Let the roadtrip begin - Banff via Golden and Lake Louise

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Firstly, apologies for the extended absence of posts. The roadtrip has most certainly started as is in full swing. We are currently 6 weeks into the trip and have covered plenty of ground, around 11,000 kms. As I write this I'm sitting in a cheap Super 8 Motel room in a town called Del Rio in Southern Central Texas. Its damn hot, about 35 degrees outside and its close to 10pm. This region currently has a national heat wave advisory as its due to hit 43 degrees tomorrow. Our car has no air-con and we need to cover about 150 miles or 240kms to the city of San Antonio so we might suffer a bit tomorrow. Nonetheless we need to keep driving regardless of the weather. Del Rio is very close to the Rio Grande river, which forms the US-Mexico border for much of Texas. Its a mighty river which has its headwaters in southern Colorado and has many dams holding back its flow. The last dam along its course before it flows gently into the Gulf of Mexico is Amistad Dam. The water held back by the dam forms the huge Lake Amistad and the area is devoted to a National Recreation Area with numerous primitive campgrounds and swimming beaches. This is where we camped last night but didn't enjoy much due to the opressive heat. Even at night it was about 30+ degrees and humid. We got little sleep and the plan was to stay at Amistad another night but we opted to seek the refuge of an air-conditioned motel room instead. Today we just lazed by the lake, swimming and wading in the warm water and in the afternoon came here and found this motel. So here we are, hot, sunburnt and over the extreme heat.
This is very briefly the situation as it currently stands, but first a couple of blog posts that backtrack over the ground we have covered in the previous weeks.

The time to say our final goodbyes to our friends and little apartment in Big White had finally arrived. It was a time of mixed emotions, but the overall vibe was that of anticipation for the exciting road ahead. We took our time to pack up and clean up, leaving 2 days after the majority of the other crew. With the Dodge packed to the brim and our good friend and 'brother from another mother' Emal in tow we set off towards the rising sun in search of more snowy adventures. We were to drive to the township of Banff set among the vast and extremely beautiful Banff National Park, a place about which I had only heard great things. As we drove we passed through our old acquaintance - the city of Revelstoke, its cute main street, its National Park and most importantly its mountain resort. The resort of course had ceased operations for the current season but as it was the first time I saw it, it was still a beauty. I had visited Revelstoke and had the pleasure of riding its epic mountain faces, tree runs and powder bowls sometime in late January 09. I went with a long time good friend and adrenaline sports partner in crime - Aaron, as well as a new Big White friend and colleague from Chateau Big White - Emal. We set off to Revvie in search of fresh powder snow - as at that time Big White was quite lean on the fresh stuff. We happened into one of the dumps of the season at Revelstoke and rode it for two consecutive days, scoring epic powder both days and gaining memories and roadtrip stories I will never ever forget. The drive from Revvie back to Big White was eventful. From being delayed till after midday due to avalanche control along the main road, to driving along a two inch thick layer of ice for most of the 200 kms with only 'all-season' tyres (anything less than winter tyres is sheer stupidity) it was nothing short of memorable. I felt like a true Scandinavian rally driver while I drifted white-knuckled towards the numerous concrete and snow drift barriers only to regain front wheel traction at the last second and come out with a subtle fish tail. I think my passengers were also glad they remained alive along the entire journey. In summary it was one of the most adventure packed roadtrips I had done to that point - anywhere.

Past Revelstoke we continued east on the famous Trans-Canada Highway to Golden. The a section of the mountains which run in an East-West orientation near Golden are home to the new and much heard-of mountain resort of Kicking Horse. Sadly I never got a chance to ride at this resort but I have only heard great things - given the right conditions of course. Kicking Horse is a classic big mountain resort. By that I mean it prides itself on its extensive in-bounds chute skiing and riding - its awesome 'steep and deep' terrain and of course the nearby cat and heli-skiing operations. A massive amount of snow blankets these mountains every winter and tons of people travel the world over to sample it. With these extreme conditions comes danger though. Scores of people get caught in deteriorating or bad weather and have to improvise survival overnight in the back country. Most don't get found alive. Other people luck out and get caught in avalanches. Generally if they are not found within the hour (or even much less) they don't get found alive. People venture too far into the backcountry on snowmobiling (sled) missions and get lost - they sometimes don't get found alive. These mountains and hundreds like them in Canada, continental US and Alaska are full of peril and it takes just one ill-decision or one stroke of bad luck and mother nature can put one's safety at grave risk. There were fatalities in those mountains during this winter season.

