Sunshine for my birthday!

In human form and not the snowmen we believed we were going to become on the drive to Banff, we arrived at our hotel next to the Bow River.

Banff is amazing. We particularly love the street names and I want to buy apartments on most of them just to say we live on Wolf Street/ Bear Street/ Buffalo Street… “Oh hi, yes I live at 22 Wolverine Street”. Ehm, yes please!!

Aside from the street names, Banff is a lovely place. Very touristy but even with the hoards of tourists it doesn’t take away from the fact you are surrounded by stunning impending mountains and random fearless animals – elk and deer this time, nothing with claws.

As we were here over my birthday we decided to go skiing at Sunshine Village for three days to celebrate my 26+1 birthday. Who wants a birthday celebration that only lasts a day?

We loved Sunshine Village. As we were here toward the end of the season the slopes were unbelievably quiet and after a few runs on the ‘magic carpet’, an invention that I don’t think existed when I was learning as I remember falling off the dreaded drag lift repeatedly, Lewis was off and going down actual ski runs. Not just baby ones.

He also became fearless and decided he much preferred skiing off-piste, as when he fell he would make a massive ‘PUFF’ with the fresh powder. The skiing was great and every day we would ski down from the resort to the car park, immediately wanting to go right back up again.

Olaf the snowman? Nope, it’s Lewgi.

The drive from Jasper to Banff deserves an entry of its own.

Holy snowflakes is the only polite way I can phrase it, and I feel the videos that I took of sections of road cannot be published due to the obscenities forcibly used by the driver (I was not the driver). Although I think I was using worse language in my head.

We set off early one morning from Jasper along a very simple road with no junctions or changes that would take us all the way to Banff. Easy right? Wrong.

I think it was only 40 minutes into the journey we past the first set of snow gates, which I would like to point out were open at the time… only to be closed an hour after we went through.

Could have been a very bad diversion...

In the first and second hours, we were laughing and joking about the weather and lack of snow trucks to clear the road. It was absolutely stunning and it really looked like a winter wonderland with glittering snow and festive trees every which way you looked.

By the third and fourth hours we were driving though a continual sludge of at least 6” of snow and our tyres were starting to get clogged with ice around the rims. There was not so much laughing as there was a weird whimpering that was meant to sound like a breezy light-hearted chuckle. 

It was the most extreme weather I have ever witnessed and the intensity lasted a mere five hours.

Now, I never tend to talk about pee breaks but I feel it has to be mentioned as I was hysterical by this point (I laugh when nervous) and this just pushed me over the edge. Being somewhat influenced by the fight-or-flight instinct I was in desperate need, so Lewis the ever caring driver pulled over to the side of the road in the safest place we could find. I do not exaggerate when I say the snow came up past my window. Try getting out of the car when there is a wall of snow, I dare you.

Somehow, in my full-bladdered state I gained super-human strength and opened Scooby’s right wing (the door). It was here, between a mixture of galloping-jumping-leaping-head-first-tumbling that I dove into a pile of snow and landed in a weird mangled knot that I couldn’t fathom how my body could twist itself into such a position. Thankfully the effort and movement that I had to perform in order to untangle myself had made a delightful 4ft high open-topped igloo. The snowy ice-toilet.

The journey to Banff was phenomenal in all senses of the word and we have never been so thankful to see cars again. It was like re-appearing from an ice-age.

Funnily enough, it was only a 1km from the Banff snow gates, aka civilization, that we saw two snow ploughs beginning to clear what we had just driven. Great timing yet again.

Casper the friendly Cougar?

On our drive to Jasper, I think we just about tested Scooby’s abilities to the limit. The roads were horrific with potholes every few meters and then after about three hours of driving the introduction of snow was thrown into the mix.

I honestly think we lost track of time as I cannot remember how long the drive actually took us, I just remember it was looooong.

By the time we arrived in the village of Jasper it was very quiet and few people were out on the streets. However it was so quaint and peaceful with the mountains surrounding us we absolutely loved it. Lewis in particular was in awe as this was the Canada he had read about and wanted to experience. The wonderful, never-ending, gigantic mountains!

We stayed at the Pocahontas Cabins on the outskirts of Jasper National Park, which were a delightful little cluster of wooden cabins with cozy fireplaces.

The best part about staying at these cabins was the phenomenal karaoke alarm. This ‘alarm’ would go off at about 7am every morning, regardless of whether we wanted it or not, and came in the form of four young girls under the age of ten singing at the top of their lungs a collection of Miley Cyrus and Carly Rae Jepson songs. One morning they even treated us to Jon Bon Jovi – livin on a prayer. Yaowza!

Other than our delightful wake-up call quartet, we loved Jasper and spotted even more wildlife.

When driving along the main road into the village we spotted two wolves on the other side of the road. We pulled over, keeping our distance and began taking photographs, and when one looked directly at Lewis he (very calmly and in no way yelped) “That’s it, we’re off” and proceeded to accelerate away, leaving the rather large wolf wondering what had just happened.

However, the slightly more daunting feeling of “that can eat me” was yet to happen.

It was after dinner one evening we decided to go a walk up behind our cabin and see where the road would take us. It might help to explain that Lewis, in his wisdom, has signed up for a quadrathlon with his bestie and needs to run every day and thought this road would be ideal for a morning jog. Pah!!

