Well the season is very quickly drawing to a close and thank god for "Magical March". It was very nearly going to be the worst season Whistler has seen on record. But March was upon us and the snow began to fall and I had to quickly learn how to ride in powder. It took me 20 mins to get down a run that would normally take me 5! Enough said, powder is fun but hard to ride. We had some awesome days with our little family group which involved getting up ridiculously early to get our boards and skis in line to get up the mountain first. First runs of the day, there's just nothing quite like it!
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| Knee deep in fresh pow |
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| First run not to bad |
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| Andy Loving it |
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| Lifting it up |
With being in the whistler bubble getting the best of us we decided to plan a trip to Banff to visit our friend Matt, who we met in Vancouver when we arrived. We hired a car for the week, I found an awesome little condo in Canmore, 20mins outside Banff, and with our lovely friends Emily and Tom, we packed our things and headed off on the prettiest drive I have ever been on. The drive took 11 hours we stopped to take photos of lakes, frozen waterfalls one which we witnessed some crazy people climbing and mountains that stretched for miles. The Rockies are a sight to be seen in ones lifetime. We arrived at night time and woke to the most amazing panoramic views of the mountains. If anyone saw my photo you'll get what I mean. Absolutely breathtaking!! So we set off for our first day skiing at Sunshine mountain. A quick detour to collect Matt and a short drive to the mountain, we stepped out of the car and instantly froze, -28 degrees that day! lets just say there were plenty of cup-o-tea breaks that day! But the cold soon vanished when you get off the highest chair lift and take in your surroundings. The runs were short and not really boarder terrain as it's quite flat but just to be there surrounded by all the beauty was so worth it!
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| Seton Lake |
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| Our cool ride, Not bad for a Jeep |
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| Shuswap Lake |
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| View from the apartment |
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| The rockies from our apartment |
The following day we took the 50 min drive to Lake Louise which was as equally beautiful. Both mountains, just like whistler, haven't had amazing snow fall but it was fun just mucking around on different terrain, filming, taking photos and we even had a go on the boarder cross course which was a bit of fun.
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| Lake Lousie Ski Resort |
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| The Gang at Lake Louise |
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| Me and Andy |
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| Me Just cruising at LL |
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| On the Lift at LL |
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| Sweet Goggles |
Emily, Tom and I decided that 2 days of riding was enough and we wanted to do some touristy things. We dropped Andy and Matt off at Sunshine and continued on to explore Johnson Canyon. We had to hire crampons (spikes you attach to your shoes for extra grip) to put on our feet as the path was very icy. It was a 3 hour return walk and plenty of photo opportunities. I would love to see it in summer, it would look completely different. There were 6 waterfalls along the way, all frozen and so pretty. We were kept entertained by an American woman who compared this place to the Grand Canyon. A comment I over heard was "this is not as high as the Grand Canyon, is it?". I love stupid people! We were also lucky enough to watch some ice climbers up close climbing the biggest waterfall of the 6. Pretty spectacular but I definitely like my feet firmly on solid ground.
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| Bridge to Start the walking trail |
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| Speaks for itself |
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| Small waterfall |
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| Largest of the Ice waterfalls, Crazy Guy's Ice climbing |
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| Small waterfall with water running |
On our way back to collect the boys we accidentally went the wrong way up a one way road because the right side was closed, my fault really as I was back seat driving. Should've left it up to Tom to turn the car around and try get out another way but all of a sudden out of no where this park ranger stepped out of the bushes and we got a very serious telling off and very narrowly avoided a $700 fine! Lucky we had accents and played dumb haha :)
We headed back to our place after an eventful day all round, ate dinner and decided to head into Banff for some ice skating and try our hand at hockey. Having not ice skated in hmmmm maybe 15 years or more I thought, how hard could it possibly be! and I was right. After a few unsteady laps I found my feet and I was off. Andy on the other was a little entertaining. Matt has been training to play hockey so we hit the puck around for a while which was a bit of fun. If you combined my skating with Andy's mad hockey skills we'd probably do alright. So it was time to say good bye to Matt. We have only known him a short while but we feel like old friends. It was so nice catching up with him and Andy was pretty stocked to have learnt a thing or two about park riding. A step closer to nailing a 360!!!
We're back in Whistler busily trying to organise our next adventure. There is under 6 weeks left of the season, it hasn't really dawned on us until now.We still have a few things to tick off the bucket list; snow mobiling, Dog sledding, zip linning on the mountain and Andy really wants to see a bald eagle. All our friends are talking about there next adventures some staying, some going. I hate saying good bye but at least we'll have friends to visit in all parts of the globe. I can't believe it's nearly over but Andy and I are very ready to start the next chapter of our lives. It's been such a wonderful experience and we are so grateful to have been given the opportunity to do this and we will definitely be encouraging our children to work and travel in other places. We are looking forward to seeing Andy's dad, David and his wife Fiona. To see some familiar face will be the best. I hope everyone we love is happy and well. Look forward to catching you all in October.
After though from Andy...
Had the pleasure on the weekend to watch a professional snowboard event here in Whistler called the "Showcase Showdown". A two day event with slopestyle on one day and big air the next. These athletes are amazing. If only I had the guts (or stupidity) they have to jump this high, spin that fast and still land and ride away. I was in awe for most of the two days. Can't wait for the Whistler Ski and Snowboard Festival at the end of April, 9 days of awesome events. It's gonna be sweet
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| Top Rail |
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| Top Rail |
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| First Kicker |
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| First Kicker |
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| The Bonk |
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| Bottom Kickers, Winding up for a spin |
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| Air Time |
Peace out!
Andy and Maddie
