Pipped at the Post

Hi All,
Let's hope for more bear sightings during this blog posting like the last one!
So the competitive edge is back. After ten years in the cycling wilderness I once more donned a number to the handlebars and lined up for a cross country race. We headed down to Lethbridge for the first of the Alberta Cup XC series, and despite my self assurances that I just want to enjoy the race scene and have fun, I couldn't help but get myself a bit hyped up for the race, standing amongst all the shaven legged folks. So much so that I let rip from the second row of the grid and ended up leading out the race with the "big guns".

With the sponsored fellers behind (team Bow cycle is just coming into the shot there - three orange clad riders), it was a good incentive to push the R&R jersey to the front - just spreading the R&R love this side of the Pacific. Having not really ridden on mtb trails for a year (or two!) it was nice to rattle along the single track of a rather technical course - although this was also my undoing, as on the very last descent, having thought I had it in the bag with no-way for anyone to pass, somebody passed, in a crazy assed thicket smashing, brambling splitting move that had me cursing as I was pushed back into 2nd place - beaten by 4 seconds!!! Hang on a minute, this is just for fun, so actually, in reflection it was great to do pretty well - and I assure myself that the next one in Edmonton is definitely just for fun - although I feel the adrenaline building up already!

I neglected to recall the pre ride eating procedure of old, and so tucked into a nice Vindaloo with a cold pint the night before the race. Having not had a beer for a while, not touched red curry meat for a couple of years and certainly not entertained the idea of a vindaloo being on the menu since a fateful evening late one Saturday morning in the Balti King seven years ago, it was a rather peculiar choice of fueling up. But clearly it seemed to work a treat - more of that for the Edmonton race then!
The main snag we had at the weekend was getting a flat battery on the Saturday at the race course in the evening. Nobody was around apart from some young louts screwing around on those noisy little motorbikes (the ones that look like they've been stolen from the clown shop). We didn't have any jump leads for the battery, so our only hope was to ask these yobs on the motorbikes! Now, in Blighty, the kind of kids that ride these motorbikes congregate in Cadishead and are usually petty thieves with restraining orders who'd tell you where to shove it if you even looked at them funny! - Luckily Lethbridge isn't Cadishead (Cadishead being Northen England's more run down version of the Bronx). These two mini 'ciminal' motorbikers didn't have any jump leads (booster cables for Canucks) but knew a friend who did so called him on their cell phone to get him to drive out to where we were - about 25mins away! Now that's why I like this place, these Canadian folk don't seem to bat an eyelid to go out of their way to give you a hand! - I've lived in many places where it's even too much effort for people to go out of their way to tell you the time.
Anyway, that's about it for this week. The bike obsession continues, work is still a place I have to reluctantly visit five days out of seven, and the sun keeps on tantilising us with brief glimpses of what Spring is like.
I hope you are all oiling your chains, and make sure to speak to the next mini motorbike yob you see to say thanks,
Spin, spin, spin,
S&S.

Ticking over and BEARS AT THE END

Hi All,

Scant news to be had from snowy Cochrane this past week (that's right - snowy Cochrane. My gleeful boasting that spring was on the way has come back and smacked me right in the ass once more, we're on another "weather warning" tonight from the weather office, with 15cm predicted, and up to 25cm in localised areas, all by tomorrow morning - It April 20th for God's sake!!! I WANT TO BIKE).

We're off to Lethbridge this weekend for the first round of the Alberta Mountain Bike Cup, so that'll be good (and piss freezing no doubt). Had a good ride out on the weekend with Brad, ending on a closed road up in the mountains, tres windy made for interesting bike handling on the decents, - it's all good and well having an awesome light bike - that is until it gets blown away in the gales (with you straddling it).

A bite was had at a Tibetean restaurant in the week to celebrate Portland Ken's 36th birthday which was all very social.

The best news of the week comes from the wife.... Brina was out at Canadian Tire (a big store much akin to B&Q for those not in the know about Canadian hardware retailers) and she waltzed into the garden centre area of the store - and got locked in! So there she was, stranded all alone amongst the gnomes, singing wishing wells and clamatis. The doors failed to let her out and the only other exit was firmly padlocked shut. It took a serious amount of banging and screaming on the doors, as well as an intense bout of panicking (one pee two pee), before the security cameras picked her up to send somebody to her aid. They must have thought there was a crazy lady in there from the noise she was making (or maybe thought that one of the little gnomes had come to life like a frenzied little deamon).

I think this is the first post sans picture - sorry, next time we'll post a load - I tried to take some of the deers out front this morning in the snow, but they came out as tiny specks on the horizon.

Had a cancer check this Monday - all going well (thank you to all who are keeping their fingers crossed), and next time I go it will be the TWO YEAR mark - major celebrations in order.

Also getting hooked into the Stanley Cup playoffs again (hockey), although it still aint football - Man Utd 7 : Roma 1 - Sweet!

Pedal hard,

Hoping for a break in the clouds,

S&S.

