Didsbury to Vancouver – mid December

Well, things are coming to an end here for us in Canada… L Although it really will be nice to see family and friends back home again! And to have some summer too! Before we left we tried to get in a little more skating and hockey, as well as skiing/snowboarding, as there’s not a whole lot of that at home! We saw still more snow around, and had a farewell from all the friends around the weekend before we left, which was really nice! It was so great to see everyone there together, and realise just how many great people we’d got to know and be friends with! (and have to say goodbye to!) We were presented with a ‘Canada’ Dairy Queen ice cream cake, and rather than Happy Birthday or anything similar, everyone sang the ‘Oh Canada’, the national anthem!

Surprise ice cream cake!

I spent most of a day with Rebecca and her two adorable rascals, Bentley and Bella, a couple of days before we left that week, and we just generally relaxed and slept in, as well as getting our things together (it’s amazing and kind of scary how much you can accumulate in a few months!). We finally went to see an NHL hockey game, where the Calgary Flames versed the Carolina Hurricanes, with Jane and Adriana who was visiting from New Zealand, and it was a fantastic game to watch! The score was tied much of the way through the game, until Calgary scored the winning goal with 3 seconds of overtime to go – otherwise it would have gone to a shoot-out! We definitely watched some amazing hockey and incredible skating! And certainly didn’t have any problems seeing what was going on from our ‘best’ (ie. Cheapest) seats in the house! Afterwards, we had fun diving headfirst down the hill outside the stadium in the snow (not odd or anything…) before driving back to the girls’ flat in Calgary, slightly less rushed than on the way to the game!

Bella dressed for playing outside

Bentley

1 of 5 deer just behind the house

Adriana, Jane & Nicole watching the Flames in Calgary

Flames players coming onto the ice

Brodie!! Young player for the Flames - Lawrie was very excited! :)

Sliding down on the snow outside the stadium... Nicole, Adriana, Jane

Us outside

Proudly supporting Brodie! :)

We managed to finish packing all our ridiculously large bags for the plane, and get them to weigh amounts that weren’t too far off the allowed limits, so not too much switching around will be needed just before we fly out of Vancouver! And then we shifted it all into the car before leaving early in the morning for a day in the snow at Lake Louise with Robert and Wanda, determined not to say goodbye to them just yet! We managed to catch up with Brodie (from New Zealand, who we’d previously seen in Edmonton and of course back in New Zealand) and Lorinda, who was there on a single sit down ski and was amazing to watch! She sure put me to shame skiing! We had a fantastic day there, and even though it was a Saturday and there were heaps more people there than any other snowfield we’d been to in Canada, it wasn’t crowded by any means! Even slightly…

Brodie Helms coming down to a stop on the ski slope

Lorinda

Robert

Lorinda, Brodie

Robert & Wanda

Wanda, Lorinda, Brodie, Nicole - stopping for lunch

We had a delicious supper at Boston Pizza in Canmore before finally having to say goodbye to Robert and Wanda – our Canadian family! We’d been putting it off for a while now, but it didn’t make it any less hard! We’ll sure miss them!!

We spent the night in Canmore before heading to a meeting in Exshaw the next day, and then to Johnson’s Canyon, also in the Rockies, where we walked a couple of km to some frozen waterfalls! These were super impressive to see, and it was hard to believe that they really do freeze, and stay frozen even though the air temperature was above 5ºC! You could hear and see the water running below the ice, but there was sure still plenty of frozen waterfall!

Looking up the ice and snow covered creek at Johnson's Canyon

One of many bits of frozen waterfall

Ice climbing - this actually looked a lot more grippy
than just walking the path to the falls!

Us at the frozen waterfall at the end

From Johnson’s Canyon we headed down to Invermere, near Fairmont where we previously spent a long weekend, and we met up with some young ones from Pincher Creek and surrounds – Boyd & Brit and the girls, fresh from a holiday in Hawaii, Jane and Adriana, and Darryl and Erica! We stayed together in an awesome little apartment right next to the ski field in the Panorama Mountain Village – pretty exciting being able to see the lifts and snow groomers working right outside! So the next day we headed the short distance to the snowfield, and had another fantastic day on the slopes! There wasn’t a massive amount of runs actually open, but there were no crowds and no line ups, and a bunch of friends to have a great time with! J

Looking out the window over the hot pools and ski runs :)

Adriana looking pro, at her second try snowboarding!

