Dreamin' of a white Christmas

Merry Christmas all!

I trust that Santa bought you all the goodies that you deserved (or didn't deserve) and that the holiday time has been action packed with drinking and eating excessively. Having had no fresh snow in Cochrane for a while, we headed out west on Christmas morning and drove slap bang into a snowstorm in Kananaskis (just what we were after). Sliding along on the cross country sticks is a rather theraputic way to spend crimbo morning, greeting the other skiers with a hearty 'Merry Christmas', before digging into the snow to stop for hot chocolate and, er, chocolate! (Brina found the British shop in Calgary and we were treated to real Cadbury's for Christmas).

As you can see, the festive season got a little too much for Brina;

Clearly the snow got to places where it shouldn't mid 'snow angel'.

After a while crusing around the nice fresh snow, we headed home to feast on Turkey and Christmas Pud (not in the same bowl). Boxing day was all very relaxed until it started to snow again (proper Canadian snow - like, shed loads) and we became rather twitchy at the prospect of getting out onto the slopes. So a great day was had today at Sunshine - not the best visibility as it still hasn't stopped snowing 24 hours later, but the trails are in awesome nick! We're off to Fernie tomorrow for a few days and reports are they're ten feet under powder. Hopefully we'll still make it into the states for a jolly, but who needs the bloody Yanks when you've got the wild land of the Canuck on your doorstep.

No doubt the next report will involve some kind of New Years antics too - so, before 2007, we wish you all a very Happy and Healthy New Year.

I'm off to find my wooly hat as the Christmas season has also brought a number 1 buzz cut (a bit shorter than action man's hairdo - anybody unfamiliar with action man needs to research boys' toys of the 1980s) - I almost get reflection of the top of my head nowadays.

Snow Angels at the Ready,

Have a drink for us on New Years,

S&S.

Happy Hangover and Merry Christmas

Hi All,

Postings have been somewhat sparse in the festive run up to Christmas. With traipsing around shopping Malls heaving with people all going in the opposite direction to me, to complete Christmas shopping tasks, and finishing things off at work, time seems to have swung by a little too quickly these past couple of weeks. But at least we've got our tree up!

Also, the customary Christmas hangover has been ticked off the list too! A couple of pints and a wee glass of firewater is all that it takes for me to be writhing around in agony crying that I shall never touch a drop again! (I was actually home by 7.30pm so it can't have been that bad!).

We're eyeing up where to visit over the holidays. At the moment it looks like we're off to BC to ski and board for a few days, and then down into the states to test out what Montana's snow has to offer! (I still get a bit sketchy thinking about passing US customs officials seeing as though we don't have a great history - but I'm sure my new photocopied work visa will get me back into Canada!).

The fun things in the hills are going a plenty - and a brief jaunt to Mt Norquay to board for a few hours is the order of this afternoon (today being Chrimbo eve). Having jettisoned down a couple of rocky double black diamonds on Goats Eye mountain at Sunshine, I've dusted off the old helmet to keep my bonce safe - although without a helmet I look like I have the worlds biggest head anyway, so when I don the lid I resemble something more akin to Neil Armstrong at work for NASA. (One small step... and all that).

We'll update you with pre New Years antics, and in the meantime wish you all a very Merry Christmas (just keep off the firewater).

I've got some Brussel Sprouts to peal and Brinas on with the Triffle.

Don't burn the Turkey,

S&S.

Cracking the Whip

Hi All,
So this image pretty much sums up the past week. The shakles of work and study have gripped me by the knackers (oops, should be singular!) and the beautiful weekend drifted by with me desperately trying to keep up to date with marking and lesson plans whilst finishing off an increasingly lenghty project for a course I keep thinking I've finished (it's done for good this Friday though - so a double whammy of boarding to be had this weekend). Whilst I've been chained to the desk, Brina has been sick in bed (not chained - just to counteract any salivating perverted comments).
At work we're on the back nine with regards to the forthcoming christmas holidays now though (if the truth be told I'm actually already in the clubhouse with my feet up sipping a stiff brandy, as all my lessons at present revolve around videos and dvds - and the kids had better get used to it because that's all they're getting until 2007).
I think it's about time to really finish off my blasted project, I hear the jingling of tea cups coming up the stairs so I'd best log off and pretend that I have in fact been 'studying' up here for the past 2 hours! We hope you are all fit and well, and that you're keeping your fingers crossed for Santa's visit!
Premature Ho Ho Hos
S&S.
p.s. If any of you are driving home from a pub tonight and you see a scouser on a bike, try not to run him over -
it's probably your bike!