WOW WOW WOW - BREAKING NEWS!!!!!! I JUST NIPPED OFF TO FIND A PICTURE TO PUT ON THIS BLOG AND WANDERED TO THE FRONT WINDOW LITERALLY TWO MINUTES AGO, WHEN THERE I SAW A BIG BLACK DOG - OR SO I THOUGHT. I LOOKED FOR THE OWNER, THERE WAS NONE, THEN REALISED THAT THE DOG WAS LUMBERING AS IT RAN - NOT BOUNDING LIKE A DOG. BUGGER ME, ON CLOSER LOOK IT WAS A BEAR!!! WOO HOO!! A BLACK BEAR WAS JUST TROTTING ALONG RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE, LITERALLY TEN METRES IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE. IT WAS HEADING DOWN TO THE BOW RIVER - AWESOME. SO THE LITTLE BLIGHTERS ARE AWAKE. LOVE IT!

I'LL BE ON MY EYE OUT NEXT TIME I WANDER OVER TO THE POST BOX THAT'S FOR SURE.

By the way, the gnome comment in the first part of the blog led me to these dirty little blighters; not too sure why the perv in green needs binoculars.

Shuttin' Up Shop

So the mighty COP (above: Calgary Olympic Park) closed down for the winter on Friday last - maybe winter is shutting up shop for this season after all. Driving past the ski jumps and little ski hill on the way to work every day makes me take the city's "ski resort" for granted, but I'll sure miss it, if (when) we depart Calgary. They sure never did build one of these suckers in Warrington, although a relatively local lad "Eddie the Eagle Edwards" made his name here on this ski jump in Calgary, reaching iconic Olympic status for ski jumping wearing bright pink goggles that covered up his double thickness magnifying glass like spectacles and having absolutely no idea what so ever about ski jumping - particularly the landing part! No wonder really when it comes to light that good old Eddie learnt to ski jump in his back yard in Wigan and at the dry ski slope in Rossendale. - Trying to explain to Canadians about dry ski slopes is like trying to tell Eskimos that their igloos need air conditioning. Having wrestled with this concept with one of my grade 8 classes and been subjected to interrogation such as; "how can you make snow dry?", - well it's not really snow, "but if it's dry doesn't it melt?", it's not really snow Johnny, more like nylon, "like my mom's tights?" - well not quite, more like carpet - "so you carpet a mountain to ski down" - something like that Johnny - "Do you have to build the mountain too?" - no, I don't have the tectonic power of mountain building, the mountain is already there - "but Englands flat" - not all of it "You English people are weird" - At which point Johnny talks himself into a detention and leaves me pondering the sanity of us Brits. I know ski-ing is great and all but the thought of a dry ski slope now borders on the absurd. What next, selling sand to the Iraqis?

We've been struggling to get to grips with academia at work this post Spring Break week, but were delighted to see a mere two and a bit months before summer holidays!!!!! (Even Sunshine will have closed by then).

Spring break saw days of good snow in the hills and quality boarding time, although the roads seem to be clearing now for proper bike riding. I've got my first mtb race coming up on the 22nd. Not been on a bike competitively for a good while and am raring to go. Last time I began to get this fit my bollock fell off, lets hope for a significantly different outcome this time around!

Also busy plotting a summer road trip of road trips as bro and sis in law are heading Canadaside in July!

Anyway, for now it's back to the grindstone (well, more like a rather blunt file the way I'm working),

Hoping you're all keeping your tackle in tact,

Big smiles for the sun,

S&S.

p.s. Roll on this;

Global Cooling and Contemplation

So much for Spring! Despite my staunch environmental viewpoints and 100% conviction behind the science of retreating glaciers, melting ice caps, rising sea levels and increased CO2 driving freaky weather - there is very little of that global warming nonsense going on in Alberta! (Apologies to Al Gore if he just happens to stumble across this page - great movie by the way!). Spring break has failed to muster any temperature warmer than minus 7 so far - not great for the eager cycling legs, but a bonus for the board, as Sunshine and Lake Louise are the main targets for this week's holiday! Sunday entailed a pleasant scurry around Sunshine with Portland Ken - see below - it hadn't snowed for a few days and we managed to find some icey patches mixed in with the good stuff for the first time this season. That loss of control skittery feel hadn't been missed, and it caused a fair few of my runs to be a little bit like Frank Spencer hurtling downhill on a tea tray! The ice also manged to grab hold of Ken's ski's and flip his ankles up in the air over his head before he knew anything about it - I thought he'd shattered his shoulder into tiny bone fragments, but these Yanks seem to bounce pretty well.

So this be Ken P. You may see that it's snowing (Sunday). The white stuff began to fall as we were out there, and didn't stop until mid morning today (Tuesday). I couldn't resist having another hack at Sunshine today, knowing full well that the "Some Mother's Do 'ave 'em" ice would be well and truly burried beneath nice fresh powder - and how it was! Most North American observers may well be scratching their Mork and Mindy corrupted noggins with all of this reference to Frank Spencer and Some Mothers do ave em - Look it up you luddites, English slapstick at its finest!

