Snowboard free day in Banff

It was another chilly morning as we woke up early to get ready for our "Exploring Banff and it's Wildlife" tour, which would pick us up at 8.45am. We got onto the bus with about 10 other people ready to see some of the sights and hopefully some wildlife too!

The trip covered all the main tourist attractions in and around the town.... the Fairmont Banff Springs hotel, which originally was built in 1888 (but has since burned down and been rebuilt); the "Hoodoos" - pillars of rock that have been formed over millions of years; Lake Minnewanka, and the frozen Bow Falls; and finally the Cave & Basin, which was the discovery that actually prompted the area to be declared a National Park. These are a collection of natural sulphur springs within the mountain - the Cave being indoors (in a cave), and the Basin being outdoors. Bathers are no longer allowed in the springs due to the discovery of a species of endangered snail that lives only in these springs, nowhere else in the world! The snail is about the size of a passion fruit seed so I didn't really consider that to be the most exciting wildlife sighting of the day.

We did, however, see a male and female Mule Deer through the trees, and a big herd of 5 male Elk grazing on the side of the road. The Elk were amazing, their antlers are huge and after holding one up (see attached pic) you can only imagine how strong their necks must be! While we were stopped taking photos of the Elk another 2 wandered out of the trees and crossed the road right in front of our bus! They were a little younger than the others and didn't like to pose for the photographers so they hid behind a tree.

On the drive back down to town we also saw another herd of Elk but they were much further away than the previous lot.

At the conclusion of the tour we were dropped back in town and had lunch at one of the pubs.

Jase is starting to get a bit of a cold, not surprising considering the cold temperatures we have been in... so we had a lazy afternoon in the hotel. Sunday night is really quiet in town, we just came back from a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant but nothing much really happening so we'll probably have an early night. Hopefully Jase will be feeling better tomorrow and we'll decide in the morning what to do on our last day in Banff.

Another Day in Sunshine Village

It was freezing last night... -25 in town with a windchill of -32.

When we came back from snowboarding Lake Louise we hit the hot tub here in the hotel to relax then got ready for dinner.

As soon as we walked into the street the cold air froze our nose hairs which is a slightly uncomfortable feeling as you can imagine. Kind of like constantly having a booger in your nose that you can't get rid of.

We didn't want to walk too far so we jumped into the first decent restaurant we could find, the Maple Leaf Grill.

Dinner was tasty (but on the expensive side), I had the roast duck and neri had lamb shank.

We woke up this morning to more clear skies, but the temperature was still around -26 with no fresh snow which made it hard to get motivated.

We were also put off by the icy conditions at Lake Louise the day before.

Eventually we made it up to Sunshine Village by around 11am. This was the first bluebird day since we got to Canada so we swapped our goggle lenses from yellow to chrome.

Up the Gondola we could see the views that we missed in the white out on our first visit. Absolutely stunning scenery.

We had a quick look at Goats Eye Mountain but from the base all we could see were steep icy moguls... such a shame because looks like there are some awesome steeps up there... we just need more snow! We also could see / hear them avalanche bombing the bowls around Goats Eye all day.

There has been a lot of talk about avalanches around here... people are saying ski patrol are being over-cautious, but reports have been saying that it is really unstable out of bounds which has kept us in the resort boundaries. Looking across the mountain there are so many untouched bowls just a short hike out of bounds... but they must be untouched for a reason! We're not about to risk it.


It was really cold today, up the top of the mountain it felt like my face and my fingers were going to fall off, but despite no new snow for a few days the cover was in surprisingly good condition. Sunshine maintains the snow a lot better than Lake Louise. Even the steep sections were nowhere near as icy.

Most of the day was spent cruising around the mountain, doing runs all over the place and just taking it easy. I love this mountain but it desperately needs fresh snow so that we can enjoy the steeper terrain. Unfortunately it doesn't look like we'll get any before we leave in tuesday.

Still managed to find some powder in some very tight tree runs... there must be heaps of local secret spots that we don't know about.

Tomorrow we go on a wildlife tour around Banff so hopefully we see some animals!

Will probably head up to the hot springs in the afternoon.

-Jase

Sunny day in Lake Louise

This morning we finally woke up to a sky with sunny patches, so we decided to make the trip to Lake Louise to ride today.

The same drive that we took yesterday was completely different today, as after we were on the road for 5 minutes the clouds all cleared up and we had a beautiful blue sky and sunshine, lighting up all the mountains and scenery that surrounded us. We had no idea what was behind all that cloud and fog the first time we came through!

We arrived at the Lake Louise Ski Resort and took the first chair we came across up to mid-mountain. We could only do our best to try and pick where to go from the trail map, and also we discovered the trail numbers on the map in my pocket didn't actually match the trail markers on the hill, it was all very confusing.

Our first run was obviously one of the crowd favourites, as there were skiiers and boarders everywhere trying to negotiate the best way down.... What made this so difficult was the sheet ice covering most of the run, which we were definitely not expecting!

We agreed to head over to one of the other faces to check the conditions, so we headed up the gondola and down another scenic run. Jase looked over the edge of the cat track to some of the black runs... they mostly consisted of icy moguls of death, so we stuck to the safer groomed green & blue runs.

A few more runs on one of the other peaks, where they were still snowmaking, which was providing a sparse covering to the ice underneath. Despite the sunshine and clear skies, it was still a very cold day, by the top of the chairlift our hands were numb and you could feel the breath catching in your throat.

