Kicking Horse Christmas

We had an awesome time in Golden over Christmas 2010. The snow conditions aren't yet up to scratch, but Kicking Horse still offered some great, steep skiing. Lou and I rented a chalet at the Cedar House, which was a cosy retreat after a hard day on the slopes, complete with log stove and hot tub. Upon arrival, Darrin issued us with sleds to transport our bags to the chalet - much more fun than carrying in the mountain of booze and food that we'd transported to BC.

We had three days at the Horse, and only scratched the surface. Thanks to Mark and Nick for showing us around the mountain - there's a lot of potential if you're willing to take off your skis and walk a short distance. Without the local knowledge we'd have missed that aspect - the piste signage at Kicking Horse is a bit random. It was great to catch upm with Mark and Vicky again, and meet their new addition to the family, one-week-old Olivia.

Christmas Day began with a bit of a surprise - I managed to fall out of the loft sleeping area and clatter down the ladder, gaining some impressive bruises. Nothing broken, but I'm still sore a week later.

I met a grumpy old Scotsman in the day lodge on the first day; he was bemoaning the lack of powder, but in truth December is a bit early to be expecting waist-deep champagne. He probably got even more dour shortly after we met - he walked off with Lou's hot chocolate instead of the fancy coffee he'd just paid for. The irony was that he'd struggled to get out of the UK because of snowfall. He should count himself lucky - anyone from the UK who'd booked a trip to Lake Louise for Christmas would have been pretty pissed off. We headed to Louise on the way back from Golden. Their conditions were more like June than December, although it didn't stop them proclaiming the snow to be 'generally good' on their website. The runs we tried were littered with bare rock sections, and often horribly icy. I ended up walking down one section, carrying my skis. We returned to the lodge and got a refund. I've never held the management of Lake Louise in very high regard, and this latest episode just added to the long list of similar stories that get swapped around whenever Calgary skiers get onto the topic of best and worst hills. I put a selection of pictures from the trip on my Picasa site, here.

Last ski day of the year? April 12 2009

With a forecast for fresh snow we headed to Sunshine on Easter Sunday. We expected long queues and packed pistes, but in the event the place was dead - due to a lack of foreign holidaymakers coupled with Canadians doing the family dinner thing perhaps - plus it was sunny in Calgary. The morning snow was ice under fresh almost-powder but by lunch time things were good. The extra effort of skiing over icy ruts made a big difference - even super-fit Frans was knackered by 3 pm. The season runs for another 4-5 weeks but I think we'll be hoping for break-up on the lakes well before that, so we can get the boats out.