Anyway, realizing we better head back before dusk, we proceeded to return to our cabin only after 30 minutes of walking along this road. It was here, retracing our own steps that we came across some rather large and extremely new paw prints in the snow leading across the path. I cannot describe to you the nauseous, pins-and-needles, where-is-the-bloody-big-cat-hiding feeling that encompassed my body.

Lewis on the other hand thought that this was a great photo opportunity to compare hand sizes. Suffice to say I took the photo thanks to my very persuasive other-half.

Very calmly and slowly, so as not to tempt the great cat predator into chasing us, we walked back to the chalet and locked the door and didn’t leave again until the next morning where we practically ran to the car and locked its doors behind us.

And that is the story about how I do not care to see a cougar in the flesh…. ever.

Whistle Stop

There is certainly nothing like learning to ski in Whistler, which is exactly what Lewis ended up doing.

On Thursday morning we made our way on our first ever Greyhound bus to Whistler, due in part to the uselessness of our rental not being allowed past a specific snow line however we were thankful we did as the road was far too beautiful to have concentrated on driving.

We were dropped off in Whistler Village and were overwhelmed at how quiet it was, happy days! We picked up our skis and made our way to the massive, glaring, wafting-in-the-wind, bright blue Ski School banners.  Here we were boldly told by Dave (a Max4 instructor) that there was not a chance that we would be allowed to remain together as I knew how to stand in skis and Lewis did not.

I was swiftly taken to another group consisting of three females who all looked like startled rabbits – Lewis’ group were undoubtedly worse – where they were informed I was a European skier and that they were not to worry too much about me. Hoot! Thankfully two of them got over their fear pretty quickly as we were taken to the top of Whistler mountain – Lewis only made it half way – where we were told just to ski down so ‘Paul’ could monitor our skills. I say ‘Paul’ because for the life of me I cannot remember my instructors name… the shame.

The day was amazing, the weather was fantastic and I was taught how to carve properly – I have picked up some very bad habits apparently.

As myself and an Aussi woman skied off the mountain, we stopped at the half way point for a breather where we (I) were accosted by a very happy and bounding Lewis who was delighted with his progress that day. He skied down the baby hill with the magic carpet without falling. Success comes in a variety of forms I think we can all agree.

By the end of that first day Lewis was absolutely buzzing and prompted us to book skis and return on Friday for more ski fun, however this time it would be lesson-less… we were going solo.

Friday morning brought with it an apprehension I have rarely seen in Lewis, the fearless winter climber that he is! We made our way there via bus again, picked up our skis and got on the gondola to take us to the halfway point which is still a 30 minute journey.

It was an absolutely fabulous day, with fantastic weather and a bit of a wind that kept you nice and cool. Most amazingly Lewis skied off of Whistler Mountain into the village on his second ever day of skiing. I have never been so impressed.

Guess what his new hobby is… yipeee!!!

Shock and awe

We have landed!

With a whirlwind at the airports and a snowy welcome at Vancouver airport, we made it safe and sound to Downtown Vancouver.

Early on Tuesday morning we picked up our astoundingly crap rental car and began our journey north, up Highway 99 also known as the Sea to Sky corridor.
WOW. The views were absolutely stunning! Turn after turn we were welcomed with more mountains and shores of the pacific ocean all sprinkled with snow. It has to be one of the most beautiful drives we ever been on and it only lasted 40 minutes.

We may have gotten a little lost around downtown Squamish  when trying to locate our hotel -should you ever visit it is tiny and made up of about 12 blocks so getting lost is a skill.
Everyone here is so friendly and more than happy to sit and chat about the area and the things to do.

It also appears there are more Europeans here than Canadians due to one impending rock face that we have stunning views of from our window- The Chief. Lewis is in heaven as Squamish has some of the best climbing in the world and The Chief is, well the Chief. To me it looks rather daunting but Lewis just ogles it in wonder and I have no doubt that if we don't live here that we will be back in summer so he can scale it.

Over the past week we have managed to explore the area quite well and even made our first trip into Walmart as I was hairdryer-less. Walmart is like Macro I think, mostly in the way that the layout of it makes no sense whatsoever. More interestingly however was our walk that was meant to take an hour and instead took us over three. One guess what happened and it wasn't that we got lost.

Smoke Bluffs Park, a little north of our hotel, consists of a spider web of paths that interlink 'amazing crags'. The funnest thing for me was the creative naming of the climbs which quickly became a game to spot the funniest or the weirdest, it makes you wonder what the climbers state of mind was once they completed their projects. Some were clearly more a love-hate relationship.


Lewis absolutely loved how informative the park was and welcoming to climbers as it has maps highlighting where all the climbs were and at the base of each crag was a printed and laminated route map of all the climbs that you could do on that slab of rock. My climbing jargon is atrocious but I think it makes sense...?!
I also love how smoking is banned in the parks and all 'healthy' outdoor recreational areas. Farewell tobacco puffers!!

So far love Squamish, the people and all the things we can do. As Lewis beautifully put, 'there is a sport for every day of the week!!' (eeked his pants).

Now off to Whistler to ski....