My Perfect Thursday by Nick Wilcock

One of the two not quite perfect things that happened was that I had to get up very early.  But we did this so we could go skiing.  I went skiing with my friends Laura and Chris.  I took some blue skis with me.  They were very big, and they were constructed thus to allow them to float in deep powder, and yet carve on piste.  I enjoyed my big blue skis. 

It was quite cold at Sunshine and it was snowing quite a lot and after the second run of the day Laura went home because she had a sore leg and didn't want it to hurt anymore when her friend Caz comes to stay with us and this was the other not perfect thing that happened on this most special of Thursdays.  Chris and me did lots of skiing in the trees and at the end of the day hiked across Wawa ridge to find some powder and then we went home.

Being a bit sleepy I had a nap, and yet did not wake up with the oft associated grogginess; another sure sign of a good Thursday.

Thursday derives from Thunor's Day, or Thor's Day, and as a great thunder storm building over the plains of the Serenghetti, my Thursday had amassed a mighty charge that reached a crescendo as we wound our way up Sulphur Mountain toward Eden restaurant, and our destiny.  

Eden remains the only 5 diamond restaurant in Western Canada, and this was a reputation well deserved.  As it was in the Rimrock where Laura worked she wanted to make the most of her discount and check the place out.  I couldn't have guessed how good it was going to be, all the food was cooked perfectly, and arranged real pretty like.  The scallops were my favourite, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, much like an armadillo.  This picture is of me freaking out over how good they were.  The guys there properly sorted us out too giving us an extra cheese course, a couple of free drinks, and gave us half price off everything else.  Everyone should eat there if they are incredibly wealthy or work there.

    

Panorama Ski Tip

Last Thursday Nick and I went on a road trip to Panorama ski resort, which is just a 2.5hr drive from Banff.  We drove through Kootenay National Park, which felt like a long drive but was only an inch on the road map!  The route also took us past Radium Hotsprings, which looked amazing!  Just wished we'd remembered our swim stuff.  The hot pools were surrounded by huge rock faces.  The day we chose to go to Panorama was brilliant.  The sun was out and they'd just had a fresh dump of powder.  We even managed to have lunch outside.

After lunch we ventured to the summit of the mountain.  Near the top of the chair lift we could hear bagpipes, and then as we skied off the chair lift ended up in the middle of a wedding!  I wondered how they got the elderly relations down the hill afterwards, but later on we saw a ski patroller skiing down with a sledge of "oldies" behind him.

The weather in Banff has been changing dramatically now that Spring has finally arrived.  The snow has almost gone, the sun is out and bears are now an actually threat.  The first one was seen last week, and considering he hadn't eaten for months and months he still looked huge.  We've decided we're going to invest in some bear spray, just in case we happen upon one when we go for walks.

Today we went skiing at Sunshine, and it was so warm.  Tonight we're going to the local english pub to watch the football, and tomorrow night we're going to the Eden restaurant at my hotel.  I handed in my resignation last week, so wanted to eat there while I can still get my 30% discount.  The menu looks amazing, so we'll make sure we take plenty of photos to make you jealous and hungry :-)

Breakfast at Coyotes and a Week of Amazing Skiing!

Last week Nick and I were invited to breakfast at Coyotes Deli and Grill by Pat and Larry, my Canadian relations.  They took a little detour from Calgary to Banff to see us on their way back home, which was really really nice of them.  Especially considering they had a huge drive ahead of them.  We both had huge yummy pancakes!  It was really lovely to see Pat and Larry, and we'd like to say thanks for treating us to breakfast.

After breakfast we decided to try and burn those pancakes off and had a game of squash at the local gym.  Nick won but we had some great rallies, and I even managed to win one game :-)  To carry on our sporting endeavours, we took the french couple, Sabrina and Chris, on a badminton.  The trash talking began well before the game took place, but our British compatriots will be happy to hear we took those Frenchies down hehe.  I'm sure the competitiveness will not end here, and future matches are in store.

Last Thursday Sabrina, Chris and I went to the Royal Canadian Legion for a spot of bingo... we didn't win anything but it was really fun and we'll definitely go back for $1 a card for the whole night!

Considering its now past the 1st April, last week we had a crazy dump of snow, with 18cm of fresh powder at Sunshine on Thursday.  Nick, Chris, my workmate Sara, and I went to Sunshine super early to try to get there before the crowds.  We ended up being able to put fresh tracks in down Goats Eye mountain, it was epic.  Possibly the best skiing day of the year so far!

