Monday, December 06, 2004
Ski Saturday
Thick powdery snow, skiers and snowboarders flying past you on the slopes, hot chocolate at the Day Lodge... there's nothing like a day spent skiing in the Rockies. We had a great time this past Saturday at Sunshine Ski Village, 8km west of Banff. We'd been planning to go for a while, and it is still very early in the season (Lake Louise and Sunshine have been open for a couple of weeks, and Nakiska only opened yesterday) but we were going because the HERBs had some free babysitting going begging and they had been dying to hit the slopes for a while. Richard hadn't been since April and Emma hadn't been since before she was pregnant with Benjamin, while we hadn't been at all in our adult lives (a few days with the Carrick Grammar Scripture Union in Glencoe, Scotland when we were 15 doesn't really count, I think). We considered taking a lesson or two before going but somehow never got around to it. We decided to just give it a go... we would pick it up again pretty quickly, right? Right...
We got up early at 0645 to find that the snow forecast for Saturday late afternoon/evening had in fact arrived during the night and we needed to get our snow shovel out before we could get going. We had the Jeep fully loaded with our Rockies survival gear, blankets matches and candles, chocolate and water in case we got stuck somewhere on the road. We also had put Richard and Emma's ski-box on top of the Jeep on Friday night so we just had to load up the skis and go. We headed up to the HERBs to collect them and their gear and away we went at 0805! We had been wondering what to wear for the whole skiing thing, and we discovered that, as with the rest of Calgary fashion, it's a matter of Layer Dressing:
Layer 1: underwear
Layer 2: long johns below and T-shirt above
Layer 3: fleecy pants below and micro-fleece or jumper above
Layer 4: waterproof trousers below and waterproof insulated jacket above
Not forgetting your hat (pull down over ears to avoid frostbite), gloves +/- overmittens, thick winter socks and ski goggles. Although I've never worn long johns in my life before, they do keep you toasty warm and have the added advantage of allowing you to take your trousers off in public without frightening the horses. So I was able to drive in my jeans and then change into my fleecy pants and waterproofs at the ski village.
Having arrived at Sunshine after 80 mins on the road, we then were in to 'transition time' which means the time it takes between arriving at the resort and actually getting to the point where you're standing on the slopes on your skis. We took over an hour, but apparently you get faster with practice if you're a serious skier! We all had to change into our ski gear, stow all of our stuff in the Jeep, hop on a tractor which takes you to the lower cable car station, then hire your skis, boots and poles (leaving your own shoes in a locker), pay for a lift pass, get on the cable car (Gondola) for 20 mins and then get off at the top. We only got on the slopes at 11:40 or so. Whew!
Sunshine Ski Village
Hardened Ski Veterans (Lift Pass Pictures)
We met some locals in the cable car on the way up who recommended a Green Run called 'Strawberry' which was good for beginners. One side was easier than the other, they said, but it was good to get started on. Runs seem to be classified as follows, by the way:
Green = easy, for beginners
Blue = bit harder, need to be fairly good
Black = better be good for this one
Black Diamond = even harder
Double Black Diamond = experts only, take your life in your hands
The light on the slopes was 'flat' which means the sun is just a vague glow in the sky and the light level is a bit gloomy due to clouds and falling snow (it snowed most of the time we were on the slopes) So we got our bindings on (these let you clunk your heavy, inflexible ski boots, which weigh a ton, onto your skis, feels very funny, like you don't have any ankles) and headed off for Strawberry, getting on the ski lift which is one of those 'approach you from behind and scoop you off your feet models'.
Hmmm... these go on your feet, right?
OK - so what do we do now?
Getting on the lift was easier than getting off, as the lift dumps you on a short flat landing pad which leads onto a slope which was a bit steeper than we expected, causing both of us to go on our ears (had to stop the ski lift until we were out of the way again). Then we headed off downslope, faltering at first (first time on skis in 20 years, remember), keeping our front ski-ends together (this is called Doing the Snowplough) to stop from going too fast (never never never point your skis downhill straight!) until we got to a sign saying 'Blue Run to the right' and 'Green Run to the left'. Richard and Emma headed off on the Blue, while we decided to take the Green Run. Which was fine and dandy, except for the fact that it was really a good bit steeper than we had expected for a beginner slope, and there were hidden edges, which I discovered by promptly firing myself over one and landing in a heap. Oh well, no damage done, just go slower and take a bit more care, right? Right... So we made our way downhill, keeping the Snowplough up, practising our turns a bit, traversing (which means wiggling from side to side across a slope, rather than just going straight down and accelerating madly). It was actually quite difficult to go slowly in all the slope traffic, with kids and snowboarders zooming past on all sides, but we went at our own pace and avoided having a collision. Key points to remember are: keep your knees bent, crouch down as much as you can, and never never lean back. We were doing pretty well, I was a bit more adventurous than P, and fell over a good bit more, but we made it down to where we could see the bottom of the slope. Except this bit really was fairly steep, in fact a bit scarily steep, in fact we couldn't believe it was for beginners at all. However, our Ulster bloody-mindedness kicked in, we had paid our money and they weren't going to send up a helicopter to get us down, so I decided to give it a go and slowly snowploughed and traversed my way to the bottom. P was going to go next, but she lingered just a little too long at the top, looked at how steep it was just a bit too much and then decided that walking down was the safest option after all.
