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around home, Canada, friends, snow

Lesson & Main St skiing

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It was unusually busy in the Sunshine parking lot at the early time of 8.15 yesterday morning, considering there wasn’t that much fresh snow & it wasn’t a long weekend.  It turned out that there were a few races on around the hill.  As I had no ski buddy for the day & after Alex encouraged me to last week (he must have noticed that I really don’t ski that well – it was hardly a secret), I spent the day in a lesson.  I managed my trick again of paying for a group lesson & getting a private lesson as there was no-one else in my class – score.  I also lucked out & got the longest serving Sunshine instructor, Daniel – who was very good (not to mention overly enthusiastic & talkative, as one expects with such jobs).

As it was just me, we had a pretty chilled day at my pace & lots of time to talk about my technique.  My goal for the day (made up on the spot – I hate being asked such things) was to be able to ski where I want to go when it gets bumpy or mogul-ly (funnily enough, that’s not a word), instead of having the terrain dictate my turns, & therefore, my path.  Considering I’ve only being skiing for a year, I apparently have good steering & other parts to my technique – this came as a bit of a surprise, so I took that with a pinch of salt & put it down to instructor’s encouragement.  What I really needed to work on, or so I was told, was completing/coming out of turns – so we spent a lot of time getting me to flex my legs (particularly the outside/bottom one).  This involved a lot of touching the cuff of my boots as I completed turns.  By the end of the day, I was getting around & diving into the moguls much more confidently.  The lesson was also good in that I got dragged down a lot of black runs I’ve never been down before & I made it down the only double-black I’ve done at Sunshine in much better shape.  All in all a great & very worthwhile day – sorry to bore you with the details, but it’s mostly so that I don’t completely forget it.  Apparently, I passed the test-slope for entry in to Delerium Dive, but I find that rather worrying on a few different levels.

We lost an hour’s sleep last night with the start of Daylight Savings (now nineteen hours behind NZ).  Spring seems to have decided to turn up in the last few days – hard to believe when it was -37ºC less than a fortnight ago.  The forecast this week is for mostly sun & daytime highs all above freezing & the lowest overnight low only -9ºC – crazy talk.  So, there are many big puddles around town & much slush.

But it’s still beautiful in town

With a bit of luck, there will be some uncovered (we live in hope) singletrack soon – I just have to get around to changing the tyres & the drivetrain on my bike.

No one really had the motivation to do anything too energetic today, so after a sleep in & a lazy morning, a few of us spent the afternoon mozying around town.  The Big Head (the meaning of ‘Canmore’) is all dressed up for this year’s Ski Nationals.

Canmore has been having a bit of a celebration of that fact – on Wednesday night sitting in the pub eating copious amounts of wings we saw truckloads of snow being trucked in & then dumped on Main St.  For four or five days two blocks have been closed off with XC skiers on the groomed snow replacing the cars & pickups.  It’s a little odd to walk down the street & see a groomer & tracksetter working away.

While we were walking, & later sitting enjoying chocolate chai & bagels, around town this afternoon in the balmy weather the final leg of a small X-Terra triathlon was run/skied on Main St.  We had a spot near the start of the XC skiing (the other legs were swimming [don’t worry, in a pool – not the river] & running) & the finish line.  The competitors had to do five laps of the snow to make up their three kilometres.

After that had died down, the snow was open again for public skiing.  Although the skiing wasn’t great it was quite novel to be skiing down Main St so we got sufficiently motivated (only just) to get our skis & join in for a couple of laps.  It was the first, & probably last, time that I’ve ever skied in jeans – but with so many people around it hardly matter.  At least I didn’t fall & get soaked; actually, the highlight of the skiing was seeing so many people fall over in quite ridiculous ways.

Megan & Finn enjoying the warmth – outside our favourite toyshop.

around home, Canada, friends, national park, snow

More pictures of last Sunday’s touring

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Here are some of Alex’s photos from the little trip he & I took from Wawa to Simpson’s Pass to Healy Pass & back to Sunshine base last weekend.  Mainly it’s an opportunity for me to post a few photos of myself – some of them a little embarrassing.

