Category Archives: food

around home, Canada, food, friends, snow, vehicles

I sat on my car & it broke

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Another pleasant full day at Sunshine on Saturday with Joel, Kristy & Anya.  There was no fresh snow, but the base is still getting bigger – apparently it’s spring, but the snow just keeps coming.  We had the morning up the top, before a leisurely lunch (I had a burger with pineapple & beetroot in it – it’s been a long time, GBK in London springs to mind), a few more runs at the top before heading down for a lot of runs off Goat’s Eye.  At one stage we lost Anya off Standish (this happens when four people take four different runs down) for a little while.  But then she turned up with one of these, much to our surprise.

It’s a little hard to see, but apparently it’s a vole – “a mouse with no ears”.  We definitely don’t have these in NZ; it was scurrying across the snow so Anya picked it up so it wouldn’t be hit by somebody/a snowboarder.  Hopefully it’s doing well around Trappers.

Earlier in the week, Steve had found the rotisserie & was keen to hurry summer along a bit, so Saturday night dinner was at our place for a change.  With seven people, Steve got two roasts (we had plenty of leftovers) – the beef was good & the pork fantastic.  Once again, the whole beets done on the barbecue were just brilliant.

After quite a few bottles of wine, there was still the ice-wine to go with dessert – Kristy whipped up a divine cheesecake (I love cheesecake).

Sunday morning was suitably lazy, finally.  I still woke up with the ever-earlier daylight, but quite happily finished the latest Jack Reacher novel & then jailbroke my Kindle so I could put screensavers of my choice on it.  After texts being delayed somewhere in the ether, a group of us (Joel, Kristy, Steve, Alex, Megan & Finn) eventually headed out in the afternoon for a nice little jaunt ski-touring to Boom Lake.  As we arrived at the parking lot, light snow began to fall (it did so for the rest of our trip).  Although some of snow is melting in places, there was still plenty on the five kilometre trail up to the lake.  A bit on this bridge too.

It took us almost ninety minutes to reach the lake, but it wasn’t too strenuous.  There were some nice off-camber bits for Finn & the Chariot to be potentially lost to the woods, but he survived.  It was even warm enough to just be in a single layer of Icebreaker & a light fleece with no toque/beanie.  As we sat on the edge of Boom Lake, we heard a couple of booms & saw one avalanche come off the opposite Boom Mountain.

It was only about sixty minutes back to the car, but as most of the trail at the lake end was flattish the skins didn’t come off until quite close to the end.

Back to the title story – when I went out to drive to work this morning, as I sat down on the driver’s seat I heard an almighty crack.  The front left spring had sheared in two & then managed to insert itself through the tyre.  So most of my morning was spent arranging a tow-truck & getting my rather sad looking car to a workshop.  Unfortunately, both sides of the front suspension have to be replaced (I don’t really want a lopsided car) with springs, struts, plates & bearings – $1400, ouch (oh & another tyre).  Quite an unusual failure, & a complete pain in the butt – I’m glad it didn’t happen when I was on the highway (complete tyre shredding would have ensued I reckon) or parked in some obscure lot in the back of the beyond.

Still, I need a car for the upcoming roadtrip – so I have little choice but to cough up the money.  On a brighter note, I got my rear bike wheel back from the shop today – the freewheel/freehub is so much better with new pawls in it & the whole drivetrain just sounds great (as in, it doesn’t sound).  Alex & I went for a little reconnoitre on the sunny side of the valley to see how much snow had gone from the trails.  We didn’t get near the trails as there was still too much snow on the walking paths – still, it was a pleasant leg stretch & not too cold.

around home, bikes, Canada, food, friends, MTB

Local rides & my first Thanksgiving

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Sunday I popped over to Banff to ride with a mate, Dale, I met construction temping at the Banff Center.  Dale was just back from some time in England visiting friends & family & was keen to hit some local trails.  I, of course, was up for that & we first rode part way around & up Tunnel Mountain to check out a new trail – Star Warz.  It’s not a particularly long trail, but its all downhill & the local MTB organisation had built a lot of structures on the top half (they are still working on the bottom half).  Dale managed to quite spectacularly stack it on the first, & easiest, trail feature – a flat low bridge like structure.  It was a quite a sight, unfortunately I didn’t have the camera out.  This was followed by a series of tight berms that I couldn’t quite get right, but fun all the same.  Further down the trail, as we passed a group of riders pushing their big DH bikes up the trail, I popped over a little jump on the side of the trail & was immediately confronted by a stump that my front wheel was determined to make its acquaintance with.  Somehow I managed to jump off the side & down the bank & grab on to a small tree with only my pride injured.

