Weekend Report

The Weather Gods have blessed us with a ridiculously mild January and February. It's been a great winter to get outside and play. Winter is so much easier to enjoy when it's not -20c and snowy. It's really been a pleasure cruise this winter. Of course, it's only March - there will be plenty of time for more winter like weather. In the mean time, I get to enjoy.

I got a clear sunny day for my run on Friday - a leisurely jaunt out the back door and up Sulphur Mountain and back for 2.5 hours. I wan't in a hurry and it walked most of the climb. I've got to run 100k next weekend - so I was totally taking it easy. On Saturday, I did something that I've been trying to do for the past couple years - I skiied out to Citadel Pass. It's 10km from Sunshine, which is a long way when you're on alpine touring gear. It was a grey day, but calm and warm. I never saw anyone else all day and I was out on my skis for about 6 hours non-stop. It was practically tropical and I was in my base layer all day. Aaaaah!

Same place, different month....

Heading for the Citadel and getting closer.....

Closer....

Yeah! Baby - Yeah! Made it.

Same Place. Same Ass.

Forgive me Mom and Dad for a photo of my ass on the Internet, yet again. It's just I find The Moon so darn funny. And the place reminded me of this photo - so here it is....AGAIN!

You can tell it's a grey day when I take a million pictures of....myself. The scenery was still stupendous, it was just....grey. I took this picture on the Gondola, riding back to the car. Don't my little eyes look tired?!?

Nice kitty.

Fortunately, the weather cleared for Sunday and I went back to Minnewanka shoreline to rejoice in the feel of a nice, rolling, perfect trail. I should have had my shorts on, the air was so warm! All of the snow that was on the lake last week was vanishing quickly, but the ice is still 3 feet thick.



I saw this giant wolf print on the way out and I was reminded that it's probably time to dust off the bear spray - especially on this trail. All of this incredible weather is sure to mess with the bears. There's probably some groggy big Mutha' wondering around, confused as all heck. It's pure speculation, but I wouldn't be surprised with these temperatures.

I climbed up to the viewpoint above the campground to get myself a better look. I was totally lollygagging, it was so gorgeous. I headed down to the lake and headed home on the ice, perma-grin cemented on my face. It's still fun. I never get tired of this run!

Looking forward to the weekend at Coyote Two Moon. It's going to be a fun adventure! Doone is coming as well and there's a few trail friends I'm looking forward to seeing again and some I'm looking forward to meeting. It looks like we may be camping in the rain, as well as running in the rain! What's a good running adventure without weather shenanigans?

Shenanigans with Doone, Mount Diablo

Return to Minnewanka - Winter Edition

I haven't been up to Lake Minnewanka in a loooooong time, largely due to the fact that the trail is snowbound in wintertime. The shoreline trail is one of my favorite destinations in spring, summer and fall when I want a quick and easy run close to town. I had heard rumours that the lake had been scoured of snow and that it might be possible to skate. Or maybe to run??

Me So Scared!!!

When I started off, there was a little bit of snow but it quickly disappeared after only 5 minutes of running. The rest of the run was on perfect, dark, scary ICE. I decided to just head to the point for a little run, which you can see in the right hand side of this photo. There is no trail on this side of the lake, it is heavily forested and relatively inaccessible. It was cool to be able to run along the frozen lake and check out the south shoreline for the first time! I have seen it from a canoe in summertime, but I've never actually set foot on the south shore.

It was scary running on the ice! It took me almost half of the run to relax and get over the completely irrational fear of going through the ice. From the beginning, I could clearly see that the ice was about 4 feet thick, but it's frightening to see right through the ice. It was so cool to go to the point, it is a landmark that I look at frequently in summer and I love the tower of rock above it!

When I arrived at the point, someone else had been there! There was a nice set of wolf tracks there to greet me. Incidently, I didn't spend much time on the shore.

On the return trip, I got to enjoy the under appreciated side of Cascade Mountain and I got in a great leg-speed flat run! The Kahtoola's were superb on ice and I was flying in a straight line at full speed.

See Mom? The ice is THICK!

Hopefully, if it doesn't snow a return visit is definately in order. It's pretty frickin' cool to run on a giant frozen lake with no snow. One thing though, it is actually hard on the body. I felt beat up after running on such a hard surface! Maybe I can dust off the road shoes and try those out with the Kahtoola's....