Good-Bye Canada

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I'm writing this entry from Banff on our last few hours in Canada. We've had such a fantastic trip and can't believe it's over, thankfully it hasn't felt like it's flown by, but it's still sad to leave such an awesome friendly country. We'll definitely leave a piece of our hearts here when we go. Where to start since our last blog? I'm glad not to bore you with reports of massive dumps of snow and legendary powder levels; as the saying goes 'no friends on a powder day' instead we've had a handful of powder days and plenty of weeks to make strong friendships and crazy nights and days in between. (I will warn you at this point that I have waffled on a little so I applaud you if you read all of this entry).

One of our best memories will be the day we built the Mystery Machine to compete in Fernie cardboard downhill derby. To put this in perspective the winner was an amazing motorbike that took 3 months to complete; not only did it look amazing but it had a steering device and a very effective breaking mechanism. The rider had an amazing run finishing directly on the target. We however being total novices made many fundamental and structural mistakes along the way, that aside she was the best looking derby entry there (in our opinion). It took us 3 nights to make, they took a quarter of a year where as we took a hundredth of a year; one thirtieths (3.5%). Cutting a long story short we didn't even make it 50 meters down the course, we narrowly missed serious injury bailing out and destroying all our hard work in seconds. Ben and I hit the trees cracking my goggles and bruising ourselves somewhat, while our other co-pilots, Emma and Luke, flew down the hill followed by a rouge solo wheel. It took 6-8 of us 3 nights of love and devotion to create a mystery machine of hope and ambition. Our first flaw was to attach heavy duty cardboard ski's to the base thus preventing slowing down or turning. The second was to have four fully grown adults to stand up in it chest to shoulder. As soon as we arrived at the start line ski patrol took a special interest in our creation and showed signs of extreme fear and caution, 'and how do you intend to slow down?'. We then cut a large hole in the base of the machine for me to put my spiked boots in and cut a larger area out of the back door for Ben to stick his leg out of. Minutes before it was our turn to start the course ski patrol asked us to move over to the left so that we would have more chance of avoiding the crowd. We suddenly realised that moving over to the left mean that we were going down a different fall line of the mountain = into the trees. Although we were all devastated after the crash (Ben being depressed all day until our winnings and alcohol numbed the disappointment and loss) the crowd chanted 'ride the rubble' so we all grabbed parts of the debris and we all rode down to the bottom of the hill. We won $50 for 'the trees always win' prize.

We've had loads of fantastic nights out and said our good-bye's to friends that have come and gone. Ben and I went on a lovely walk around Fernie looking for wildlife and finding none. Our bodies quickly adjusted to the temperature change, lows of -38 and highs of +3 on the hill. We've had such fun in Canada and will miss all our friends made.

Lauren, a friend of our's had a 'funny hat' themed hat party. Ben went to the thrift store to find us some gems and came back with undisputed top trumps. He got me a keeper, an elephant hat that everyone loved and got loads of strokes off strangers all night. As Ben has a massive head he struggles to find a hat that fits his head, his hat was hilarious, a toy horse that attaches around a child's waist (you need to see the picture to understand this description). Sorry no pictures as don't have the memory card.

Our season passes provided us with lots of discounts, one being hiring ski equipment, so we had a ski day. Lorna a friend of ours completed the non-stop instructors course and is now (potentially) a qualified level one ski instructor. Her first lesson = teaching me, Ben and our friend Rowan to be super skiers. I can honestly say I was less attracted to Ben when he was a skier for the day, he looked so funny. We had a great day and the lesson went so well that by the afternoon we were up the top of the hill. Ben decided that although he had fun skiing wasn't for him.

Sumo night in the hostel was extremely entertaining. Obviously I opted out of fighting against Ben, I wouldn't want to show him up in front of our friends, I let someone else do that. Ben was rubbish, he got knocked out three times, though in fairness his opponent had crazy in his eye. I won against Lorna twice, when asked if we would like another go we both refused, not only is it exhausting but it was disgustingly sweaty in those suits, glad we were some of the first to compete.

We had two wonderful leaving parties in Fernie, one at our friend Rob's. Rob has a pad that looks like it should be in cribs, not only is it massive it also has a games room that contains a ping pong table that transforms into a pool table he also has an outside hot tub (that had to be drained after the bill came). At the end of the night we all played zombies which everyone loved. We found our friend Rylan curled up asleep under a cardboard box nearly and hour later. Our second good-bye was at the hostel Kodiac Lounge where we managed to say our good-byes to all our Fernie friends; I have faith that we will meet again.

Ben, Lorna, Rowan and I set off early on the 15th for our road trip - 6 mountains in 7 days = Fernie, Kimberley, Kicking Horse, Revelstoke, Lake Louise and Sunshine. (running out of blogging time) Although again the snow gods didn't answer our prayers we had we had an absolutely awesome time with clear blue skies, reasonably good piste conditions and views to die for. A very quick synopsis Fernie = Favourite, five bowls, extremely variable terrain the best tree runs and piste runs loads of variety, don't think I could possibly get bored. Love the town and the people. Definitely go back again. Kimberly = Nice mountain but my least favourite, very family friendly, have to traverse to get to a lot of the runs and although the surrounding mountains are beautiful the base is rather ugly. The town is like stepping into the twilight zone; an former mining town turned Bolivian themed town, they serve schnitzels and sauerkrauts, I'll not be returning. We then headed to the Fairmont hot springs, which were not in fact that hot. You can either pay for the public pools which are swimming pools sourced from the springs, or walk down a trail to the natural pool which is filled from a waterfall from the spring. Next stop Kicking Horse; awesome mountain, the best views of all of them, everywhere you look are incredible mountain ranges, a truly panoramic experience. The mountain itself has some fantastic bowls, runs, trees and terrain and Golden is a really nice town as well. I would definitely go back. Revelstoke = the best glades and tree runs I've seen, this mountain had the best potential given some snow you could really explore this one. The steepest hill we visited, definitely got my heart pumping. Nice town. Lake Louise = very different to our first visit. The hill gets blown by the wind a lot, making it more susceptible to icy conditions. They had turned the downhill race course into a massive park. I was so excited to have the chance to go on some kickers (as Fernie being an RCR resort is prohibited from having jumps due to an old court case) that I went against my own saying 'always ride through the park first before attempting any of the jumps', whoops, first jump great, second jump felt so good third jump...who put a box rail on the other side, I managed to do a board slide until my board flipped up and I smacked my head on the box concussing myself very mildly writing the day off. Everyone else had a fantastic day and loved the mountain. Sunshine = loads of fun, built through a valley, two great parks lots of fun to be had plus it has young trendy Banff right next to it.
My one claim to fame was stalling the automatic 8 seater mini van. I started skidding and everyone in the back started shouting opposite instructions 'higher gear', 'lower gear' = me freaking out and pulling the stick into reverse. Amazingly stalling an automatic is possible.

Well I better get some photo's loaded now of this blog will just be a long drool of meandering waffle. Thanks for reading all of the above if you got this far

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Photos

The Mystery Machine Posse
Putting all their blood sweat and tears into it

All Four Drivers
Ski patrol...'are you all riding in that thing?'

Fin
Us...'not for very long'

Olympic Torch
We decided not to run after it at 8:00am..we're ski bums after all

Kicking Horse
One of the many amazing views

Comments

[Francis.]

Keep your hats on.
Hey Ho, What a change of world for you so take care and load up with loads of factor 50. Pi Pi Hill - Heaver on Earth.................. Keep in touch. All our love, Daddy xxxxxxxxx