Days 10 to 13- More Skiing

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What an amazing place to ski!! Banff is the perfect town to stay in with massive ski mountains all around. We have a ski pass for Mt Norquay, Lake Louise and Sunshine Village. On the first day (I think I mentioned) we went to Norquay, which was nice but there were only about four runs open and Adam was just starting to learn.

So on day 2 we went to Sunshine Village, which we ended up going to quite a lot. It’s perfect. There’s a gondola that takes you up the mountains to the chair lifts, and you can get off halfway and ski at the halfway point or you can keep going up the very top to the village, and get the lifts up to the clouds. Unfortunately on our first day in Sunshine we were unaware of this, hopped off the gondola halfway and got on the first chairlift we saw, not seeing the sign on the chairlift that said “blue and black runs only”. For my non-skiing audience, a green run is the easiest (not necessarily easy, but the easiest route down that particular mountain), a blue is more difficult, and a black is advanced (mostly for people who ski without fear, like my parents).

I have never done a black run in my life, and blues are fun but they take a lot of energy, effort and constant concentration in order to, you know, not die, and since Adam is a very new beginner (without having had lessons I might add), there was no way we could get him on a blue until maybe the end of the fourth day. So when we reached the top and discovered there were no green runs down, there was a bit of a panic. We debated whether or not Adam could make it down there okay, but it was an incredibly steep mountain and we were in the clouds so vision was impaired, so ultimately Adam decided to take the chairlift back down.

And thank god he did, because while that blue run was beautiful and fun, I definitely almost lost control a few times, and it would have been very easy to fly off the side of the mountain. So we then headed to some greens and spent the rest of the day making our way through those, and Adam was much better by the end of the day.

On day 3 we headed to Lake Louise, Canada’s number one ski resort. And I can see why. Lake Louise is absolutely massive, the runs are long and beautiful and the views from the mountains are incredible. It’s in the heart of the Canadian Rockies. We started off with a green run, but the only problem with Lake Louise is that it’s much more difficult than the other two mountains. This green run was the hardest green I’ve ever done, and Adam had one too many falls and was in so much pain that he was out for the rest of the day. He waited at the lodge for most of it, but eventually got the shuttle back to the hotel. So, I skied alone for the rest of the day, and as lonely as I was it was super fun!! I went up past the clouds, and skied down as many blue runs as I could. There was one called “Jerry’s Jungle” which is the most fun I’ve ever had skiing, weaving through trees and doing one jump after the other. I couldn’t believe I made it out without stacking it or hitting a tree, it was amazing. I did one green, which was again almost as hard as the blue. It didn’t help that the run was on the side of the mountain hidden from the sun, and when the sun isn’t on the slopes it’s really hard to see where the trail goes. So that one took me a while, but I did eventually make it out. I got the last bus of the day that left half an hour after the resort closed, so I had a mimosa at the lodge while I waited for it. Come on, it’s my holiday!

On day four Adam was feeling much better, and we went to Sunshine Village again. We spent the day again on the greens, but this time we stayed on the gondola to the top. At one point, Adam attempted something we thought he was ready for, but he (how can I say this lightly?) was unsuccessful in his attempt, and now has a cut on the side of his knee with a large purple bruise around it. He battled the pain as long as he could, but eventually decided to get the 2:30 bus back again. So I stayed on, did some blue runs and actually managed to do a black run as well! It was really difficult but really fun, and it’s the best feeling when you make it down the mountain unscathed. Eventually I decided to get the 3:30 bus back (an early day but we had to get down to the laundromat in town before 6). There’s a green run that will take you from the very top to the very bottom of the mountain, so I went on that to get down. About halfway through I saw someone skiing that had the exact same jacket as Adam. I didn’t really think much of it, but then I noticed that the guy had the exact same skiing technique as Adam as well, so I tried to get closer to see his face and, weirdly enough, it was Adam! I knew exactly what to do. I did a few jumps to get some speed, and as I flew past him I yelled out “See ya loser!”. He was so shocked he almost fell over. Down at the bottom he confessed that he missed the other bus so he got the gondola up again and started another run to get the next bus.

Day five, our last day. We went to Sunshine again (Norquay is too boring and Lake Louise is too difficult) and Adam went down a few blue runs! Success! He didn’t even have one fall today. And because he didn’t have lessons and I was pretty much his teacher, I’m going to take full credit for it (don’t listen to him when he says it was mostly practice, it was definitely my teaching). We took the rentals back to the village (got the shuttle this time thank goodness) and then celebrated with dinner at Wild Bill’s Saloon. We went there because they had live music (and $5 pints of Kokanee) and the food ended up being really good (I had a Caesar salad with salmon- weird combination but they go together surprisingly well).

So, that was a sum up of our five days skiing in Banff! We have one extra day here to chill out, nurse our bruises and sore legs, and then we’re off to Toronto on Friday. Cheerio!

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