Five Days = Six Hours of Snowboarding!

With five days left and very soon I will need to hand in my staff pass! This means we need to ride our boards for the last time.

I have only ridden a hand full of times since being here, about a month ago I had a nasty stack that scared the bejesus out of me! Plus I was working 6 days a week with one day off, no ride breaks or time to ride, it really meant I wasn't getting any time to snowboard or learn how to ski!

So it was set! Thursday would be our last day of snowboarding! We chose Thursday due to how many friends had the day off and also because Colin doesn't have a free pass anymore so its an $84 lift ticket per day for him. One day is all we needed!

First thing we were up there on the Grizzly Gondola -- I was really nervous! But after that first nice long Deer Run, I had my confidence back and ready to push myself! Up the Glacier lift, down Wiwaxy, up again on the Gondola, down Pika to Temple. A drink break before heading up Ptarmigan, down Deer Run to Whitehorn for lunch with Dave and Scott! Had a little break and a delicious lunch with cocktails and a gorgeous view before riding again. The boys eventually got my confidence up to go to Top of the World! Always fun to have snow thrown on us by Gill coming off Glacier haha (memo to self: still need to get revenge). We were literally in the clouds at Top of the World, it was such a high to be up there! I was lucky to be wearing my low res lenses but I was still struggling to see anything!

Dave and Colin were amazing! They stayed close to me whilst I came down my first blue run at Lake Louise! I was a bit scared because of how high and steep the first part of Home Run was but I did so well! I didn't fall over once on my way down! It was awesome! Unfortunately Summit was closed we got there in the afternoon, it was getting late - I felt bad that Colin didn't get a chance to do it.

For our last run we went down Jerry's Jungle where I went through the trees! It was the most fun and stunning run I have ever done! It was so very beautiful! The trees were so high and full of snow, and because we were alone, it was like we were in a magical land, just the three of us. That led onto Upper Wiwaxy where we just slowly rode down nice and easy - by the time we were at the bottom it was nearly 4:30pm, we were the only ones left on the mountain. A perfect day of 6 hours riding. Something we really needed to do before we depart.

I saw the whole of the mountain and went on all but two lifts. I really wish I could of done more, you really need a few days to do the whole mountain but its good to end my snowboarding on a high note! Feeling amazing and confident on "Lake Louise Blue Runs", linking and snaking my turns and riding switch! I couldn't end it better than that!

My favourite runs of the day were Pika -- a lot of snowboarders say they don't like it because of how "flat" it was - but I found it amazing! It was a run so relaxing and cruisey where I could just snake and link my tuns the entire way down carving nice and slow. If your someone who loves to go fast and just zoom then probably not the right run for you but it was perfect for me! SO much beautiful scenery to view - why would you want to go through Pika fast? Do me a favour if your snowboarding in Lake Louise, stop and look at it all!! Take it all in!!

Jerry's Jungle!! Again -- stunning! It was just the most beautiful thing to ride through the trees. Its also really fun, like a natural half/quarter pipe, it just leads you through. I loved it! It was so so fun!! Definitely one of my favourites - a bit less relaxing and more adventurous.

Overall, it was perfect! Everything I wanted it to be!! I just wish I could of had more time to experience it again and again and more. The best part was, I did it all with Colin! He stayed with me the entire time  we were riding, always made sure I was ok and had fun! I know its corny but my absolute most favourite part of the day was when Colin and I were coming down Wiwaxy and we were both side by side, very close together on the flat of our boards riding in unison! It only lasted a moment of course but it was just so magical to be able to do that together!

A perfect last day of riding!

First Tracks

First tracks starts with opening weekend, Friday 8th of November. Jess was rostered on to work however I had the whole weekend off because we only had 1 lift in operation. The same night we had the season opening party at the Lodge of Ten Peaks which was a staff only event.

Unfortunately Jess was exhausted from a full week of work and decided to stay in for the party, not to mention we didn't leave Chucktown until 11pm and she started at 7am the following morning. So for all intensive purposes I volunteered to party on and see what the night would hold, unfortunately we were all vastly disappointed thinking we would have been better off drinking in the common room. Over priced drinks, bad music, and a few raffles which nobody knew anything about. Seemed like we would have been better off drinking in the common room to be honest.

I didn't make it up the mountain until Monday, Jess and I both had Sunday off however opted to venture to Banff and do some groceries and most importantly eat Chili's! It did not disappoint, it was a lovely restaurant compared to what we were expecting from Australian experiences.

With one lift open I rode up the mountain with Scott while Jess worked hard down in the cafeteria. We hadn't had fresh snow and I wasn't expecting it to be that good in all honesty, I was surprised to say the least! When Perisher opened one run, it was a 2minute ride down the lift line, here though was a different story. It was a longer run, although it was marked as a green (Beginner) run it seemed like a blue (Intermediate) run in parts and was an enjoyable ride with an incredibly beautiful view of Lake Louise. That was my first tracks, so now I will let Jess share hers.

Today was AMAZEBALLS!

First day off in a bit, first day to actually do something awesome! I must say, I really amped myself up for today, every customer I saw yesterday during my shift was asking if I had been up the mountain yet and I had to say no, I was keen to change that! Colin told me though that he was working! It was so disappointing! I am terrified of getting off chair lifts and I was in the mind set that I couldn't do it without my amazing safety net Colin to catch me and look after me when I fall. So I figured I would go up and practice on the bunny hill.

I was very lucky to have my day off line up with Bonnie's!! So even though I slept in and caught the last bus up, Bonnie was there! We went to the bunny hill first and it was so icey! The man made snow is just so bad!! After 5 seconds of riding down and hating it, I said "Screw this shit, lets go up the top!" and to be 100% honest with you, I wasn't too nervous! I was filled with confidence! Bonnie knew my previous bad experiences with chair lifts and was the perfect person with me, she kept my mind off it and I came off fine, I did catch an edge and fall at the end but I made it to the top relatively fine! I was so excited!

We took the first run slowly, stopping every now and then when I stacked it and when we wanted to take some photos! A perfect blue bird day at first! I was riding in a dry ride, didn't need a big puffy jacket at all even though it was apparently -5 degrees. I was so excited to do a full run, the first one took us probably an hour. Because only the one run has been open we just repeated it which was perfect because I really needed to practice and build my confidence up again. I did 5 runs total and by the end of the day, on my last run I was linking my turns, riding switch and riding on the flat of my board! It was perfect, I can now ride chair lifts confidently as well, I didn't fall after the first time! I am really incredibly happy with how my first day boarding went! I did stack a few times but I put that down to pushing myself hard to do well!

I couldn't of done it without Bonnie! She was with me all day supporting me and being über patient with me! I honestly have never been able to snowboard with anyone without Colin, so I was really happy to have an awesome girl friend around!

Perfect first day of snowboarding!!