Two weeks was long enough to give my shoulder a break before I went stir crazy, so on Saturday I joined seven others (Finn came along for the ride too) to cross-country ski the Goat Creek trail to Banff (the trail starts up behind Canmore & runs the length of the other side of Mt Rundle).  Some warm, moist air rolled in from somewhere & unforecast snow fell on us all day.

It was pretty sticky & for most of the first half of the day, I had big clumps of snow sticking to the bottom of my skis – I definitely put too much grip wax was on.  Consequently, I couldn’t glide down the hills for quite some time & had to keep the walk/grip action going.  Before the first creek crossing, most of us were starving – so here was our lunch stop.  All that extra resistance had obviously made me hungry – as well as the lunch I brought, (some of) all the food Kristy & Joel had brought to share was much appreciated – more sandwiches, zucchini slice & ANZAC biscuits.

By this time I’d scraped a lot of the grip wax from my skis & after lunch I was finally able to keep too much snow accumulating & even glide down some hills.  On one particular hill I was sliding quite nicely until the snow built up too much on my right ski & it stopped in a hurry.  Not wanting to put my arm out to break my fall I ended up with a face full of fresh snow – much to Adam & Karin’s amusement.

The snow kept falling & there ended up being quite a bit on the Chariot.  Extra weight for Megan to stoically pull.

Although the trail has a net descent of a few hundred metres, to many of us there seemed to be a lot more climbing than there should be.  But I didn’t mind, as after lunch life was much easier for me as I didn’t have to work downhill as well as up.

Adam, Karin & Megan on one of the descents near the end of the day.

After fifteen or sixteen kilometres, Finn decided that he’d had enough of the inside of the Chariot – so I ended up with the pleasure of towing it while Megan carried Finn.  This I was happy with, as having the Chariot trailing behind me made life a little more interesting.  Five and a half hours later (plenty of stops with a nice big group) we made it to the parking lot at the end – some walked up to the hot springs while three of us returned (in the car parked in the lot the night before) to the trail head to pick up the other cars to return to Banff & pick every one up.

I’m slowly learning how to use my GPS & actually getting out & doing a trail helped to give me something to muck around with.  So here’s a little plot of Saturday’s outing – which you can manipulate a bit.  You can see how much my speed increased in the second part of the day (View Details down in the bottom right).

Sunday, Alex & I headed out to Sunshine for the morning.  It was still snowing a bit & down out of the wind the skiing was pretty good.  But up in the wind the slopes were well scoured out & pretty nasty.  I was pleased how my shoulder fared – not falling on it helped a lot.  After lunch we did a couple of runs before rushing out to beat the avalanche control access road closure.  I had a little time before dashing off to Calgary on an airport run to pick up (another) Alex returning from her weeks of snowboard-cross competitions.  After that somewhat tiring weekend – it’s nice to be sitting at home now on the couch watching a pretty cheesy episode of Chuck.

I’m not sure that neologism is proportioned correctly as I was the only Kiwi there, but more of that lately.  A Chinook blew through most last week & it was ridiculously warm – which made for some nice evening skis at the Nordic Center & a nice break from having to scrape ice off the car in the mornings.  But it was a little annoying as all the snow melted & there were big puddles everywhere which soon refroze & turned walking out of our driveway treacherous.

By the end of the week a big snowfall warning was in effect & another powder Saturday was in the offing – the fourth in a row.  I drove Pete & Donna (Melbourne-ites visiting Megan & Alex) & their friend Mark up to Sunshine nice & early & we quickly had a good few runs in.  It was pretty cold (~-15ºC) which worked out nicely as it wasn’t all that busy.  We all had a few little falls negotiating the powder & the average light, but they were rather inconsequential.  Well they were until I somehow fell directly on my right shoulder on snow that wasn’t so soft.  It was a little sore & while I collected my skis & poles (after having slid 10 metres down the steep slow), the adrenalin wore off & I realised I’d popped it out again.  It was a little hard getting off the run as no-one came down it for ages & it was steep; eventually I made it to a flat section with the help of a couple of boarders & Ski Patrol finally turned up.

There were a few bright sides of this – firstly I got my first ride on a Ski-Doo (even if it was rather painful).  It was a little while before the doctor turned up at the infirmary & they wouldn’t give me any food even though I was starting to feel pretty weak.  I was also complimented on my diet – my blood pressure was 104/60 or something like that when my shoulder was still out & my body was pretty traumatised still.  Eventually the doctor arrived & put my shoulder back in with some method that he called the Captain Kirk method – for reasons that were lost on me as I’m not a Trekkie/Trekker.  With that nice popping sound, I was a lot happier – especially compared to the next guy they brought in.  He’d managed to dislocate his shoulder above his head & was in what could only be described as excruciating pain.  I haven’t heard someone scream so loud & for so long for a long time, if ever.  After the nitrous oxide failed to calm him, it was time for the IV – eventually they got his shoulder back in.

So I had the afternoon off skiing, but wasn’t alone for too long as I went & camped in Trappers – Alex came & visited briefly and then I had a nice long lunch with Anya & Greg before meeting my carload at three & heading off the hill (always fun being in the passenger seat of your car while people drive stick on the wrong side of the road [for them] for the first time).  With Australia Day just passed & Waitangi Day (pretty much NZ Day for those who don’t know) coming up next week we had a little celebration at Joel & Kristy’s – six Aussies, two Canadians & me.  There was Aussie paraphernalia everywhere (amongst it all one NZ flag & I had a stuffed-toy Kiwi pinned to my sling) & much Aussie music completed a great roast lamb dinner & then Aussie & NZ themed cupcakes, pavlova, lamingtons &ANZAC biscuits.

So today was one of those annoying enforced rest days as I contemplate having to rehab my shoulder again & try not to play what-if scenarios over in my head.  I think it’s most irritating as it had been so good over the last few months.  It has been pleasant having a day off watching movies however & relaxing on the couch – although I was looking forward to getting out back-country today.  It’s a gorgeous day out, if a little chilly.  Canmore is looking particularly beautiful today, so it wasn’t too much of a hardship wandering to the grocery store.

Mt Rundle didn’t look too bad either

So I face a couple of weeks doing not much active – if it doesn’t snow next Friday, I might cope.  Just as well I’ve got great friends here – even if it is a stink way to go to get people to do your shoelaces or jacket up for you.  With February approaching there’s only three months left here for me – can’t wait to get on the bike again (haven’t hurt my shoulder doing that) & doing a bit more travelling.