Fernie

Shane and I decided to wag work for the day (work isn't either of our favourite places at the moment) and head 300kms south of Calgary to Fernie. Fernie's actually just inside B.C. and less than 100km from the Montana border.

Fernie gets incredible amounts of snow each year and is somewhat immune to crowds unlike Banff and Lake Louise. If you want to ski/board in soft stuff, Fernie's the place (within easy driving range).

For the last few snowboarding trips I've been getting a bit dejected with the crowds and conditions. I also tended to get bored pretty quickly. Not the case this time. The lack of crowds, huge amount of fresh snow and some really interesting terrain meant that I have the taste for it again!

It was so different to any other trip because the soft, smooth, untracked snow made it more like surfing than any other time. I won't say more than that because I won't be able to describe it, but those who've done it will understand. Suffice to say that having fresh powder burst onto your legs is a fantastic feeling.
I can't wait to go down there again!

Ski Louise.

Today Dale and I went up to the ski fields for the first time since the disastrous attempt on New Year's Eve. Our resort of choice was Lake Louise. There hasn't been a great deal of snow since Xmas so the conditions were mediocre at best. I had a few high speed slides once the ice started to appear under the grooming. No major injuries, but was a bit bruised by days end.
Above is the view from about half way up the mountain. To the right of shot,  Lake Louise at the foot of the V-shaped Valley. Moraine Lake and the Valley of Ten peaks is over to the left. Not a bad view considering it's just a ski hill.

At the top of the ridge, the view just gets better. Above & below is the Lake Louise Valley where you can just make out the Fairmount. On the other side of the mountains is British Columbia.

Execute Plan B

On Monday, Dale & I set of for Sunshine nice & early to hopefully take advantage of some fresh snow before the crowds trashed it.
We turned off the Trans-Canada with a relentless line of traffic around 8.15 & crawled all the way to the Sunshine car park. Usually at that time its a clear run straight to the first couple of rows of the car park. We made the decision to turn around & head back to Calgary. The Lake Louise experience was still fresh in our minds & we weren't about to go through that again.
The back-up plan was to go to the Canada Olympic Park (on the outskirts of Calgary) & just have a play. When we arrived, there were next to nobody there & we had the place pretty much to ourselves. The park has 3 short runs of varying degrees of difficulty, & 2 terrain parks. One of the main runs was quite steep but not beyond us. Fortunately it was steep enough to scare off most of the idiots & we had it to ourselves. We speared off that run straight into one of the terrain parks.
The big kids terrain park was a bit daunting for us, but the "progressive" terrain park was spot on. It has a mini half pipe, a couple of rails & a couple of little jumps (pictured is Dale on one). We gave the rails a miss, but had a play in the 1/2 pipe (we were crap at it) & practiced our jumping techniques.
At the end of the day, we had a bit of fun & didn't have to battle the crowds & ice in the mountains.

My First White Christmas

This is the gang I spent my first white Xmas with. Unfortunately Kerri had to work (nursing's a tough gig), so the last thing I was going to do, was mope around the house by myself.
What better way to spend Xmas than to head for the mountains & go snowboarding for the day? My fellow orphans from left to right; Shane (West Oz), Canne (Nova Scotia), Todd (Alberta) & Dale (West Oz). We all have our reasons for being orphans at Xmas, but none of us were complaining one little bit. It even snowed for us.
All of us except Dale had been to Lake Louise the day before as well. We had two great days with a heap or fresh snow around. I tagged along with Todd most of the time. He's been skiing for as long as he can remember & it forced me to do a few things outside my comfort zone. This was good because I improved so much over the last couple of days. I even conquered a couple of Black Diamond runs for the first time.
In all, not a bad way to spend Xmas. It was just a shame Kerri had to work.

Sunshine Village

Friday was an EDO (Earned Day Off, as they like to call it at Jacobs) & it was my first opportunity to head up to the Ski fields when you take advantage of  shorter lift lines & less chopping up of the runs. Shane had the day off as well, so it was on. Kira came along with us as well. Kira's the daughter of a guy that Shane & I have both worked with back in Oz & Shane is still quite friendly with them (they live over here now as well). It was Kira's first time snowboarding.

We reached Sunshine right on 8.30 and headed up to the village in the gondola nice & early. The photo above is what they call Sunshine Village. It's at the top of the gondola, but is the hub for most of the lifts.

It's always an advantage to get to the ski fields early. The runs haven't been chopped up & the lift lines are shorter. This applies in Oz & NZ as well.
We left Kira with the instructors & hit the mountain when there were next to no marks on the groomed runs & there lifts were clear. It was awesome! We had the place to ourselves & had an absolute belter of a day. The only downside was the minus 20 something temperatures. It was a small price to pay. Sunshine Village scored over 1/2 metre of snow last week & it showed. Notice the snow on the trees behind me in this photo. It was much better than when we were there last weekend.

This was the sight that greeted us when we headed up the first chair lift for the day. There was so much snow! And the day was as clear as I've seen it since we arrived in Canada. Beats the hell out of sitting at the office!
There are a couple of runs high up to the left of shot that were groomed in parts, but still had 30cm of powder. Having learned to snowboard on ice & chopped up runs in Oz & NZ, I had no concept of how to deal with it (and still don't). Apparently you have to change the way you balance & steer. I came of second best. I was traveling pretty fast, went to turn & dug the nose of the board into the powder. I must have tumbled about 6 times before I stopped. It rattled my confidence for a bit & I've got a sore neck & shoulders to show for it. It won't stop me going back & having another go!

This is what happens when 57cm of fresh snow falls in a matter of 3 days. Needless to say the outdoor tables weren't getting much use.

The mountain over to the left of picture is Goats Eye, where he wrecked his beloved snowboard on a rock & I'm lucky not to have done the same to mine. The lesson learnt, is not to get too excited when a run opens for the first time for the season.

Hot Chocolate with a Dash

My cousin, Mark, put me onto this one when we were in New Zealand snowboarding last year. It's a standard hot chocolate with a hearty dash of Brandy. Sounds odd, but it's really quite nice & gives you a warm feeling inside. Just the tonic when it's pushing -20 outside & your core temperature is low because you've been out snowboarding in it all morning. It's become a bit of a lunch time tradition for us.
Normally one at lunch is sufficient, but Shane ended up having about 4 on Friday after he destroyed his board. Can't blame him really.

Snowboarding in Canada

Today I went for my first snowboarding trip in Canada.
I set off at 7am picking up Dale & James along the way. Lake Louise opened last week, but only one lift & a token number of runs. Sunshine opened on Thursday with about half the available lifts open, & Dale had been there on Friday, so we figured we'd give it a go. The two main peaks shown on the trail map above were closed.
The day just didn't go to plan after that. James couldn't find his gloves & I had to stop for fuel, so we got there later than we would have liked. Then I struggled to get my new gear rigged up properly & the guys had to wait. Once we got going, it was disastrous for me. My first run was hopeless & I was back to being a beginner. Dale spotted that my bindings were too close together & we reset them. After that it was a whole new ball game. My balance & confidence returned & I started having fun.
The rest of the day went OK considering the crowds. I was cruising along for a while until my body gave started to fail me, then the rocks started to appear through the thin snow cover. We called it quits about 3pm & headed for home.
Hopefully the other resorts will open up soon, along with the remaining lifts at Louise & Sunshine. There is so much potential in these mountains!