Sunshine

Despite the title of this posting, no, this isn't another weather related issue. For those unaware, Sunshine is the ski hill just beyond Banff. (I say hill, rather - three massive mountains). It was our first proper outing to a ski resort this year, and a great start it was! They've had loads of the white stuff, there were fresh tracks to be had just off piste (a la Val d' Isere) and the sky was blue. The wind chill on the chair lifts was about minus 35 however, but this wasn't too much of an issue if all skin was covered; Enter, Darth Maul on skis;

As well as ski-ing for the most part of the day with Darth Maul (above), the brother Vader did make an appearance;

Mt Assinaboine is the Matterhorn like Peak in the background behind Brina in the top photo. It's a classic landmark of the Canadian Rockies and it's pretty impressive to be ski-ing (boarding) with it sat on the horizon (as usual, the photo doesn't do it justice, but it's a bloody massive chunk of rock sitting higher than anything else around).

Brina was testing out her new skis, and they're a lot quicker than the old ones. Much to her delight, I inadvertently took us down a black diamond chute through the trees on the second run of the day. After much coaxing (and talking her out of divorcing me for taking her on such a ****ing stupid run) she glissaded down with ease (better than the oik with a snowboard who took her there!). The old board had a fun day out and found some steeper and deeper stuff when Darth Maul went in for an extra cup of hot chocolate and to warm her frozen tootsies.

We got there at last, the season opener was a good un, and hopefully next weekend will provide more of the same. (It may well even be a bit warmer - the crazy Calgary temps were in the minus 40s last week and they're forecasting plus 16 for this Thursday. I don't know many other places with a temperature range of 50 for the daily highs within two weeks).

The Christmas lights are coming out tonight (all the neighbours have had their outdoor lights up since the end of Halloween and our road is like the Strip in Vegas - only less hookers). I don't think I'll be too Christmassy until work is done - only two and a half weeks to go!!!!!!

Hope the weather isn't too crazy where ever you live,

Deck the Halls,

S&S.

Mercury Rising

Hi All,
just a brief thing. I know I keep yapping on about how cold it is and all that, but here's the weather report for midweek;
Environment Canada's Official Weather Warnings
Warnings
Airdrie - Cochrane - Olds - Sundre3:46 PM MST Tuesday 28 November 2006
Wind chill warning forAirdrie - Cochrane - Olds - Sundre continued Extreme wind chill continues.
The stationary Yukon high which brought frigid conditions to much of Alberta remains entrenched over western Canada. Northwesterly outflow winds from this high over central and southern Alberta are expected to produce extreme wind chill values after sunset and into Wednesday morning. Wind chill values of minus 40 to minus 45 are forecast for the above mentioned warning regions.

So there we have it. Minus 45 with the wind chill. School shut down because no buses would start and it was feared that the little kidlings would perish on the journey! I must admit to having never felt cold like it. There was definitely no hanging around outside, just a rapid dash through the snow from car to indoors.
Tis all a far cry from the scorching outback of Dubbo. Here's what a view out of the rear window of the car used to look like on the way to work;

Not that I prefer the outback! No boarding or ski-ing to be had there! (No frostbite either - just heat stroke). Another snag about these car journeys was the locusts - they used to wreak havoc to the radiator;

Give me this snow and minus 45 any day! It's awesome!!!!

Thermals at the ready,

S&S.

Brass Monkey Skiers

The result of a 5 hour cross country ski in minus 25, results in the above! Saturday saw a more than refreshing ski stint in Kananaskis. We tracked up a rather sizeable hill called Blueberry which sits in the middle of an enormous valley surrounded by glacier clad peaks. The views are impeccable - if it isn't snowy like billio, causing visibility to stretch no further than the next tree (which, if you didn't get it, it was!). Having set out mid morning, we weren't getting off the mountain until it was getting dark - and much, much colder. Brina skied the last 2 hours with about sixteen layers on and a down jacket - and still her eyelids froze too.

Hopefully next week will be more suitable for hitting the resorts to ski. As keen as I am, sitting on a chairlift in somewhere near minus 30 doesn't do it for me (add an extra 10 or so for wind chill on the way down and you'll realise why sunshine was pretty quiet this weekend). The first World Cup ski race is at Lake Louise next week, so maybe we'll head up there and see how the real fast guys do it - in lycra!!!

The crazy Albertan weather continues, there's more snow and ball droppingly chilly weather for the next few days, but by Thursday we'll have a high of one degree - the temps vary by 25 degrees or so for highs from day to day. It's great!

Nothing much else to really, work (yawn), we've got a Christmas party to go to tonight - MEC invite all old staff to their bash - and some bash it is too, so that'll be fun. In the meantime, I've got to dash off now as Utd v's Chelsea is firing up in ten minutes.

