indiggio

We had 8: Drew, Gary, Slim, Rick, Dan (old Blue groomer driver), Gah Skier George, Gah Skier George, Jr., myself. Yeah, Mike needed a new car and couldn't swing the trip this time around.

Bah! We had 8 up in Canada and never had a problem. We would just agree on the next lift to head to and everyone either skied together or went their own way and met at the lift. We give them our own names, like at Blue: OG6, couch, loser...

The one in Lake Louise was also built by the Canadian railway to bring the rich up to the mountains.

Day 8 - Lake Louise As we bid a fond adieu to Revelstoke we packed up the SUVs and headed for Calgary with another stop in Lake Louise to get one more under the gun. As we approached the exit, we could see traffic in the opposite direction backed up about 1/2 mile onto the highway for the LL exit. After parking out on East Bumfuck and slogging our shit to the lodge, we enters the massive lines that would make a weekend day at Blue look appealing! Up the Glacier and Top of the World, we dropped over the ridge and made our way down to the Paradise lift. The snow was surprisingly still good on the bowl. Up the Paradise, down Corridor and into Swede’s what h all still had some nice perder but cut up. Down to the Temple Lodge where they had a DJ spinning tunes and MILFs dancing galore! We were thoroughly entertained! We had set a 1:30 departure time, so up the Ptarmigan and back down through the Ptarmigan glades, then it was back to the lodge for the return ride home. On the way, we had to stop and see the chateau at Lake Louise for a walk on the lake. Morning view… Resident kitty… Snow pics… Lake Louise chateau… Ride to Calgary…

Oh he carries a shit-ton of stuff in that backpack.

Day 7 - Revelstoke day 2 Day broke with more clouds at the top but the promise of clearing skies held hope that we could actually see something other than white and trees. Temps were also supposed to be reasonably comfortable in the upper 20’s. It already felt warm while packing up the car. Up the box and down to the Ripper lift. Ran Burn Down to warm up the aching legs and then back up to repeat laps of Glades of Glory. It seems to have the best snow and tons of fun searching for residual powder stashes. It also started snowing. After lunch the sun finally broke and we headed out to the top and other side of the mountain now that we could see something. We headed out to South bowl to get some Jalapeño, Hot Sauce and Tally-Ho glades. We even ventured OOB into some trees alongside Jalapeño for some deep piles of perder. They’re talking some major expansion here with a new lift to the very top that’s surely going to piss of the locals that hike to get the goods. Morning skies & boot dryer setup… Snow’s deep…

Day 6 - Revelstoke day 1 Digs are now boy 10 mins from mountain, but I was up at usual dark o’clock, ready to hit the newly fallen perder. Arrived in the lot some 10 minutes later and the summit was wicked in and snow continued to fall. It was too warm for the snow to stick to the valley roads, but the s ow on the mountain was excellent. Boarded the gondi which is a strange one in that you take your skis/board on with you. An annoying characteristic is that it’s not a single gondi, so at mid mountain you have to get out and load up into another box. Started out n Last Spije just to get bearings. Higher up the mountain received around 8” and more in trees. Second lap of the gondi we took the Stoke lift to the top. Mistake! Cloud layer had the top socked in, in addition to the falling snow. We felt our way down off the top through the zero visibility. After that fiasco we decided to head over to the Ripper lift, as the altitude was lower. We discovered the Glades of Glory that was empty, and had spectacular, deep powder. It was so good in there, we kept lapping it. The weather can change instantly. On one run down the woods the wind picked up and turned the place into a snow globe. Unfortunatelycwith the socked in conditions, nobody would hike the cliff. Revelstoke is no joke. If you’re coming here and can’t ski steep trees and/or bump lines, you may want to change destinations. This mountain is the real deal! It’s got Jackson bear by a mile in terms of terrain. Dinner was lasagna at the River City Pub which was quite tasty alongside a draft IPA. Morning snow… Various ski pics… Clouds rolled in in seconds! Came across this ski rig. Turns out the guy is from Bucks county PA!

