November 17, 2006

Not much to say, other than we have had snowy day after snowy day and the skiing has been incredible. We will go back to Lake Louise tomorrow for one last lift service day before we have to head back to soggy New England. Enjoy the pictures!

Cheers,

Sam

We have a little bit of catching up to do. In fact I can’t really remember where I left off. At the risk of telling a story twice I will start with Sunday. We awoke to a heavy mix of rain and snow. There would be no flying today, which is what we had expected. Plan B was officially in gear. We loaded the kids and drove an hour east to Lake Louise ski area. It was fantastic early season skiing, likely the best first day of skiing I have ever had. On one ride up the chair, a local guy pointed to a slope and said he had not seen snow (much less 2 feet of it!) on that aspect, at this time of year, in the past 12 years! Since this is a fully controlled and patrolled ski area, we had the kids turn their radios on and we set them free to rip it up. We met back in the lodge at noon for lunch, swapped ideas for where the best snow was on the mountain, and headed back into the storm (it was pounding snow all day). By 3:30 the light was fading, the sun sets early this time of year this far north, and muscles were tired after 6 hours of skiing bumps and powder on the first day. Finally we caught a break and the kids got the chance to get some great turns after patiently waiting for a week. It was just.

Off stage Kevin and I had been doing some dancing to try and come up with alternatives. The forecast was showing the storm cycle would continue at least through Monday afternoon, which of course would mean another no fly day. At some point we had to make a big decision about whether it makes sense or not to spend the money on the helo to get into the hut, or save that cash and try and to come up with a plan B. We talked about it all day while skiing on Sunday and decided that if we could not fly until Tuesday that we would pull the plug and go to our backup plan. Ahhhhh, the backup plan you say… What is working in our favor is that these stormy no fly days are putting a lot of snow on the ground up high, the challenge is getting to that snow. The obvious thought is that we would strap on our skis and snowshoes and hike right to it. Unfortunately we are talking about a 20km hike on flat terrain before we get to snow levels deep enough to ski. Even though your children have been training hard all fall, it’s a tall order to ask them to hike for 3+ hours on the flat before we start to ski. Back to the backup plan… Snowmobile (sled) skiing in the western US and Canada has become extremely popular in the last 5 years. The way it’s practiced now is quite amazing. Two guys riding one sled, using it as a chairlift up the most incredible slopes, dropping one rider at the top to ski the pitch, then alternating and doing it all over again. Our use would be simply towing the kids up to the deep snow altitude and touring from that point on. We identified an outfit in town with the right sleds for us and the plan was to meet at the trailhead at 9:00 am on Monday.

Totally off topic now: we were also looking to move out of the hostel to reduce our lodging costs, as we were now also paying for the hut each night which we were not using, as well as the hostel. So, we started calling around to various real estate and rental agents and happened upon a company call Lush Mountain Properties. Kevin was talking with a woman at Lush and was relaying our story when she asked what school we were from. Kevin said CVA, and the woman laughed and said, “oh, my husband graduated from CVA”!!!! So, John Lush, who is the owner of Lush Mountain Properties, graduated from CVA with Marie Leary and my wife Kate Webber. Needless to say we had found the man who would find us a place to stay for cheap. Small world?!?!

Monday: We awoke to another day of heavy snow. We packed our bags, loaded the vans and started out of town. At the western edge of town, on Route 1 Trans Canada highway, we were stopped at a road block. Apparently there was a large accident halfway between the town of Golden and our trailhead at Quartz Creek, and we were told it would take at least 5 hours to clear. Plan C anyone? Fortunately the guy delivering our sleds was not able to get through either so we connected and he told us about another area closer to town that we could try. Off we went to Gorman valley. We had 4 sleds and 17 people to move to the high country so we ran laps up some old logging roads, shuttling people and gear. Once up there we were in near white out conditions, the skiing would prove to be fantastic. Up we climbed (human power now) in the shadow of the north side of the Dogtooth mountains with enormous rock spires towering over head. And finally it was time to make turns, the snow in the trees was knee to waist deep, the skiing sublime.