Straight after these little incidents there was a nice wall ride that we rode a few times – it doesn’t require a lot of speed to get up high, but I’m not sure that I ever got the line completely right.  It was quite fun to able to ride the same feature a few times as we traded my camera & tried to get decent photos.

Here is Dale

And here is me

Shortly after leaving the wall we found this jump.  For those with sufficient skills, it was pretty easy to clear and land on the other side – while I could still get a little air and land on the horizontal platform.  Here’s Dale showing me how it’s done:

And here I am getting about the amount of air I am comfortable with (that said, we both had some rather interesting landings).

From here we rode through a few berms that had just been built the day before – they were pretty soft & loose, as one would expect.  Then it was time turn up the hill back to the road that would take us back to town.  Riding through some sort of holiday camp, I was amused by this sign:

Is this for obese children that spend all day in the living room playing video games?  I’m still unsure.

Cruising back down the hill to Dale’s place we loaded up his car, jump-started it & drove up to Norquay to ride Lower Stoney Squaw.  We rode both the Upper & Lower trails back at the end of August – this time due to time, fitness & motivational constraints we bypassed the steep climb to the summit & rolled in to one of our favourite downhill trail sections around Banff & Canmore.  Dale, with his big DH, bike was pushing on the slightest hint of a climb – suits me, finally someone taking photos, on my camera, of me riding trails.

I had a lot of trouble remembering any of the trail, even though it was only about six weeks since I first rode it – due in part from joining the trail from a different direction.  Nonetheless, it was a blast riding down here & there were plenty of little rises to launch off – although, I did, somehow, keep landing right before rocks I would’ve preferred not to hit.  Just before the end of the trail there is a nice easy jump that one can get a little or a lot of air off – compulsory photos stop.

Crossing the TCH, we battled a headwind back in to Banff & I split quickly to get back for my first Thanksgiving dinner – I was quietly excited by this prospect.  We had enough people around in the evening to take a fair chunk out of two turkeys & all the other food our guests brought.  Steve had some how managed to wangle himself a complimentary rotisserie for the barbecue – so one turkey went on there, while the other, wrapped in bacon & stuffed with pork sausages went in the oven.

James sniffing & trying his best, I think, not to lick this turkey

Steve basting this bird of goodness – I think mostly with beer; whatever, it was brilliant.

Thanksgiving didn’t disappoint my preconceptions – masses of great food with good friends & (pseudo-) family (that’s you Alex & Megan [& Finnian – although I suppose he can’t quite comprehend it yet] – thanks, I’m pretty sure Canmore wouldn’t be what it is to me without you).  For some reason, I’d scheduled (yet) another ride on Monday morning with a random on the forums at mtbr.com – so it was an earlyish night for me.

Dragging myself out of bed, breaking the fast, loading & de-icing the car I headed out to meet Jeff at the trailhead at nine o’clock (he came in from Calgary) so I could show him Razor’s Edge.  The first bit of the trail along the highway was good fun & in nice condition with no other users around – it was bloody cold though, the clear skies lulled me in to a full sense of warmth.  What was I thinking riding in short sleeves?  The ride up to the pass warmed us up a bit – I was particularly pleased to finally clear a steep, rocky section in which you have to choose your line carefully as the rocks are loose & send you in directions you really don’t want to go.  This photo doesn’t show just how much difficulty I have had in clearing it the previous half-dozen times (it’s steep, I promise you – & it comes in the middle of a tough, long climb).

After somehow missing the unsigned turnoff, we were finally on the new trail.  There is lots of cool moss & general undisturbed growth.  The first half was OK, but being a new loose & moist trail it became increasingly difficult to get any sort of rhythm to make the climb to saddle.

