First day of 2009

We did ok to wake up at around 9:30am after a big night.

Neri got up and checked the snow report... only 2cm of new snow over night.

Given how late we were we decided to try out Norquay... the smallest of the "Big 3" mountains around Banff but also the closest...

This turned out to be a big mistake. It's not often that i can say i am not having fun snowboarding, but we only lasted 3 runs on this tiny mountain before we couldn't handle any more.

Snow was very hard packed and icy on the steep sections (reminded me of home) with exposed hazards everywhere. Riding lifts that were slow and built in the 1950s. The only thing going for it was the spectacular scenery but that wasn't enough to keep us there for more than an hour.

Maybe we were just unlucky and experienced abnormally bad snow conditions, but there was not much to like about it.

We left Norquay and spent the rest of the afternoon driving up to the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. The drive was difficult at times with a lot of ice and snow on the road, especially the last few km, but we arrived without any issues.

The view of the lake was awe inspiring... we really felt tiny with these huge mountains towering around us.

People were ice skating on the lake, playing ice hockey, and kids were playing in an ice castle which was built on the lake for tourists.

If the weather had been better we could have seen more of the view, but it was still great to see.

Took photos and checked out the Chateau then headed back to our lodge.





Had Indian for dinner tonight which was really nice (although I am definitely sick of eating out every night) and looking forward to a good night's sleep tonight.

Hopefully we get some more snow.

-J

NYE in Banff

It was bizarre watching the news and seeing that Sydney had already welcomed in the new year while we were still stuck in 2008.

The fireworks on the bridge looked awesome... Banff would have a lot to live up to.

We didn't really have a plan for new years but we knew we had to eat, and then we wanted to see the fireworks.

Ended up having dinner at a place close by our lodge but not without an hour or so wait for a table. It was a mexican bar / restaurant so we sat at the bar and waited until a table became available.

We noticed that there was a small band set up and a poster saying that we'd have to pay $25 each if we wanted to stay after nine to see the band "Swanee and friends".

Now the only Swanee that i know of is Jimmy Barnes's washed up brother, and the 80 year old guy that was tuning his harmonica on stage didn't look a thing like him. Needless to say we had our dinner, a few drinks and made a hasty exit.

It was snowing lightly in the streets and there were heaps of people around trying to figure out what they were going to do, including lots of girls in skirts and guys in t-shirts... which we found unbelievable considering how cold it was.

By this stage it was about 9:15pm still some time to kill before the fireworks at midnight so we set out to try and find a pub which had free entry. We couldn't, so we ended up paying $20 at a pub called "Tommy's".

Not the best location, but it was somewhere to hang out before the fireworks.

A few drinks and before we knew it, midnight was approaching. The bar staff handed out noise makers, necklaces, various hats and a glass of champagne. We headed outside and were shocked to find a sea of people in the streets, all crammed together in the main drag on Banff waiting for midnight.

Somehow we got a decent position for the fireworks and the crowd went nuts when they started firing. It was an electric atmosphere, the fireworks were good, and overall it was better than i expected!

We hung around in the street for a while dancing and making the appropriate noises with our party devices, watching people stumble and slip on the snow... just soaking up the scenes.

I made a few new friends, including a guy with a cut-out of Jim Carey. I tried to give him a high five (see picture attached) only to find out he only had one arm!

We got home around 1:30am, so tired from the day of snowboarding but glad that we made the effort to head out... it was a fun night.

-J