Snowshoeing: An Epic Trek

With the weather taking a sharp turn for the better over the past few
days Erin and I decided to give Anderson his first taste of
snowshoeing today. The three of us climbed intimidating slopes (the
snow banks beside the road), traversed barren tundra (the soccer
field) and wove our way through dense forest (the trees behind our
townhouse). So, epic may not be the best word, but it was fun!

Anderson seems to be getting used to the cold and sitting in the
carrier. He is done after about 45 minutes, but progress is being
made. This little jaunt around the block proved to me that a short
snowshoe in the mountains should be possible given the right weather
and the availability of enough blankets and comfort from Mum.

Helmet Training

Erin made a couple key observations a few weeks back. They are...

1) A helmet must be worn by children in bicycle trailers.
2) Trevor has a great desire to put Anderson in a bike trailer.
3) Anderson hates having things on his head.

With this in mind, it seemed prudent to purchase Anderson a helmet
well in advance of the purchase of a bike trailer. So, when we went to
buy my new cyclocross bike (another fine adventure) we also picked up a
red infant's helmet. The results are shown clearly in the picture
below. I'm actually quite amazed that he let us keep the helmet on
long enough to take the picture.

Winterizing Anderson

We got the season's first big dump of snow this week here in Calgary. I really love snow and I hope very much to be able to enjoy it with Anderson as he grows. Time will tell if my strategy will work or not, but I've been trying my best to get him accustomed to some of the discomfort that adventures with Dad will inevitably bring. Typically, this involves play wrestling, hanging him upside down by his feet and driving the stroller over the rough ground. The new snow and colder weather presented an opportunity to begin the "Winterizing of Anderson".

I bundled him up in a onesie, a thick sleeper, a toque and his hand-me-down winter suit. Clearly, the winter suit is going to take some getting used to. It's quick thick and his arms are rendered useless. My hope is that if we keep putting him in it, he'll grow to tolerate it.  

Unfortunately, it was quite cold that evening, and it was very near to bed time, so I don't think he enjoyed the experience too much.  When I put him down in the snow, he didn't really know what to make of it.  He ran his mitt through the powder a little bit, but the substance was a cold mystery to him.

I am comforted by the fact that things went better when I was holding him.  Given how cold it was outside (-10C) my body heat probably helped him out even through both of our winter coats.

I must admit that I am anxious about what will interest Anderson as he grows.  I hope he, Erin and I can enjoy lots of fun time out in God's glorious creation.  For the first few years, he'll have little choice in the matter, of course, but that will change as my little boy grows into a young man.  He may decide that the things I enjoy aren't cool enough and that will probably hurt.  But, that worry is for another day.  For now, I'm going to have fun teaching Anderson how to have fun!

200,000 - Nov 10, 2006

Yes, I save all my ski passes.

Yes, I get excited when big numbers turn over on my odometer.

My old faithful Saturn rolled over 200 000 km on the Sunshine Village access road. I took this geeky picture once I got home.

Skiing - Dec 27, 2008

After Christmas, the temperatures at Lake Louise FINALLY became reasonable so Erin and I braved the crowds, which actually weren't that bad, and headed out to Lake Louise for some fun and to work up our ski legs before the trip to Fernie on New Years.

Perhaps we Banff skiers are spoiled. We took the a lift up with a patroler and he said that would be the busiest day of the year. We had to wait for the lift once at Larch and once at Ptarmagin. Though I am no fan of busy slopes, I do hope the numbers pick up at Lake Louise so that they remain profitable.


Here's Erin with Whitehorn II in the background. Those chutes are still a long way from ready. They need more snow and the snow that in them needs to stabilize.

Looking the other way, you can see me. I'm about to fly down Brownshirt. Remember those moments of bliss I was talking about last post. That run was another one of them. The snow wasn't powder, but it was just perfect for some packed powder turns. Erin said she wished she had a camera to capture my turns. I got going really fast and was able to stay smooth.

Here's Erin coming down underneath the Paradise chair. There was actually pretty good snow there. The coverage was decent and large moguls hadn't yet developed.

All-in-all, this was a really great day of skiing. We managed to avoid the rocks and had some good time just being together in the mountains. Lake Louise will always be a special place for us.

Nose Hill Skiing - Dec 20, 2008

Partly because the ridiculously cold weather had kept me from Lake Louise, partly because of the wonderful dump of snow on the hill and mainly for the sheer audacity of it, I took my Alpine Touring equipment out to Nose Hill for some foothills touring.  It's  a wonderful experience to take literally 5 steps out of my garage and start skiing.  It's also extremely rare.  

Here's a shot of my shadow in the bright afternoon sun.  I stealthily took this picture so that it looked like I was holding my pole.  You'll note that there are NO other people out.  It was VERY cold.

The drifts were quite deep!  This was on the main paved path through the park!

Either this dog had wandered off away from his master, or these were prints from one of Nose Hill's coyotes.  Given that there were no human tracks in sight, I'm sure it was the later.

This was the highlight of the adventure.  After wandering about on the top of the hill for a while, I slid down to a gully.  Since the snow pack was only about 30cm, it was pretty shrubby, so the way down was pretty slow going.  However, once I was at the bottom, this glorious (untracked) sight awaited me.  On the the left are my boot-packing tracks and on the right are my 4 glorious Nose Hill powder turns.  We skiiers are always chasing after those fleeting moments of powder bliss.

  This was one of them.

Snow Day - Dec 7, 2008

Sunday brought a rare novelty. I biked and skiied in the same day and in the same place! Craving some exercise, I got up early before church and headed out to Nose Hill on my bike for a quick spin. The hill was bare of snow save for a few icy spots in the snow. It was a cool morning, but just about the right temperature for December biking.

Towards the end of my ride, I noticed a few scattered snow flakes fluttering about. I didn't think much of them, untill....



Once I got home and had showered, I noticed that the snow intensity was increasing. In fact, it was really coming down!
This is what our home looked like by the evening.

The street was covered in a layer of soft packed snow!

Here is the view from where I am right now.

When Erin and I got home for the evening, I took the opportunity to live out a dream I've had for quite some time. I hastily put on my ski gear, walked a few paces out of the garage and skiied over to the hill down the street. It was powder-licious! There was about 20cm to play in. The hill is really not much to scream about (maybe 20-30m long), but it was worth it. I went up and down about 5 times. Getting up was a bit tougher than I figured because my poles would go right down to the grass and not provide a whole lot of support.

It was a crazy day in Calgary. I really love this part of the world. If only we got dumps like this more often:)