Ski Bunnies

I had to go to Banff for work over the latter part of the last week (yes, life can be truly terrible) and because we’re in Fort Mac, I knew that I had to offer the chance of an escape to Caroline and the kids. Strangely, they said that they wanted to come. So on Tuesday we all drove down here and after spending Tuesday night with friends from work in Calgary, came up to Banff on Wednesday. We stayed at the Rimrock Resort whilst I worked and then moved to our current location, the Douglas Fir for the weekend.

During the research for the trip, we found out that this weekend (a long one as there’s a holiday for Remembrance Day) also happened to be the opening weekend of the ski season (oh darn!).

The original plan was to ski at Sunshine but due to a lack of snow, they’d delayed their opening. We found this out before we got there fortunately and we were able to discover that Lake Louise was opening yesterday (Saturday the 10th.) So we booked ourselves in for lessons (well five of us, Emily got day care).

The skiing yesterday was at best arduous as there were no lifts open that we were allowed to access on the introductory lessons that we’d booked. The t-bar that they usually use for this simply didn’t have enough snow down and they only had one run open at the resort.

The result of this was that if you wanted to ski down hill, you had to first walk yourself and your equipment uphill. Now there’s some mad people about that like to walk up mountains for the express purpose of skiing back down, but let me assure you, I’m not one of them. It didn’t help that Caroline had hurt her back and so I lugged two pairs of skis up each time.

But we did make some progress and gather some competency along the way. The boys were in a separate lesson and had an absolute ball. Unfortunately for Emily, the kiddy ski wasn’t running yet, it starts later in the season.

Probably the most notable thing about the day was the fact that it snowed almost all day (which we hoped would prove for better access today). And of course when you’ve never really driven in nice icy snowy conditions, you want the first time to be when you’re on an unfamiliar road, in the dark.

That’s what I did. For most of the way it wasn’t too bad but the visibility was at time cut back to only a hundred metres or so. The worst part was that you couldn’t see the lines for the fresh snow and so were really just following in the tracks of the cars that had gone before you. Which seemed to be fine until at one point, I glanced in my left side mirror to see an semi-trailer looming up alongside me with what in that terrifying moment seemed to be all of about 12 inches between us as he gave a blast on his air horn. I’m not sure if he was warning me not to stray or announcing to me that he was there, but the result was something of an underwear changing moment and I was just glad that I managed not to panic and maintain my line as he thundered on by!

Today was significantly better weather wise and we had arranged to have a private instructor for the five of us that were skiing for the day. She took Emily for a half hour at the start and end of the day so that the little pink thing didn’t miss out entirely and had the rest of us for the time in between.

Having and instructor helped us with the confidence and also meant that we had lift tickets to access that one open run. Caroline and I approached it with relevant levels of trepidation, where as the boys would have been quite content to snow plough their ways straight down the mountain! Skiing next to Sam on the first placid part of the run, I enquired as to the sullen look on his face (entirely inappropriate for where we were and what we were doing). He replied that it was boring and he wasn’t allowed to go fast enough!

So Caroline and I concentrated on learning to turn and control our descent down the mountain and the boys tried to operate on the basis that turns weren’t really what they were there for. But we all managed to get better and we all managed the odd tumble. It wasn’t helped by the fact that with only one run open, everyone that was there, skiers and snow-boarders of every level of ability were all mixed in together.

Although not as terrifying as the semi-trailer, hearing a bunch of snow-boarders carving their way across the icy surface of a steep incline above you as you try and remember all the things you’ve been taught and not crash was at a minimum unsettling.

I was well pleased when the first one managed to veer into me as I leant on her and pushed her over without coming undone myself. I skied off merrily, me 1, snowboarders 0. Of course, later, on our last run, one managed to take me out and I was less than impressed. Because of course it was on one of the steep icy inclines and getting my skis back on was not a challenge that I particularly wanted at that point. Me 1, snowboarders 1.

Michael had the best fall apparently. He claims there were somersaults and all involved and given the graze that he has on his back, I’m inclined to believe that he is at least in part telling the truth! Neither Caroline or I saw it as we had other things to worry about.

And of course, best crash of the day probably goes to me. Because when it comes down to it, location and audience is a big part of any crash. So I chose the perfect spot for mine. Having completed the entire mountain, we had to traverse the almost flat land at the bottom to get back to the chair lift. As I tried to work my way up the slight incline, I over-balanced, toppled, waved my skis everywhere and went down upon my considerable arse! Right in front of the three hundred or so people waiting for the lift, whilst doing nothing that could be considered in anyway challenging!

But all in all it was a great day and we all walked away with tired legs and smiles on our faces.