Ski Lake Louise

This would be our last trip to Lake Louise (180 km west of Calgary) for skiing before our move to Kuwait. The air temperature was perfectly set at -3 degree for two days. The second night had 5 cm new snow. The boys and I have decided to ski together, and I have tried to avoid double black diamond successfully. In my opinion, Lake Louise Ski resort is the best among the North America, except Whistler, as I've never been there, if the snow condition is great. The beauty of the Rocky Mountains has never bored our eyes.

As usual, we took the two express chairs and flip over to the back side of the mountain, where there are fewer people and lighter line ups. There is a long green run in the valley that makes me always feel like a deer jumping in the woods.

You can see Lake Louise and Chatea Lake Lousise in the far.  There are several rivers of clouds in the air like ribbons around the mountains.

We are on the chair lift to the Larch hill.

To make my younger son happy (he begged me several times with his evil "follow me, you are in good hands"), I agreed to follow him to the Rock Garden - you ski literally among the rocks. I hate to hear the scratching sound when my skis touch the rocks; and I also hate to fall forward. Luckily neither has happened this season so far.

The valley on the left side is the Larch Valley.

Every year there are different kinds of ice carving.

Winter Olympic 2010 will start soon in two weeks in Vancouver.

After taking two chairs, we took a T-bar (some people called it poma lift) to the Summit, where there are no easy runs.  Snow here is always better than other areas and the black runs are much longer and challenging.  Even the T-bar is quite long and steep.  If you are not careful, you may fall off and you will find you have to ski down on the black runs.

The boys planned ski to the cliff on the right. Then they would take off their skis and climb to the cliff as there are no lifts at all there, but they wanted to experience the straight free fall. This was the first time for my younger son, as my elder son challenged him. I prayed a little and agreed with their plan. This requires a lot on leg muscle strength.

Before we set to leave, we took the last pictures of the view on the summit.

Now we set to go.

My two brave sons! 

I've offered to take video and photos for them when they ski from the cliff, and this means I have to ski on a long double black run.  I really enjoyed everything!

There they are!  Whenever I see my elder son coming from the cliff or I cruise on a power run, the song "Walking in the Air" from the "SKI to the MAX" movie rings in my ears.  ("Walking in the Air" is a YouTube hyper-link.)  Unlike the IMAX movie, the ski patrols here always ensure the avalanche is under control before the runs are open to the skiers though.

This was not that easy, eh?  He is worn out. 

Baby Polar Panda baby and mommy.  We love skiing in Canadian Rockies!  We stayed at Lake Louise Inn where we found that 70% of the tenants are from Europe.

Back to Longview

Taken from our suit in Snow Creek Lodge, which is between a T-bar and a quad chair.

I woke up with muscle pain everywhere from head to toe, hearing half a dozen thundering avalanche canon shots yesterday morning. It had snowed 33 cm last night and it was still heavily snowing in the morning. It was extremely hard for me to get out of the bed into the coldness.

Because of the heavy snow, some of the blue runs and catwalks (easy-way-outs) were closed due to avalanche hazards. There were no choices at the top of the White Pass lift (really, it was truly white - you could not see anything but white clouds within 2 meters) except black runs that had knee high snow. One LONG black run with deep sticky snow (at 2 degrees, snow gets sticky) burned almost everyone's energy, and I saw many huffed and puffed, either lying or falling. Once down, I jumped on another slushy chair into white-out fog and whooped down again. You bet, I was hungry and dehydrated, and I was dreaming of the hot tub and hot chocolate and hot protein on a barbecue!!

Having soaked in rain at the bottom of the ski hill and frozen at the top, I decided not to join the boys and my husband, ExploreMan, in the afternoon. Anyhow, I could not catch up with them on the double black runs any more for the past two seasons, so they must be really cheerful to see me surrender. Instead I drove down to the Fernie town for the last minute Christmas shopping. I found that all clerks in the stores of Fernie have either British or Australian accent, and I think that Fernie is becoming a world class town like Banff.

We went to a British style restaurant for dinner with our old friend's family who has a cabin on the hill. I do not drink beer usually, but could not resist huckleberry beer brewed locally! It was cloudy but taste superb! And it is only $2.50 a pint, can you believe it? Oh boy, that big piece of roasted lamb was satisfying!

A river runs through Fernie.

Leaving Fernie.

Longview again. Cute little cowies.

Our ABS really works!

No cameras can capture a scenery better than our eyes.

An oil well near Black Diamond.

We had a lunch at Longview, a little tiny village in a middle of no where. People are nice, food is simple and great, and coffee is strong with real farm cream.

Ski to the Max at Fernie

Staying at Snow Creek Lodge, we ski in and ski out. No drivings, no push around at the day lodge, no lines ups at the cafeteria, and I have the "privilege" to cook for three meals a day. Hope the last dinner would be in a restaurant. We can hear the avalanche control canon thundering in the mountains. The snow is up to our knees, and even to hips on some of the runs and there are no line ups at the all chairs lifts. I have never skied in Fernie without snowing, neither today. I am totally worn out and the only thing I want is a good soak in a hot tub.

Snow

I love to peek out through the windows at night and watch the snow flakes dancing wildly with the wind under the orange street lights. I eagerly crawl into my warm quilt to read, or lie down beside the fire place, listening to the firewood bursting sparks like a shooting stars and rubbing Jason's little feet.

I love to sit alone by the Tim Horton’s huge window on the third floor of Calgary downtown’s Bankers Hall, facing giant black glass windows of Dome Tower across the street. Snow flakes fluttering quietly and thawing on Stephens Avenue, only coffee steam is sizzling up.

I love to be the first skier on a ski run covered by an overnight fresh snow, and it makes me feel like Heli-skiing, drawing huge S on the soft white blanket, descending from the blue sky.
I love to hear the whooping sound when my skis brush the snow powder to the air, and I love to see the sun light shines through the powder into my eyes. I also love to fall freely when skiing on a quiet run, and I will lie down and let the snow thaw on my face and mouth, listening the wind blowing through the evergreens. A heavenly peace filling my heart, I praise the Lord and I pray with tears and thankfulness.

I love to cook delicious dishes all day, while the snow is burying our home. I always get excited to see friends showing up at the door for dinner, with the snow all over their coats and hats, bringing the fresh crispy air into the warm atmosphere that is filled with the smell of curry lamb, apple pie and red wine.

I love to wake up in the morning and hear the local radio warning people not to go to work due to a heavy snow fall. I always get delighted to have the accidental day off, to see neighbors coming out of their hibernation shells, busy shoveling the snow and helping to push the stuck cars.

I love snow and I will miss it so much. I also know I will love deserts and Persian Gulf.

(The first two pictures were taken in White Fish, Montana March 2009.)