I managed to make first lifts today too and caught the sunrise peaking over Tee Pee chair - and there was absolustely nobody around! The teeny weeny piccie on the right was my lame attempt to capture empty chairs and vacant slopes - those of you with powers of magnification may be able to see this from the photo, the rest of you should just take my word for it!

It was certainly one of the finer days up in the hills, good lines and fresh tracks, today even had me inadvertently taking 6 feet drops in my stride (that'll teach me to check whats on the other side of the trees) - made for great giddy rushes and teethy grins though!

A dampener was put on the day when cruising on the last run the ski patrol were out trying to resuscitate somebody - I'm still not quite in the right mind to contemplate mortality, so it was a rather queer sensation to have the Verve's "Lucky Man" come onto my ipod as I rode past - wasn't sure if this was funny or just morbidly ironic. (They were still at the CPR 10 mins later when the helicopter arrived - all very somber, although some rubber necking Terry Fuckwits were stood around taking photos of the whole affair. Whoopy Do - a helicopter, but it's coming to pick up a corpse!!!! Maybe they'll head off to the hospital mortuary to finish their film off - great holiday snaps.)

Well, that's my depressing post of the year out of the way! Moving swiftly on.. things at home are all rather quiet - Brina is in the Soo for the week. I decided that being a batchelor for 7 days I had to find some "man" activities to pass the time (comments about being a wanker are not needed from any of you perverts!). All I could come up with was to get out the GodFather dvds - a set of movies I've never seen but have been told for years "you must see this".

It is, without doubt, a very blokish flick - and I recommend any of you who haven't seen it, to watch it - but just make sure your wife is at home because now when I turn the lights off at night and all is quiet as I'm on my lonesome, I'm just shitting myself thinking that I'm about to wake up with a horses head under the pillow - maybe I'll get Mary Poppins out on dvd tomorrow instead.
I hope you're all avoiding phobias of the Mafia,

Keep healthy and happy,

And don't take photos of dead people!

S&S.
P.S:

You know you're boarding in a vast resort when you can ride into the neighbouring province and back again.

Welcome Spring Break

Well hello all,

Tis only a meagre offering this time around. The whirlwind that is the end of term at school, sucks us in once again and many hours have been lost sat at my desk, bewildered that it is in fact Spring Break and I'm no where near completed all of the things that have to be done by the end of March (well, by the end of January actually, but since that deadline has long gone I'm just trying to put a positive spin on things).

Although time has been scant for blog posting, there has of course been ample time to ride, ride, ride. All is good on the cycling front, I am back into a fully fledged love affair with the road bike (much to Brina's disdain). I unashamedly admit to having spent a much larger percentage of quality time with the dreamy Giant TCR Advanced than wi' th' wife over the past few months - although th' wife is fighting back admirably by baking batch after batch of the greatest chocolate chip muffins ever, which is in fact luring me back inside on a more regular basis!

I rode out with Brad and Ken on Sunday - set off with nice blue sky, rode into an ever increasing wind which soon turned into a snow flurry that quickly morphed into a blizzard which petered out after half an hour or so to grey clouds that parted by the end of the ride to glorious sunshine - talk about all four seasons in one day.

We're off to see the Kendal Mt Film Festival tomorrow - should bring a nostalgic tear to my eye, hopefully there's some kind of Lake District footage amongst the clips shown (I'm guessing it's just like the Banff film festival but with less altitude (and attitude)). For you Geographical heathens Kendal is "The Gateway to the Lake District" up North in Cumbria (Aye, that be England not Alberta), and for those Land lubbing North Americans who aint been out East (that is, East across the pond), the Lake District is arguably one of the most beautiful pinpricks you could ever put on a world map.

The coming week should hold more fun in the hills. With Spring Break marking "Spring" we're due a high of minus 7 on Monday, the bike will be in (tucked up in silk sheets with a pillow) and I'll be out having a final kick of the winter ball. Off boarding with Portland Ken on Sunday then a guy I used to teach with is coming out to Banff, so we're off boarding for a few days, and the rest of the time will be spent ignoring any impending school work that has to be done!

Well, I managed to prattle on for longer than I anticipated having had nothing much to report at the start!

I've got to gear myself up for a Professional Development day tomorrow - no kids in school on the last day, just lots of teachers talking about themselves trying to sound important (I'll be the one snoozing and doodling in the corner - if only I was joking!).

Hope you're all paying more attention than I am,

Thinking of you all,

And giving everyone a huge toothy grin,

S&S.

Eye Eye

(Brina's gonna flip that I put this hideous piccie on - but I can't seem to take it off the page once it's posted on there - oops - I best nip out on the bike for a while til the dust settles).

Birthday's, Freezing Rain and Spring?