Taking a rest in the warm snow after trying to keep my speed up for the approaching flat & losing it over that little convexity.

around home, Canada, friends, national park, snow

Simpson & Healy Passes

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That pesky little cold I picked up in London hung around for a few more days than I hoped for, but after surviving the week at work I was ready for a little skiing over the weekend.  Anya & I spent all day at Sunshine on Saturday.  It was a lot warmer than last time I went up & the day seemed to sit around -5ºC.  There was a few centimetres of the fresh stuff & the sun & continuing snowfall made it a very pleasant day.  We hit all the lifts over the day & with the exception of a couple of runs off Divide, there were few people queuing.  Funniest thing of the day was Anya getting a little confused & heading off to Teepee Town chair, ducking through some trees, hitting a roller & then straight on to a little jump & ending up stuck in a small tree well.  Forewarned is forearmed & all that & I managed to land it & have a little laugh as Anya eventually extricated herself from her little hole in the ground (“We were evicted from our hole in ground, we had to go & live in a lake.”).  After a big lunch, we skied all afternoon, had a drink or two at the bottom before a spot of shopping in Banff & a long soak in the Banff Hot Springs again.

Alex’s plans for a “quite interesting” (I interpreted this as “well beyond my capabilities”) ski tour on Sunday were scuppered by a call-in to work for his ski buddy, so I joined him on Sunday for an easier tour.  We took the Sunshine gondola up & skied off the back of Wawa looking for a derelict cabin near a lake up the other side of the valley west of where we left the Sunshine boundary.  Once again, it was another glorious day – still, warm & mostly sunny.  We skinned relatively easily for a while before we found a spot the Alex thought looked likely to reach the valley floor.   By this time we were in British Columbia, albeit briefly.

We skied a little way down before the slope got a lot steeper & we stopped so Alex could dig a pit to gauge the likelihood of us triggering an avalanche.  The avalanche forecast was for low or moderate risk (height dependent) & Alex’s field testing suggested that it wasn’t likely we would bring the face down on top of ourselves.  I had a go at my first snow-pack test (for want of a better word) – basically you isolate a 30x30cmxwhatever-height pillar of undisturbed snow & then tap/hit the top of it (shovel covered) with increasing force until it shears off.

The steepness & all the trees tested my ability, as usual – I managed reasonably well apart from one chute that was too skinny for me to be able to turn & slow down.  It was a quite spectacular dive right in front of Alex – pity I can’t find a link to Alex’s photo of me pulling myself out of the hole I’d created.

Down on the valley floor, we skinned up to Simpson’s Pass & then took off up to the left to find the hut.  It was quite a steep climb up to the lake, during which I was starting to feel quite worn out from that dastardly cold.  Eventually up at the lake we spent quite a long time traipsing around where the cabin should have been (at least according to old maps that Alex had found).  After squeezing between too many trees, getting showered in snow & just generally going around in circles I was definitely ready for lunch on the lake edge.  Disturbingly, for me, I didn’t have much of an appetite & after a bit more hut hunting (we never found it) we headed up to Healy Pass with me feeling more & more tired.  Thankfully, the pass wasn’t as high as I feared & we made it up there just after three o’clock – just as well it’s not getting dark until after six o’clock now.  Naturally, the views from the top were up to the usual high standard of around here.

It was a gentle ski down off the pass & that went pretty well for me until I tried to keep some speed up to get me further across a flat section, hit a rolling drop & then fell over about ten metres later.  We skied down the drainage back to the parking lot.  This bit was through trees & followed the skin track/hiking trail (season dependent).  When it was downhill, it was tight & twisty (a lot of snow ploughing for me) but manageable.  Unfortunately, there were a lot of flat & uphill sections – by now I was worn out & I hated these sections.  I really can’t wait to be back on my bike where it’s a lot easier to keep momentum & propel oneself along flat & uphill sections.  Back at the car about seven hours after we started skiing.  At least this week’s game of Cities & Knights was resource rich.

family, friends, London, travel, UK

London Interlude

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My crazy dash to London & back started with an almost full day at work.  It was hardly my most productive day ever, still very much distracted at all that was unfolding in Christchurch.  It was great to exchange a few texts with Adele before a nice long phone call as she finished off her night shift at the hospital.  Shortly after lunch I was out of my cement-dust covered garb & in to something more comfortable before hitting the road to Calgary & a red-eye to Britain.  Air Canada was the same as always – surly staff, decidedly average food & altogether adequateness; mind you, my opinion is somewhat tainted by my having to take this trip in the first place.  At least the entertainment was good – I managed to draw myself away from it for a few hours of dozing.  Great to have Shelley & the girls pick me up as I wandered out in to the relative warmth of the T3 forecourt – after all the Christchurch drama I was pleased to see Kiwi friends & exchange plenty of hugs.