After spending the night in beautiful Golden, waking to sunshine and a stunning backdrop of towering and jagged peaks we got on the road again and drove an hour or so to Lake Louise Ski Resort. After a bit of umm and ahh...Emal and I decided to pay for a half day ticket and check out the hill. Loz wasn't feeling it and the conditions were super icy so she decided to save her money and wait till Sunshine Village in Banff the next day. Now Lake Louise is a super nice hill, well laid out, lots of terrain and variety...but unfortunately we only got to sample a bit of its full potential due to quite poor conditions. It was very cold (for April), windy and way icy. Despite this we tried to cover as much of the resort as we could, and so rode through till last lifts and found some nice softer snow lower down the mountain which pleased us much. That afternoon after riding we drove to Banff and checked into our accommodation at the YWCA Banff - a budget hostel right on the bank of the beautiful Bow River, where we were to stay 4 nights.

In the morning the weather was ordinary. There was low cloud limiting visibility and we read up that Sunshine Village had pretty crappy conditions for riding. So instead we decided to do a bit of sight seeing around Banff. We headed off to Lake Minnewanka and on the way it started absolutely bucketing snow. This got us excited as we had heard a rumor that there was meant to be 40 to 50 cm in 48 hours, meaning that in 2 days we could be in for a very fitting and much anticipated final powder day to end our Canada 08/09 season. At Minnewanka we were hoping to go for a short hike through the wilderness but the wet, driving snow foiled that plan. So we just drove around Banff National Park some more and luckily spotted a stunning Bighorn Ram beside the road. That afternoon as we explored around by car, we found some elk cows and a young bull elk in a park close to downtown Banff. This is one thing about Banff that appeals to me alot. The feeling of being in a natural place, being able to encounter wildlife so close to a large town and the spectacle of the jutting snowy peaks in all directions. The next day much of the same was done. We hiked up Johnston Canyon, a short drive from Banff, a site where ice climbers can hone their skills and courage on 50 foot high frozen waterfalls. In the afternoon we spotted a herd of caribou grazing along the banks of Vermillon Lake, with Banff Mountain standing proudly in the background. Such scenes of nature in as close to wild condition as it can be, are truly an unforgettable sight. Lauren, Emal and I were all gob-smacked at what we saw in and around Banff on our first two days there, we could safely say this was the Canada we came to see. I thought this is what all of Canada was like, but sadly Big White doesn't quite cut it for scenery and wilderness quite like Banff does.

The next morning it was go time for Sunshine Village. Little did we know what we were in for...an epic powder day, with 20 to 25 cm fresh overnight, little wind and not many crowds. It was so much fun to have fresh pow after a couple weeks without. Sunshine Village is a great ski resort, I would love to get back there again one day and really explore some of its steeper and more challenging terrain, as our day there was spent just cruising on mainly blue runs enjoying the fresh powder. We checked out the terrain park and came to the conclusion it was the best we had seen this season to date. It was big, had good variety, progressive features, well laid out and well maintained - everything a good park needs. So by the end of the day, we had all scored some sweet runs, had good fun and were satisfied with our final riding session of our 08/09 Canadian winter season. That night we celebrated with dinner at the popular Irish Rose pub and a number of beverages at a couple bars in town.

We packed our snowboard bags for the last time in the morning, and set off for Calgary. There we were to drop Emal off at the hostel, where he would stay for 2 nights before boarding a plane bound for hometown Sydney. After saying our farewells with Emal, Lauren and I continued driving due south to a town called Cardston, the gateway town before crossing into Montana, USA. The adventures and high mileage was only just beginning, and we could never have expected nor prepared for what happened the next morning...

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