Hey, Girlfriend!

Historically, I've spent a large amount of time in the company of men. In life, in work and in sport - in seems I've been a wee bit of a tomboy my whole life. These years and more recently, these days I seem to be amassing a rather fine collection of cool women who like to Giv'r. Having Nicola in town, was just the right motivation I needed to send off a few e-mails and before I knew it - BAM! There were 7 women who wanted to run on Saturday. Yahoo!

The weekend started early and went non-stop. On Thursday night, Nicola rolled into Banff and the first thing we did is go for a run. Now, I don't know Nicola that well, but in the first hour I determined a few things: she thinks farts are funny and she doesn't have an ounce of self consciousness. Our Mountain Bender started with an evening run around town and a trip up Tunnel Mountain:


It continued, with a ridiculously fun day which featured no less than 2 runs, a bike ride and a canoe trip. We started the day with the tandem ride to the trail head:

I've noticed that my face gets sore from smiling so much when I ride the tandem. Incidently, the tandem finally found a name last year: her name is Jill, named after this girl.

Nicola, in her happy place.

We ran for a couple of hours around Bankhead, taking in my favorite view of Lake Minnewanka and making it back to town just in time for a trip with my co-workers down the Bow River.

After that, we blast out to Johnson Canyon and the Inkpots for another hour and a half of cruisin' the canyon. I had forgotten that this run climbs the entire way! It was work than I was anticipating, in a good way. :)




I was excited for our run on Saturday because it was my first trip out to Emerald Lake of the season AND because I had the company of 6 amazing ladies. I love Yoho and the Emerald Lake area!

It's still early in the season and June is all about going out there and poking around and seeing how much snow is still out there. That's pretty much what we did on Saturday. We ran up to 3 different destinations from the lake: Yoho Pass, Emerald Basin and Hamilton Lake. The plan was to turn around wherever we hit the snow-line.

Starting out on Emerald Lake, the Chick train: Nicki Rehn, Iris Priebe, Monica Hardy, Nicola Gildersleeve, Ellie Greenwood and Angela Pierotti

Nicola cruisin'

Monica - she's strong on the climbs!

Ellie and Iris checking out the avalanche

Emerald Basin

We made it in to Emerald Basin, but Yoho Pass and Hamilton Lake were still snow bound. I can't wait to come back! It was my first time to Emerald Basin and we got to watch an avalanche of wet cement-like snow flow into the basin. At first glance, I thought it was a water fall - it looked like liquid instead of snow. And it just kept flowin'....

Avalanche!

It was incredibly humid and we were all dripping sweat as we climbed up Yoho Pass. It's funny, this place is always like this: green, lush and moist. It's the only place in the whole park that we see cedars growing in the rainshadow of Mount Wapta. The Glacier Lilies were out, exploding from earth and snow any where they could. On the shoreline of the lake, there were lots of other flowers making their first appearance of the year.

Iris - rare mountain flower!

Hello, Emerald Lake. I love you.

To wrap up a great day of running, I had everyone over for BBQ at the house. There's no worries when you invite a house full of women over for dinner, things just take care of themselves. Everyone brought food, pitched in and made me look like a super star. The crowd grew larger, with Brenda, friend Jen Silverthorn and her baby Ellie and friend Miles joining in for the fun.

Girls of Lake Louise:
Ellie Greenwood, Nicola Gildersleeve, Nicki Rehn, Leslie Gerein

For a grand finalee of the Mountain Bender, I thought a visit to one of the Most Beautiful Places on Earth was in order. I was pleased that it looked a whole lot different than it did 2 weeks ago when the lake was still frozen! We started our run in the village of Lake Louise, ran the Tramline up to the lake and then hit the Little Beehive, Lake Agnes, Mirror Lake, the Highline, Plains of Six Glaciers and the shoreline of Lake Louise. Phew.

It was great to get to know Ellie and Nicola a little bit better as well - these ladies are talented and fast, fast, fast. And fun, fun, fun!

(Climbing to Mirror Lake)

(Gong Show - Part 1)

(Gong Show- Part 2)

(Gong Show - Part 3)

(Gong Show - Part 4)

(Lake Agnes)

(Plains of Six Glacier)

(Moraine)

(Avalanche debris)

The outrageous scenery and great company left me feeling giddy and free. It was just what I needed to wrap up my training for Bighorn and leave me feeling relaxed, confident and inspired to just run and enjoy. Does that sound corny? Yup, but it was the perfect day.

