Pixmin

(The Summit Cafe and Three Sisters in the background, as I wake up)

Destiny wanted me to try the Magic bar from “The Summit Cafe”. It’s located 1001 Cougar Street, at the corner of Benchlands, and it’s already opened when I wake up (before 7am). I can’t remember exactly what it is made of, but there is some chocolate chunks, some condensed milk and some nuts. Boy what it good!

I’m driving around Canmore trying to get a nice view of the sun rising on the pink mountains but I’ll giving up and head to Lake Louise. But this time, instead of taking the highway, I managed to find a small road that goes all the way to Lake Louise, by the Bow Vallery. Road 1a. 48km through the forest with less traffic and better views.

(Three Sisters, taken from the car on the way to Calgary)

21h30 is time for goodbyes. I leave Adrian at Calgary International Airport from where he will fly back to Vancouver and the next day to Europe. The car is suddenly very empty and I almost miss Adrian’s mess. But the journey continues, back to the Rockies.

(arriving in Calgary)

After driving for a while in the Three Sisters village (thinking that it would be up in the mountains, near the Three Sisters rocks) I end up spending the night in Canmore. Believe it or not, I will park in front of a bakery as I am already thinking about tomorrow’s breakfast.

We’re now in Calgary, and I managed to find a nice little place to sit down, asking people in the street. The people here are so friendly that I really wanted to mention the place. It’s called “Steeps Tea” (google map link to Steeps Tea), located at the corner of the 16th and 8th and they have Wifi, and an amazing selection of teas and really friendly staff. Ask Chantelle anything about any tea and I bet she’ll be able to amaze with her knowledge.

Update: I recommend the Blueberry Square which is made according to an old recipe coming from Czech Republic (neighbor with Adrian’s country, Slovakia. Small world)

After spending the afternoon strolling in Banff we drove to the bottom of Sunshine where we parked the car and slept. As I couldn’t find a quiet spot to pitch my tent we both slept in the car. Well, when I say slept, Adrian slept and snored while I tried to sleep. I could only stop him for a few seconds by making noise or kicking him but he started again almost immediately. The snow plow woke us up, and as it did, I noticed I couldn’t see outside. The windows were covered in snow. I had a bad feeling yesterday when Adrian left the car’s roof window opened to let some air in, so I wasn’t too surprised to see a few centimeters of snow in the car in the morning.

We quickly drove to the parking as it’s Saturday and people were already starting to arrive. After getting cleaned up we took the Gondola and started exploring the runs. We first took the Angel Express chair lift and the Continental Divide Express to get a view from the top. Once down we went on the opposite side, by the Wama Quad Chair where we met locals who noticed our back country gear and gave us some good tips to find powder. So we hiked for an hour to the top of the mountain and from there we had one of the best powder runs, no tracks and plenty of powder. That made our day.

That’s two sides explored, we then headed down to the Goat’s Eye Mountain. As we were ridding down we bumped into a ski patrol and once again, found some good powder with only a few tracks (and many rocks and trees) and I even managed to get some really deep fresh powder by going on the very side.

(Adrian arriving at the top)

It’s already 2pm and we both need a break so we head down to get some food and drinks and waitress tells us about her trip to Fernie and how much powder she had over there yesterday.

(coming back to the runs after our powder run)

I have to drive Adrian back to Calgary, but after that, I think I might change my plan and go to Fernie instead of Lake Louise. I’m also keeping an eye on the weather in Kicking Horse as this would be an awesome resort to ride if they get fresh snow.

(Adrian out of bounds)

(Three sisters, from the car window)

We finally ended up in Banff after going by Kicking Horse, Lake Louise (which is not near as beautiful as the summer photos I’ve seen) and Sunshine. We might give Sunshine a try tomorrow but really it’s pretty much the same thing everywhere, no fresh snow. So it doesn’t matter how great a resort is, if you like riding powder, the end of the season is tough!

We left Revelstoke in the evening and reached Golden quickly. We decided to go and check out the hills and ask around about the snow conditions but all the shops we just closing so we spent the night near the hills. This time I added many more layers and the night outside wasn’t too cold.

We went to ask the ski patrols about the snow conditions, on the runs, but also in the backcountry, and it wasn’t much better than what we found yesterday in Revelstoke since they didn’t get any snow for 2 weeks. So we decided to head to Lake Louise.

(arriving at Revelstoke)

I decided to take the short way by the mountains instead of going back by Vancouver to get to Revelstoke. The small mountains roads are fun to drive and offer us plenty of great views.

