Nearing the end.

Well, only a few things of note have really happened since I last updated. As you can probably guess, lifes become pretty routine over the last few months. Not that I really mind. Any routine that lends a great part of the time to skiing is fine by me.

Last week, Dave, Ralf, Steve and I finally hit the last part of the mountain we had yet to ski: Terminator Ridge. A big part of the reason it had taken us so long to do it is the 20 minute, steep, uphill climb that you have to do to get to the chutes. In the end it wasnt that bad and we took a few breaks along the way to admire the view and take some photos. We hit Truth, the first double black on the ridge and I didnt find it that challenging. It was tricky to get into but once there it was just a matter of taking short, quick turns until it opened out.
I did it (Terminator Ridge) again a few days later with another group of people and this time we did Dare; the next one along. Both the chutes were fairly nice and Ill have to do the hike at least once more to do Consequence, the last one.

Last saturday, Ralf and I went on a roadtrip to Canmore to visit John and Matt. On the way there we stopped off at Lake Louise and Banff and looked around. Lake Louise is still frozen but it looks like it would be incredibly beautiful in summer. Since it was the Easter weekend, the area was full of tourists so we took a few snaps of the lake and chateau and left fairly quickly. Banff was pretty much what I had expected; a nice looking, tourist town. We took a short walk and ducked into a few stores to get a couple of things (I bought a ski bag) before hitting the road for the last 20 mins to get to Canmore.
We met John at the local Dairy Queen and he took us to look at his new place and a walk round the town and along the river. We then took a drive up to the national park where John does his dog mushing. It was a nice drive into the mountains and then following a meandering (and mostly frozen) river through to where the site was. We couldnt really have a good look around but we arrived in time to see the dogs coming in from their final run of the day. After going a bit furthur into the park, we turned around at about 6:30ish (it gets dark at around 8 at the moment) and started driving back the way we'd come.
By the time we got back to Johns, Mat was back from work so we all went to a local pub for dinner (mmm Bison Burger) and Ralf and I headed back to Golden. Since it was about an hour and a half drive home we got back at around 10:30pm. All up it was an awesome day. I was getting worried I wouldnt get to see Banff or Lake Louise while I was here, which would be pretty poor, since I live only an hour away.

We (the A crew) are really starting to feel the impact of being so many people down. Going to work has become a big chore because, as one of the last 3 gondola operators, I know Im going to be working on the gondola at least twice out of the three or four days. The lifting of the skiis (at the bottom) and having to be constantly concentrating on what people and cabins are doing (at the top) really drains you. Especially as we tend to get way fewer ride breaks on the gondy. O well, only 4 or 5 shifts left.

Ive revised my travel plans slightly and decided Ill be leaving on the 11th of April at 2 in the morning. After that I fly from Calgary to Vancouver, spend a couple of days there and then fly back to Adelaide with a stop over in Aukland. Meaning I should touch down in Adelaide at around 10:30am on the 15th of April.

Looking forward to seeing you all soon.

Latest photos:
Terminator Ridge

Trip to Canmore