my last day I wanted to return to Sunshine as I had only spent one day there and it had the best snow, both in terms of coverage and consistency. Mike Romano from Voyageurs was in Calgary for a family wedding so we arranged to meet and ski together. I was a little worried as the forecast was for -16C temperatures but the day turned out to be amazing. It was our first sunny day from start to finish. There was even a vertical rainbow in the centre of the resort for most of the day. The snow was fantastic - tons of loose snow and no icy patches like Lake Louise and Norquay. My freshly tuned edges felt sooooo much better than my railed skis did at Norquay.

Mike and I skiied A LOT. We skiied off every lift and spent a great deal of time at Goat's Eye as conditions were better there than when I was there earlier in the week. We started pretty much when the lifts opened and skiied through to around 3:00 pm. With my "private shuttle" (Mike's rented Prius) I was back in no time and even had time to go for a hot tub before beginning to pack.

The group went to Bumpers for another beef dinner. I swear I am not going to eat steak or any kind of beef for probably three months after this trip! We will be leaving early tomorrow for Calgary. So another trip winds down. I am glad I got a lot of big mountain skiing in. I am happy I found some great people to ski with. After over two weeks away from home I am actually looking forward to seeing my renovated condo, sleeping in my own bed, and just being by myself doing what I want when I want. Ahhhhh!

Norquay - Thursday, January 1

After a late night, we had a bit of a lie in, waking up at 8:00 am. After four days of frenetically getting ready to catch shuttles to hills and enduring the long transfers back in the evening to get only minutes to get ready each night, I was ready to take it easy. I took my time getting ready and caught the 9:12 shuttle to Norquay with Pat. I remembered liking the oft-overlooked hill the last time I was in Banff and was looking forward to avoiding the crowds and having only a 15 minute commute.

Norquay did not disappoint. It was a picturesque drive and a beautiful hill. There were no rocks poking through on the moderate blues and blacks we did and a fair bit of fresh snow on the sides of the runs from yesterday evening's snowfall. My only problem was that one of my skis kept washing out any time I was on firmer snow. Upon inspection I realized I had rolled an edge, so I traded skis to move that edge to an inside edge to minimize its impact. Then when I returned to Banff I took my skis in to get the edges done.

Pat and I had a nice lunch at a pub on one of the side streets and then returned to the hotel to chill for a bit. The outdoor hot tubs have now been repaired and are likely my next stop.

Kicking Horse - New Year's Eve

[Photos above: Craig and Bruce before diving in; Pat and I at New Year's Dinner, the scene on Banff Avenue at midnight]

The High Park trip included five days of skiing at your choice of Lake Louise, Sunshine, or Norquay. For most that was all the skiing they planned to do. I however did not come all the way to Banff to visit souvenir shops. I'd rather be making some souvenirs (memories). With that in mind, three of us - Craig, Bruce, and I - booked a day trip to Kicking Horse in Golden, BC. It was $91 for the door to door coach and lift ticket, pretty good considering a lift ticket alone is $67.

The trip to Kicking Horse took about 2 1/2 hours with pick-ups. As it was still dark when we left at 7:00 pm, we didn't see much early on but the scenery was stunning as we got close. I was glad I was on a bus as I sure wouldn't want to drive that highway! It snowed hard all day which made for awesome snow conditions but not great visibility which made the tougher runs a challenge. The most interesting run we did today was one off Redemption Ridge. We had to follow the ridge down a way to where we wanted to ski. The downhill traverse kept us on our toes as a lot of wood and rocks were still uncovered this time of year. But once we dove down it was deep, deep powder.

We had planned to eat at the Eagle's Eye restaurant on top the mountain but as visibility was so poor we elected to grab a sandwich at a coffee shop at the base of the mountain. It was delish - probably my best sandwich since the bakeries in New Zealand. Appropriate as almost everyone working in Banff and Kicking Horse seems to be either Kiwi or Aussie. We then skiied hard all afternoon, just taking a brief pause at the end of the day to get a gluewine (Yes! They even have mulled wine there) and a cute Kicking Horse t-shirt. OK, so I did get my souvenir after all!

As today is New Year's Eve, once I got back to the hotel o had to quickly get ready and hightail it over to the pre-arranged New Year's party. Really, who plans a formal in Banff!?! Dinner was fantastic. I ate several different things than usual - beef carpaccio (me and basically raw meet?), scallops, and bison. The creme brule dessert had saskatoon berries in it so I explained to the easterners what they were. It was not a very wild crowd with most departing before midnight. For those of us who hung in we were treated to a huge fireworks display for the gigantic crowd on Banff Avenue. Rather than watch from above, we joined the crowd in the street. It was fabulous. Happy New Year!

Lake Louise 2 - Tuesday, December 30

Day 3 brought a return visit to Lake Louise. This time we caught the earliest bus at 7:40. It turned out to be a good move as the best light was earlier in the day. It was our first sunny day. You could see the Chateau and Lake Louise. There was a lot of photo taking, to the point of "Enough already! I came here to ski!"

The day didn't start well for me as my feet cramped up on the first run. I think it was a combination of thinner socks and doing a harder effort than I usually would apply right out the gate. I loosened my boots up and took it easy for the next run and luckily they felt a lot better. By mid-morning I was able to buckle them up properly and they were comfortable the rest of the day.

We skiied in the same group as the day previous - Bruce, Craig, Pat, and me. We covered a lot of terrain once again. Perhaps the most interesting run was one I had no interest in doing initially. We had to take a poma lift (little saucer like disc that is inserted between your legs and pulls you up the hill) to the summit. Once there we were able to traverse over to a bowl of soft fluffy snow. With the bright sun out it was the perfect day and time to ski it.

This evening I FINALLY made it to the hot springs. They were packed. Still it felt good to relieve my tired muscles. The same group that skiied together then had dinner at Giorgio's Trattoria. I had their signature dish - a pasta pinwheel that was delicious.

I then returned to the hotel to rest up for my big trip to Kicking Horse tomorrow. Stay tuned...