Happy Birthday to Brina for this weekend (well it was on Monday, but we went out to Banff for a bash over the weekend to celebrate). Brina turned the big 29 (an age which I still have 4 years to reach) and we cruised Banff on Saturday with a whole host of wannabe Irish pretenders all pledging their allegience to St Paddy and putting on brave faces faking their enjoyment of their yearly pint of Guiness. The Canucks love an excuse to party, and for the non Guiness fairing folk you were able to buy a pint of regular gnats piss larger with green food colouring in - for the authentic taste of a pint of Irish Listerine.
We had aspiriations to ski and board for the weekend too, but a lazy crawl out on Saturday via the coffee shop made for a chilled out Saturday, and the rather comfortable lodging plus overcast sky on Sunday kept us in relaxed mode on the Sunday too - but a nice weekend to play the real tourist and actually just take in the town - although Brina was becoming a little weary of my regaling of tales about "when I was a lad..." as we visited many venues which brought back rather humorous (and sometimes scary) flashbacks about my earlier days in Banff (admitedly only the more tame stories were released, the others remain firmly locked away in the dark recesses of my brain - and they'll stay that way thank you very much - Until the next time I get caught unaware with a bottle of Jim Beam anyway).
We stayed up at Buffalo Mt Lodge (part of the group that own Emerald Lake lodge and Deer Lodger - we were putting a great voucher to use which Mark and Lucy sent us as a gift - many more thanks to bro and sis there!) and it was super! It's all very cosy with log fires in the rooms - although as you can see, our ability at using the fire to cook baked potatoes was somewhat poor! Those damn log fires need a timer on them or something for the hicks who decide to use them as a stove;

The place had a great hot tub which was great for star gazing from. Our camera didn't make it on the weekend (another packing calamity), but here's a shot of the serenity of what it was like when we stayed up at Emerald Lake lodge - and you'll get an idea of the ambience of the place;

You can make out what was our lodge there in the foreground - with Mt Mitchell (I think) in the background, and the world famous Burgess Shales (world famous to geologists and fossil hunters that is.... yawn, stop me before I send myself to sleep).

As for other things on the great Canadian Frontier, I had to scrape not just snow, but freezing rain from the windscreen the other morning (the car looked like it had been sat in the deep freeze for a month with the bubbled ice covering it from an overnight freezing rain storm!). How I do like to prattle on about the weather (I thought it was very British - but that would be complaining about the weather - here I just tend to talk about it in awe!). With Spring officially starting tonight, the winter decided to have one last kick of the ball before being bumped off the seasonal calendar - freezing foggy morning followed by a rather heavy, wet snowfall. Winter was making it's final call as; true to the date; by the afternoon the sun was out, temps were soaring and with Spring offically here (in a couple of hours) the forecast is sun, sun, sun with highs of 18 degrees for the weekend!!!! Great!!!!

Time to dust the shorts off,

Remember to pack the camera

Embracing the season and thinking of you all,

S&S.

p.s. I finally worked out how to put the links on this blog (on the right there) genius (not).

Don't Count the Chickens

The meterological rollercoaster that is Cochrane's weather continues.

Having been overjoyed at the sight of the grand Chinook Arch that curved its way across the sky last week, bringing with it balmy temperatures of 17 degrees or so - we were optimistically considering that Spring was poking its nose around the corner.

This is the Chinook arch taken rather haphazardly on the drive to work - it may not look like much, but it moves in from the mountains and stretches from one end of the horizon to the other. With it come winds with more umph than generator 3 at Chernobyl. The house gets rattled like a tin shack and the winds, being very warm, just melt all snow in the way. Chinook is some first nations word for "Snow Eater" - you can quite literally watch the snow disappear as the Chinook moves East.

So the road bike was delighted to get a run out on Friday afternoon, and then the first good ride of the year was a sunny pedal with Brad from Bragg Creek to Elbow Falls on Sunday in the aforementioned 17 degree temps or so.
I lulled myself into a false sense of cycling security, thinking that every night would now be a roadie night - seeing as though the clocks went forward at the weekend too.

How mistaken one Englishman can be when toying with the fickle Canadian weather! Lo and behold, this morning saw a good 4 inches on the ground as I stepped out of the door to head to work! So much for riding tonight!

Brina caught this shot of me looking like I'm heading home from the grocery store - rather than departing to work.

The other blighter of all of this though is that I thought shovelling the drive was done for this year!

And as for leaving the big ol' truck out in the drive (yep, I still got her), well, that was a no no!

This aint too bad for a few hours over night in March. I neglected to sweep a lot of the snow off the bed of the truck (I was in a rush to get to work - late for another meeting), and hadn't considered the amount of snow that was lying on the back. It was all pretty stable until I hit about 60kmph, at which stage the massive, thick slab of snow lifted off the truck and smashed into the windscreen of the car behind me (oops!!!) I don't think the feller behind was any too pleased - and neither would I be with a mini avalanche crashing into my car at 7am. I don't think there were any serious casualties.

