(or, “Oh my god, my legs hurt”)
Ryland got us a couple of discounted lift tickets for Sunshine Ski Resort so we headed there today for a full day of skiing. And it was a FULL day. We’re used to spending a couple of hours in the morning having a lesson, then having lunch, then going out for another couple of hours, but today it was just us and just skiing.
We arrived about 9:30, rented our gear and then jumped on the gondola which takes you all the way up to the village. You can’t get to the slopes without getting on the gondola. The ride up took us over snow-covered forests and between mountains. It’s quite a journey up there. By the time we got to the village and sorted ourselves out, it was 10am.
We started with greens, jumping on a bunch of different lifts (there are many and they go for quite a distance), and taking the slopes down to get our ski legs back. It didn’t take long. We skied from one lift to another and by the end of the day, I think we’d been on all the green runs.
After lunch, I was keen to do some harder runs so we picked a few of the easier blues. We had no idea if they were easy or not, we just went with gut feeling. The Tincan Alley was where we spent a lot of time, as it has a nice steep bit without being too steep. I liked the one next to it though, Wawa Bowl, which was much steeper and you get quite a bit of speed.
There was one lift, called the Great Divide, that takes you to the highest point, which I was keen to do because of the view. (The view across the whole park is amazing. The slopes are very wide and open and you’re completely surrounded by mountains. Even being there and seeing it is special, skiing makes it even more so.) This ski lift also crosses over into British Columbia and then back into Alberta (not quite sure how).
I’d told Glen there would be a green run from the top of this slope, but when we got there, there were only blacks and blues. Boy, were the blues fun! Steep, speedy and a really good work out for the legs. I had such a great time going down it (we went down it about four times over the course of the afternoon). This blue then connects up with a long green.
This green has a valley in it where you get to the bottom and then have to go up the little hill to continue the run. The trick is to pick up as much speed as you can way back when you first turn on to it. Once I’d figured that out, there was no stopping me. Knees bent, low to the ground, poles behind me, I was off like a rocket. So exhilarating!
The weather was great too. It was a bit windy in some places (while on the chair lifts mostly) but that was bearable. It also snowed a couple of times during the day, but otherwise the weather was perfect.
We had a couple of short breaks throughout the day (mostly to go to the washroom) but other than that we were skiing for a good six hours. Glen’s favourite was Tincan Alley, while mine was definitely the blue from the top of the Great Divide. As it was getting closer to four, my legs were just about giving out. My quads were so sore that if I had to do any more skiing (other than to get out of the park), I wouldn’t be able to make it.
There’s a green run that goes from the village out to the car park. Ryland recommended we do it as it’s a nice run and it’s the last run of the day. My god, is it long! It’s not very wide but thankfully not very steep because I was struggling to turn at all. I had to snow plow most of the way and it just kept going. I think I stopped about four times just to stop my legs from cramping. And I was getting to the point where all I wanted to do was get off the snow but didn’t know how much further we had to go.
Then, thankfully, it ended. We handed back our ski equipment (I was so glad to get out of the boots), looked at a few of the sale items but didn’t buy anything, and then jumped in the car back to Banff.
Overall, I think that was one of (if not) the best day of skiing I’ve had. I didn’t have any major falls. I skied a lot. Did some harder slopes. Got to ski all day in a beautiful terrain. And all with Glen. Just brilliant. And that’s probably the last time we’ll ski this season so it’s a great high note to end on.
I videoed a few of our runs so when we’re back in Toronto, I’ll patch some together and post it.
Now to find dinner.
Travels with Dan 
What do you say, eh?