Wrap up,

S&S.

p.s. Squeezing four people, skis and poles into a VW Golf makes for a rather cramped dirve home.

So this is Canada eh?

Hi All,
For anyone reading this brief post who is Canadian, the following isn't really a big deal. But for all you other non Arctic dwellers, here's a glimpse of the forecast for the next four days (and we're still in November!).

Wednesday 22 Nov: High -10°C Low -14°C
Thursday 23 Nov: HIgh -5°C Low - 20°C
Friday 24 Nov: High - 20°C Low - 24°C
Saturday 25 Nov: High -24°C Low -28°C
Sunday 26 Nov: High -22 Low -27

Bloomin' eck, this Satuday seems like it's going to be an extra thermals day - don't think we'll be out rafting the river this weekend! Best go and plug the car in.
Hope you're all keeping warm,
S&S.

Lazy River

The middle of November might not be the typical month to be associated with rafting in the Rockies, but that's what Sunday provided. Forget the great snow and ice all over the region, today was the day for navigating ice flows in a surreal a la Shakleton experience.

Having spent the previous two days at a Science teachers' conference, it was an immense relief to escape into the big outdoors. Despite school having funded our conference in Kananaskis, two days milling around with 400 other Science teachers (I say 'other' rather loosely seeing as though I am not actually a bonefide Scientist) is more than I can take before brain meltdown. Luckily Brina was in the same frame of mind so we averted as much social interaction with the other geeks and made the most of being out in the hills. Imagine 400 of the energizer bunnies banging on their bloody annoying drums 24/7 all stuck in the same room, each trying to outdo the other with some incredibly boring yet highly audiable drumming - well this course was the science equivalent of bunny drum banging.

Although Brina had to head home on Saturday, I left the conference and ventured out to finish an Outdoor Ed course I've been doing at the Uni. It was a weekend in Canmore, and the piece de resistance was the rafting trip from Banff to Canmore on the ice choked Bow River. The piccie at the top shows us drifting beneath Mt Rundle with the rather infamous ice route 'Terminator' hanging to the mountainside up above. The piccie below shows a bit more of the ice in the water, it was more akin to paddling in a big old slush puppie (that would be 'Slurpie' in Canadian speak).

That's about the fill of it all for this weekend. Another short week at work is coming up, Thursday and Friday are parent teacher days (sure beats the parent evenings we used to have), so no kids are in school then (phew). The house is shaking as I type (quite literally, the lamp on my desk is going like one of those nodding dogs in the back of a red neck's car) as we're getting hammered by the Chinook of all Chinooks. At least more snow is falling high up even if it is getting obliterated here. Although it's only Sunday eve - roll on next weekend!!!!

Battening down the hatches

S&S.

It's Back

Hi All,
The good news is that IT's back (IT being a super snowy Canadian winter - although I suppose it is still 'fall'). The bad news is my muscles forgot how to ski and are currently spasming with anger that I honed up my cycling legs for what - for ski-ing!!! The transition from bike to skis wasn't as simple as my little legs had been hoping!

We started off the season on the sticks with a moderate 28km jaunt from Lake Louise to Moraine lake and back. With oodles of the white stuff it made for a great November day. There must be two to three feet up there already. This time last year I was running around Upper Kananaskis lake (albeit in the snow, post holing) but it certainly wasn't ski-ing weather. So hopefully the season will continue with the vigor in which it has begun. The board gets a run out next week and hopefully wont need to be put away for the next six months!!!!!! Brina was taking it easy buying orchids today in the balmy temperatures of Calgary (I think it almost reached zero!), but the two of us are off to Kananaskis for two nights at the end of the week (courtesy of work - there's a science conference on and fortunately for us it is held at a hotel at a ski resort!!!).

I need to go and soak my aching limbs and reassure them that they wont ache this much every time I go out (bloody well hope not anyway).

And as many posts have ended with a sunset, heres a moon rise from the back window;

I hope you are all getting your fix!

Bring on the powder,

S&S.

Wax Lyrical

Five days and counting... that's how long it is until the ski resort of Sunshine opens!! In the excitment of the forthcoming vertical fun Brina got kitted out with a set of new shiney skis - and as can be seen from the piccie she couldn't wait until next Saturday to try them out, I found her all kitted out in dressing gown and ski boots this morning It's fun to be waxing the board again (which is way easier and less messy than waxing cross country skis) and getting reading to hit the slopes. We've opted for a multi resort discount pass this year - fancy going to a few different slopes over the course of the winter rather than just having the season pass for one place.
Luckily all school reports are due in this Friday, so the weekend will be free to get the first runs of the year in!!!!
I imagine you're all knee deep in adventure where ever you dwell,
Keep on carving,
S&S.

