Windtower Lodge & Suites Canmore

... us up (hopefully) and then my parents will arrive the next day. Our plan is to spend the first few days in HCMC and then leave my parents for a few weeks to get reacquainted with family while we head north to Hanoi and then to Cat Ba Island in Ha Long Bay to go climbing. We are super excited to see in person all the beautiful karst limestone islands and crank. I'm sure the two of us will be itchy to get on rock after being airplane/train bound for days.

... take the Russian dude to the forest to bury him. However when they get there they realise he is still alive and then they chase him through the park, only to be stuck out there all night. - From previous travel notes some of you would be aware of my "young and old" observations. (That is where old dudes are traveling around with really young chicks - completely batting about their averages!!!). Well I am happy to ...

... as I couldn't be home for his party. We decided to dine at The Keg at the Banff Caribou Lodge, where I first started working in Banff - killed 2 birds with 1 stone as I wanted them to see that place too. They got to meet Jim, my first front office manager and he was very kind to do his thing with staffing all of our meals - not just mine. He was also a wealth of information on driving the Icefield Parkway, which was another thing on our ...

... tickets for the "first flight" on the tramway, well done team! We were delayed while they sent the first tram up loaded with supplies for the food centre up on the mountain. At last we load up on the tram and off we go on a cable with a breaking strain of around 250 ton, we figure we are safe even though this was built in 1964. It was interesting to float through the cloud and head on up this cliff face to the world of mountain climbers. (we are still wondering at ...

... No rattlesnakes this time though. But lots of "Wild Reticulated Prairie Puppies". They were the most wild of all that we saw. Except for Nugget the volitile Trail Horse. He wrecked the name for my future dog....unless future dog is as nasty. We are home now and looking at acreages in the rockies. Need to leave again.

... we went to Lake Louise which was a really good mountain with really long runs. The next day out was with two more bleedin border out of the room. They were good enough craic and after spend the morning on the skies i did the imortal sin and swap with Richie and like a pig to **** i was flying down the slopes straight away. On the final day skiing i got separated from Richie and finished the day out alone. While coming down a black moggle slope i hit a ...

... and my passenger was ready to get off. We were trying to find where we were allowed to stop and in doing so I went close to the edge of the track. I must have just gone off the edge and the soft powder sucked us in and we tipped over. Not good news really, I felt like such an idiot too - I just couldn't see the tracks clearly. Anyway, that is where I decided to give it a rest. It was great fun though and I jumped on the back of the guy, Georges, and went ...

15th July 2007 - Banff Today we went for a hike along Maligne Canyon which was really beautiful. It was cool in the morning after all of the rain and the rocks we were walking over were very slippery. After the hike in the canyon we went to Maligne Lake and took a boat ride to Spirit Island and the Home of the Gods. I tell you what, if I were a God I would live there, it was so beautiful. That is half the problem, everywhere you look is ...

... below, before jumping-in off a 10ft drop. The explosion of snow was awesome. Here is a picture I caught of him mid-flight: Johnny 5 followed down the left of the chute with his dog Sammy close behind: Louis followed and I took the next chute across which was just full of waist deep powder.... Hero snow. It's hard to go wrong in this stuff because even the most awkward fall just lands you in a big, soft, fluffy pile of snow. Adrenalin surging ...