Before long we were riding along what I assume the trail is named after – the exposed jagged rock on the ridge line that you have to transverse.  Sometimes, it’s difficult to see how one could ever get the front tire to negotiate such a narrow path; but you do know that if you can, it will grip like crazy.  Unfortunately for Jeff, he had left his helmet behind – so he had to walk a lot of obstacles that he would have otherwise ridden.  There are no man made features on this trail, but the rock provides more than enough great drops & drop-offs.  I was pleased to ride things that I avoided last time I was up here – & perhaps even more pleased to have a willing photographer to capture me pushing my limits.  As always – I assure you it’s steeper & trickier than it looks (at least for me, especially the first feature [the next two images])

Just before the annoying hike-a-bike section up a hill & after negotiating more of the jagged rock there is this cool wall ride (I suppose about a forty-five degree angle) that is so grippy that it doesn’t really matter how much you stuff up the entry (I should know – damn chain dropping a ring on bumpy descents), you can still ride along this slope with a lot of confidence.

Getting back on the bikes after the push up through the trees we were on dirt for a change – a very steep plunge had us walking briefly before blasting down (stopping briefly to look out over towards the prairies) & then a short little climb before on the slick rock.  It can be quite difficult to spot the trail as you drop many metres towards the road – & this particular spot is a wind funnel.  For the second time in as many days I was struggling to negotiate tricky trail with the wind buffeting me incessantly.  Still, it was greatly challenging & very fun.  Down one part with particularly loose rock & then a sharp drop off my front tire & some rocks decided it was time I had a little rest – I firmly planted my butt on a very hard rock.  Shortly after we turned the hard left to avoid riding off the cutting on to the highway & were heading back to the parking lot.

Four great rides in one long weekend & a lot of turkey – I love it.  Although, the end of the riding season can’t come soon enough for that big buy up – my rear tyre & drive train are decidedly sub-par.

Canada, family, food, friends, hiking, national park, snow

Back-country skiing & snow-shoeing to Bow Hut

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Having checked in almost four hours early (not by choice – the best shuttle from Canmore got me here that early) for my return flight to Heathrow, I’ve got a bit of time to sit down & try & remember the blur of activity that was the last two weeks. Wednesday a fortnight ago, we loaded up Mark’s small hire SUV with four sets of skis, a pair of snow shoes (for me – still trying to give my shoulder a bit of a rest), avalanche gear & an awful lot of food & wine for an overnight trip. We were off to Bow Lake (we had passed the lake a couple of weeks before on our Icefield Parkway roadtrip) to skin/walk up to Bow Hut to stay the night – this trip was planned for the week before but the avalanche danger was too high. Finally (after almost three weeks) it had got proper cold – it got down to -24ºC on the way there; not the coldest it had been all winter, but about the temperature I had been preparing myself for in London & which was beaten away by a pretty mild January.

Parking at the lake, we were under way & skinning/walking across the lake at about eleven o’clock.

I’m not sure I was completely used to walking across a lake for half an hour, it’s kind of odd to think about. As the day was so cold & clear the scenery was already spectacular before we’d even begun to climb.

Also, I was finally able to experience the sensation of hair on one’s face freezing up – mostly nasal hair & eyelashes for me, but James’s beard looked pretty cool.

Across the lake we slowly begun to climb up a gentle & wide canyon before we turned up in to the trees, coming out in to the open again for a view of Bow Falls & a good lunch stop.

Following lunch we skinned/walked up a much narrower & steep-sided canyon for a while. The stream running down it was frozen over in places – but not usually when we were trying to traverse above it, it made for some hairy moments. It was also very beautiful.

We left the canyon before it got too steep for us & climbed up to the left (true right really) & through more trees. All this time I was making reasonably good time on the trusty (but boring) snowshoes & had plenty of time to wait & take photos. Being out in the -10 to -15ºC clear day surrounded by magnificent mountains was just fantastic & I was pleased to have the time to take it in as best I could. We were soon out of the trees for good & left traversing across the top of a nice little cliff down to the canyon (it was a little way away) we had just climbed out of. The skin track wasn’t really wide enough for snowshoes (who would wear such ungainly things on such terrain?), so provided me with a little bit of trepidation. The hut was spotted with an hour to go perched up on a ridge & it looked big –

Beneath the said glacier, we turned a hard left & had the biggest climb of the day to reach the hut; by now I was sick of trying to stay on the skin track that snaked its way up the climb – it was much easier just to power straight up the steep stuff.