Happy Halloween

Well there's a title I never thought I'd be writing a few years ago - Happy Halloween - isn't that an oxymoron if ever there was one? Well, it's all the rage as a greeting here on Oct 31st! For those unfamiliar with a North American halloween - it's huge!!!! Every single student was dressed up at school today (they don't dress up as just gouls or witches, but anything they like, it's a big excuse for cross dressing and the like). And we're not just talking about drooping an old white bedsheet over your head to be the scary ghost - full on makeup and costumes that Hollywood would be proud of. Even all of the teachers get into the groove, every staff member became some hideous creature from the sixties or seventies (generations being the staff theme for costumes). Only the boring old British science teacher failed to deliver with a costume much to the students' disappointments - next year I'll get into the spirit (no pun intended!).

More importantly is the onset of winter. The piccie above shows what's happening up at Sunshine today. They got about 45cm last night and all looks good for the hill to be opening on November 10th!!!!! Sod trick or treaters, I've a board to wax!

Happy Halloween,

S&S.

Brrrrrrrrrrrr

So it hit home again today as to how chilly the land of the Canuck can get. The summer weather had lowered our defences against the weather that makes you "brrrrrrrr" instead of talk. It was about minus 13 on the drive to work, the midday high hit the giddy heights of minus 5 and lucky old Banff had minus 23 at 8 o'clock this morning. Looks like the snow will stick around for a few more days yet then.
On the plus side, the snow machines were working overtime at COP (Calgary's downtown ski hill), they have to make it when they can now, as I imagine the temps will be up in the positive single digits next weekend!

I've no real winter shots to post, but imagine the next seven months will be nothing but photos incorporating snow, so here's the last summer photo for this year from a hike up in Kananaskis a few weeks back.

Looking forward to waxing the skis and board, and may well go and try to have a slide around this weekend. The bike is looking at rollers for the next few days (bloody daylight saving and icey roads have scuppered after work riding now).

Work is still work and we're clinging onto reality by the skin of our teeth (I'm sure working in an LD school rubs off on you).

Trusting that all is well across the globe (in both directions),

Happy camping,

S&S.

The iceman commeth

Hi All,

things have been a little barren on the bogging front this past week. Work has been hectic (yawn, as if any of you care) and I've been attacked by the killer Canadian flu, but aim to kick the little bugs out of my system with a nice ride out into the mts today!
So winter's arrived in the big hills out west anyway.

It's been snowing in Cochrane most mornings this week (making the drive to work rather fun), but it has all melted from the town. Out in those hills however it's all pretty white and setting itself up for ski time! (for those out of the loop, the random photo above is taken from our balcony). Tis also rather chilly, and riding out nowadays involves several windproof and thermal layers beneath the lycra.

There is scant news other than weather and work (life seems to be rather steady for once), I'm just cycling lots and Brina is the Yoga Queen. Anybody who has missed todays footie results will be delighted to hear Utd have just thumped the Scousers 2-0!!!!!! (the day just got better).

We headed out into Calgary the other week to see Cirque du Soleil. We'd seen them in Vegas and they were awesome. In Calgary they were great, but we saw them in a hockey arena, and we were in the Gods (they call those seat the 'nosebleeds' over here), so should have taken the binoculars to distinguish between people and props!

The sun's just rising as I speak so it's off to layer up before nipping out on the bike for an hour or two - then back to the never ending marking....

Ho hum.

Keeping the glass half full,

S&S.

p.s. I know there are two already, but here's the sunset shot from home which I had been looking for last time I posted such a piccie.

Thanksgiving: Part Two

Oh, and another thing from the last post;

I also give thanks for Nutella!!!

Take care.

Happy Thanksgiving

So prior to washing down the Thanksgiving Turkey with a glass of red (not vimto) a day up Mt Indefatigable was on the cards. Blissfully aware of the snow, yet blissfully unaware of the cold (yeah I know snow is cold, but this was super chilly at the top) we marched up to the South summit of Indefatigable then scrambled over the super ridge to the north summit and made a tretcherous decent down an ice and snow laden buttress. Despite the holiday weekend, the entire Kananaskis valley was deserted, and we had blue sky too (well, on one side of the mountain we did anyway, the other side looked a bit like the next photo).
A trundle down through the meadow at the bottom (hoping to catch a glimpse of the resident Grizzly, whose diggings for roots were evident all over the place), and it was back home in time for tea.

Luckily for us, the Canucks enjoy Thanksgiving so much we get Monday off work, so it was off to Banff with the bikes. A couple of hours down the Bow Valley Parkway, spinning the new love of my life (new bike, for those unsure of my allegiance) to Castle Junction, then back to Banff to meet up with Brina who'd been merrily shopping the day away with Julie. Now it's the end of the long weekend and I'm back to fretting about legalities of employment and writing school reports. Ho hum, nearly the weekend again I suppose, and it's nearly time to be waxing those skis.

