Canada 2016

Not a bad flight out arrived after the 9 hour flight feeling quite relaxed, car hire was no issue. It took about 2 hours to drive to the hotel. After a swim in the pool, we were already for a good nights sleep.

Day 1 - Saturday

Most of the morning was spent sorting out the ski hire, big queues first thing. didn't help that I forgot the ski hire voucher and had to go back to get it. Fortunately the hotel is very close.
After a couple of warm up runs. Did Bobcat this blue had been up rated to a Black Diamond run due to conditions. It was very steep with some of the worst moguls fields I have ever seen on the steepest parts.
No GPS tracker information, due to forgetting to switch it on until half way through. then forgetting to turn it off until we were back at the hotel.
Runs:

Bobcat
Eagle Meadows
Larch Poma
Lookout
Pika
Pine Cone Way
Saddleback Bowl
Saddleback
Wiwaxy

Favorite run of the day: Saddleback

Day 2 - Sunday

A surprisingly quiet day out there, hardly anyone on the slopes. - Not complaining.
My skis were serviced over night - wow did they perform well today, and I managed to avoid roots and rocks. Robert had a fall after failing to land a jump, Louise decided last minute to about the jump and skied into the wooden pole. I had two near wipeouts which resulted in my skiing backwards dragging my knuckles on the snow, before I managed to regain my feet. I didn't fall , but it was decided the two near missed counted as one!!.
GPS tracker shows some 23 miles covered and a top speed of 38mph.
Runs:

Bald Eagle
Cameron's Way
Charlie's Choice
Dear Run
Easy Street
Grizzly Gully
Home Run
Jerry's Jungle
Juniper Jungle
Juniper
Ladies' Downhill
Men's Downhill
Old Ptarmigan
Pika
Pine Cone Way
Race Pitch
Saddleback Bowl
Saddleback
Sunset Terrace
Upper Juniper

Favorite run of the day: Men's Downhill.

Day 3 - Monday

Light snow flurries overnight and during the day improved the snow conditions no end. With confidence riding high we even did an extended off piste section through the trees, very narrow and technical, luckily not steep.
Most embarrassing fall of the holiday won today by yours truly going slowly on a flat green run. - it's going to take some beating.
GPS tracker shows some 29 miles covered and a top speed of 38mph. Although Robert was much quicker on some of the runs.

Runs:

30 Goats
Bald Eagle
Cameron's Way
Charlie's Choice
Dear Run
Easy Street
Jeremy's Jungle
Juniper Jungle
Ladies' Downhill
Larch
Lower Flight
Marmot
Men's Downhill
Pika
Ptarmigan
Race Pitch
Rock Garden
Saddleback
Sunset Terrace
Wolverine

Favorite run of the day: a close run thing between Marmot and Ptarmigan.

Day 4 - Tuesday

A lovely sunny day. Great for the views, unfortunately it turns the snow to slush. The slopes on the front face by mid afternoon were a bit hard on the legs.
We went up the The Summit Platter Drag lift - a sign at the bottoms stated "Experts Only - this lift goes up a Black Double Diamond () run." It wasn't much fun ascending. We doubt we will be using it again.
When dropping over into the back bowls decided to take a short cut. Turned out to be a black diamond run.
GPS data showed us covering 30 miles with a top speed of 45mph.
Runs:

Bald Eagle
Cameron's Way
Eagle Meadows
Easy Street
Grizzly Gully
Home Run
Juniper Jungle
Ladies' Downhill
Lowest Meadowlark
Marmot
Pika
Pine Cone Way
Read's Way
Skyline
Sunset Terrace
Upper Juniper
Upper Wiwaxy
Warden's Run
Wiwaxy
Wrong Turn

Favorite run of the day: Marmot. Due to the fun to be had nipping in and out of the trees and finding several small jumps at the sides.

Day 5 - Wednesday

A short day today as we all had tired legs. An overcast day made the light very flat and very difficult to see the terrain. Robert had the most spectacular wipeout of the holiday (so far). No damage done.
We had fun over the back of the mountain finding jumps and cuts through he trees (some video to follow once we get home).
We found a lovely black run Meadowlark, wide steep and no one else on it.
we then noticed a run called Mirkwood as Tolkien fans the run just had to be done. Perhaps a second thought would have been better. It was a steep technical black through the trees. Louise had a tumble, Robert took his skis off to help then couldn't get them back on on the gradient. Eventually we got out into Grizzly Gully where Robert skied down using his boots and carrying his skis.
Eventually persuaded him to ski properly he had a fall rolled over span round then somehow got to his feet and continued skiing!.
We decided to head back at this point rather than risk further injury.
GPS data showed us covering 19 miles with a top speed of 42mph.

Day 6 - Thursday

Took a break from skiing today. my cousin Sally and her family cam down last night from Edmonton. So we went to Lake Louise for a walk on the lake and then into .

Day 7 - Friday

Glorious warm weather as we went up to Sunshine ski resort. Love the wide open spaces to go where you want. Made tracking the routes difficult.
2^nd time up the chairlift we nearly forgot to get off and had to jump. Robert unfortunately bent/broke his ski pole. Had to buy new poles:-(
Some good runs and great views, unfortunately the warmth meant by the end of the day it was a bit like skiing in porridge.
GPS data showed us covering 23 miles with a top speed of 37mph.
Runs:

Day 8 - Saturday

Back to Lake Louise resort. There was a big children's race event today which closed of part of Upper Wiwaxy and the Mens Downhill, and for the morning Juniper Jungle. The day started with icy slopes but soon turned soft as we had another day with temperatures about 12C
My cousin Trevor made it over to have dinner with us that night. Great to see him since we hadn't seen each other since 1985.
GPS data showed us covering 27 miles with a top speed of 41mph.
Runs:

Day 9 - Sunday

Back to Lake Louise resort. There was a big children's race event today which closed of part of Upper Wiwaxy and the Mens Downhill. A shame as we had hoped to do the downhill today and then finish with a run down from the very top of wiwaxy following it all the way to bottom as our last run of the holiday.
Another warm day except this time I took the rub on wax with me. After lunch we had a fantastic run down Ptarmigan. this was a steep black with moguls, however the soft snow and the new wax meant we had no trouble cutting back and forth down the run even getting air on some of the bumps. We all had huge grins after that run.
With the snow getting softer and softer we we only did a couple more runs before descending Wiwaxy for the last time.
GPS Data: Robert was wearing the device today, however his speeds were slower than usual due to the soft snow. We covered 26miles with a top speed of 46mph.
Runs:

Lake Louise & Banff, Canada - Easter 2016