Lawrie

Erica, Darryl, Adriana, Nicole

Nicole & Jane

Nicole, Jane, Erica

Darryl & Erica

Adriana

Nicole

After saying some more sad goodbyes to our good friends that it's hard to believe we hadn't even met a few months ago, we planned to drive a couple of hours to Golden that night, to be a little further on our way, but on account of spending a little too long in the hot pools of the motel/lodge we stayed at, we didn’t get on our way until a little late, and the very thick fog was a bit much, so we drove all of 15 minutes before finding a motel room for the night… And our plans to ski a half day at the massive snow field at Revelstoke, a couple of hours on from Golden, were again foiled when we got to Golden and discovered that the road (the main highway in all of Canada) was closed in both directions between Golden and Revelstoke, and therefore we wouldn’t be getting there until late afternoon at least! So we slept in the back of the van in the Tim Horton’s carpark instead…

We got to Kamloops that night, and from there we thought it would be the end of the snow for our trip. However… we were very much mistaken! We had some of the heaviest snow fall we’d had the whole time over here, while driving on the mountain passes towards Vancouver! We would have pulled over and waited until it stopped, but then the snow on the road would be thicker and even worse to drive in, so we plowed on cautiously, taking note of a few cars in ditches, trucks stopped jack-knifed in the other direction, and the many signs warning of the weather conditions…

Sunset driving into Kamloops, BC

Scraping the ice off the car yet again!

The one 'lane' everyone seemed to drive in on the 3 lane highway

... You think? :)

It was almost welcome to be out of the snow when we got near Vancouver, although it was very strange to be driving without snow covering the side of the road! Something we’ll definitely have to get used to again! Although surely much easier than the other way around!

We managed to drop off all our bags at Ben and Anna’s in Vancouver before finding a car wash and convincing a guy who was interested to purchase our van, so that was a great way to finish the day and the trip back to the coast! J

Fernie – 6th December

After our day in Lake Louise, we drove down to Pincher Creek instead of back to Didsbury, and went to Stavely on the way, where Lawrie played a game of hockey with a bunch of friends, as per the usual Thursday night schedule! He had a fantastic game, and we got down to Trent and Dena’s in Pincher Creek rather late… But they waited up for us, which was lovely, and we stayed up even later!

In the morning we took a little longer than we thought to get going, especially after discovering that it was in fact -35ºC outside, the coldest we’d ever experienced… So it was NOT pleasant getting into the car (or getting TO the car, which was just on the street), but the car gradually warmed up as we drove to Fernie for a day at the skifield! Thankfully the weather forecast was pretty accurate, and Fernie was much warmer, at a ‘mild’ (also known as freezing…) -20 to -24ºC! Which is somehow fine to walk around in (in the appropriate clothing of course!), but feels  LOT colder when you’re up in the air on ski lifts, or coming down a run! However, Fernie was amazing – absolutely stunning scenery, although we don’t have much to show for it, and an incredible snow field! It is beyond gigantic, and even the ‘Lower Mountain’ part, which is just one sixth of the total mountain, was about the same size as most snow fields we’d been to! Nice long runs, and ridiculously awesome snow! Already in the season there is a 160cm snow pack, and lots of powder too! Also, due to the weather, and it being a weekday, there was virtually NO ONE there – about 30 or so cars in the parking lot! Seeing as this was Fernie, which people come to all the way from Australia specifically for the snow, this was pretty amazing!

The 'Crowsnest' from the Crowsnest Highway, heading to Fernie

Fernie in the distance

Sun on the mountains in the distance, from Fernie

At the top of one of the lower chairlifts

Empty!

So empty! Lots of runs were still perfectly groomed by the end of the day!

Beautiful snow covered pines at Fernie

Powdery runs through the trees

We ended up only having a half day at Fernie, by the time we got there on the scary roads, but we’re sure glad we went!!

On the way back to Pincher Creek it just got colder and colder, which seemed odd as Pincher Creek is often much warmer than many other places, with a lot less snow (which certainly is NOT the case at the moment!). So we were pretty thankful we were inside the car (and therefore didn’t have to worry about the windchill factor making things even colder!) when we passed through an area that was -40ºC, not far at all from Pincher Creek! It was almost a relief when we got back to Trent and Dena’s place and it was ‘only’ -35ºC! Almost…

The next morning we played our last game of Saturday morning hockey in Pincher Creek, then had another lovely pancake breakfast with most of the Lewis clan at Ken and Dorothy’s. After a couple of games (way nicer to be inside appreciating their gorgeous views, than outside when it’s that cold!) we went via Robin and Kim’s place just to drop off Jane, which turned into staying for lunch and a bit longer, as things do! We headed back for a much needed catch up on sleep, then drove the icy roads back to Didsbury!

If this doesn't show at all, it is our car saying that it's -40 outside...

Snow covered trees looking more like ice cream cones, in Pincher Creek