Some got to stay at home today in their father Christmas uniforms;

Hoping you are all really fit, well and happy!

We'll be up in Banff this weekend to raise a pint of the black stuff to Brina's birthday - what a fortunate coincidence it's St Paddy's day too, although you should never need an excuse for Guiness!

Thinking of you all,

Always take the weather with you (whatever it is),

S&S.

Deja Vu

Well here we go again, more snow things...

As we run into March I'd usually be thinking about Spring, the daffs would be up, the hedges would be budding green and it'd generally be pissing it down like you wouldn't believe. However, I negelect to remember that we're still in Canada - and this winter thing just really does like to hang on. It would seem that winter ends in May, we have a week of Spring and then lo and behold, before we all know it Summer will be here in all its glory.

Another weekend at Sunshine was on offer this weeked;

Brina was out in fine fettle again, ski-ing like a crazy speed deamon, chanting the mantra "play with the mountain - don't fight it" - a term she got from an 87 year old Austrian skier who still rides the half pipe - and I thought 31 was getting on a bit! It was a big breakthrough in ski-ing tradition that Brina carried a backpack. After all this while of being chief Sherpa I finally spat my dummy out this weekend and pointed out that I no longer need to carry a bag as I can fit everything in the multi pocket jacket mentioned in previous post!

This piccie is just to prove that the moniker of the packhorse has now truely shifted hands in this relationship!

We had a blast up on the slopes and were hoping for the typical blue sky classic day - alas - although the sun was out in Cochrane and it reached the giddy heights of 7 degrees, the clouds still covered the mts and, coupled with the snow, temperatures never got beyond minus 5 - which still feels bloody warm by comparisson to the rest of the year.

I got to ride my big old fat board which I'd had the kids at school waxing and sharpening in a makeshift snowboarding lesson (I'm pretty much the master of my own curriculum - the "lets go visit the coffee shop lesson" was by and far my most creative professional day so far as a teacher). The little blighters hadn't done too shabby a job on said board either and it rode like a greased up tea tray!

On the theme of work, we have this Thursday and Friday at school without the kids - it's just their parents that come in (which in many cases is far worse! "why are you taking my child's class to the bloody coffee shop Mr Williams?" is a line that I am readily prepared for and building up my armoury to defend "well, this class is all about the rounded child, and I was thirsty.. and also, do you think I give a toss?" - not sure how well this will go down, so may have to polish up any witty retorts). Work is good fun at present though and Spring break is encroaching - I feel a boarding road trip coming on (although am so tempted to blast it down to Moab in one coffee and red bull induced hazy drive, to ride on the rocks again). Brina is back off to the Soo for the week and she's looking forward to seeing all the folks again.

Although the winter here looks set to last up in the hills, the snow is melting off outside in Cochrane and Calgary at a heafty rate of knots - it's like the end of the last ice age down our street - and luckily I still get to drive the chuffing big truck, so I'm taking great pleasure in hitting all the big puddles and casting tidal waves of meltwater over all the little kids who insist on playing street hockey at just the same time as I'm getting home from work! (Simple pleasures).

I'm hoping that you are all keeping on the right side of the law and that you all have a twinkle in your eye,

Don't carry more than you need (don't carry anything if you've got a wife)

Tally Ho with the mischief,

S&S.

p.s. I've inadvertently put in a really blurry picture (we were both cruising at high speed at the time) and I'm too inept to extract it from this posting - but you can make out the fuzzy form of Brina hurtling into oblivion (at least in my defence this shows that I carried the camera - but I've got a special pocket for that!).

Birthday Smiles

Contrary to the rather pesimistic opinion aired on the last posting, being 31 is the business (that is so long as every day at this age consists of daydreamy skiing and boarding at Lake Louise, blue skies and fine hosteleries to finish off the evenings). Needless to say, the birthday bash weekend was a treat!

Saturday saw Brina don the skis for the first time in a good while too - after a stint of cajoling and some bullying tactics Brina hit the slopes in fine fettle of form. She's still fighting off the dratted lurgy, but had a blast on the slopes and was even coaxed down a number of the steeper runs.

Here she is zipping off the first lift of the day, a la Franz Klammer. It was great to be out in the snow, although the temps were still bloody cold. This was remedied however by the fine gift sent across the oceans by brother and sister (inlaw) - thanks Kidda and Luce. The big green jacket I was sporting all day is the perfect wear for winter days in the Rockies - a real toasty number, plus the most gadgets and pockets of any jacket ever made - pockets for goggles, pouches for phones (not that I own one), seceret holes for ipod headphones, stashed chamois for cleaning lenses - I'm sure there's even a toothbrush holder tucked away in one of the arms; but am yet to find it.