Day 5 - Kicking Horse Packed up the trucks and set out for Revelstoke, but first a detour at Kicking Horse. Arrived in the lot about 8:00am, got our paper tickets, booted ip and loaded the gondi just past 9:00. It was warmer than yesterday at the base, so went without midlayer puffy due to the extreme nature they say about the mountain. Up the Golden Express gondi overtop Boo the grizzly’s mini reserve and up to the top. Winds were gusting and I was second-guessing my decision to go puffyless. Unfortunately the little sun that was visible down below had vanished behind flurries and clouds which made for vertigo-inducing runs in the bowls. Took It’s a Ten to Northern Lights just to get a lay of the land. This place is serious steep and every run a mogul field. They only groom some of the greens and around the base and maybe off the Catamount (we didn’t go over there) everything else is bumps, bumps and more bumps. There was about 4” of new at the top but there were pockets of deeper as I found out personally. Down a knoll and into a gully in flat light got the tips too deep and binding check! Double eject, somersault in mod air and landed in a pile of perder. Took a few to dig out the skis. This place is serious steep, much steeper than Jackson. It’s been called Jackson on steroids and that’s definitely true. Checking out to bowl where they had the Freeride tour was incredible. It would have been far better had it been bluebird. Tried out Sluiceman and Flying Dutchman, the latter was better since the woods provided relief from the whiteout. Next lap er took Stairway to Heaven to the top. More whiteout sent us down Redemption Ridge and into McFadden’s way which held a lot of good snow in the trees. The next run the sky brightened a bit, so we dropped into Fuez bowl off Redemption Ridge. The snow was great but the lighting was horrible, making it difficult to see where to turn. Ended up running Porcupine a few time which was a marathon of bumps, too to bottom but held wonderful snow and little traffic. They should really change the name of this place to Kicking Ass as that’s what it does to people! Bolted Kicking Horse around 4:00pm and arrived at Revelstoke digs about 5:00pm. Decided on pizza because it’s too late to start cooking anything. On the road to Kicking Horse… Kicking Horse… On the road to Revelstoke… Revelstoke digs… Dinner…

Day 4 - Banff Arrived at the lot around 8:15 to partly cloudy skies and cold temps. I’m still trying to get used to this Celsius crap. Banff is an oddball layout. You start out in a lower lodge where you can boot up and then load a gondola up some 18 minutes to the main resort area. The main area is a cluster where many of the lifts load in a spoke fashion. God help those who come here on a weekend as the central area would be mayhem. Rode ip the gondi and arrived in Sunshine Village right at 9am. We were going to start on lookers right and loop around the mountain, but the Wawa quad was not yet running so we headed up the Angel Express quad. Pretty much everything is above tree line skiing, wide open snow fields. They received a couple of inches overnight which made the groomers fast and light. We got lucky in that the ride to Banff it was flurrying and cloudy but at the mountain it was partly cloudy with breaks of sun. You really want to go here on a clear day just for the views which are unbelievable! We pretty much toured the entire mountain, finding stashes of untouched powder in the trees. After lunch we headed down to Goat’s Eye mountain to lap some tree runs there. On the next ride up, SP dropped the rope off the right of the lift. We could see a large powder field to hit, but coming down Cleavage wee missed the turn. Regardless it’s some serious terrain as right across the valley is Delirium Dive where they host World Freeride Tour comps. We could see some crazies coming down the chutes over there. Finished up the day heading all the way back to the top of Lookout mountain and doing a peak-to-creek run all the way back down to the cars, a real thigh burner after a hard day of skiing. Dinner was in house, salad, spaghetti with Italian sausage, garlic bread and cheesecake, followed up by an IPA and gummies. Morning views… Ski tree… Various mountain pics… Downtown Banff…

Day 3 - Lake Louis Left the house at 7:15am and arrived at Lake Louis around 8:15am, with light snow flurries the entire ride out. In the lot we saw a heli-ski helicopter circling. Unfortunately we didn’t hear anymore the entire day. Much colder today, with temps starting out in the low double digits. The mountain and those that surround it are truly magnificent. Pictures never do them justice. First runs were lapping the Jupiter lift as there were Ikon issues again, but they’re better here as a radio call got them fixed. A few inches fell, so the early groomed runs were soft and fast. Headed over to the Glacial Express and up the Top of the World Express to find some 6”-8” had fallen at the top that made for a nice, smooth run down Helen’s and Kernahan’s. Back up the TotW and the sun was out. Decided to try the bowls now while the sun is out as the forecast called for clouds to roll in. Dropped into backside via 1st Gate and down Rodney’s Ridge which while already pretty cut up, there were pockets still there for the taking. After breaking for lunch, headed up the Larch Express, eyeing up Tower 12 and the Lookout Chutes. Seeing cliff signs all the ride up, decided to do some recon via Bobcat to check things out. Having not seen any real cliffs, went back up and down Tower 12. Big mistake. Lots of rocks and thin snow made it a rough go and bailed to other areas. Spent the rest of the day lapping trees off TotW lift. Morning view… Random pics… Elk by the road on way to dinner…

I went to the shop & guest services before the trip to get some Blue stickers but all they have anymore are window stickers.