Well, seeing as though this is the third Thanksgiving I've had in North America I should be getting used to it, but in all honest ignorance, I still don't really get it and would prefer a bit of a Guy Fawkes theme with fireworks, bonfires and the usual abstract terror that comes with setting every garden in England on fire at the same time (I think I'll suggest that for next years Thanksgiving, rockets, Katherine wheels and burning pretend people on the fire).

Well I give thanks for the day off work, the beautiful scenery, snow, and most of you lot.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all,

S&S.

More of the Same (ish)

So the previous post heralded a return to the blog, but failed to deliver a vast number of pictures dues to some technical error, or operator ineptitude (I vote for the former personally).

Well, here are a few ditties from the weekends when the computer had died and there was no blogging to be had. One of the last days of summer was up on Heart Mt, about 40mins from home. It's a super hike just off the highway, but the main route up is rather busy due to this. Fortunately very few people can be arsed to do the full ridge walk loop (don't know why as it is beautiful) so we had the mountain all to ourselves in the afternoon.

Then, in accordance with the previous post, this was last weekend's plan B. Having been shunned from the bus to take us to lake O Hara, they said it was full up but I think they took a real dislike to my shorts, we opted to hike Sentinal Pass (see last post, where also I kept on typing Sentinal wrong - Sentnial). This is the fall view of the valley of the ten peaks, you can just catch the yellow larches mid left.

This is on the decent from the pass, prior to having to hook up with another group to aviod the gun toting Rangers. It looks like this should simply be called 'drunken hiker in trees'.

And, on a very hazy evening (big forest fires in Montana and Washington really affected air quality for a week or two over summer), the sun sets on another blog posting.

Hope you are all fine and dandy,

S&S.

We're Back In Business

Hi All,
we're back after the technological hitch (the hitch being we had to get a new hard drive installed into the computer seeing as though the old one fried - that's the end of music downloads for me!). So things are chugging along in Canada anyway. We're both hard at work and things don't seem too out of the ordinary at Foothills Academy. I fugure that kids are kids no matter where in the world you teach, and there's always stuff to be done after work, but at least it pays the bills (road bike, season passes, and ski bills that is!).

It's the end of September and the fall colours (yeah, yeah, I know I said fall) are spectacular. We hiked up to Sential Pass on the weekend and the larch trees were all doing what they do best (see picture). Sentianl Pass has a restriction in that you need at least 6 people to hike together on the trail (It's a safety thing, apparentley no group of six or more has ever been attacked by a bear, and the area is Prime Grizzly habitat - it was very interesting as we were the first on the hike and there was bear scat (shit) and diggings along the trail, so they're out there). Four of us headed out and we picked up a couple of random hikers in the parking lot so that we had a group of six (people just loiter around until they're in a big enough group). It's not ideal as you end up doing the whole social interview questions on the hike "hi, what's your name, where are you from, what do you do, isn't it all so nice up here?). We became a little blasay about the group thing on the decent, and lo and behold the rangers were on the trail counting group numbers, we hurried into the back of a big group that had just passed us and pretended to be with them - otherwise a $2000 fine!!!! (each) - the rules also say that the group is only a group if you are all walking within 3metres of one another - bloody hell! - although you wouldn't argue with the rifle toting rangers (I think it was a rubber bullet rifle to ward off the bears - but maybe it was to take out any hikers without six other friends).

Despite the rigmarole, it was well worth it.

O.K. O.K. Maybe my opening title 'back in business' was a little premature - I've just spent 30 mins trying to get more photos up on this post - and to no avail. So check back in a few hours and you'll see why it was well worth it hiking Sential Pass.

Cheerio for now.

What a beauty

Bugger - the computer is still not functioning as required and so no piccies here, which is somewhat disappointing seeing as though my new road bike has arrived and looks like a treat. It's been mega sunny early on in September, so I was looking forward to topping up my cycling tan on the new bike. However, when it arrived (yesterday) it brought the rain with it, and we woke up this morning to the white stuff all over Cochrane - bloody nora, it's snowing good and proper (have we started autumn yet - oops, meant to say fall!!??). So last night was a bit of a drizzly ride, but the bike is a beast - cheers brother for good organising!
Will keep you all posted properly when I can put pictures up on this again - I'm told it'll be Monday!!! Just thought I'd post something so you all know we're still alive out here.
S&S.

