by Sarah Abbots
Just got through the first two weeks of 11 so it’s flying by and we still have the “it’s only a holiday” feeling at the moment.
The first week was spent finding our feet, chilling out and getting to know the other boarders. So far we seem a pretty sound group plus Banff has been amazing and the people are really friendly.
The boarding has been really good and we have visited the 3 resorts a few times now so we are getting used to the different slopes. There’ve been a few crashes, 7 injuries (swollen ankles, busted knee, etc..) but everyone’s still feeling really good.
The group has settled and is blending in with the locals so it should be awesome 11 weeks! As for evening activities, we’ve had a go at curling with the skier’s group (there was a bit of boarders VS skiers competition there!) and Street Hockey which the snowboard pros joined us for so it was a good laugh! I think everyone enjoyed playing some authentic Canadian sports!
READ WEEK 3
by Carol Skolimowski
On Jan 5th 19 of us joined Al on the coach from Vancouver Airport to Rossland. The journey was interesting with heavy snow all the way. The driver did a sterling job, only to have a fallen tree hit the windscreen a few miles out of Rossland before getting stuck on the main hill in town. So at 4.30 am we unloaded and walked to our new homes for the season.
We woke to a beautiful sunny day and of course the heavy snowfall made for excellent skiing. We divided into three groups with instruction for the week focusing on stance as well as having our first lot of video analysis.
The weather has been a real mix with everything from white outs to -20C in the sun to freezing rain, perfect for testing the efficiency of all our new gear! Our helmets are coming in useful as we discover the delights of bopping through the trees.
We certainly aren’t going hungry, each evening we head for Clancy’s for fab food and Al’s daily updates and with Dan’s birthday this week we have all got to know each other pretty quickly.
The weekend found us doing Avalanche Safety training, which was excellent. Using our transceivers (beacons) we simulated a rescue and dug snow holes to understand the types and layers of snow before hiking uphill for our first experience of backcountry skiing.
READ WEEK 2
The big freeze hit Fernie with temperatures plummeting to -26, so we wrapped up and braved our first back country touring trip. For all the groups it was the first time they skied up the mountains (with a little help from the skins). With Sunday being a free day, we headed off on our Winter Safari to Newgate. Little did we know Ken, our legendary NONSTOP driver had been the Sherriff of Newgate and a pretty keen hunter. In his capable hands we saw a great selection of deer, elks and mountain sheep. We really are getting the full Canadian experience and with four days of lessons so far improvements on snow are really beginning to show.
READ WEEK 4
Georgie
After months of excitement and anticipation the 9th January finally arrived! Ready and raring to go, NONSTOP Ski 07 boarded the Air Canada flight and promptly annoyed everyone else on the plane hanging around and chatting in the aisles!
Gen welcomed us all into Calgary and put us onto the bus to Banff, arriving at our new home, the Y Mountain Lodge just a short hour and a half later!! Unfortunately fatigue got the best of us all and an early night was had! We arrived at the beginning of a cold spell and had our tour of the town with the NONSTOP Instructors in -20* the next day!
The first day skiing was up at Sunshine, getting those of us who hadn’t been on snow for a looonng time used to being back on the slopes, followed by a day at Norquay where some elements of teaching began! After such a hard week a night out was deserved! We hit the town, Tommys Bar and Hoodoo Lounge, clearly our new hang-outs!
Week 1 officially began on the Monday at Lake Louise, starting the week as we meant to go on, injuries few and far between, except for the Tuesday social where we all went curling. Who on earth decided that running on ice was a good idea? It’s harder than it looks!
The weekend activities involved a visit to Melissa’s bar, definitely an addition to the hang-out list and then again onto Hoodoos, where we showed Banff how to have a good time.
With such a wicked group of people…the banter has been NONSTOP!
READ WEEK 2
This week started with our two day avalanche course. The first day was predominantly in the classroom, the transceiver search and rescue exercise in the car park was delayed as a truck full of snow was dumped onto Dave’s transceiver. Proper avalanche training! The second day we took to the mountain, for the snow testing. One group thought they dug into a bears den until Ken the guide assured us we would know because of the stench.
READ WEEK 3
Tom | January 25th, 2007