Tuesday: Much the same drill as Monday without the road closure delays. We arrived at Quartz Creek at 9:00 am and already were becoming a well oiled machine. When we got up into the Quartz Creek basin we realized why this was the place we were trying to get to yesterday. Huge slopes awaited us, a mix of trees and alpine terrain, with plenty of low angle stuff for the kids trying to get their feet under them in the unfamiliar powder conditions. The skin track was set in by the first crew and then the kids spun laps on a single slope, farming the powder making the hillsides look like a freshly tilled field. I can’t begin to describe how lucky we are to have these conditions on November 14th. The pictures should tell the rest of the story.

Wednesday: Today we have a rest day due to weather. There is another major blizzard happening as I sit and type this to you. We will occupy our time today with another long study session and maybe a trip to town later this afternoon. Pray for snow, but not too much as we need the conditions to stay safe out there!

Cheers,

Sam

November 11, 2006
Sooooooooo,

We're still here; unfortunately. The heli actually flew today, however when it got about 80% of the way to the hut they have to turn around. That's the short story, below is the longer version.

We started the day at 6:30, got the kids fed, packed up the vans, waved goodbye once more to the morning desk clerk at the hostel, and pushed off for the airport. Once there we were instructed again to head up to the staging area 40 km northwest of town and to radio back the weather conditions. When we arrived at the pad, we told them the sky was patchy but for the most part looked good, however we wanted to observe for an hour and then make the call. An hour passed and it looked slightly better. We called the base and they made the decision to give it a try. 30 minutes more went by and we got the call that they had to turn around and were going to land at the staging area. Once down we spent another hour watching the clouds swirl by, and slowly it became apparent that it was shutting down and today would not be the day for flying.

Back to the hostel and more study time......

More tomorrow!

Enjoy the pics!

Sam

November 10, 2006
Hi all:

So, the first try at flying did not go well. We went to the heli pad, spent a while getting the full safety brief, and loaded all sorts of gear and food. We then took a radio to communicate with the pilot, and drove north about 45 km to stage the rest of the kids at an area closer to our destination. When we arrived up there we stepped out into a driving snowstorm. We waited about an hour and then decided to pull the rip cord. So, we are back at the hostel for another night. We will try again tomorrow.

The pictures are of a hike that we did yesterday as well as a little from this morning at the hanger.

Cheers,

Sam

November 8, 2006
Hi all:

Here's a tale of our travel so far...... We had an uneventful flight. All went smoothly until we called for our hotel shuttle once we arrived in Calgary. They informed me that they did not have a shuttle driver on duty that night and we would have to take cabs. So, you can imagine how that went with ski bags and all.....not so well. Another 45 minutes of haggling with a local bus company and we finally found a van to take us in 2 trips. Then the van driver took the first crew to the wrong hotel! Long story short, we should have been in bed at 9:30, in reality it was about midnight when we all found ourselves under the same roof. Ahhh, the joys of travel.

Tuesday morning we awoke in Calgary to very grey skies and a little rain. Breakfast was a quick continental affair then a study session while Kevin and I went downtown to sort out the rental vans. We were on the road by 9:30 am, off to our new home. We had originally planned to take our time driving northwest to Golden but within the first 30 minutes of our drive we hit the rain line and it was pouring cats and dogs. This is one of the most beautiful drives you can take in western North America but we were so socked in by clouds that we could hardly see the edge of the road, much less the surrounding peaks.

The shining light of our day was our arrival at the Kicking Horse River Lodge which is our hostel. This is a hostel in the New Zealand/Australia/Europe tradition. A very nice structure with dorm room style sleeping, a communal kitchen and great common space. A perfect fit for the way the ALPS team travels. To ensure that we are not subjecting your little ones to any flea bitten hostel, I have attached pics. :)

For now we have embarked on a study marathon. The reason is the weather. We have learned over the years that it's best to study when the weather dictates as sooner or later we will have days that are fine, and it's such a luxury not having to worry about the academics on those days if we have done our homework, so to say. This afternoon we are planning on at least a run in the rain if the weather does not lift.

More later!

Cheers,

Sam