Blueberry Hill

One of the most important lessons that we quickly learnt here is that just because its cold and miserable in Calgary doesnt mean there isnt blue sky 10 min down the road. So on Sunday when there was freezing fog and it was -15 C in Calgary we decided to head to the mountains. The move paid off and we were rewarded with blue sky and balmy -5 C temps.

Having lunch on Blueberry Hill, not a bad spot.

This cheeky bugger tried to steal my sandwich out of my hand.

The view from the top looking over the Kananaskis Lakes

Cross country madness

This weekends adventure was a couple of cross country ski trips to some new locations. The first was to the Mt. Shark area. The trip in was made a little more exciting when our car failed to make a corner and we ended up in a snow bank. Thankfully a friendly ranger passed by and gave us a tow out, hopefully the rental company will be none the wiser. The skiing was pretty good and we will certainly be heading back again soon, possibly for an overnight trip as we learnt that there is a hut further down the trail.
Sundays trip was to Lake Minnewanka and the Cascade Fire trail just out of Banff. After a few false starts and wrong turns we finally managed to find the trail head and start the day. While it was -15 C and snowing in Calgary it turned out to be a balmy -5 C with sun on the trail, perfect for cross country skiing. So all and all it was a pretty good weekend, although I think we will be a bit sore getting out of bed tomorrow.

A nice spot for lunch with Cone Mt. in the background.

Canadians

Weekend in Fernie

This weekend was livened up with our first trip to Fernie. The infamous powder that Fernie is renowned for was unfortunately unable to be present for the weekend but on the whole it was great just to get out and about. Staying on the ski hill in a place with a hot tub was not too shabby either...

Team Kiwi (right) and team Canada (left)

No trip out to Fernie would be complete without stopping at Sparwood to marvel at one of the man-made wonders of the world, the Worlds Largest Truck. It indeed was a rather large truck.

This little thing?

Lake O'Hara cross country skiing

Aleisha and I have really taken a liking to cross country skiing, so much so we went out and bought our own gear. Unfortunately there was a a bit of a stuff up with the shop we got our gear from and they ended up losing my boots. To compensate us they decided to give us the gear for FREE!
Our first trip out on our new kit was an overnighter to Lake O'Hara. The conditions were amazing with temperatures around -5 C and a foot of fresh powder on the ground.

Aleisha leading the expedition team on the 11km trip to the hut.

I think it will take us a while to get sick of the scenery here.

Our accommodation for the night, the Elizabeth Parker Hut.

Skiing across the lake.

The team

Stefan and Claire come to visit

The reason why we were so busy over Christmas was because Stefan and Claire came to visit. Since they love the outdoors just as much as we do, we tried to cram as many outdoor activities as possible into a week long holiday.

Riding the lift at Sunshine (our local ski hill). This was also our first experience in skiing when its -15 C.

Happy faces at the end of a hard days skiing.

Stefan and Claire trying out some cross country skiing.

Snow shoeing at Chester Lake.

Christmas catch up

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year (better late than never)

The Christmas break was pretty busy for Aleisha and myself so we didnt have a chance to update the blog. I had all four of my wisdom teeth out yesterday so I now have some free time to do some updates.

Stuck in Calgary

Over the last few weeks the winter weather has defeated our attempts to escape the city limits. We tried valiantly this weekend, but with the temperatures topping out at -30 C and our rental car doing doughnuts at the sight of corners, we gave up. So with the thought of spending another weekend indoors being too much to handle I decided to be brave (stupid) and go for a bike ride. Thankfully, due to fitting studded tyres, my bike handles the ice and snow better than most American built cars and for some reason I seemed to have the entire bike path system all to myself.

A steaming Bow River with Calgary CBD in the background.

Winter clothing from the serial killer fashion line.

Brrrr

I dont think this one needs much explaining, its f'ing cold.

Cross Country Skiing

This weekend Aleisha and I tried out one of the iconic Canadian winter sports, cross country skiing. Despite our complete lack of experience our friends decided to take us on a rather advanced trail. While there were a few moments of sheer terror and a few long strings of expletives we survived relatively unscathed, in fact we really enjoyed the day.

Winter wonderland.

Aleisha getting her glide on.

One of the truly amazing aspects of the whole sport is that its free. Some poor sucker drives around in a groomer all night, smoothing out the trail and setting the tracks and we don't have to pay a cent. God bless living in a socialist country!