J at the Day Lodge
P at the Day Lodge
We met up with Richard and Emma for lunch at the Day Lodge and discussed how disappointed we were at how crap we were at skiing and how we should have really taken a lesson or two before we came, and how they should enjoy themselves anyway and never mind us. They commiserated, and we got the map out to see which runs they would go on in the afternoon. It was only then that we realised that were two sides to the Strawberry Run after all, one marked 'Green - for Beginners' and the other (the one we came down) 'Green - Intermediate'. It seemed that if we hadn't fallen off the ski-lift we would have seen the sign for the real Green Run. Sheesh! We also discovered a Beginners' area called Magic Carpet (which we had missed on the way up) which was a gentle slope with a moving 'carpet' which allowed you to get up to the top again after you had skied down it.
Rich takes a break
Where have the boys gone?
Poles Up and Away We Go!
Undeterred, after lunch P got her skis back on and decided she would take a few runs on the Magic Carpet and practice her turns while Richard, Emma and I went back up to see what the Real Green Run was like. And it turned out to be surprisingly easy, very few skiers, mostly a gentle slope except the first bit which was a steep slope wide enough to traverse across. I made it all the way down, going quite fast in places, and I didn't fall once! Wow! When we got to the bottom, Emma and I went up again while Richard headed off to the higher slopes for more of a challenge. We waved to P on the Magic Carpet from the ski-lift and she was doing some pretty impressive turns, but she couldn't be convinced to come back up to the top. She met a lady who was also a beginner who had come down Strawberry too, and she had cried most of the way down, and gave up and walked down from half way down! Compared to that, P was a real Franz Klammer! Anyway, Emma and I skied down again and then met up with Rich again for a final run before the place closed at 4pm (the sun goes down at 4:15, and skiing in the dark is no fun at all). This time we decided to end on a high note and try the Blue Run on Strawberry which Rich and Em had come down at first. I realised I was taking a bit of a chance, but I decided to give it a go anyway. It was a good bit steeper than the Green Runs, narrower and with more trees to crash into. I was going pretty fast, making some nice turns but I fell over a couple of times when my ski bindings came off. On the last bit, I was doing really rather well (it's good, this skiing, I was thinking), when I executed a perfect high-speed paralled turn (according to observers) and then lost my balance and carried out a high-speed, full frontal impact wipeout, creating a huge plume of powdery snow. Apparently, it was quite impressive and I managed to get snow in my long johns which is an achievement of sorts. That was enough excitement for one day, so we had some hot chocolate and got on the Gondola going down.
The 4 of Us, 'apres ski'
Skiing Jeep
We headed off for Banff in the dark, and ended up at the Hot Springs for an hour or so, lying in the hot sulphury outdoor spring pools at 39oC while it was -4 and snow was falling on our heads. Thick clouds of steam hung over the pool, and you could barely see the people on other side of the springs. It was great, and we didn't really want to leave when it came time to go. The drive home was a bit rough though, minus 9 and drifting snow. We had the iPod with us and the radio transmitter, so Richard played DJ while I drove and the girls in the back decided what we would order from the Chinese takeway, once we got back to the HERB household. When we got home we checked on the TV and it said the Banff road was officially classed as dangerous with poor visibility, passable with extreme caution.
So, where do we go now with this skiing lark? Well, next stop is the COP (Canada Olympic Park) which is a good place to go for beginners and which has lessons in the evenings and weekends. There's not much point in heading off to Sunshine or Lake Louise or Nakiska again until we're a bit more confident on our feet and we can whizz down a Green Run or two. Hopefully we can have a couple of lessons before Christmas (COP is open on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, so there's a thought...), and we're definitely not giving up. Although we will have to make some time for cross-country skiing (which is a totally different kettle of fish, we're told), snow-shoeing and ice-hockey. Here's to the winter weather - long may it last!
