Snow? Check
-10 degrees? Check
Sun? Check...ish...sort of.

The scene was perfect for a great first day of skiing. Got out there late this morning for a few hours and, although it was definitely pre-season conditions (read: rocks and limited terrain), it was nice to get back after. After all, it had been just over 6 months since the last time I skied - far longer than should ever happen. Only in Canada can you ski for, quite literally, half the year (slightly longer, in fact).

Was good to get back on the ol' Recons (I ride K2 Recons. They are as pro as they are made out to be). I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I could get right on them and go; there was no period of awkwardness during which I was wobbly or the good girls wondered why I had ignored them the last 180 days. Ok there is one thing I seem to have forgotten - how to go slowly. Was great fun to tear it up out there.

I took a couple pictures this time around. The first 2 are reminders that it is, indeed, very early in the season and also that a lot of people put a lot of work into making these ski hills ski-able for us.

There is one constant at 9,500 feet : wind. At Sunshine, the wind blows across the mountain faces and, unfortunately, it blows in the direction of the gigantic cliff, rather than the slopes. They lose a good deal of snow up there because, as you can see, there isn't a lot to collect it. So what do they do? Snow farms!!

Right now, this is pretty crappy. Soon though, very soon. I really can't imagine being on the trail crew at these resorts. The poor folks trudge through alpine snow and scree all day long and pound stakes and snow fences into the ground in sub-zero temperatures, only to go up, take them out, and move them slightly further downwind once they've collected enough snow. And there are a LOT of them; in the early season the whole hill is littered with snow fences. Good thing they go away eventually.

On to the good stuff. I went up a chair I rarely go up (because the runs aren't very good) to get these shots today, since it was a nice day. Enjoy these incredibly clear shots due south into British Columbia at Mt. Assiniboine (the Matterhorn of the Rockies, apparently), and a couple other iconic mountains in and around Sunshine.

You know how sometimes you do something very average and normal, and it ends up in something completely unexpected? I wanted to have a shot with me in it to send back home and what not, and so I got off the lift and approached 2 gentlemen who were standing around doing what appeared to be nothing. People asking one-another to take photos is is a frequent happening around here, so I thought nothing of going up and asking these guys to take one of me.

Oddly, they seemed somewhat taken aback by the request. I was about to ski away when one of them said he would do it. They proceeded to take this shot.

I went back for the camera, and they asked me to take one of them - a perfectly normal request. They then brought up a small baggy of what looked like sand and said "this is our buddy. we're dropping him off here," and their eyes starting tearing up. What I had interupted was immediately clear, and I felt about as akward as one could feel.

They held the remains of their friend up and posed for a shot, and then, strangely enough, they invited me to stand with them and say goodbye to this person who I had never known, or even known anything about. (I don't even know this person's name) . Oddly enough, the wind wasn't blowing at all in this spot, which was otherwise wide open, and I stood in silence while they each said "goodbye", opened the bag, and watched what remained of their friend drift down to their final resting place almost 10,000 feet up, 1/2 in Alberta and 1/2 in British Columbia on the continental divide. It made me wonder how many other people have been strewn around up there, that we don't know about, and ski by without thinking. I know I'll never go past that spot without thinking again.

I'll leave you with a couple more shots I took. The light was very interesting and I took the opportunity to snap a bunch of photos. I think these are the best.

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

But not nearly frightful enough to go skiing. Poor Noah's ski's are all shiney and ready to go, but the snow just won't stay put!

All is going well out here. We spent our Canadian Thanksgiving at a friend's wedding (no turkey!), and now American Thanksgiving is fast upon us and... still no turkey! Noah and I are alternatingly working all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I might make a little something anyway though, we'll see.

We had some guests staying this week, none other than our friends Katie and Eric out from Stratford. We had lovely weather and I got to show them around Banff and where I work, as seen here:



Other than our guests, we're trucking along, getting ready for Christmas. We're looking forward to our impending 7 days in the Eastern Time Zone!

Now if only it would snow...