Monthly Archives: February 2019

Posts from the road

My Coldest Skiing Ever?

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(Canmore, Alberta, Canada)

I have now been skiing for two days in the Canadian Rockies.  Winter is ending in a few weeks, and it was reasonable to assume that temperatures would not be significantly lower than what I usually encounter during my March ski trips.  But that would be wrong.

-29’C on the car dashboard, en route to Lake Louise for skiing

Thanks to a Polar Vortex situation, the temperature en route to the Lake Louise ski resort (see photo at top of this post) reached an incredible -29’C.  While I know that it can often be much colder than that in Canada, it is not the kind of temperature commonly associated with sustainable ski resorts.  They even issued a frostbite warning!

Me and the distant Mt. Assiniboine (in British Columbia!), while skiing at Sunshine

Maybe it was just a one-off?  Well, it warmed up the next day to a relatively balmy -27’C on the way to the Sunshine (Banff) ski resort.  In fact, that day was probably more challenging: it felt even colder (perhaps due to the altitude) than it did at Lake Louise, and I had to return to the lodge after only two runs.  As the day progressed, I was generally able to complete three runs in a row before I had to restore some warmth to my frozen hands and face.

One of the “Back Bowls” at Lake Louise ski resort

But!  This is not a story of icy gloom!  It is, instead, a story of ingenuity and survival against the odds.  Yes, I have discovered an easy way to continue skiing, even in the most frigid temperatures.

Entering the Back Bowls at Lake Louise

Thanks to the automatic hand dryer, found in most public washrooms, you too can restore at least some temporary warmth to your hands and mitts (I don’t recommend this technique with feet, boots, or faces).  Simply find a washroom with an automatic hand dryer, and forego the unnecessary preliminaries of actually using the washroom or washing your hands.  Just let the toasty hand dryer work its magic, and you’ll be ready to face the elements once again. Trust me, it works!

Back Bowls at Lake Louise

Of course, this places some limits on your ski itinerary.  My hands also feel very dried out right now.  But desperate times call for desperate measures!

Lake Louise summit

Around 1:00 p.m. or so, on both days, the overhead sun did help out quite a bit.  And I’m certainly not complaining about the crowds: lift lines were non-existent, and we often had huge pistes all to ourselves.  But I do have to admit that unconditional alpine enjoyment took a bit of a hit over the past two days.

Empty pistes in the middle of the day at Sunshine (Banff)

Fortunately, temperatures are expected to rise for the next two days of skiing, so I hope to provide some substantive commentary on these two beautifully situated ski areas in my subsequent blog entries.  And, just in case, I will also be buying a couple of “Hot Shots” (hand warmers that I haven’t used since the 1990s) to put in my mitts on the last day of skiing…temperatures are expected to plunge once again by then.

Near the summit of Lake Louise

Canadian skiing isn’t always like this. Stay tuned to find out what it’s really like when the weather is not so much of a factor.

Posts from the road

Ready to Ski in the Canadian Rockies

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(Canmore, Alberta, Canada)

I wasn’t able to cross the Atlantic for skiing this year…but when one door closes, another one opens.  I am now in the Canadian Rockies for a week of skiing in and around Banff and Lake Louise!

For a mere C$12,500.00, this samurai armour and sword can be yours from a Banff souvenir shop

It is a trip of “firsts”.  I have never been to Calgary, Banff, or Lake Louise.  I have never been skiing in Alberta.  And I have a feeling that I am also going attain some other “firsts” on the slopes…at least from a ski conditions perspective!

Bow River Waterfalls. near Banff, Alberta

I believe that Alberta is currently in the midst of a “Polar Vortex” weather system.  Whatever the reason, it is VERY cold here for late February.  We actually decided not to ski today, as the overnight low was -28’C and the windchill this morning was a nippy -30’C.  However, I still had the chance to explore this spectacular setting, in preparation for our debut on the slopes tomorrow.  

The Banff Springs Hotel, as seen from the (mostly) frozen Bow River

 We started off by visiting some hot springs and then the famous Banff Springs Hotel (see photo at the top of this post):  another one of the iconic Canadian Pacific hotels that sprang up across Canada approximately 100 years ago. I’ve been to a few of these recently: you may recall my posts on the Manoir Richelieu and the Chateau Montebello in Quebec. 

It’s -20’C outside, but they are called hot springs for a reason

The Banff Springs setting is amazing, but so is the interior.  The architect must have had a great time designing the hotel, given the disorienting maze of hallways and rooms.   The exterior also lives up to the castle motif shared by many other CP hotels.  After our dizzying self-guided tour, we came across some very unconcerned deer on our way to the Bow River waterfalls.

Wild but totally unconcerned deer near the Banff Springs Hotel

For lunch, we agreed that a huge bowl of Thai soup would be an appropriate way to recuperate from the cold.  We then visited a famous destination that will eventually get its own post, and finished up our non-skiing day by exploring some of the sights around Canmore. 

Canmore Nordic Centre, venue for biathlon and cross-country skiing events at the 1988 Winter Olympics

Canmore is a former mining town that has made the transition to a sport and resort centre.  Our first stop was the Canmore Nordic Centre, home of the cross-country skiing and biathlon events at the 1988 Calgary Olympics.  It looked much hillier than it does on TV, and the hardy warriors on the trails were emerging with incredible icicle formations on their faces. And yet, they seemed happy enough to be there.

Ha Ling Peak, near Canmore, Alberta

We finished by exploring a little bit of the hinterland that was apparently the preferred site of the Canmore Nordic Centre, but building an Olympic-standard road to that location would simply have been too difficult and expensive.  Believe me, it was quite an experience being in such rugged terrain only a few kilometres outside of Canmore.

Spray Lakes, near Canmore, Alberta

I’m now fully acclimatized and ready to hit the slopes. Stay tuned for our Polar Vortex skiing debut!

Posts from Base Camp

5th Anniversary!

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(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

You may recognize the above photo…it’s the very same cover photo that I used on my very first blog post exactly five years ago!  It was taken at Goðafoss in northern Iceland during the summer of 2008.

It’s hard to believe that five years (and 318 posts) have passed since I started this blog…and even harder to believe that it’s been 11 years since I was at Goðafoss!  

Today’s post is not very long, nor are there any other pictures, because I think it would be more fun to jump into the archived posts at random.  Pick a month on the left side of the screen, and see where you end up!  You could also do a search (top left of each blog page) on a random word, and click on the first search result that appears.

Or, if you want a bit more direction, check out this “referral” post from 2017: it lists some of the places I had visited up to that point and provides links to them.

Going forward: it’s almost time to go skiing!  This post shows where we went last year…stay tuned for a series of posts from my mysterious new ski destination!