Only four hours after setting out we were at Bow Hut.

It turned out to be (relatively) salubrious & rather large with the bunkroom separate from the kitchen & dining area. The kitchen was well stocked with propane cooking & lighting & plenty of firewood to keep us toasty warm. Becca & James headed out shortly after up towards the glacier a bit so they could ski some of the runs down in the lovely powder that we had been walking through all day. By the time they got back it was dark – but only just, as the full moon provided us with a stunningly bright night. Mark, Adele & I had set to preparing some of the masses of food the others had carried out – in deference to my shoulder I was not allowed to carry more than a packet of corn chips in my small backpack, on the proviso that they were not broken. Carrying such a precious cargo I made extra sure not to fall & they came through whole & ready to be devoured with all the ground beef (what they call mince over here) & fresh veges. For once, we were the noisy one in the hut (much to the bemusement of an older German couple; the two young guys up from Lake Louise were too busy taking photos & smoking pot they probably didn’t care how much noise we made) – I’m not sure if this was because it was such a great day, the company, the quality & quantity of the food or the fact that Mark & Adele had discovered TetraPak cartons of good wine in the bottleshop. Probably a combination of them all, but weighted towards the end of the list. Just before bed we all popped outside to have a look at the night sky – all wrapped up out there it wasn’t too bad, the outside temperature was pretty constant up there at -12ºC. And what a night it was – these photos were taken at nine-thirty (sunset was about five-thirty at that time) without a flash, James has a very distinct shadow in the second picture.

After we all had varied nights’ sleep, we were up & refuelled with another large meal before heading up above the hut & on to the glacier. Here’s James cutting the wood to fuel the fire to melt the snow to provide the water to boil to make our porridge.

The others skinned up so they could have some nice powder runs back down, I of course just went for the walk & the vista. Here’s Adele & I with our makeshift harnesses, just in case we fell in to a crevasse, on top of the glacier – you can just see my gumby snowshoes (there’s not many photos of them thankfully).

I think all had a great time skiing on the longest & deepest powder runs of their lives (a not completely substantiated claim, but I’m sure someone said that). James particularly left some nice squiggles behind him in the snow.

After two runs down that slope, we were back to the hut to tidy up & have another huge meal – we were determined not to carry any food out (that was quite ambitious as it turned out, but we got there in the end). The steep hill that we climbed up to the hut was pretty sketchy descending on snowshoes & I had my first little fall of the trip.

We got down with only a few little falls (Adele had a good faceplant that I missed, after she hit a submerged rock: & I seemed to spend a bit of time pulling Becca out of the snow as she made good acquaintance with some small trees). The last section through the trees was the only bit I really missed not being on skis, it was so twisty & flowly – really I was probably just missing my bike. I stopped & waited after a little rise to take photos of everyone skiing down; James got past in style,

Becca went past & I got my photo & then she stopped & fell over, Mark waited just as he came in to shot & then came down & crashed right in front of me,

& Adele did a convincing impression of someone scared of a camera & ran right off the trail just before me. Out of the trees it was pretty gentle down to the lake; by the time we reached the lake all Adele’s activities of the previous four days were catching up with her & I ended up towing or pushing her across the lake with her poles – snowshoes really aren’t all that slow, you just look like a muppet.

That’s really the end of that adventure – what a great couple of days & beautiful scenery & great friends & food. Thanks James for organising that & James, Becca, Adele & Mark for carrying my food & other stuff.

Canada, family, food, friends, hiking, national park, snow

Enforced Rest

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Now that my arm is out of its sling I can catch up my ramblings here – yes, I dislocated my shoulder again last week. The last week hasn’t been quite as active for me, but I have managed to get out & see & do a few things. I think it was Saturday over a week ago that Tristan & Margie (Adele flatted with them for a while in Timaru) turned up from the west coast – we had a great dinner catching up & teaching the group how to play Monopoly Deal (the card game I was given by the guy next to me on the flight over). Much hilarity ensued – the game has proved to be quite a hit & seldom a day goes by without at least one game. My enforced rest started right at the top of my first back-country ski touring day – Megan & Alex took Adele & me out for a taste of touring. We headed about forty-five minutes out of Canmore in to Kananaskis Country & headed for Chester Lake from the parking lot. With skins on our skis, we were able to walk/shuffle (the heels of the boots are clipped down, so one can perform a walking action, but really you just slide the ski along the snow) up the trail that immediately started climbing up towards the lake.

