I have survived my trip to Banff with only sore muscles and great memories. Aaron and I spent two days at Sunshine and thoroughly explored the hill.
We left at 6AM on Monday morning and got to the hill at 10:30AM. The vehichle lineup was insane, by the time we arrived they were already parking outside of the gate. On the way home the last car we saw parked was 2KM away from the Gondola station. Fortunately we found a spot closer in the parking lot, but was still a fair hike. The weather was beautiful with a view all through the mountains and the snow was soft and made for great skiing. The crowds were pretty big but it was a day that begged to be spent outdoors.
The next day we arrived at 8:30AM and got a much closer parking spot. After staying until 4PM the day before we were both pretty tired but were willing to give it all we had left. The day started out cloudy, and that’s the way it ended. It was still warm on the hill but the low light made it difficult to see the runs.
Of course this was the day we explored the moguls on the black diamonds so that made navigating a little tricky. We put in an honest day leaving at 3PM and then had dinner at Earl’s before watching the rest of the Canada World Junior game and Scrubs.
Today we got up early and headed to Johnston Canyon. We walked to the lower and upper falls, putting in a near 5KM hike. The journey to the Ink Pots would have doubled the distance but we didn’t think that it would be worth the effort so we got an early start on heading home.
The trip was 895KM’s but we didn’t do it on a single tank. I decided to put $10 in the Jetta at Red Deer to ensure we’d make it home. We could have come close to doing it in a single tank but I didn’t want to call AMA somewhere on HWY2 and waiting for their arrival as they brought extra fuel. I will take the Jetta to the bottom of the tank but will probably save that experience for when it’s a little warmer outside.
I took some pictures from today at the Canyon and have uploaded them to Flickr. You can access the album by clicking below or by going to the second image on the right under Jasper/Banff Trips. It was a great three days and look forward to going back to the mountains in the near future.
In other news, the modchip I ordered for my recently acquired XBOX has turned out to be a scam. The company I ordered from has taken a recent policy of accepting money but not shipping anything out. I have contacted my credit card company and will begin the process of clawing back my cash. Welcome back Internet!