The evening was spent in this room in Lake Louise;

They even put the flag on top for us. What made it better was views like this below from the bedroom in the morning;

Saturday night was topped off with some fine apres ski in Lake Louise - hosted by Alexender Keith's finest Indian Pale Ale (actually real beer that tastes a treat- a rarity for North America), and eager chit chat about how this weeks predicted snow fall will top things up nicely for the first weekend ski of March! There were lots big smiles;

And we reckon there'll be a bit more of this white stuff too;

Hoping you all had a super weekend, and here's to being 31 (or whatever age you are)

Off to have another search for my toothbrush holder,

S&S.

Ageing Ungracefully

I thought I'd best pin up a posting as I lament the rolling on of the real thirties! It always seems much older when you see it written down, but with tomorrow comes the maturity laden 31st birthday. If only my brain would wake up from its teenage beliefs and irresponsible attitude. On the bright side however I have been told that 40 is the new 30, which makes me 21 tomorrow - an equation I much prefer to work with.

There are a lack of photos today - I had a memory card full of last weekend's trip to Sunshine with Brad (twas his second day on skis and I semi consciously thought it would be a good idea to hack down a few double black diamonds - oops) however, I have neglected to recall the precise location of my camera. I hope to find it before Saturday as Brina and I are off to Lake Louise for the weekend (and it's still snowing!!!).

I realised that I was becoming a little more accustomed to the winter this morning as, when stepping out the front door with just a jumper (yes N.American people that would be a sweater - not that it was sweaty) I felt rather at ease to leave my coat behind in the pre dawn light. It wasn't until I saw that it was still minus 13 that I got goose bumps and wished for the car to heat up faster.

I've put a link onto the blog to Portland Ken's blog site - he's one of the American fellows referred to in many postings, a more foul mouthed Yankie cock a doodle doo who berates anything and everything not made of limestone and covered in snow or ice - his main target of hatred being his great leader Bush - some of the stars and stripes waving loonies see the light. He has a rather entertaining account of forays around the Canadian Rockies - the blog is "oregoncanadian.blogspot.com", thought I'd best write it out as no doubt I'll be defeated by the technology when it comes to putting a link on here.

Well, don't want to bore the socks off you too much, will get interest of the weekend up here by Monday - Hopefully will spend Friday night in a haze of Guniness wishing myself happy 21st.

Bottoms up,

S&S.

Dig to Victory

Hi All!

The snow hasn't stopped for the past week or so, resulting in a tremendous amount of shovelling the driveway - alas, a hideously mundane topic for the veteran Canadians amongst you, but still a hilarious novelty for the fresh faced immigrants, who never had anything as remotely interesting to while away thier evenings during winter in their homelands (although I do note that the British equivalent of this would be me getting excited about mowing the lawn for the umpteenth time in a week). Keeping a tight ship in Cochrane means I have to crack the whip with the scivvy at times;

Although the scivvy soon promoted herself to Captain, tossed the shovel over her shoulder and demoted me to finish the job off myself "yee lazy landlubber". Unsurprisingly Brina wasn't as interested as I was that I'd cleared 4 inches of snow off the drive last night, and this dump was just from when we'd been out at work (the Canadian instinct in her kicks in to retreat indoors, light the fire, put the kettle on and keep fingers crossed for warmer weather). I was inclined to agree after 20 more minutes outside as the minus 28 wind chill had numbed my nose (again).

Here's Brina in happier times, just before the mutiny (I was reluctant to tell her about the bit she missed near the garage - that was my downfall - note: when wife is working, don't comment on progress - constructive criticism isn't advised).

As winter begins to really grab us by the short and curlies, occassional thoughts of that pool we had in Miami cross our minds (very briefly, before making backcountry boarding plans for the weekend - hurray!). And, just to get in the spirit of things, I have been driving a chuffing huge truck around for the past two weeks - it's a monster, and I feel the back of my neck getting redder by the minute - all I need now is a gun rack and a chequered hunting cap with ear flaps! A couple from work have lent us the truck while Brina is just working half days at school - the couple were going to be giving me a lift into work each day, and Brina was going to drive - but rather than give me a lift, they gave me their big fat 4x4 monster. I thought it was a really nice gesture, but on reflection it seems to be saying "I don't want to drive to work with you soooo much that I'm prepared to offload my shiney truck to you for as long as is necessary!?" Only kidding, it's been ideal;

It's all a bit like painting the Golden Gate Bridge, shovelling our driveway. The snow hasn't stopped, and by this time tomorrow it'll be out with the big yellow shovel again to make sure we don't get buried in, so it'll be more of this for Brina;whilst I put the kettle on and swab the decks. Aye aye me hearties,

Put your back into it (whatever it is),

Keep on truckin'

S&S.

Lets Split

How Do All! It's time to recant a few more tales from the chateau Williams:
Life has been speeding us by as we already race into February, lessons at work are being completed now which should really have been done in November and the winter is half gone (but in the optimistic sense at least there is still half the winter left!). The temps began to rise today as it reached the giddy heights of 9 degrees in Cochrane - I've not been privvy to such a balmy day for months - although it's back to normal tomorrow as the high is forecast at minus 13 with oodles of snow, followed by minus 17 for Wed, Thur and Friday highs - and snow every day!!!!!!!