It was great to be out amongst the trees & seemingly a million miles from anyone else – I instantly loved touring (I’m a little weird, I’ve always found some enjoyment in working up hills – whether on a bike, hiking or on skis, as it turns out). The day was a little overcast, & perhaps a little over freezing point – but the touring proved to be a good work out, so we were soon shedding layers, gloves & toques (Canada-speak for beanies).

Once we reached the lake after a good ninety minutes – two hours, Alex led us off the trail up much steeper hill; it may not have been much stepper, but there was a lot of powder & that made it a little tougher.

We finally got above the trees (after some challenging turns on steep uphills) & went up a nice slope we were going to stop & have lunch & admire the view.

In the end, the cold wind persuaded us to take our skins off & find a lunch spot further down the hill. Unfortunately my downhill skiing in half a metre of powder on telemarks (no touring skis left at the rental shop) was not really up to scratch & I bailed a few times. That in itself wasn’t so bad as the powder was nice & soft; getting up proved to be a bit more difficult as it was had to get any sort of coordination on such a soft, steep slope. In my flailing around the third time I managed to put my arm behind me, put some weight on it & pop my shoulder out – not that I was sure I had done it. But my inability to use my arm seemed to suggest that I had. After a bit of drama trying to get off the slope & on to a reasonably flat spot to try & relocate the pesky arm; it took a few attempts to get it back in & then I was slinged up, lunch was had, my skins were put back on & we were off again. Getting back through the powder & trees proved to be a bit difficult for both Adele & me (Adele spent a good few minutes looking for a ski that she lost in the snow, & I had trouble getting up the few times that I fell), but once we were back on the trail the going got easier. Around the lake the trail was overall pretty flat, so I as able to keep ahead with one arm & two skins. Skinning down the hill was more work that going down should have been, but it meant I didn’t ever get out of control & crash. Eventually we were all safely back at the car – quite the adventure & apart from the fifteen minutes of pain, it was a great day & I loved it.

I took it pretty easy on Monday while Adele, James, Craig, Tristan & Margie hit the slopes again. Don’t think I did a lot, did manage to make the seventy minute walk in to town through what snow remained & along the river, meet Becca for her lunch break, get a round of cards in & then try out the much talked about chocolate-chai (delicious) at the Bagel Company. I tagged along when Craig took Tristan & Margie ice-climbing at the Grotto on Tuesday – a good chance to get out of the house & it still wasn’t too cold to be standing around at the bottom of an ice wall. We donned our crampons for the walk up the frozen stream, it was quite pretty walking up the narrow (but shallow) gorge to the ice.

There were two faces to be climbed, but we had to wait awhile for a couple of groups to get off it before the others had a go. I spent the time looking around & chatting to whoever was not halfway up the wall.

Due to the recent warm temperatures & snow fall, the avalanche risk was too great for our planned overnight trip in to Bow Hut. Therefore on Wednesday we (James, Becca, Craig, Tristan, Margie & Adele on touring skis, me on snowshoes) headed back to Kananaskis Country for the Burstall Pass trail. The parking lot was pretty much opposite where we started the ill-fated trip to Chester Lake three days prior.

This day was clearer, & a little colder. The trail started off a lot flatter than Sunday’s & snowshoes turned out to be pretty easy (especially on the packed trail) & it wasn’t nearly as much of a work out as touring skis & skins; I don’t think I had to strip off any layers all day & I was pleased not to be holding everyone up with my one arm & snowshoes (apparently, I looked pretty funny).

We reached the bottom of a few lakes on the river down the valley & as they were all frozen & snowed over we dived off the trail & walked up the lake through more powder & in to the sun for quite a while, before having lunch sitting on skis in the sun & out of the wind – it was surprisingly warm.

After lunch & above the lake, the trail got a lot steeper & the snowshoes once again proved an asset. A couple of skiers coming down told us that the fog was rolling in above the trees, but thankfully we got a few good views when it got a bit flatter out of the trees. The others’ eyes were salivating at the sight of the powder slopes ahead, but as the fog was rolling in & I was not so excited about such slopes on snowshoes, I turned around to get a bit of a head start on the (supposedly) faster skis for the run down hill.