Bit of a glitch

It's been a week since posting on here, but our computer has died from some stinky virus (no more music downloads, so I've been told). We should be up and running to add more piccies by the week of the 11th of Sept.
In the meantime I'm fighting off immigration officials, court hearings and education certification. My health care has run out so I'm twitching a bit on that front too!!!! No wonder my hair is rapidly falling out (bugger, and I always thought that it would be our Mark who would become the bald brother!!!!).
On the upside, my new roadbike should be here this week - can't wait to ride out to Highwood pass and up the Icefields Parkway (Brina braces herself at becoming a cycling widow).
Hope you are all hunky dory,
time for tea,
S&S.

More Bears means More Beer.

So I imagine you can see how easily our hike was curtailed on Saturday!! We'd headed into Banff and just fancied a wee hike before mosying down into town for a celebration pint (seeing as though it was a year since we tied the knot - woo hoo!!). The Grizzly sow and her two cubs that were gorging themselves on this years ever so bountiful berry crop did not seem to understand our hiking desires, and thus remained sat on the trails, inconsiderately chewing away at the undergrowth. We only discovered this half way down the trail - much to Brina's distress, which was captured so;
So with terrified wife (admitedly Brina doesn't look terrified in the photo, more terrifying), a closed trail and the baking hot sun burning down on our shoulders, there was only one thing for it. Make a sharp u turn (as there was no other turn to make unless we wanted to become Grizzly fodder), and head straight for the nearset beer garden to start the celebrations a little earlier than anticipated.
Although it was still a good trek away, the nearest beer garden was the Waldhous, a wee Bavarian pub sat beneath the Banff Springs Hotel on the Bow River and next to the golf course. With views of Rundle, tunnel and the Goat Range, it made for a bonny place to sit back and toast our year together. However, since we were early, we had to get big pints. A pitcher of Alexander Keiths Pale Ale made us both a little dizzy, but the rest of the day was good fun as we realised that we were actually looking down the valley to the spot where we got married at the Hoodoos.


Well that's about all for now. Sunday will no doubt entail a bike ride of sorts, and then work is trying to take all of our time away again (yep, back in the classroom on Monday). Hopefully all is well with each and everyone one of you. I thought that I'd finish today with the shot of last night's sunset taken from our front deck. That's Devil's Head in the centre (the thumb, or tombstone mt, with BlackRock Mt to the left - in the Ghost Wilderness Area).
S&S.
Take care,
S&S.

Crammin' it all in.

How swiftly the summer passes by. It is mid August and I start work at school next week (a week early for the newbies, to learn the ropes; such as where the coffee machine is and what buttons to press on the photo copier). In our angst at watching the lovely sunny days slip us by, we packed a fair few things into this week. Monday was the Cancer hospital check up, all looking good, although my Oncologist commented I was looking a little skinny - "not a medical issue" I assured her after some very thorough back tapping, ball squeezing, blood taking fun. "It's just that I am biking like a fool at the moment and can't get enough of it". That seemed to satisfy the health concerns she may of had and she tipped her hat bidding me a good day until the next time - in two months (maybe I'll over indulge at the next bbq just to lose the anaemic look).
Then we've had a day in BC hiking up to the Stanley Glacier;

Contrary to popular opinion, as suggested by the photo, I am not attempting to strangle Brina (although some days I don't know!!! only joking chuck), I just had a loss of balance as the camera was clicking away.
Although we were over at this glacier in BC, it is still only about an hour and a half from home, so made the ideal spot for a late start (having the long school summer hols is not condusive to early rising). There are photos of the glacier from the past 20 years which show it was so much further down the valley - this is a great testament to the living proof that we, the great westernised world, are well and truly buggering up our planet for good. "But it's just a naturla cycle" I hear you yell, "there have always been fluctations in the global temps making glaciers advance and retreat".... But not at this rate though, I imagine that within the next 40 years (and that is an optimist's very generous number) that well over 50% of these glaciers in the Canadian Rockies will have disappeared. In Glacier National Park, just on the US, Canadian border, there were over 100 glaciers at the turn of the century (hence the name of the Park), now I believe that there are less than 25!!!! Anyway, away from this doom and gloom, those of you who are keen to get even more depressed about how we are screwing up the planet should have a look at Al Gore's book "An Inconvenient Truth" - you can't fail but to be shocked by it.
At least there's still some ice left up there (glass is half full philosophy - and when it's empty, at least we still have a glass). Earl's in Banff fed us for the evening, courtesy of Brina's students.
Fortunately it was a fine day, as Wednesday had me trapped in the basement tiling, flooring etc... Brina seemed to enjoy the DIY a little more than me (I still need to grow that beard to genuinely become excited about trips to Home Hardware) - Once I got over the sulking about not going out to play the DIY wasn't too painful... as a hike up Cascade Mt in Banff was planned for Thursday.
This stripey mountain rat (not the true naturalist's terminology I admit) was attracted to the scent of my loins as we sat atop Cascade Mt