The run back to the bottom of the gondola was absolutely amazing, photos and descriptions cannot capture the feeling of being on the edge of one of these gigantic mountains, 360 degrees of incredible sights.

We are about to go out to get some dinner now, there's no new snow forecast for tomorrow so we'll probably take a day off and see some more local sights around Banff.

Hope everyone had a fantastic start to 2009 :)

love Neri.xx


P.S. we need more snow! -jase

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

Sunshine village new years eve (day)

Had a fun day today snowboarding at Sunshine Village...

Woke up to find it was snowing again... jumped in the car and drove 15mins to Sunshine.

Some awesome scenery on the way, the drive was easy in our little Toyota Yaris... they do a good job of clearing the roads.

We arrived to find that the car park was full so we ended up having to park a fair way out and get the bus into the village.

Hopped on the bus and we were at the base of the gondola in no time.

The gondola ride was about 20 minutes all the way to the top (well the top of the gondola is actually the base of the village) and by the time we got there, the weather had really closed in. It was -16 degrees with a freezing wind... and to make matters worse we had forgotten our bandanas (for our faces) in the hotel.

Most of the good runs here are steep open bowls at the top of the mountain but on our way up our first lift the cold was almost unbearable and the visibility was horrible (neri said the tip of my nose turned white and she thought i had frostbite).

On our first run down from the top we couldn't see further than about 2 metres in front of us which is always scary when you are on a steep, windblown run and don't know where you are going.

As we got lower the visibility improved but the crowds got worse. I was riding in straight line and a decent speed when some other guy came flying into me sending me rolling down the hill right under the chair lift! The runs were so crowded in places that it was dangerous.

Bottom of the first run our faces were so cold that we had to go in and buy some new face masks. Words can't explain how relieving it was to put them on. It made the long lift rides a little bit more bearable.

One thing we noticed here is that the black runs vary a lot in difficulty. Lots of challenging terrain which is good, but one black run will be an open bowl which feels like an easy blue run, and then the next black will be a shear cliff face.

We found this out the hard way as i lead neri down what i thought would be an easy black.

With the poor visibility i totally missed the sign that said "warning avalanche danger" and "warning cliff face" and rode straight down a short and extremely steep cliff, having to drop off a decent sized rock or two on my way down.

I got to the bottom and looked up to find neri edging across the top of the cliff trying to find a better route. Full credit to her because she found a much better way down avoiding any rocks or near death experiences.

This made us realise that given the conditions we had to find some tree runs for protection from the weather, so after quick lunch we made our way down the mountain to some of the mellower runs through the trees, which were much better.

We spent the rest of the arvo, until lifts closed, riding through the trees on a fresh layer of about 5-10cm of powder mixed in with some moguls.

Rode the whole way down to the car park amongst some stunning scenery (would be more stunning if it was clear!) negotiating the hordes of people who had the same idea.

Back to the car and a short drive home through the blizzard and now we are getting ready to head out for New Years eve. A lot of places are asking $100 for tickets, and we are fast running out of money so we are just going to try and find somewhere where we can have dinner, then find a free pub or something and watch the fireworks show they fire from the mountains.

Saw some more wild deer roaming around out the front of our lodge on the way in which was also cool.

Overall we both loved Sunshine Village, in comparison to Sun Peaks there is a lot more challenging terrain, but also a lot more crowds. Hopefully we can get back there soon when the weather clears up.

-J

Sun Peaks to Banff on the eve of NYE

Our last night in Sun Peaks was a quiet one, dinner at the local's hang-out, Bottoms, and then back home for a relatively early one. Waking up this morning I was not in the mood to pack, but we sucked it up and did the job, hoping our luggage would come in under the weight limit for our flight.

After checking out of our lodge we wandered around the village, filling in time until our shuttle arrived to take us to Kamloops Airport.

When we had almost arrived our driver mentioned that he had driven through the same road earlier this morning and had seen a herd of big-horned sheep on the side of the road.... I was very excited at the prospect of seeing some wildlife, and sure enough, we came to the next corner and there they were! Sadly I didn't get a chance to take a photo because this guy on our shuttle started complaining that he had a plane to catch in 30 minutes blah blah blah.... I was very happy to note that when we did arrive at the airport he was actually on the same flight as we were, and he also had to wait in the long check-in line as he didn't know how to use the internet and check-in the day before. We, on the other hand, were able to go straight to the express line and checked our bags in within 2 minutes. HA!!

The flight was short, around 45 mins, and before we knew it we had arrived in Calgary. The city has a different feel to any other we have been to so far, we could see some high-rise buildings in the distance, but mostly the land feels very open and flat, and cold... snow everywhere!! We picked up our hire car, a blue yaris sedan, and begun our 1 1/2 hour drive to Banff. As we drove further the night sky was amazing, the moon just a tiny slice in the twilight, with a pinkish haze on the horizon... very pretty.

We found our lodge with no trouble and checked into our room, which is bigger than any we've had yet. Took the short walk to the main drag and had a meal at Wild Bill's Steakhouse.... they love the wild west theme over here, but I have to admit we love it too.... Almost as much as mexican ;)

Looking forward to tomorrow, we don't yet have a plan for which mountain we'll hit, or what we're going to do for NYE, but stay tuned for the details soon.

Happy New Year to you all, I hope everyone is well and happy and has an awesome New Years celebration!! We are missing everyone lots but we also know that the next two weeks are going to fly and we'll be home before we know it!

Take care and be good...

love Neri.xx