It Was Always On The Cards

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On every trip, every where, every time, you always get hit with the same statement...

"You have to go there... you can't miss it!!"

and with the more travellers you meet, the list gets longer and longer until you simply can't see everything.

I know I've been guilty of it... and I'm pretty sure that if everyone was under oath then they'd say the same. Luckily for me, my style of travelling with only a vague idea of my route and timeline is sympathetic to these kind of situations. At other times, some of the places mentioned were never going to be left off the itinerary.

Banff was definitely one of the latter!

Now that I had some time on the snow under my belt, I was itching to find some more... and as luck would have it, things worked out for the better again.

Back in Vancouver for just the night, I met Neville from the UK at the hostel and was informed that He had tried to get on a Greyhound out to Banff that morning but he highway had been shut due to an avalanche. It had blocked both directions 18 miles east of Golden, so even if I'd gone from Whistler, I still would've been stuck... and because of it all the nearby accommodation had been taken so I would've spent a lonely and cold night in the car. No matter how thin a hostel mattress is, it felt like heaven that night!!

Instead, Neville and I kept an eye on the road conditions website and the road was reopened by midnight so once again I had a passenger for the journey.

In my imagination, and reinforced by the drive to Whistler, British Columbia is a vast state filled to the brim with jagged, snow capped mountains. What driving east from Vancouver showed was the error of assumption. Flat plains to gentle hills were the feature for the first 4 hours with almost nothing of note. The main thing noticeable was that the Canadians we met began to exhibit much stronger accents.

Once we hit Kamloops, it was time to do a quick bit of shopping for some tire chains as the avalanche of yesterday still had me a bit spooked. Soon enough we had confidence in a box in the boot of the car and the thoughts that now that we had them we probably wouldn't even need them... better safe than sorry though I guess.

Being an 11 hour trip all up we deciding to break the trek up with a night in Revelstoke, a town where three rivers intersect surrounded by beautiful mountains, and where the accents were even thicker. When morning dawned crystal clear I was glad to see the blue skies after the rain of the say before... especially considering we were heading into Glacier National Park and the site of the avalanche.

An amazing thing about Canada.... where all the other glaciers in the world are slowly retreating, Canada's are growing. Not only growing but there are new glaciers actually forming! Glacier National Park is one of these places. With over 70 glaciers within the parks boundary and 14%!o(MISSING)f the park under permanent snow or ice, it is an amazing place to get through. If it wasn't -6C it would've been even better to get out and actually walk to some of them. Rogers Pass signified the highest point reached at over 2600m (I think that's higher than anywhere in Australia), before slowly working it's way back down, in and out of tunnels as it goes.

We passed the avalanche area with no hassles (although we had been held up twice while inspectors checked road conditions in other areas) and of course... no need for the chains.

Lunch stop was provided by a tiny little town called Field with a total population of 141. It was only 140 until 2 days ago when a resident gave birth. That's small towns for you... they know exactly what's going on with everyone else. Although small, Field has personality! The people are the friendliest I've ever met and treat you like a life long friend.. the free coffee helps too! This was the setting for my most horrifying nightmare ever though... they told me the temperature it was only a week ago. Now, my brain can comprehend 50C... it can even comprehend -10C because I'd been in -6 already. When the owner of the cafe said that last week it got down to -38C... mush!! My brain just shut down!!

-38C!!!!

I have no idea how cold that is... and I'm certainly not prepared for it. I'd look like the Michelin Man by wearing every single article of clothing I owned.... and probably still be cold!!

After the shock of that news, the 2C we walked back out into felt positively glorious!

Just north of Banff was another place I just couldn't pass by. Lake Louise, made famous by the Chateau Fairmont on it's shores, is a playground for the rich and famous. But putting the hotel aside, it is still an amazing place to visit. Having photos of it bombarded into me from travel magazines and websites as well as all the travel shows on TV, I wasn't sure how I'd feel to see it in person But it lives up to the hype. With the lake cradled by the mountains, at this time of year it is completely frozen... so much so that's couldn't even make out any water under it and it's safe enough to drive a bobcat onto to clear the paths for hiking over it. They also scrape the ice in one area I front of the hotel to create an ice rink with an ice castle to decorate the centre (that's where all the hotel fees go I guess).

Banff is a lovely little town nestled in the valley between the peaks of the Rocky Mountains. It has a completely different feel to it than Whistler. Where Whistler was modern and filled with high end fashion outlets (probably since the 2010 Winter Olympics), Banff still has some old world charm, looking more like a European ski town. The other main difference is that the slopes are not joined to the town by gondolas so you don't see people just carrying around their skis and snowboards as much.

The 3 areas that have the runs are a bus ride away, Norquay, Sunshine, and Lake Louise, but it costs $15 for a round trip because they aren't local buses like in Whistler. Didn't bother me... I have a car.

Sunshine was the best place for beginners like myself and as luck would have it, Neville was at the same level as me. Another half day lesson to refresh ourselves and we were off and running... or boarding... or whatever. By the end of that lesson we'd even been down 2 blue runs and the egos were starting to get bigger... right up until on the last run I landed on my hand (the opposite one from the thumb injury... which still hurt) and sprained my wrist. I'm starting to see why it's easier to Lear when you're younger... and are still invincible.

Making friends with our roommates, we were filled in on some great food ideas before being invited to join a few of them for dinner. Wings Wednesday!!! What an idea!! Chicken wings... 10 different flavours... Ordered by the pound (10 wings)... $2.50 with any drink purchased from the bar. Well it must be said that I was going to have a drink or 5 anyway so 25c wings sounded too good to be true!!! Completely full, we rolled back to the hostel just in time for trivia night. Topic... TV Series. A table of 2 Aussies and a Brit... we were screwed... or were we?? Between the 3 of us we made a respectable effort (even tying first in the last round) considering they were all American shows and the fact that the 2 Aussies had been traveling for long enough to forget everything current on TV.

With my wrist still throbbing the next morning, Neville headed back to the slopes as I took it easy and tee-d up with Leigh (the other Aussie) to provide a lift to Calgary the next morning. Neville came back from Sunshine and booked another week in Banff so it was off to the bar to have some send off drinks... with tonight's entertainment... beer pong!! I thought it was something only in movies about college frat houses but seemingly it's actually a real thing... with some incredibly strict rules. Teaming up with another Perth lad that I'd met there (such a small world when you travel... especially in Canada) we won the first game but were downed by a German couple that looked like they'd been playing since high school. Good times!!

Tomorrow.... first stop Calgary and then back into the US for me.

Canada... you've been amazing!! Can't wait to come back and do some more snowboarding or even some mountain biking in the Summer. Whichever way, you will see me again!!

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

An amazing winter trip
Embracing the seasons is great. I've always wanted to go to Banff in the wintertime. Looks fantastic. Sounds fantastic!....wings wednesday, beer pong, trivia....and skiing.