Revelstoke, BC

On the 9th March, about 2 weeks ago Nick and I embarked on an adventure to Revelstoke, BC.  The drive took about 4 hours and took place along one of the most dangerous roads in the world... apparently.  We were highly prepared for any eventualities - flask of tea (very important), lots of food, blankets, winter clothes, skis, extra fuel and a lighter (incase we had to set the car on fire to stay alive if we broke down and there was no one to save us!).  However, when driving through Rogers Pass in a snow storm and seeing other cars spin off the road, we realised we didn't have a number to ring for someone to come save us if the car broke down!  You'll be pleased to hear that we made it there safely with no problems.  The weather at Rogers Pass, which is in the Glacial National Park was totally different to the rest of the drive.  As soon as we entered this National Park it started snowing and the conditions became a lot worse, and then when we left it brightened up and the snow had turned to rain.

Nick booked for us to stay in 7 Acres Bed and Breakfast, and it was really nice.  The owners were really friendly and made a good breakfast; the only thing they lacked was a taste in interior design.  Every room had a theme, mainly involving flowers, trees and shrubs, and they were everywhere!  The snow in Revelstoke was immense: so far this season they've had 6 meters!  It nearly came up to the top of the windows, so all you could see out to was a wall of snow.  This is what Nick and I thought the snow in Canada would be like.  It was also a lot warmer and therefore wetter, so snowballs could be made :-)  Each night we went out for dinner.  The first night we went to Bad Pauls, which is named after a man named Paul (surprisingly) who had a pet bear that he used to ride around on with a saddle and bridle!  The second night we went out for pizza and it was huge and very tasty.

We stayed in the B&B for two nights and skied for 2 days.  The hill had had 17cm of fresh powder for our first day, and most of this was on top of groomed slopes.  I've never skied on so much snow in my life.  It was really really hard going, and at one point I thought my legs might drop off from the pain.  Over the course of the two days, I think I fell over more times than I have all season.  Luckily there was so much snow it didn't hurt at all.  Even when I fell flat on my face and used my head to stop myself.  Of course, Nick didn't fall over, but I'm still waiting for it to happen...  On the second day we ventured to the North Bowl, where you have to remove your skis and carry them to get to the top.  Once there, there is a small traverse and then you just drop into the bowl.  This run takes about 45 minutes from top to bottom!  When skiing down, the snow was up to my knees.  We only managed to do this twice, and on the second time Nick became more adventurous and traversed further around the bowl to where it was much higher.  In this picture he looks tiny...

The drive back was pretty easy as the temperature had gone up and all the roads were clear.  Back in Banff it looked like Spring had finally arrived, along with the slush and the ice.  Nick and Laura survived their first Canadian Winter :-)

Last week and this week Nick has been doing his Level 2 CSIA course, and has his assessment tomorrow. It sounds hard, but I'm sure he'll do well.  We're planning to go to The Keg Restaurant to celebrate him taking the course.  I've also just seen that Elton John is playing in Calgary in May...

The Perfect Sunday

Finally after 3 months I was given a Sunday morning off work, and I'd just like to boast about how amazing my boyfriend is...  I woke up to a glass of orange juice, a cup of tea, and the smell of freshly baked muffins.  Yes Nick had baked us blueberry muffins for breakfast, which we ate (scoffed!) while watching Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were Rabbit on the tv!  Definitely worth the wait for a Sunday morning off.

After a very lazy morning we decided to give cross country skiing a go.  We rented the equipment from Nick's shop at a very cheap rate, and then drove to Banff Springs where there are a few trails.  There were a few other cross country skiers leaving when we arrived so Nick went over and asked them where the good routes were.  They told him the tracks were quite difficult to find and this proved correct.  We managed to find what we now have decided might have been the difficult routes as it was mostly up hill, and a massive challenge for newbies!  The fun part was then trying to get back down, which ended with me on my bum and then stuck there for about 5 minutes and Nick just laughing at me.  Finally at the bottom of the hill we found the easy route which went by the side of the Bow River, and we followed this for a while before heading home as I had work.  We'll definitely give it another go, and maybe snow shoeing too sometime.

  

  

This is a photo of the frozen Bow River with the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel poking out of the trees.

Banff Gondola

On Friday it was -25oC up the mountain, so our planned skiing trip was quickly scrapped and a new plan was made.  We went up the Banff Gondola which took us up to the top of Sulphur Mountain.  It was a perfect day to go too because the sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

 The tiny mountain in the bottom middle part of the picture is Tunnel Mountain.  It's so tiny!

The gondola takes 8 minutes to reach the summit of Sulphur Mountain, reaching an elevation of 2281m (7486ft).  At the summit there is a 1km walkway called the Banff Skywalk, which took us along the summit ridge and leads to the Cosmic Ray Station and Sanson's Peak Meteorological Station.  Sanson's peak was named in honour of Norman Sanson, the observer who tended the recording equipment for nearly 30 years, and had to make countless trips to the top of this peak to check/mend the equipment.  The little hut that he would stay in sometimes really didn't seem very warm!  The views from the walkway were just breathtaking.  Even now the photos we took don't seem to give it justice!  It was just amazing!!  We're definitely going to go back up in late May when the snow will have melted, just to see what a difference it makes.  Also in the summer its much more likely we'll see some wildlife, i.e. golden eagles, goats and marmots.

