Since I've been home in Edmonton, Canada I decided it would be best to take advantage of the snow that has blanketed the mountains. SO, I headed on the Downhill Riders trip to Whitefish, Montana for New Years with my friend Robyn and 7 others. It was a gong-show busride for the 10 hrs or so it took to get there but we had a blast! We skiied 2 days of the 4 and enjoyed the challenge of the mountain and the powder that had fallen. The company was awesome along with the cheap alcohol and relaxation time.
After my quick escapade to the USA I was home for 2 days and my dad, sister (her boyfriend) and I hit the highway for our annual family ski trip. This years location of choice was Banff, Alberta and skiing at Sunshine. The snow kept falling so we had an amazing amount of powder which was just perfect for trying out my NEW snowboard that I got for Christmas! :D I got an Arbor Push board made of bamboo (which makes it super light) with Salomon boots and bindings. Needless to say I was excited to start riding!! I also loved that I finally got to see one of my good friends Steph because she has been living in Canmore, AB since finishing university. The weekend finished off with a quick stay in Calgary, AB with my cousins and their super adorably lovable daughter Ayla (13 months old).
There's no way I can say I didn't make the most of my Christmas holidays and even though it was busy I enjoyed every minute of it. Tonight I'm relaxing with a glass of wine and trying not to think about the inevitable start of school and classes which begin tomorrow. At least it's my final semester of my Bachelors Degree!
Showing posts with label Rocky Mountains. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rocky Mountains. Show all posts
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Monday, December 6, 2010
Ski Day!
It's on my bucket list to ski in both the French and Swiss Alps and on Saturday I was finally able to cross one of those off my list :)
I found out mid week that a couple people from my class were planning to head to Deux Alps to ski/ride for the day and I jumped on that like a fat kid on cake (or like Dania on a pain au chocolat). I brought most of my ski stuff to France since it was always my intention to make it to a mountain before I left and just had to borrow snow pants from someone. Luckily that worked itself out quite easily. Unfortunately, I came for the wrong school semester to ski because the ski season really only started last week and its still "low season." But either way I was determined to get out on the slopes even with my impending final exams and papers.
It had been snowing/raining for the last week solid and I completely lucked out because Saturday was just gorgeous weather and the sun was shining ALL day. No snow to blind us but super fresh powder from all the snow that had fallen the night and days before. Many of my classmates had never actually skiied before, or at least not much, so I ended up skiing by myself for the morning. This was perfectly fine by me and I still thoroughly enjoyed myself. Put the earphones in, gloves on and I was set to discover the French Alps.
Well the sad thing was that since it is still "low season" only 1/4 to a 1/3 of the lifts and runs were open since most of the snow had yet to settle and avalanche warnings were high. The guy at the rental shop (yes I had to rent gear which was a frustrating change from using my own) had actually given me freestyle skis accidently so I just stuck with them and decided it would be interesting to try them out. Different skis, powder and high altitudes led to a fun but challenging day of skiing. Not only that but after hitting up numerous black runs, which took me a while to get through, I discovered that the European rating system is different than Canada and the black runs I was taking were actually considered double blacks in Canada and the red runs here are what we consider 'black diamonds'. Plus, I was soon informed that the altitude was much higher than Canadian mountains and we got up to about 3000m above sea level. Boy, did that ever make me feel better about my skiing. For the morning I had just determined I had just gotten super out of shape since last season or that the freestyle skis were so much harder to use since it was taking so much more energy to ski the slopes than usual.
Ultimately the day was awesome; hanging out with friends, eating tasty, wood oven pizza, skiing in powder and discovering a new mountain. My only regret is that I wish I was here to experience the Alps to their fullest, for the whole winter. I guess the Rocky Mountains will have to do until the next European adventure!
I found out mid week that a couple people from my class were planning to head to Deux Alps to ski/ride for the day and I jumped on that like a fat kid on cake (or like Dania on a pain au chocolat). I brought most of my ski stuff to France since it was always my intention to make it to a mountain before I left and just had to borrow snow pants from someone. Luckily that worked itself out quite easily. Unfortunately, I came for the wrong school semester to ski because the ski season really only started last week and its still "low season." But either way I was determined to get out on the slopes even with my impending final exams and papers.
It had been snowing/raining for the last week solid and I completely lucked out because Saturday was just gorgeous weather and the sun was shining ALL day. No snow to blind us but super fresh powder from all the snow that had fallen the night and days before. Many of my classmates had never actually skiied before, or at least not much, so I ended up skiing by myself for the morning. This was perfectly fine by me and I still thoroughly enjoyed myself. Put the earphones in, gloves on and I was set to discover the French Alps.
Well the sad thing was that since it is still "low season" only 1/4 to a 1/3 of the lifts and runs were open since most of the snow had yet to settle and avalanche warnings were high. The guy at the rental shop (yes I had to rent gear which was a frustrating change from using my own) had actually given me freestyle skis accidently so I just stuck with them and decided it would be interesting to try them out. Different skis, powder and high altitudes led to a fun but challenging day of skiing. Not only that but after hitting up numerous black runs, which took me a while to get through, I discovered that the European rating system is different than Canada and the black runs I was taking were actually considered double blacks in Canada and the red runs here are what we consider 'black diamonds'. Plus, I was soon informed that the altitude was much higher than Canadian mountains and we got up to about 3000m above sea level. Boy, did that ever make me feel better about my skiing. For the morning I had just determined I had just gotten super out of shape since last season or that the freestyle skis were so much harder to use since it was taking so much more energy to ski the slopes than usual.
Ultimately the day was awesome; hanging out with friends, eating tasty, wood oven pizza, skiing in powder and discovering a new mountain. My only regret is that I wish I was here to experience the Alps to their fullest, for the whole winter. I guess the Rocky Mountains will have to do until the next European adventure!
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