attempting to eat our well earned peanut butter and jam butties. Just before he was about to have a good suck of my lens here he got a swift clip round his chubby rodent cheeks. Completely undaunted he scurried back, before we disuaded him, and his umpteen brothers and sisters, with the odd rock and wood debris (Brina nealry squished the little feller beneath a boulder about the size of his house).
The rest of the spare time this week has been spent a la velo, and I got the scare of my life cycling down the road out of Cochrane as a Golden Eagle the size of something which could have lifted Gandalf from the tower of Isengard, rose out of the grass on the verge as I peddled by. I thought for a moment that it was a bear with wings, it was a really incredible sight to see, having spooked it from feeding on something (probably an earlier cyclist).
Anyway, hope all is well, and I should end this post with a piccie of th' wife with a vist of the Fairholme Range in the distance (good bear country);

Livestrong, stay healthy and eat yer greens.

S&S.

White caps in August

So the weather went from being like this (hot enough for a pleasant row across Lake St Mary in Glacier NP), to being grimmer than grim. I did have some photos but none warrant posting on the blog - you all know what really crappy weather looks like. There've been huge thunder and lightning storms causing havoc in the evenings, 100kmph winds, and rain.. lots of it. The mountains out front are all topped with snow and we're thinking about getting the winter wardrobe back into action.
The summer holidays are closing in too. I am due to start teaching next week (urrgghh), but I keep reminding myself of the road bike and the season pass which are compensation for classroom work. We've been hanging around the locality of Cochrane the past few days which is a welcome break to dashing all over the show. Brina is well into Yoga which goes on most days down in Cochrane, and I've been out on the bike more times than I care to remember - and am still pondering over road bike purchases - was tempted with a full carbon Norco yesterday - but am still thinking.
Nothing much else to report - apart from Happy birthday Nana!

Be Happy,

S&S.

Slickrock to Cirque du Soleil

Carrying on from the last post... I got to ride Slickrock in Moab. We had raced through Denver, Vail and the Rockies the previous evening to get to the awesome sandstone desert of Utah. The one thing I neglected to consider was the unbearable heat. (I know, I know, it's a bloody desert, but this was something else, and certainly not bike riding temperature). By 10.30am I was way out on the trail and melting. I began to get that weird brain turns to mush, onset of heat stroke stuff and wished that I had set off at 5.30am. I got back rather sweaty, but it was well worth it! The rock just sucks in your tires (a bit like Yorkshire Gritstone when cragging), and your bike ends up being at angles you are only used to on roller coasters at Disneyland. It is without question a place to return to for a good few days of biking.
The trails are actually painted onto the rock, you follow painted white dots on the rock. At first it sounded a bit lame, but when you get there, you realise that there is no way you could navigate the trail well without them.

You can just make out the dots on this photo.

After Moab we headed to Vegas, and it seems surreal that in the morning you can be in this wonder desertland wilderness, and by mid afternoon you can be crusing the strip in Vegas and going to a Cirque du Soleil show in the evening. (The show by the way was incredible - not Slickrock incredible, but incredible none the less).
A couple of days R&R in Vegas (we'd been driving for three days and fancied a break), and we headed off to the Grand Canyon, and then tootled home through Yellowstone. And any trip to Yellowstone isn't complete without a photo of this;


Old Faithful was up to its usual tricks and Yellowstone didn't disappoint. There wasn't much wildlife spotted though - only a mighty buffalo (bison - call it what you like) lumbering up the road to our car .
We tripped home to Cochrane via Glacier National Park in Montana, another super place we've not explored - there's just so much to do and see, we've not even started.
Right now we are back in Cochrane enjoying the rest of the summer. The bbq is sizzling most nights and all is good.

Hope everybody is having a great summer (or winter),

S & S.

Keep on rollin'

I have a little bit of catch up to play here. The previous post rambled on about a long drive to Sault Ste Marie, and I haven't decided where this rambling post will end up but it should cover;
1. Our Time in the Soo.
It was great to be relaxing over in the Soo and a fun time was had by all. Our wedding party was great, there was much eating of fine food and much more drinking of fine beer and wine. The sun shone for us, and fortunately we had a big top like marquee to escape from the heat under. There were pleny of family members there who I hadn't me before, and they didn't seem too disappointed that Brina's married a Brit!
As the evening rolled on, the dancing got faster, music louder and around 2am a pair of hair clippers appeared. I was adamant I wanted a skin head (fortunately Brina intervened and I only got buzzed number 2), Marcel woke up the next morning with AL shaved into the back of his head, and I dread to think what else would have happened, had the Feds not turned up at around 3am to close the hullabulloo down. The Police were invited in to join us for a haircut, but they surprising refused (maybe you aren't allowed to get your head shaved when on duty).

