Here are some of Alex’s photos from the little trip he & I took from Wawa to Simpson’s Pass to Healy Pass & back to Sunshine base last weekend. Mainly it’s an opportunity for me to post a few photos of myself – some of them a little embarrassing.
Taking a rest in the warm snow after trying to keep my speed up for the approaching flat & losing it over that little convexity.
That pesky little cold I picked up in London hung around for a few more days than I hoped for, but after surviving the week at work I was ready for a little skiing over the weekend. Anya & I spent all day at Sunshine on Saturday. It was a lot warmer than last time I went up & the day seemed to sit around -5ºC. There was a few centimetres of the fresh stuff & the sun & continuing snowfall made it a very pleasant day. We hit all the lifts over the day & with the exception of a couple of runs off Divide, there were few people queuing. Funniest thing of the day was Anya getting a little confused & heading off to Teepee Town chair, ducking through some trees, hitting a roller & then straight on to a little jump & ending up stuck in a small tree well. Forewarned is forearmed & all that & I managed to land it & have a little laugh as Anya eventually extricated herself from her little hole in the ground (“We were evicted from our hole in ground, we had to go & live in a lake.”). After a big lunch, we skied all afternoon, had a drink or two at the bottom before a spot of shopping in Banff & a long soak in the Banff Hot Springs again.
Alex’s plans for a “quite interesting” (I interpreted this as “well beyond my capabilities”) ski tour on Sunday were scuppered by a call-in to work for his ski buddy, so I joined him on Sunday for an easier tour. We took the Sunshine gondola up & skied off the back of Wawa looking for a derelict cabin near a lake up the other side of the valley west of where we left the Sunshine boundary. Once again, it was another glorious day – still, warm & mostly sunny. We skinned relatively easily for a while before we found a spot the Alex thought looked likely to reach the valley floor. By this time we were in British Columbia, albeit briefly.
We skied a little way down before the slope got a lot steeper & we stopped so Alex could dig a pit to gauge the likelihood of us triggering an avalanche. The avalanche forecast was for low or moderate risk (height dependent) & Alex’s field testing suggested that it wasn’t likely we would bring the face down on top of ourselves. I had a go at my first snow-pack test (for want of a better word) – basically you isolate a 30x30cmxwhatever-height pillar of undisturbed snow & then tap/hit the top of it (shovel covered) with increasing force until it shears off.
The steepness & all the trees tested my ability, as usual – I managed reasonably well apart from one chute that was too skinny for me to be able to turn & slow down. It was a quite spectacular dive right in front of Alex – pity I can’t find a link to Alex’s photo of me pulling myself out of the hole I’d created.
Down on the valley floor, we skinned up to Simpson’s Pass & then took off up to the left to find the hut. It was quite a steep climb up to the lake, during which I was starting to feel quite worn out from that dastardly cold. Eventually up at the lake we spent quite a long time traipsing around where the cabin should have been (at least according to old maps that Alex had found). After squeezing between too many trees, getting showered in snow & just generally going around in circles I was definitely ready for lunch on the lake edge. Disturbingly, for me, I didn’t have much of an appetite & after a bit more hut hunting (we never found it) we headed up to Healy Pass with me feeling more & more tired. Thankfully, the pass wasn’t as high as I feared & we made it up there just after three o’clock – just as well it’s not getting dark until after six o’clock now. Naturally, the views from the top were up to the usual high standard of around here.
It was a gentle ski down off the pass & that went pretty well for me until I tried to keep some speed up to get me further across a flat section, hit a rolling drop & then fell over about ten metres later. We skied down the drainage back to the parking lot. This bit was through trees & followed the skin track/hiking trail (season dependent). When it was downhill, it was tight & twisty (a lot of snow ploughing for me) but manageable. Unfortunately, there were a lot of flat & uphill sections – by now I was worn out & I hated these sections. I really can’t wait to be back on my bike where it’s a lot easier to keep momentum & propel oneself along flat & uphill sections. Back at the car about seven hours after we started skiing. At least this week’s game of Cities & Knights was resource rich.