(Ellie, feelin' the love)

So that wraps up the weekend mountain bender - thanks to all who participated and got me all fired up for the upcoming season. I'm thinking it was the "unofficial" start to my summer trail running season - I sat in glacier fed Pipestone creek post-run and the weather was warm enough to almost make it enjoyable! :)

Deep, Cold and Beautiful: It's Lake Louise in May

At this time of year, visitors arriving in the town of Banff and Banff National Park tend to be really baffled by the weather. It's sunny one moment and snowing sideways the next. Understandably, they're confused. There's a huge amount of variation in our temperature and snow pack, due to our immense size. Of course, elevation plays a huge part in this equation but basically it's pretty simple. Low elevation = warmer temps, no snow, leaves coming out. Higher elevation = snowy, cold and slower to melt. It's May and this is spring in the Rockies.

I frequently tell our visitors, "It's Spring time in Banff and Winter in Lake Louise" and they look at me really befuddled. You try and explain it to them, but they just don't get it. After all, it can be sunny and warm and-oh-so-spring-like in our fine little mountain town.

They need to see it, to understand it.

They arrive with a vengeance in their RV's, with their backpacks and tents, in their flip-flops and t-shirts and are eager to hike and to camp. In particular, they want to hike and camp at Lake Louise.

They ask: "Are there mosquitoes at the campground in Lake Louise?"
Heck, no. It's frequently below zero here in the Canadian Rockies. It's too damn cold for mosquitoes in May. "Can I canoe in Lake Louise?" Certainly, you can. Just not in May. "Why not?"

That's when I have to break it to them.

Why not? Well, that's because it's frozen. In May and well into June, Lake Louise is frozen. I repeat, it's frozen. The iconic turquoise waters of Lake Louise are frozen under ice about 8 1/2 months of the year.

Like I said, you need to see it, to get it.

Here's a picture of me on my run on Monday evening.


Aaaah. Sweetness. Warm spring air. Can't you just smell it? The smells of spring, moist and earthy everywhere.

Here's another picture of me on my run on Wednesday night:


WOW! Isn't it gorgeous? Clearly, it MUST be spring, yes?

You can understand why visitors don't believe me, when I break the bad news to them. How can it be spring in Banff and winter in Lake Louise?

Sadly, I'm sorry, it's true: Lake Louise is frozen. Solid. Icy. Yes. True. Sorry. Get it?

Here's a picture of me today, looking down on Lake Louise.

I repeat, it's frozen.

Aaaah. Beautiful. Crisp, cool and clear air. Fresh. White. Lovely.
But, different - yes?

Deep, Cold and Beautiful - Lake Louise, Alberta

Here's the pictures from today's run, I enjoyed an adventure in the heart of the Lake Louise area. It was a great day, complete with gale force winds off the glaciers, mountain goats and lots of post-holing. It's spring in the Rockies.

The Bow River Valley

Mirror Lake

Lake Agnes

Lake Louise, as seen from the Highline Trail

Mountain Goats

Lake Louise, as seen from the Plains of Six Glaciers Trail

The trail ends here.

Moraine

Although my photos may look winter-like, there were so many signs of spring to enjoy and take in. The plants emerging from the earth, the waterfalls flowing, the smaller lakes beginning to break up and the massive avalanche debris that finally, obstructed my journey. The mountain goats were working hard, digging in that hard frozen place - grazing and feeding.

As I descended back towards Lake Louise and back into the sub-alpine, I cruised by an avalanche chute that was alive with the signs of spring. Shrubs beginning to leaf, water flowing, grass emerging from the earth and jeeeeezus, what's that? A fuzzy little grizzly bear cub in the middle of it, not 20 metres off the trail. Crap. I stopped dead in my tracks, looking for Mama - but I didn't see a thing. No prints in the snow or earth, no signs anywhere, just a real live grizzly bear cub. I got out my bear spray, took off the safety and just kept running. Looking over my shoulder, of course.

When I reached the back of the lake, I got another nice surprise. Where the spring water was beginning to flow, from glacier, to snow, to stream, to lake - the ice had broken up. And Lake Louise revealed herself to me, with a glimpse of her turquoise waters.