Finally stopped snowing yesterday, and now we have a sunny day today. A balmy 1 degree c!!! The roads are all clear, and some are even dry.
After working for a couple of days, we have a couple off, so today we went back to Lake Louise Skifield, as it is so close.
We both had sore feet for a start, and for half the morning I forgot how to snowboard, but by the afternoon we were both zooming around. We got to ride the gondola, which was warm, but a little crazy, as you put your board in a little pocket on the outside, and it looks like they will fall out… but of course they never do.
My favourite run was from Ptarmigan lift, pretty much straight down beside the lift, through the trees. They have selectively cleared the trees, so you are definitely zooming between the trees, but at least they’re not all squished together. It requires a bit of concentration, and leg work, but makes for a fun afternoon, swooshing one way then the other, grabbing branches when needed, and finding hidden pockets of powder.
On the other side of the valley, down from Larch Lift, there is another area, a bit more closely wooded, with a relatively flat traverse through the trees. This was a bit crazier, and there was more powder that was untouched at the bottom. The downside to this was that if you went off the track a bit, or took a wrong turn, you ended up thigh deep in powder, and usually floundering around, unable to get up. It was funny, but very hard work. Hopefully we have some good videos of zipping through the trees, and Dale will put them up later! One good thing about falling over is that you lie there, and if you’re lucky, you get to see a super cute little squirrel running around a tree above you!! That’s a good thing about trees, there are squirrels.
After last ride up at 4, we zoomed down to the car, and headed home to change. We then drove over to Banff, where they are having a film festival evening on Wednesday evenings, at a local pub. Go, get food, watch cool movies. The moon was coming up as we were driving, huge and round, and lighting up the snow on the surrounding mountains. It was very pretty.
Our car has cruise control, which I never saw the use for before the americas, and the massive long, pretty straight highways. I drove for 40 minutes before I needed to change my speed at all.
Dale and Becca 