I took a video of the mountains from the summit to try to show the 360oC view that we had...

Last weekend was family day weekend, an Alberta holiday, which meant working a crazy number of hours for me.  I think it is also half term, so this week Nick has had to work a lot too!  Hopefully next week we'll be back to normal and have plenty of time to do some fun things.  I really want to go to the Columbia Icefields (but it doesn't open until April), and at some point we're thinking of going to Revelstoke skiing because we've heard some great reviews of the resort.  I think its about 4 hours away depending on the weather.  We've been in Canada now for 4 months, and time has gone so quickly.  There's a few books on Canada in our house, so we've been doing a little research on what we'd still like to still see and places to go.

Kicking Horse

I see its been over a month since we last updated our blog, and plenty has happened in that time...  Firstly Nick's dad Tim came out to visit on the 10th Jan, and Nick is going to write all about that soon.  It was fun packed week of skiing and eating!!

Mum and Dad gave me some money for my birthday, so I decided to spend it on a mini skiing trip to Kicking Horse, which is a ski resort in Golden, BC.  On the way there we stopped at Lake Louise and were able to see some of the ice sculptures which have been carved lately at the ice festival.

In Kicking Horse we stayed in a B&B called the Highland Lodge, with a great room featuring a jacuzzi tub, a really comfy bed with a goose down duvet and a great view onto the mountains.  We even got breakfast included, which we didn't know until the first morning - smoked salmon, scrambled egg and spinach filo pastry parcel things.  The first thing we did when entering the room was to see who could fit in the wooden chest at the end of the bed... of course!

I chose this lodge because it had a scottish pub attached to it which boasted it served haggis, and as we were going over Burns Night I thought that that would be a lovely treat.  However, on dining the first night in the pub and asking the Australian waitress where the haggis was, and her not even knowing the word haggis, we concluded that some sketchy advertising had been going on!

The ski hill was great, with all the slopes being a lot steeper than we were used too from Sunshine (where we usually go in Banff), and there were about 3 bowls to ski too.  Something that was a novelty was that in the middle of the slopes there was a bear called Boo, who was fenced off by an electric fence.  We saw from the gondola that some crazy boarder had decided to venture inside to get at fresh powder.  Nick also nearly ventured in there when taking a wrong turn over a cliff edge and ended up stuck in a glade of very closely nit trees!  Luckily this time I wasn't following him.  I managed to do my first double black diamond run, which was like skiing off the edge of a drop, it was so steep!  I was very proud of myself as I had never done anything that hard before.  On the second day some of Nick's work colleagues came to Kicking Horse, so we skied with them in the afternoon.  This day was really really warm and the sun was out, it was just like spring skiing!  

At the end of the day we raced from the top to the bottom, with the loser buying the round of drinks... I stupidly decided to take the mogul field... unsurprisingly I was the loser!  Nick boasted how he'd had time to go through the ski park and had still won.  

On the third day the visibility was a lot poorer, and our legs were pretty tired so we were glad to just take it easy.  Our planned bus back was cancelled due to lack of numbers, so we had to get the Grey Hound.  After hearing stories from Nick about his past experiences of the Grey Hound (smelly drunks and the like), I wasn't too excited about the prospect, but it wasn't bad at all.

Since our trip away, we've mainly just been working, with Nick doing his instructing on Saturday's as well.  He seems to be really enjoying it.  A few nights ago we went ice skating to the Fairmont Hotel with Chris and Sabrina.  There were some ice hockey sticks there so we had a go at that.  I found I could only turn in one direction!  After we went to a nearby pub for hot chocolate to warm up.

Last week was a week of eating for us.  On tuesday night I went out with some girls from work for dinner, followed by dinner with Nick on wednesday night at my hotel.  On thursday night we went for Chinese New Year dinner and games at Nick's colleagues Shell and Ben's place.  They made all the chinese food from scratch, which was so yummy!  We haven't had chinese since we left the UK, so was a great treat.  After we played Pictionary and Charades for hours, which got sillier as the beer flowed.  The following day, with a bit of hangover, Ben and Shell took us to Norquay to teach us snow boarding.  This ended up being harder than predicted and rather dangerous.  I'm pretty sure I was knocked unconscious, and we both got home with sore necks, heads, knees, wrists...  Nick shoved a cushion down his trousers to protect this bum, and I didn't bother as I have plenty of padding :-)  Its fair to say we're still slightly sore today, and thats 4 days later!  Nick is going up to Norquay tomorrow for work, so I'm thinking I might join him and give boarding another go now that the pain has subsided and I've forgotten how bad I felt on saturday.