I think we’re heading up to Louis today, so we’ll see how that goes. Norquay wasn’t bad, but they really need to swap out the Spirit lift with a 6 as it’s a major choke point for the mountain. The stuff off the North American is a lot of fun and reminds me a lot of Jackson, just on a smaller scale. Drew looked into adding a heli trip but all the companies were booked, with some having a 3 year waiting list. Canmore is still pretty sleepy, but housing seems to be expanding.

Day 2 - Norquay Up at O’dark thirty, coffee, egg & cheese bagel and banana. Picked the Expeditions and away we went about 7:45. Road to Norquay is a bunch of switchbacks but no problems and arrived about 8:45 or so. Temps were much warmer than yesterday, with lighter winds. Right off the bat some we’re having Ikon issues at the Cascade lift, so they headed back to customer service while the rest of us headed over to the Spirit lift and lapped some runs there. Some nice bump runs warmed us up for what we didn’t know was coming up later. Ikon issues resolved, we met at the Mystic Express and lapped some real nice bumps and semi-fresh snow in Bruno’s Gulley, Pristov’s Tale and Crosby’s Run. Decided to break for lunch, which meant we had to take the Spirit lift. Got to the lift and the lines were off the hook. The motor was going and they only loaded 2 of every 3 chairs. Decided to hike up to the main lodge. Luckily for Slim and I, we had hiking backpacks, so loaded up the skis on them which made the trek somewhat bearable. After lunch we headed up the donkey Cascade and headed down to the North American. A strange, old double that had groups of 4 chairs spaced some 100 or so ft apart. Liftie was telling us it’s one of the oldest chairs in North America. After a pretty pokey morning, this side of the place was like the Yang to the morning’s Yin. This side’s got some serious steep shit. Not only is it steep, but the runs are all bumps. First run was down North American and over to Boundary Line to check things out. The boundary line had gates out to the chute next to the boundary with avy danger signs all over, but the gates were open. Decided to pass and ride the bumps down Widowmaker as a tribute to Blue. Next lap followed the same route but curiosity got the best of us and we dropped into the chute to some beautiful, mostly untouched perder. This required another lap. Saw some interesting terrain off to the right of the lift so headed there and dropped down Gun Run, another serious steep, bumped run reminiscent of Jackson’s Tower Three, some great fun!! A final lap down the out of bounds chute and the legs are screaming, so called it quits around 2:30. Too tired to cook, so ordered a bunch of pizza from Res Rick pizza. Had some interesting selections, all were delicious. Time to finish an IPA and gummy up for tomorrow. Digs pic Races today Top of North American Looking up at Gah Skier George in Gun Run

They’re ridiculous out here!

Yeah there’s some wicked expensive shit going on around here in Cranmore.

Day 1 - Nakiska Up at usual time as back in PA, so no difference for me. Continental breakfast at the Comfort Inn included scrambled eggs, Canadian sausage, blueberry and chocolate muffins. Just over and hour drive out to Nakiska and the home of their Winter Olympics with the wind howling and 9 degrees. In the house was Slim, Drew, Gary, Gah skier George and George Jr. And old Blue Mountain groomer Danny in from Mt. Hood. Took it pretty easy on the first few runs to see what was what and check out the snow conditions, which was a few inches of fresh here and there with some hard pack around. Rode the lift with some Calgary natives who told us that we were lucky coming this week as the mountain was pretty barren just a week or so ago. They had just got about 12” last week which covered everything nicely. Lapped the Silver chair a few times and found some wind blow. By the tree line which made for some fun. It felt like home as there were racers everywhere! Got bored of the Silver chair and headed down to lap the Gold chair. The lift line had bumps galore, so we lapped that a few times. Decided to head to the Monster Glades and found ample stashes of powder in the trees. Broke early for a snack and since it was the first day and still had to drive to the house, grocery, beer and edible shopping. Peaced out around 2 and headed for the house in Canmore.

Nope Rick. Slim was in adjacent room so we had connecting door for big party suite!

Yeah finally made it to the Comfort Inn around 12:30am. Today’s destination: Nakiska

Spooky!

Stuck on tarmac. They’re rebooting the plane!

Yeah but he kept trying and couldn’t get it to work, so it was lemme try. Dude! You fixed it!!

Bored waiting to depart, so helped a struggling passenger reset his iPhone.

There’s enough overhead that I don’t have to wear it.

Well Air Canada

Currently sitting at The Office Tavern & Grill having a beer with Rick and anxiously awaiting to board our chariot to The Great White North of Calgary…