Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

A pretty eventful week this week. Golden turned out to be quite restful. We managed to get up to Kicking Horse ski resort and although i thought it was a little small and over priced for what it was, i thoroughly enjoyed it. We got chatting to a few locals on the gondola and talked about our travels and all the skifields we'd visited. They asked what i thought of their resort but I'm not sure they liked my response and gave us the silent treatment for the rest of the stupidly slow gondola ride. I was just honest when i said i thought it was small and overpriced. I took Kate down a few quite steep black runs which she did not enjoy one bit. She can ski steep stuff but hates it when they get mogully (not like the jungle book character of the same name). These were easily the steepest runs i had taken her on. She was too tentative and took a couple of spills which ended in long slides on her arse down most of the run. It knocked her confidence a bit and seemed to drain what little energy she usually runs on causing her to want to call it a day pretty early. I got a few more runs out of her and found a sweet little jump over some trees which i nailed and was stoked about.

We also explored the small town and had a little walk along the kicking horse river. We drove out of town to reflection lake but the wind got up which made any reflection impossible. I think Golden would be a nice place to visit in the summer as apart from the skiing, there isn't a great deal else to do. In summer you can paraglide, kayak and go tramping, if you don't mind all the bears. So apart from skiing all we did was relax and play a little online poker. I had a right result as i got my first ever royal flush. Basically it is the highest ranked hand and is unbeatable. The odds of getting a royal flush are 1 in 649,000 so as you can imagine, i was pretty happy. What made it even better was that i had position and just sat back and watched as people kept raising and raising. One guy pushed all in and i gleefully called and won a huge pot. Bahahahahaha - evil cackle. I'm not doing too bad online either. They say a good return is about 12% after 200 games. I'm still about 15 bucks up so not doing too bad.

So we left Golden and i was quite keen to get back to Banff which was our next stop. I spent a month there a few years back and met some really cool people and had an amazing time. I was looking forward to getting back there especially since this time it'll will be under better circumstances and with far less stress and strain. As soon as i got into town i was in awe of all the amazing dramatic mountains that over look it. Banff is in the Banff national park, which is the oldest in Canada, so they aren't allowed to cut many trees down. It means the town is stunning. The Bow river cuts through the it, it's so fresh and clean because it's illegal to drop litter yet the town is modern and dynamic. It's a total tourist trap with millions of hotels and souvenir shops but it's still such a cool place. What made it that much cooler was that as soon as we got into town it started snowing. Like dumping down! Banff has a proper long winter but just like the rest of Canada it has not snowed as much as previous years. It is so much colder here and i was hopeful we would see some fresh white stuff and mother nature did not disappoint. Sunshine Village which is the local resort got 14cm followed by another 17cm. The last time i was in Banff it was a few weeks later in the year yet it was still crazy cold. One day it was -30 degrees, the snot froze in my nose and then it dumped 60cm of snow in the space of about 10 hours! So, i told Kate to wrap up warm, which turned out to be very good advice. The windchill easily dropped the temperature down to about -15 degrees and the gusts blew so much snow off the trees it made visibility a problem. Sunshine is a big resort and after a few hours in the deep snow, we were knackered. Kate has started to get used to skiing in deeper snow and i have started just trying to jump off everything i can when the snow is that deep. It was a really good day once we got over just how cold and windy it was.

Banff is the first real mountain town we have stayed in. Fernie was a mountain town but is no where near as picturesque as Banff. The great thing about it is that even though it's a small place, it has a throbbing social scene. It reminds me a lot of Qtown in that it has a lot of bars and restaurants. Not as many as Qtown but enough to keep you interested. We earned a few beers so decided to go to an Irish bar for happy hour. What a rip!! It was the most pointless happy hour ever! 2 beers cost $11 during happy hour and $12.50 after!? In my books that's not a happy hour. Still, the beer slid down nicely and after some awesome ribs at Tony Romas we stumbled home through the snow to our hotel.

Another thing we have looked at doing whilst we have been in Canada is dog sledding. There have been a few places that have done it but there has just not been enough snow to warrant it. It's pretty pricey but after all the snow we have had here, we decided to go for it. We drove out to Canmore which is the nearest big town to Banff and signed up for some dog sledding that afternoon. We spent the morning in Canmore, had a nice lunch then explored. The town is just outside the national park so is more developed. It had some amazing houses and little communities on the outskirts of the town. As we explored we came across a huge herd of massive elk which made Kates morning. She is still constantly on bear watch but is always psyched to see any wildlife. So far we have seen elk, deer, mountain goats and sheep, eagles and loads of squirrels. No bears though. Our dog sled guide drove us high up into the mountains for our tour. We stopped by Spray lakes which used to be a collection of lots of small lakes which were all excavated into one huge lake which supplies water for the town. We were the only people on our tour so helped our guide harness the dogs and attach them to the sled. I was all ready to get my "mush" on but instead the command was "up up up up up!" The dogs were so cute and were a husky/greyhound cross bred for speed. They flew as well, even with my fat ass in the sled. We rode about 5k before stopping at the lake for some hot chocolate and a snow ball fight. Well, i threw Kate in the knee deep snow and hit her with some snow balls while she moaned at me. On the way back we both got to be mushers and guide the sled. The dogs were relentless and even pee'd and pooped on the run! They were so cute and if they got tired they just chomped at the snow for a little drink on the run and carried on. One dog in particular, called Dawson took our fancy as he was obviously a bit slow. Not physically but in the mind. He looked like he had some hound in him and spent most of the time running forward but looking back at us in the sled and barking. Our guide reckoned he had an IQ of 30. Bless him. When we got back we fed the dogs and said our goodbyes. It was so cool. Yes, at first i thought it was a little cruel but these dogs are bred to pull sleds and they seem to really enjoy it. Whenever we slowed or stopped they barked and tugged at the reigns to get going again. Kate and I are both dog people too so we were always gonna love it. I highly recommend it as it allows you to see some truly stunning scenery and meet some amazing animals.

We are coming down to it now and it's only a week until we come home. We still have a few hundred more miles to travel and at least one more day of skiing so still a lot to look forward to. I'm looking forward to coming home and seeing my family. Just such a shame i have to go back to work in a couple of weeks. Sigh. I guess I'll just have to think of the money.

Peace

D

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