I had a very pleasant solitary walk back down through the snow & as it turned out I got down almost two hours before the others. Another great day out in the wilderness – it’s beautiful here.

Thursday was a bit more a restful day (except for James & Craig who had a great day on the hill) & after Becca eventually won a game of Monopoly we picked up Margie & Tristan & headed for Banff to meet James & Craig & spend an hour or so soaking in the hot pools again – this time it wasn’t snowing & it was daylight, so we could see the mountains (on the way in we saw the Olympic torch making its way slowly towards Vancouver). Friday I had another morning resting my arm while Adele went rock climbing with James – she was very excited on returning, having led for the first time. Becca somehow got the afternoon off work, so she took Adele & us out for a little outing to Johnston Canyon – basically an hour or so walking up a beautiful canyon to see the very frozen Lower & Upper Falls. Adele’s friend, Mark (he worked in Timaru Hospital for a while & is now back living & working in New Hampshire), arrived for a week’s vacation & was quickly initiated in to the ways of Monopoly Deal.

As Mark had been working so much recently, Saturday was declared a non-strenuous day & we (Adele, Tristan & Margie included) had a nice late start to the day & we drove the hour or so up to Lake Louise to check out the ice carving on the lake.

There was a thirty-eight hour competition spread over Friday, Saturday & Sunday; the large works were starting to come together beside the lake. Back down in the village, we were just in time to catch the speed-carving competition – billed as one man, one block of ice, one hour. It was very neat to see the twelve competitors create some magnificent sculptures with chainsaws, chisels & who-knows-what-else from just one 300lb block of ice.

There was even a Kiwi having a go (apparently his first weekend ice carving) – his Maori face with moko was pretty cool; none of us really liked the one that won, but there was plenty to keep us interested before we returned to the lake (after a spot more gear shopping) for ice-skating (I sat that out, in deference to my shoulder, & walked across the lake instead – it was finally getting cold, my the moisture from my breath on froze my scarf & ruined any insulating properties my scarf previously held).

I was most pleased to see a traditionally uniformed Mountie; I was very tempted to break in to song though – “I cut down trees, I eat my lunch, I go to the lavatory, on Wednesdays I go shopping & have buttered scones for tea”.

Back at the ice rink the others were finishing up around this cool fire in a stump – there was no wood inside it, it was burning the stump from the inside-out.

The large carvings were coming along nicely too.

We split to return to our favourite (& only that we know of) restaurant in Lake Louise – the Alpine Club. We had to get the poutine (sounds remarkably like pootang), heart attack in a bowl apparently – a dish from Quebec (I think) that is basically fries with gravy & cheese curd, absolutely fantastic.

After a discussion on tipping, our waitress turned out to be a bit of a plonker – didn’t bring ordered drinks, brought out two lots of burnt nachos, brought us the bill after Mark had just paid & brought two mints for a table that had had five people at it all night. Luckily, the guy that we had last time was around to keep things going.

By Sunday, Adele & I had gone to stay with Mark at the cabin he is staying in & I seem to remember a lot of trips to the supermarket. The cabin is a short walk from town (much shorter than the hour from Three Sisters) & I popped in to town to find a post box & get my bearings for this part of town. I was surprised to see all the wild domestic bunnies loping around the straight. Apparently a few/many years ago someone’s pet rabbit(s) escaped & they have since breed like rabbits do. The first two were pretty cute, but after seeing a dozen or so in a short space of time chewing away at what grass they could find amongst the snow I could see how they could be a pest. They are particularly prolific around this part of town as it is further from the hills & the predators (coyotes & so on) up there. Apparently the town has taken a vote on whether the town should let them alone or push them off their mortal coils. It would seem the cuteness factor won out. We seemed to be going to the supermarket quite a bit, the last time was to stock up for our traditional January barbecue – Tristan & Margie’s last night in town. January barbecues make a lot more sense in the southern hemisphere; it was quite novel to be out grilling steak & sausages in the snow & -8ºC – can’t think why no one would come out & join me for a beer around the barbie. A great night (unless you happen to be a plate or handle – they somehow ended up endangered species) with pretty much everyone Adele & I know in Canmore.