Now it's down to the gritty stuff! Saturday was one of those priceless days where you think "bloody hell, it's great this place". Brad and I cruised up the Banff/Jasper highway (Icefield's Parkway) armed with split boards (snowboards that come in two pieces to be used as skis to slide uphill for those of you unfamiliar with winter accessories) and the usual avalanche regalia, searching for big mountains and deep powder. The southern flank of Cirque Peak was our just rewards - snow deep enough to drown in, no other tracks, no other people, clear blue sky, views across the vally to Bow glacier, Crowfoot glacier and the icefields. Skinning up the hill on the split boards was entertaining enough, and certainly well worth it for the decent:

In the glee of picking our own lines all day, I neglected to get the camera out apart from the shot above. Each hour or so skin up was well worth the ride down (even after becoming burried in a tree well for several minutes after a close call with one of the pines - snow way above my head as I tumbled down to the base of the tree only to be covered by more snow following me into the hole). I was thinking I was becoming a bit fitter, but playing around between 8 and 9000 feet makes you gasp like a steam engine - and calls for extra concentration when putting the board together at the top of the hill - you don't wont one half of the split to go skittering off downslope - it's a long walk to the bottom:

And that's just Saturday! Sunday saw a stint to Sunshine with Yankie Brad and Portland Ken. Being Brad's (different to Canuck Brad of Saturday) first day on skis at a big resort, we were expecting some serious wipeout humour - but alas, he hung onto the black diamonds rather well and the day was a treat! It was great fun to be riding the slopes with them both - even though they are skiers - and American. (I'll make the coffee stronger next time).

All in all, the weekend was ace and fuelled me well for the arduous week ahead - had a cancer check at hospital today and it would seem that my blood, chest, lungs, liver and testicle are all in good health (so there's even more to smile about),

Here's to the second half of winter,

Make every turn count,

Big smiles to you all,

S&S.

Frozen Ropes

Ey up all! 't has been a while since the last post regarding avalanches; due to avalanches of a different kind - the report papers piled high on the desk kind of avalanches. I've been swamped with bloody school work, burried beneath mounds of paper (all as a result of my own deathly procrastination throughout the preceeding few months) and thus have just managed to complete my final report - it is Friday night now and the deadline was a good few hours ago (midday to be precise). Ho hum.

Anyway, not wanting to let work get too much in the way of freezing your brass monkeys off kind of fun, last Sunday was dedicated to a day out in Kananaskis searching out the easiest ice climb this side of the Rockies in a vain attempt to reassure myself I could still thwack an ice axe around with some kind of conviction (although I was still debating this by the end of the day).
This is the route we stumbled on - Chantilly Falls in Evan Thomas, and it proved to be all good fun.

The guy I was climbing with was a scouser no less - so I had to keep a close eye on my gear all day and double check that all my wheels were on the car when we left, but it was good fun none the less. There wasn't even much smug satisfaction about the scousers 2 nil win over Chavski and the Gooners jammy 2-1 injury time victory over Man U.

It was great to be out in the quiet cold mountains - and a super feeling that this place is less than an hour from home. Despite the simplistic nature of the route, my concentration was a bit much at times - see the next shot, I look like I'm trying to work out some formula for splitting the atom (or look like I'm worrying about an exceptionally wet fart).

All in all, a bit of a different jolly for the winter weekend fun which was a blast. I had kind of written off any ice climbing this year in a manic obsession with boarding and keeping the biking legs in some kind of shape - but it was great to get out and I'm sure there'll be a few more days of crampon renting before the season is out!
This weekend sees a return the calving the powder (and a gear freak excitment at testing out the new soft shell), although Saturday is a wife day. We're off for a mooch around Bragg Creek for breakfast and a hike tomorrow with beers on the agenda for the pm! (afternoon, not Prime Minister). Brina is still fighting off her sickness, but it seems like we're getting to the bottom of it so hopefully we'll have a healthy house soon (for the first time in a good while).
(Here's the second pitch).

Anyhow, the Canadian roller coaster continues (I shall avoid any comments regarding legality of certification here in case it is ever held against me in a future law suit), hopefully some of you are putting coins away in a tin to help me out with bail money for the inevitable illegal immigrant customs bust that's going to happen in Cochrane soon.

Keep smiling, breathing and checking your undies - just in case.
Good health and laughter to you all,
S&S.

Big white thunder

You know you're having a good day when your fall lines take you through the steeps, trees and beyond the orange string boundary line. The snow was all very safe, despite the sheer slope angles, but it's always playing in the back of your mind "Caution Avalanche Danger". As I was making a few deep turns I heard an ear splitting BOOM!!!!! "Oh Bollocks" was my first utterance, I'd forgotten that the ski patrol were doing an avalanche demonstration at 2pm (and here I was in the avi terrain). I expected to see a cloud of white concrete chasing me down the mountainside as I nervously craned a glance back up slope. Thankfully though the avalanche demo was on the mountainside on the opposite valley, so I had a front row seat.

