Heating Failure
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| Seirus Heat Touch gloves |
As my regular readers will know, I am somewhat reliant on
heated accessories to keep me cozy during all my ski trips. So you can imagine
my horror when my boot heater charger broke in Kimberley, BC. It was 5 pm and I
was about to do the overnight re-charging for my heated gloves, heated vest, boot heaters and camera battery before heading out for après ski.
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| Therm-ic boot heaters |
As I plugged everything in at various sockets around our
Trickle Creek condo, all the red lights came on apart from the boot heaters.
Assuming it was a faulty socket, I changed the charger to another outlet –
still no red lights. At this, I decided to investigate closer, fumbling around
for my reading glasses, only to discover that the miniscule copper wires were
hanging out of the wiring.
When tweezers and Band Aids didn’t work, emergency! I had to
find a hardware shop – that night. A bit of a challenge at 5 pm in a ski resort
in a remote part of Canada’s East Kootenays, you might think. But heading out
to the Pedal and Tap bar and restaurant in downtown Kimberley to meet friends
as planned, I found the perfect hardware store right next door to the restaurant!
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| Bavarian Home Hardware Kimberley |
Although it was closing at 5:30, the
owner, Mr George Wood managed to splice and re-wire my charger in next to no
time, charging me a paltry $5 for his vital work! The Bavarian Home Hardware store, smack
dab in the middle of Kimberley’s Alpine-themed Platzl entertainment district,
basically saved my ski trip. It would have been quite an ordeal for me to ski
all day long in every temperature - researching for my various articles and
blog entries - without my trusty Therm-ics to keep my toes toasty.
Kimberley Capers
Before the boot debacle, the first obstacle had been getting to Kimberley. Road closures via the usual short and scenic Radium route - due to avalanche control issues because of continual heavy snowfalls and warm temps - meant a longer route. Staying at Trickle Creek Lodge right on the ski slopes was a wonderful treat after the driving difficulties: fully kitted out condo with balcony overlooking the bunny hill and a fabulous complex of steamy outdoor pools and hot tubs surrounded by snow.
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| Kimberley's Black Forest Glades |
Three sensational spring skiing days were topped off with some great restaurant re-visits. Three minutes down the road is a wonderful Bavarian restaurant called the Old Bauernhaus, a farmhouse built over 350 years ago and dismantled and brought over to Canada to be reincarnated as an Alpine eatery - my fave for fondu.
A further five minutes away, the town of Kimberley is equally delightful with its quaint entertainment district, an eclectic collection of Bavarian-themed buildings serving as restaurants, shops, town hall and other amenities. The main street is pedestrianized with decorative streetlights and trendy pavement cafés. Although very ‘olde-worlde’ looking, Kimberley is pretty progressive with an emphasis on gluten-free, veggie and vegan food, yoga, and healthy outdoor pursuits. I feel so at home there!
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| The Platzl, downtown Kimberley |
Lions and Lambs
Back to the subject of spring weather, in the UK they say that March “comes
in like a lion and out like a lamb”. This weather adage sort of holds for March
skiing in Canada, too, except that the lion and lamb aspect changes on a daily
basis!
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| Me in the Monster Glades Area at Nakiska |
At the beginning of my two-week ski safari, I arrived in
Calgary to lion-weather: minus 17 Celsius with considerable wind-chill lowering
into the minus 20s. A day later I was skiing at Nakiska, Calgary’s closest ski
hill, in lamb-like spring temps, blue skies, and winter powder in the Monster
Glades. I was researching for an article for the Dallas Morning News on tree
skiing, so Nakiska was a perfect place to start. Although well known for both amateur
and professional race training programs on polished pistes, not everyone
realizes Nakiska has such great glades accessed from the upper chairlift.
Ain’t no Sunshine
when you’re gone…or when you’re there!
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| Tim and Deuce Dore at Sunshine's Goat's Eye |
Next two days, I hit gold at Sunshine Village which had
accumulated 70 cm that week and continued snowing all weekend! Although ground
temps were warm – slated to go up to plus 10 in the valley - windchill justified
me wearing all my latest heated accessories. Luckily I never go anywhere without
my heated accessories so I could adjust my temperature according to lamb or
lion variations. The sublime skiing all weekend more than made up for the
freeze. Much of Sunshine is open bowl skiing but there are plenty of treed
areas under Tee Pee Town Chair, off Wawa, Wolverine and particularly Goat’s
Eye. This was a great day for the steeper terrain skier’s left of the Goat’s
Eye chairlift onto the long double diamond from the top. No rocks, easy entry
and untracked pow most of the day.
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| Free hot chocolate at Sunshine Village |
That Saturday was a bumper day for skiers at Sunshine with
6000 people congregating there from Banff, Canmore, Calgary and further afield.
Despite the carpark crowds, the hill didn’t feel busy, especially in the black
and double diamond areas. Sunshine’s inbounds backcountry area, Delirium Dive
opened mid-morning yielding even more fresh tracks – like catskiing without the
price tag. An extra bonus: Sunshine has taken to issuing free hot chocolate in
the carpark – felt like Colorado-style pampering!
Epic Snow at Lake Louise
Hoiking me out of bed, dressed for skiing, by 7 am takes
some doing – unless it’s going to be a powder day. With 30 cm of fresh at Lake Louise on my last Sunday and then a further 20 falling that night, I was in the
8:30 am lift line champing at the bit for first dibs both days. The Sunday was
relatively busy with the Calgary crowd but as the lifts started to open up
across the mountain following avalanche controls, I managed to get fresh lines
in all the ungroomed runs and glades all day long. Best of all, the back bowls
off Summit Poma did not open that day. Disappointing to the weekend warriors,
but I knew I was coming back Monday so I was happy to wait.
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| Waiting for Brownshirt to open at Lake Louise |
By the time the area opened next day around noon there was
50cm of new snow in there and a gaggle of locals gagging for it! A huge cheer as
the patroller opened the rope and we all struggled to climb through the thick
snow and traverse, climb, stagger and pole to the pristine powder. The jostling
felt like boarder or skier cross – good-natured but with deadly intent. So
rather than compete for long with hefty hardcore hikers, I jumped out of the
queue to nab my own line before others cobwebbed my snow with their tracks. I
got 50 consecutive perfect turns in, admiring my wiggly pattern for quite a
while from the ski out before the gungho gang scribbled it out with their
boards and skis.
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| First Track Frenzy at Lake Louise |
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| Cheese fondu at Whitehorn Lodge |
Now, the upstairs has been remodeled HGTV-style, getting rid
of the unglamorous utility décor and replacing it with a mountain modern motif,
a metal, wood and slate combo. Tables are white-clothed, black-napkined, some
low and spacious, others high with tall stools, plus a few intimate booths. A
bar, good selection of international wine and beer, and a small but bijou menu
finish off this ideal spot for reminiscing over radical runs skied all morning.
The glacier-gazing and lake-view deck is all ready for spring sunbathing
sessions. Just needs a champagne bar and some heated lamps and you would think
you were in the Alps or Colorado!
… and I’m talking about free of charge, not all mountain
skiing. If you buy a season pass for next season right now at the earlybird
prices, you get three free weeks skiing this season until the resort closes. Now is a great time to start investigating season passes for
next winter. I know it seems a lot of money to fork out so far in advance, but
it always saves money and when the 2014/15 season starts, you will be able to
ski right from the first day to the last, maximizing value for money. Savvy
skiers plan ahead!