PS. Bad news from RoyBoy this morning - Rocky Mountain Rovers continue their helter-skelter progress down the Double Diamond Black Run to the foot of the League Table, as they are now 23rd of 28 teams, on 438 points, some 62 points adrift of the athletic Robbo's Rovers (17th) and too far to count behind the Polish Plums (9th) and the triumphant Calgary Visitors (5th, can you believe it?). Maybe if I can make it into last place, I can claim my tenner back again. Oh well...
We got up early at 0645 to find that the snow forecast for Saturday late afternoon/evening had in fact arrived during the night and we needed to get our snow shovel out before we could get going. We had the Jeep fully loaded with our Rockies survival gear, blankets matches and candles, chocolate and water in case we got stuck somewhere on the road. We also had put Richard and Emma's ski-box on top of the Jeep on Friday night so we just had to load up the skis and go. We headed up to the HERBs to collect them and their gear and away we went at 0805! We had been wondering what to wear for the whole skiing thing, and we discovered that, as with the rest of Calgary fashion, it's a matter of Layer Dressing:
Layer 1: underwear
Layer 2: long johns below and T-shirt above
Layer 3: fleecy pants below and micro-fleece or jumper above
Layer 4: waterproof trousers below and waterproof insulated jacket above
Not forgetting your hat (pull down over ears to avoid frostbite), gloves +/- overmittens, thick winter socks and ski goggles. Although I've never worn long johns in my life before, they do keep you toasty warm and have the added advantage of allowing you to take your trousers off in public without frightening the horses. So I was able to drive in my jeans and then change into my fleecy pants and waterproofs at the ski village.
Having arrived at Sunshine after 80 mins on the road, we then were in to 'transition time' which means the time it takes between arriving at the resort and actually getting to the point where you're standing on the slopes on your skis. We took over an hour, but apparently you get faster with practice if you're a serious skier! We all had to change into our ski gear, stow all of our stuff in the Jeep, hop on a tractor which takes you to the lower cable car station, then hire your skis, boots and poles (leaving your own shoes in a locker), pay for a lift pass, get on the cable car (Gondola) for 20 mins and then get off at the top. We only got on the slopes at 11:40 or so. Whew!
Sunshine Ski Village
Hardened Ski Veterans (Lift Pass Pictures)
We met some locals in the cable car on the way up who recommended a Green Run called 'Strawberry' which was good for beginners. One side was easier than the other, they said, but it was good to get started on. Runs seem to be classified as follows, by the way:
Green = easy, for beginners
Blue = bit harder, need to be fairly good
Black = better be good for this one
Black Diamond = even harder
Double Black Diamond = experts only, take your life in your hands
The light on the slopes was 'flat' which means the sun is just a vague glow in the sky and the light level is a bit gloomy due to clouds and falling snow (it snowed most of the time we were on the slopes) So we got our bindings on (these let you clunk your heavy, inflexible ski boots, which weigh a ton, onto your skis, feels very funny, like you don't have any ankles) and headed off for Strawberry, getting on the ski lift which is one of those 'approach you from behind and scoop you off your feet models'.
Hmmm... these go on your feet, right?
OK - so what do we do now?
Getting on the lift was easier than getting off, as the lift dumps you on a short flat landing pad which leads onto a slope which was a bit steeper than we expected, causing both of us to go on our ears (had to stop the ski lift until we were out of the way again). Then we headed off downslope, faltering at first (first time on skis in 20 years, remember), keeping our front ski-ends together (this is called Doing the Snowplough) to stop from going too fast (never never never point your skis downhill straight!) until we got to a sign saying 'Blue Run to the right' and 'Green Run to the left'. Richard and Emma headed off on the Blue, while we decided to take the Green Run. Which was fine and dandy, except for the fact that it was really a good bit steeper than we had expected for a beginner slope, and there were hidden edges, which I discovered by promptly firing myself over one and landing in a heap. Oh well, no damage done, just go slower and take a bit more care, right? Right... So we made our way downhill, keeping the Snowplough up, practising our turns a bit, traversing (which means wiggling from side to side across a slope, rather than just going straight down and accelerating madly). It was actually quite difficult to go slowly in all the slope traffic, with kids and snowboarders zooming past on all sides, but we went at our own pace and avoided having a collision. Key points to remember are: keep your knees bent, crouch down as much as you can, and never never lean back. We were doing pretty well, I was a bit more adventurous than P, and fell over a good bit more, but we made it down to where we could see the bottom of the slope. Except this bit really was fairly steep, in fact a bit scarily steep, in fact we couldn't believe it was for beginners at all. However, our Ulster bloody-mindedness kicked in, we had paid our money and they weren't going to send up a helicopter to get us down, so I decided to give it a go and slowly snowploughed and traversed my way to the bottom. P was going to go next, but she lingered just a little too long at the top, looked at how steep it was just a bit too much and then decided that walking down was the safest option after all.