After really starting to wish I was back riding sweet singletrack on my bike as winter drags on, I was quite surprised to get the opportunity to go for a ride yesterday. I enjoyed a little sleep-in, lounging around reading my book (I’ve started another epic – “London” by the same guy that wrote the last book & epic I read. The narrative is not quite as compelling, but the history of the city is fascinating.) & then having a nap before Alex texted with the idea for a ride. It was a nice clear day & almost up to freezing point, so conditions were perfect.
I dragged my bike out, rugged up a bit & cautiously took my first ride on the snowy streets. Thankfully it wasn’t too icy. Riding on the hard packed snow was straight forward, although I was quickly reminded of the fact that my entire drivetrain needs replacing before the summer & that my rear tyre is particularly bald. The riverside paths & Engine Bridge were easy pedalling.
Ice floating down the Bow River, from the Engine Bridge, the Three Sisters in the background
We took a detour around the small island that is in the river between town & the power station runout on Mineside. There hadn’t been nearly as much traffic down this trail & it was a lot narrower & bumpier. Alex progressed easier than I did as he had fitted studded tyres; progress was slow, it was hard to keep much balance & as soon as you dabbed your foot just sank in to the unpacked snow.
Mt Rundle behind me
Looking across the Bow & town to Grotto
I made a snow-bike angel
Ready-made bike stand
Back on the packed trail we ambled up to Quarry Lake – I was pleased to find I still had some climbing legs left. We rode along under the power line to Peaks of Grassi before winding our way down various paths & stairs (some of which Alex could ride) to the Riverside Trail. I was grinning most of the time with the pleasure of being back on my bike.
I did intend to write this yesterday as it was a public holiday (as far as I can work out Family Day is a “we haven’t had a public holiday for almost two months – let’s make one up so we have the day off” type of holiday), but just as I got home to start writing the tragic events in Christchurch started to unfold. I was well pleased to get a text from Adele ninety minutes later to let me know that she, Mum & Dad were safe & well. It’s such times that one does feel a long way from home; watching & reading all the coverage has been pretty shocking, sobering & just plain hard. I’m very much looking forward to seeing some close NZ friends & family in thirty-six hours.
Back to the long weekend’s adventures. It was nice & clear & not too cold Sunday morning when five of us popped over to BC & Kootenay National Park for the easyish tour Alex had planned. Basically we crossed the creek by the parking lot, climbed gradually while traversing towards a spur for an hour & then climbed a lot more rapidly up the spur. The climbing was quite manageable (but then I was plodding along as tail end Charlie for a lot of the time) & after three months of winter I was starting to miss my bike & the challenge & technical variety that is climbing steep hills (not to mention the sweet downhill). Most of the trees we went through had been burnt out in time past, leaving blackened trunks & a few spindly branches.
Lincoln, me & Al
As we got nearer to our highest point I was starting the eye the thickening trees on the steepening slope nervously. Would I be able to get down through those gaps while making turns & staying in control? I was starting to feel like Dennis Denuto standing outside the Federal Courthouse.
The trees thinned as we reached our lunch spot where it was nicely warm & we had great views down the valley along Highway 93S.
Lincoln & Jess(i?)e
The ski down wasn’t as bad as I feared & I was able to make some turns & negotiate my way through most of the gaps between the trees – there are some advantages to being a skinny weed. The trickiest things were the small skinny trees that were hard to see straight away & any fallen wood that wasn’t immediately apparent. I managed to stop myself against one pretty large tree, glide in to a bit of treefell & get tangled in a lot of spindly trees. Overall the ski down was quite fun & I was pleased that the climb was worth it. Here’s a few more pictures of me that I’ve once again shamelessly pinched from Alex – when you’re the fast one, you can afford to stop & take pictures.