2. Our Road Trip: Having taken out the bike and been on a few nice rides around Ontario, our plan was to drive further East and enter a 100km mountain bike race in Mattawa. However, on second thoughts (and after the race was cancelled due to a storm flattening Mattawa), we shifted our return route to a more South Westerly course and aimed for Moab, Utah. Two days of crusing through Michigan, Iowa, Nebraska and Colorado, we made it to the fine old mining town of Moab (Uranium mining I think). On the way through Iowa we passed Des Moines, the home town of Bill Bryson. It seems somewhat ironic that one of the most popular travel writers of the 20th century comes from a place where nobody in their right mind would think of travelling to. I can see why he wanted to get out and escape to live in the Yorkshire Dales instead.

It is at this stage where I show off photos of the Slickrock trail in Moab - that is if this blogger host thing can download them (I do struggle with technology). It looks like the photos aren't forthcoming in this post, so they will have to go on the next post, where I shall bring everything up to date, from Vegas, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and home - must dash now, off to hike up to Stanley Glacier this afternoon.

Have Fun.

On the open road

Nearly 10,000kms rolled around on the Ford since we left out for the Soo a few weeks ago, but the road trip was well worth it! I got through the Prairies without much of a struggle, and, despite popular Canadian opinion, I would certainly cruise through the flatlands of Eastern Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba again. It's pretty incredible driving through the Prairies. As the photo shows, there is a serious amount of MAMBA (miles and miles of bugger all - for the less educated). With all that sky, and no gradients to hold you in, you feel like you are driving off the edge of the world (for days). I see now why people only every say that they are driving through the Prairies - there is nothing to stop for, the land just keeps on pushing you along, until eventually you hit Ontario where the trees, lakes and hills begin again; and you feel like stopping the car to look at something. The drive to the Soo took three days, and keeping motel costs down; my accomodation was more cosy than luxury;

Northern Ontario was well worth the drive. It is somewhat spectacular with desolate beaches hugging Lake Superior, rolling hills, and the bear sat watching traffic that made my day! The only snag is that if you are in a hurry to get anywhere, Northern Ontario is the last place you want to be. With all the twists and turns on the narrow roads and a 90km max limit (yes I do adhere to the limit after getting stung for $248 for speeding prior to leaving), the journey is definietly one that has to be savoured.

There were lots of places like this, with no-one there. Breakfast on the beach was a must in Ontario and a dip in the chilly waters of Superior was also much needed having neglected to wash or change my icebreaker since Cochrane.

Once in the Soo, we all had a great time - although that is coming on the next posting (as I'm playing catch up with all this at the moment - the party and the road trip will be up here next).

It's oh so quiet

Well, the house has gone from bursting at the seams to being deadly silent as I am now 'Home Alone' for a few days. The silence is occassionally interrputed by Brina calling to check that I'm eating my greens, but that aside, all is peaceful. It was great having everyone over (see previous posts and photos) but now I am raring myself up for the open road. The monotonous drive across this great land beckons (as do the numerous coffee stops on route). I aim to make it to Sault Ste Marie in three days (two and a bit if the Ford plays a blinder - and it's getting a bit of pre trip TLC tomorrow with a service and the like).
Decided that a ride around Banff was the order of the day before work today, so headed out West to park up in Canmore at about 7am. No matter how many times I pass the likes of Mt Rundle and Cascade, cycling beneath them on a silent, Canadian blue sky morning still gives me goosebumps.
RandR team kit was well advertised slogging up the tunnel montain road too (when's the franchise reaching this side of the Pacific from NZ?). Thought I'd add a piccie (very bedraggled post ride) to add to the RandR advertising catalogue: The short haircut isn't too clear, but since Brina left, I have no barber and just got fed up of my locks last night - so in a hasty moment of hair cutting exuberance, took the clippers to by bonce. Only after begining to shave the top of my head did I realise I had too short a blade on the machine - but alas too late!! The other snag - this Saturday is the party in the Soo - but alas too late - no doubt they'll all be asking who the bald feller is and where's Simon?

Looks like my biking legs are getting screwed on - have even vetured to enter a 50km race in Ontario at the end of this month (I just hope that living at elevation here puts me at some kind of haemoglobin type advantage in them there lowlands of the East).

The piccie at the top is Mt Victoria and the Victoria glacier at the back of Lake Louise. All very nice and scenic on a sunny, summers day. That, with the meadows full of colourful flowers make for rather inspiring hiking at present.

Live for the moment,

S&S.