J at the Day Lodge
P at the Day Lodge
We met up with Richard and Emma for lunch at the Day Lodge and discussed how disappointed we were at how crap we were at skiing and how we should have really taken a lesson or two before we came, and how they should enjoy themselves anyway and never mind us. They commiserated, and we got the map out to see which runs they would go on in the afternoon. It was only then that we realised that were two sides to the Strawberry Run after all, one marked 'Green - for Beginners' and the other (the one we came down) 'Green - Intermediate'. It seemed that if we hadn't fallen off the ski-lift we would have seen the sign for the real Green Run. Sheesh! We also discovered a Beginners' area called Magic Carpet (which we had missed on the way up) which was a gentle slope with a moving 'carpet' which allowed you to get up to the top again after you had skied down it.
Rich takes a break
Where have the boys gone?
Poles Up and Away We Go!
Undeterred, after lunch P got her skis back on and decided she would take a few runs on the Magic Carpet and practice her turns while Richard, Emma and I went back up to see what the Real Green Run was like. And it turned out to be surprisingly easy, very few skiers, mostly a gentle slope except the first bit which was a steep slope wide enough to traverse across. I made it all the way down, going quite fast in places, and I didn't fall once! Wow! When we got to the bottom, Emma and I went up again while Richard headed off to the higher slopes for more of a challenge. We waved to P on the Magic Carpet from the ski-lift and she was doing some pretty impressive turns, but she couldn't be convinced to come back up to the top. She met a lady who was also a beginner who had come down Strawberry too, and she had cried most of the way down, and gave up and walked down from half way down! Compared to that, P was a real Franz Klammer! Anyway, Emma and I skied down again and then met up with Rich again for a final run before the place closed at 4pm (the sun goes down at 4:15, and skiing in the dark is no fun at all). This time we decided to end on a high note and try the Blue Run on Strawberry which Rich and Em had come down at first. I realised I was taking a bit of a chance, but I decided to give it a go anyway. It was a good bit steeper than the Green Runs, narrower and with more trees to crash into. I was going pretty fast, making some nice turns but I fell over a couple of times when my ski bindings came off. On the last bit, I was doing really rather well (it's good, this skiing, I was thinking), when I executed a perfect high-speed paralled turn (according to observers) and then lost my balance and carried out a high-speed, full frontal impact wipeout, creating a huge plume of powdery snow. Apparently, it was quite impressive and I managed to get snow in my long johns which is an achievement of sorts. That was enough excitement for one day, so we had some hot chocolate and got on the Gondola going down.
The 4 of Us, 'apres ski'
Skiing Jeep
We headed off for Banff in the dark, and ended up at the Hot Springs for an hour or so, lying in the hot sulphury outdoor spring pools at 39oC while it was -4 and snow was falling on our heads. Thick clouds of steam hung over the pool, and you could barely see the people on other side of the springs. It was great, and we didn't really want to leave when it came time to go. The drive home was a bit rough though, minus 9 and drifting snow. We had the iPod with us and the radio transmitter, so Richard played DJ while I drove and the girls in the back decided what we would order from the Chinese takeway, once we got back to the HERB household. When we got home we checked on the TV and it said the Banff road was officially classed as dangerous with poor visibility, passable with extreme caution.
So, where do we go now with this skiing lark? Well, next stop is the COP (Canada Olympic Park) which is a good place to go for beginners and which has lessons in the evenings and weekends. There's not much point in heading off to Sunshine or Lake Louise or Nakiska again until we're a bit more confident on our feet and we can whizz down a Green Run or two. Hopefully we can have a couple of lessons before Christmas (COP is open on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, so there's a thought...), and we're definitely not giving up. Although we will have to make some time for cross-country skiing (which is a totally different kettle of fish, we're told), snow-shoeing and ice-hockey. Here's to the winter weather - long may it last!
PS. Bad news from RoyBoy this morning - Rocky Mountain Rovers continue their helter-skelter progress down the Double Diamond Black Run to the foot of the League Table, as they are now 23rd of 28 teams, on 438 points, some 62 points adrift of the athletic Robbo's Rovers (17th) and too far to count behind the Polish Plums (9th) and the triumphant Calgary Visitors (5th, can you believe it?). Maybe if I can make it into last place, I can claim my tenner back again. Oh well...
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