Winter Wonderland

Me and Stew getting ready to ski





Greetings from Winter Wonderland! It has been a gorgeous weekend. Clear and sunny for the last two days....so I had to get outside and play. It has been a week of weather weirdness here in Banff: we started the week with a big snow storm on Monday and Tuesday, then it rained on Wednesday and turned everything into a skating rink. It snowed AGAIN on Thursday and then finally cleared up for two days of clear and sunny and -30 degrees celsius. Yikes!!

Despite the cold, I headed out for a cross country ski with my friend Steve. Good company, sparkling snow and a clear blue sky made for a great day. You just can't help but smile when you are surrounded by some of the most pristine mountain scenery in the world!

The next day we got up early and headed up to the ski hill....we have Seasons Passes to Sunshine Village, the local hill here in Banff and one of my favorite places on earth. By "we" I am referring to the love of my life, my honey, my husband - Keith. He rocks. We picked up a friend along the way, the indominatable Captain Stew and set off. The night before we had decided to go Alpine Touring from Sunshine instead of skiing on the ski lifts. This is where you put climbing skins on your skis, venture out into the backcountry and walk up the slope to earn your turns. Usually the turns are far softer and fluffier than at the resort and it takes you to beautiful places. I LOVE SKI TOURING!!

From the top of the lift we started skinning up the hill....and we stopped to dig an avalance pit to see what the snowpack was looking like. As soon as we started shoveling and sweating we realised it was much warmer up top than down below. More weather weirdness: -30 degrees at the bottom, but only -9 up top. You got to love it when that happens. So we picked a nice slope and made a bunch of great runs. I LOVE POWDER!!





Peeling off them skins...





So, I am heading out to walk/run up Sulphur Mountain for the afternoon. This is the mountain in my backyard and its got a trail up it! Later today I will figure out how to post photos so I can show you all how amazing it is in Banff and start blogging in style. Out the door for another adventure.....I LOVE TRAIL RUNNING!!

Sunshine at Sunshine