Conveniently, post-lunch is nap time in the Patrick household (well, for Amelie anyway) – I was certainly keen for one of those.  As this was apparently the best day of the year so far (a balmy 10-15ºC), we spent the latter part of the afternoon at a park feeding ducks, playing on the playground & trying not to bump in to the half-term crowds.  Andy eventually made it home from work, sounding a little croaky & the catching up continued over a Thai meal.

I was making the familiar Metropolitan/Bakerloo/South Eastern tube & rail trip to Sidcup on Friday morning to catch up with family.  I’m not sure how Trish timed it so well, but just as I started walking down Longlands Rd there she was in her car ready to pick me up.  Much more catching up & sharing travel stories as I jettisoned things I don’t need for my last few months in North America, Steve turned up & we marvelled at the changes to the back bedroom before strolling around the corner to meet Ray & Jill for a big Indian lunch.  I’d had a hankering for a proper curry for a few weeks now & I wasn’t disappointed.

Getting off the train again at Charing Cross I was early enough for meeting Levi (a friend I went through the last ten years of school with, who has moved to London since I left) at Euston Station, so I decided to follow my nose through central London.  I had forgotten just how much busier the Strand, the West End & Soho are on a Friday night than sleepy Canmore – I managed to not get lost & even find Levi at Euston (my UK sim card seems to have expired – it made meeting people a little more difficult).  I read my book while Levi finished a little work & then my Kiwi cousin Chris met us for a pint & much more catching up.  Getting a bit peckish I was happy to continue the diversity of ethnic foods – not that Chipotle is fine dining, but it was tasty & filling.  Plus it should make Megan suitably jealous – which was the main objective.

Surprisingly, Levi lives about a hundred metres around the corner from Chipotle just off Charing Cross Rd near the Tottenham Court Road tube stop – what an absolutely great location, there is so much going on & to see around here.  Of course, the rent is horrendous but it was found in a pinch & is within walking distance to work.  Twas a pretty quiet night out, but most enjoyable (some of my Steel Mill stories were even appreciated!  But that may have been my sleep-deprived state imagining it) as more travel & London stories rolled out.  Must note that it was another mild day where I didn’t need a big coat to walk around in & stay comfortable.

Rain, which I’m not too familiar with any more, was moving through the city in bands on Saturday when we (the Patricks & I) headed out for a potter along South Bank (after plenty of waffles for breakfast).  We started off at the Borough Market – somewhere I’d often walked through mid-week to get from A to B.  It was great to see it on a Saturday morning with all the stalls open & packed with people.  There was some pretty tasty food around & plenty of samples – Vittoria’s cuteness factor ensured she got a whole lot.  Check out these dishes of curries, they were particularly tasty.

There was a lot of cheese around too, in some cases Andy was lucky he had a blocked nose

Still dodging the showers & carrying the buggy up & down stairs we eventually got to the Thames & decided on Greek for lunch – very tasty.  The umbrellas didn’t get used a whole lot as we wandered all the way down to the Millennium Wheel & across to Westminster.  I enjoyed being back in the city & trying to pick various more-obscure landmarks on the skyscape.

By then thoughts were turning to getting the girls home – as it turned out that was a good idea as I had another big nap before a scrumptious satay dinner.  I got a big thrashing it what was a very frustrating game of Cities & Knights for everyone.  There was next to no wheat around with which to build cities & it was almost two hours before Shelley took out the game (very narrowly beating Andy).  Our frustration was mollified slightly by a fantastic pavlova with plenty of strawberries & kiwifruit – of which we demolished, saving a wafer thin piece for Vittoria.

I somehow managed to sleep in until eight on my third & final morning, still aware that I’d picked up a scratchy throat & was therefore fighting off a cold – probably picked up from a combination of sleep deprivation, a wet day outside & Andy’s lingering illnesss.  But that wasn’t going to put me off my breakfast – Shelley had whipped up the best French toast (bringing me up to food from eight different countries in less than four days) I’d ever had.  From what I could work out it was a baguette cut up & soaked with egg mixture baked in a pan with liberal amounts of brown sugar on the bottom & maple syrup (my token Canadian gift) with plenty of bacon on the side.

My favourite Kiwi family in London – you can just see the sun on the first spring bulbs in the yard

Brilliant sunshine continued as Andy & the girls dropped me back at T3 – as we sat on the apron, the rain came on down, good timing on my part.  Managed to stay awake for the whole flight back & drive home safely – about 15000 km, 14 hours of time zone changes, 17 hours of flying in four days over; I slept well last night.  It’s cold again, but it did absolutely puke snow down today, so I hope that there is still some fresh snow for the weekend.  My tiny little cold is going away too – so that’s nice.