Super8 Rocky Mountn House Rocky Mountain House

Well, I got my wisdom teeth out and everything went very well.  The Dentist didn't realize I am going to be leaving so soon so after I told him I am leaving on the 6th, he got on dat. I got a local anesthetic, so i was awake for it all, and I don't see what the big fuss is about getting your wisdom teeth out, it was a breeze.  Then again I could have been VERY lucky, I will ...

My friend Don and I used to be co-workers. His wife is Canadian and wanted to move back to Canada so Don retired and they now live in a rural area of Alberta where Don is establishing his career as a sculptor. I was excited to be invited to visit and was really looking forward to seeing his studio and his work. Unfortunately (for you) he asked me not to take pictures of his works in ...

... touristy town just outside the entrance to Kootenay National Park. I stop at the entrance to the park to pay the entry fee then proceed through narrow canyon walls into the park. There are periodic rain showers but I prepared for that probability when I left camp so I keep going. The overwhelming, and very sad impression I'm left with of Kootenay is kilometer after kilometer (I'm in Canada -- everything's in metrics) mountainside after mountainside covered with dead trees. I ...

... canal, and then flew off to Victoria. I headed out to Vancouver Island to visit my friend Randy who is going to Bible school on Thetis Island. We had an awesome weekend out there hangin out, although we did not get to go bungee jumping because of the snow, but I will go eventually. After heading back to Alberta, our team reunited and had 2 weeks of focus which is basically prep for spring tour as well as an opportunity to ...

... not familiar with the term, the dictionary defines gorby as:   Gorby - punter, tourist on holiday in a ski resort. Usually characterised by the presence of a gorby gap, a space left deliberately between the hat and the ski goggles to aid frostbite of the forehead. The prime example will be dropping skis and poles everywhere whilst stumbling around blindly and talking loudly ...

... and have our first meal out with just the two of us since we have been here. Went to The Keg steakhouse at the Caribou Lodge ("The Boo" as us locals call it) for a really good steak. It was a good opportunity to check it out as a potential hotel for our parents to stay at when they come out in April - very nice. The other highlight was our IA road trip to The Kicking Horse Resort in British Columbia, about a 2 hour ...

... by and it was an early meal and a couple of relaxing beers before everyone retired to bed to revise for tomorrow. Day 2 brought a new instructor - Jeff (and his cheesy catchphrases "nice turns, great job, let's go ski - that's what we do here, etc etc"). We then spent all day teaching in turn, from the total beginner level, who have never seen a ski, right up to the competent parallel skier. This led to demonstrations by some of us of some of the most ...

... 30 feet the flat bit runs out and then there is a really steep section. He had hopelessly underestimated our powerful poling and the last thing I remember seeing was the horrified look on Ben's face as his beginner class went sailing off over the horizon and headlong down the black run. There's been a second casualty this week as Jason, one of the snowboarders and also our expert IA table-booker, dislocated his shoulder going off ...

... and "bending ze knees". As Patrick would say himself: "you get the ideee". We have also had our first serious injury this week. Dave, one of the other skiers, fell awkwardly early in the week whilst following his instructor off a 6ft jump and ripped one of the cruciate ligaments in his knee. He's such a nice guy and has taken it really well but everyone feels so sorry for him because he won't be able to finish the course ...

... week was spent consolidating what we had learned last week about planes of balance, base of support and centre of mass and then moving on to analyzing the three phases of the turn. There are so many weird exercises and drills to do which all make you feel a different sensation on your skis. One group skied down the entire Men's Downhill run sideways and another did it in just boots, no skis ...