After a few hours I’ll stop by Chase where we’ll spend the night, as it’s already close to midnight. The next morning we’re back on the road by 6am and will get to Revelstoke with enough time to have breakfast just before it opens. Revelstoke Mountain Resort has been kind enough to sponsor us so our tickets are waiting for us in the guest services.

My first impressions as I arrive, everything is brand new. The resort has just opened last December. The runs look pretty long on the map but it’s time to go and check it out. A “magic carpet” will bring us to the feet of the 8 passengers high speed Gondola, saving us the walk. All the staff we meet is smiling and seems happy to be working here. The view from the Gondola is pretty nice and I understand what people meant when they said there was a lot of space for Revelstoke to expand. We get off the Gondola and ride a few hundred meters to get to the high-speed quad chair lift which will bring us to the top of the mountain (almost). We’ll try a few combination of the 27 runs, going down all the way to the bottom is a fairly long run (1,443 meters vertical) which I doubt many will do without a stop. One doesn’t have to take the black or even blue runs, there is also a 13km green run.

Unfortunately there is no fresh snow, but still, the hard snow we ride on is much better than what we had the previous day in Whistler. I’m assuming it is because the weather is colder here and it didn’t melt as much (as freeze during the night). We soon decide to sharpen our edges though because the black runs are steep and we need good grip. Once again, the staff is extremely helpful and we grab a coffee (and some delicious sweet things) while are edges our being sharpened.

After a nice lunch in the restaurant, we decide to join a group of riders who are going to check out the backside of the mountain. We start with the Gondola, then the chairlift, and finally a hike to the top of the mountain. The hike was worth it as we find some powder of the way down.

In the afternoon, the snow has softened up and the long wide steep black runs are much more fun to ride, being able to curve from one side to the other.

Unfortunately, the restaurant hasn’t any wifi yet, so I can’t update the blog from there, but I hope it is something that will be added very soon.

All in all, we’re really thankful to Revelstoke Mountain Resort for sponsoring us as we had a great day riding the mountain even though there was no fresh snow.

We’re now back on the road, direction Kicking Horse in Golden.

After spending a cold night à la belle étoile I wake up with the birds just before the sun and start another fire to warm up. And once we’re both warmed up, we pack and drive back to Whistler.

Parking the car really near the ski lifts is really easy, there are many spots. It really doesn’t have the same feeling as the big crowded resorts I’ve been to in France. Getting the ticket is a different story though. $83. Now that’s much more than what I’ve been paying in France, although prices might have gone up since I last went, but I really don’t think it’s that expensive.

Unfortunately the snow conditions are not great (no powder) so the riding won’t be all that good. The runs are really well groomed but not near as long or wide as I thought. Also, the resort being at a lower altitude than the ones in France the snow is softer and not very good even at the top.

So I assume it’s a great place to come when there is fresh snow, it’s way bigger than Mount Washington, but I can’t say it compares to the French ski resorts I’ve been to. The town itself is small and quiet and has a village soul rather than a big city, which is for the better.

We’re now back on the road, direction RevelStoke, where we’ll spend our day tomorrow.

It’s nice to be in Whistler, but we need to find a place to spend the night. So we get back in the car and drive in direction of the Lake. I assume that there must be a place where we can park the car and put the tent for the night. Not only we don’t find any, but all the small roads going in the mountains are closed so we end up driving about 30km and arrive in Pemberton.

The sun is going down and we don’t have much time before it gets dark, so when I see a sign indicating “Properties Lots for sale” I immediately pull off the main road. I have a good feeling about it. After driving around in a maze of little roads, all going to houses, we finally found one that goes “nowhere”. Which is exactly what we want. And we’ll find a perfect spot to spend the night (photo above) with a view on the mountains.

It’s getting dark and cold so we start a fire and wait for the stars to appear. Adrian will spend the night in the car while I will sleep à la belle étoile. I only remember seeing so many stars in the sky in Argentina. It’s beautiful. Cold but beautiful. So beautiful that I won’t even bother to pitch the tent.

My first surprise as we arrive in Whistler is its size. I heard so much about it that I expected something really big and buzzing. I drive through the town so quickly that I have to turn around and go back. I’m already out thinking it was just entering. I expected something big, what a surprise. I park the car and walk in town to check it out.

Second surprise, the size of the ski resort (Whistler and Blackcomb). Coming from Mount Washington, I can understand why this may seem like a big resort, but coming from Europe, and after hearing so much about it, the first word that comes to my mind is “small”.

On the positive side, being famous and all I expected Whistler to be crowded, not at all. Of course, it would probably be different during a WE and after a few days of snow, but today I find it rather quiet, which is great to stroll in the streets.