Now, anybody familiar with the Euro resort avalanche control will be aware that all this gubbins of detonating slopes with rather sophisticated explosives to rid of avalanche danger goes on in the earlier hours of the day, before the masses reach the slopes. But Canada, being a sharing and caring nation, elects to prime the slopes just after lunch, for everyone to enjoy the spectacle of hundreds of tonnes of snow being blasted down the mountainside at two hundred miles an hour.

I was at first a sceptic, however, it was all rather impressive, and I feel that the boys with the explisives did a good job - perhaps too good, seeing as though the snow cloud from the slide carried all the way up the other side of the valley, covering me in my own little whiteout blizzrd and freaking out a hoard of people who were still on the summit on my side of the hill!

Asides from gouging a chunk out of my board all the way to the core, it was yet another pucker day at Sunshine - but what else could it be when the sky is this colour;

I was looking for a cloud for scale in the photo, but alas...

We're still trying to get Brina fit and healthy. There's some mystery bug plaguing her system and hopefully an appointment with the powers that be at the hospital on Thursday will be able to shed some light. An on another health note, the bollock cancer scans are still showing that things are remaining A.OK in 2007 (lets hope it stays that way).

Work remains to be roomfulls of screaming and shouting little children, but so long as it's paying the bills for snowboard repairs then it's OK.

I hope the start of the year is going as you all planned and that you haven't broken your resolutions just yet (I still have to make one).

May you all stay within the boundaries (just)

S&S.

The Powder and the Glory

Just a quick post as I procrastinate from marking the tests which I've been meaning to grade for the past two weeks. Work resumes tomorrow with minimal levels of enthusiasm emitting from the Williams' household.

Just to cap off the holiday season though, yesterday was spent in the backcountry of Kananaskis, slogging up to the top of Black Prince Mt with the snowboards, to get the ride of our lives down through the waist deep powder!

We got just above the treeline in about three hours of snowshoeing! The snowshoe thing was all a bit much, and tipped Brad ove the edge, so much so that he was prepared to fling the tortuous things off the summit. After reminding him that there'd be some hefty damage deposit to pay the University rental dept, we stashed the shoes safely away, vowed to bring up split boards next time and latched onto the snowboards!
So many posting on our blog ramble on about the winter, ski-ing, boarding, mountains etc... but this was really the business. 30 minutes of calving down through the trees, making fresh tracks all the way through powder so deep you needed a snorkel, spraying waves of snow two metres high on every turn! - God bless Canada! We're looking forward to what else 2007 will bring - hopefully more of the same next weekend!
In the meantime I'd better get off and make up some grades for those kids' tests! A certain wife of mine is all up to speed with her work - oh to be prepared! Maybe one day!
Riding High,
Watch out for the branches (they'll scratch your goggles),
S&S.

Happy 2007

Happy New Year to all!

I hope that you all had a suitably fun filled New Year! We weren't too sure what New Years eve would bring this year; having spent recent New Years in Time Square NY watching the ball drop, Queenstown watching fireworks over the silhouetted Southern Alps, remote Scottish islands charging brandy glasses and fat cigars at midnight - surely this year would be another to remember - but alas... Maybe age is creeping up on us, but we were both flat out by 10.30pm. I was stirred at midnight by somebody halfway down the street popping a bottle of champers and welcoming the New Year in for everybody, and that is about it!

Admittedly, we'd been ski-ing / boarding over the tops of these clouds in Kimberley BC all day New Years eve, and coupled with the drive home, we were both cream crackered.
We spent the previous few days to New Year over in BC and hit the slopes of Fernie and Kimberley. They really get the snow over on the other side of the mountains, and it was great to go and see what all the fuss is about with regards to these two resorts. As it turns out, the fuss is very well deserved, the powder was awesome, the terrain great, weather was on our side and the little town of Fernie is very much reminiscent of a French Alpine resort - so we felt rather at home supping on a cold apres ski pint. Kimberley had all of the above, minus the nice town feel. It's in a beautiful setting but I expected to see tumble weed bouncing down the road on the tail of a howling wind - it's pretty dead in the townsite - but that makes for quieter slopes (see above).

The New Year has only brought us one days ski-ing so far (although the balmy Cochrane weather allowed me to get out on the bike yesterday), and the piccie shows Brina trying to break the spead limit coming out of Cascade Valley (with scant success). We've got a couple more days at Sunshine to fit in before work resumes on Monday (these two weeks of the Christmas hols have just flown by).

Here's another ditty from today's venture ski-ing around Cascade (although that's the Fairholme range in the background). It's a nice jolly close enough to Banff to muster an excuse to visit the local coffee emporiums post ski. Part of the road on the drive in is closed for wolves and cougars - we were keeping an eye out for their tracks, but the beasties seem to have been in hiding.

Wishing you all a super 2007,

Trying to stay awake,

S&S.