Northern Rockies/Alberta ilovepugs goes to Banff/Revelstoke/Lake Louise

[ilovepugs]

OK, first I have to tell you about the pancake making machine.

We got into Calgary airport last night. It’s easier to cross the border in our car than to go through customs in the airport, and there’s a direct flight from Montreal to Calgary. We drove an hour and a half to Banff and stayed at the Canalta Lodge. It’s a bit out of the main part of town but it was really cute. I prefer to be closer walking distance to things when staying in Banff but we were just making a stop to sleep on the way to Revelstoke, so it was perfect.

Anyway, breakfast was included with our room. It was pretty good for hotel breakfast buffet. The most exciting part was the pancake machine though:



You just press a button and two perfect pancakes come out! I’ve never seen anything like this.

 

[GregK]

Have been all over my waffle making machine at the Ramada in Revelstoke the last 1.5 weeks! You have to pour the batter yourself and cook for 3 mins though……Boooo! Haha

Will be hitting Banff this Thursday till March 18th so we’ll have to get some turns in! Should be almost fully recovered from a 50mph crash by then….

 

[ilovepugs]

@GregK We’re driving to Revelstoke now. Seeya there.

 

[ilovepugs]

It’s really beautiful here. It’s my first time at Revelstoke. I’m on a board today, feeling kinda like my snowboarding skills have regressed because I spent a lot more time on skis the last season and a half. But… this is sort of lie, because if I think long and hard about it, I’ve never been that great at steep bump riding.

I’m going to take a lesson tomorrow and hopefully work on it. It’s a group lesson but I kinda doubt there will be a lot of us!

 

[Jilly]

Hey @ilovepugs , think my Chiropractor is still there if you need her....

 

[GregK]

@GregK We’re driving to Revelstoke now. Seeya there.

Forgot we were crossing paths as today was my last ski day today and tomorrow is my travel day to Banff. Let me know when you get to Lake Louise and we’ll meet up there.

Revelstoke skiing great now and more snow coming Wednesday to Friday. Trees are so fun here and fantastic glade sections off the sides of almost every groomer there.

 

[freeskier1961]

Let me know your thoughts on Kill the Banker at Revy

 

[ilovepugs]

Let me know your thoughts on Kill the Banker at Revy

Too tough for me. Steep, scraped off, some exposed rocks. If you can drop in below the headwall it does look pretty nice though.

 

[Mel]

Clearly we have lots of creative ways to increase maple syrup consumption

welcome back!

 

[GregK]

Like many runs there, Kill The Banker definitely has some steep parts on it!

There was a family going up the gondola with me and they were asking about some runs and the layout of the hill and must have seen a video online from the more tame parts of Kill the Banker. When we started up the lift, the dad mentioned “it doesn’t look too bad” and told him to “wait for it” near the top. Near the top the dad looks down and says “Oh shit, we are not skiing THAT!!!!”

 

[ilovepugs]

Clearly we have lots of creative ways to increase maple syrup consumption

welcome back!

Can’t wait to ski with you next week!!

 

[ilovepugs]

Recorded a few minutes of footy with my GoPro today too. I liked these stills!

 

[ilovepugs]

Oh look, it’s snowing again.

Took an advanced snowboard lesson today. It was a group clinic but I lucked out and didn’t have any classmates. It turns out that I have a lot of bad habits to unlearn. People talk about the terminal intermediate phase in skiing but from chatting with my instructor it seems like it’s also an issue for snowboarders, which I did not realize. Since snowboarding is ultimately less technical than skiing I think there’s even less of a culture of taking advanced snowboard lessons. I’m glad I did the lesson; I took away some good pointers for cleaning up my technique.

Better yet for SkiTalk purposes, DH also took an advanced “group” clinic that was a private with a ski instructor, Luke. Over the last few seasons skiing MRG he’s developed from a lifelong groomer zoomer to a bump addict but still has plenty of room to grow as a skier. He got a ton of valuable feedback on his bump and tree skiing, including powder skiing. Luke is a CSIA Level 3 instructor working on his Level 4 certification and has been teaching at Revelstoke for 7 years. DH liked the clinic so much he might try to book Luke again later this week.

 

[ilovepugs]

This is the very nice view from my hotel. Unfortunately/fortunately we are on a lower level and our view of the river is blocked by a snow bank.

I also unfortunately have some reservations about recommending this place so I’m not including the name of the establishment in my post. Too bad, it’s really scenic here. But it falls a bit short on the practical details in terms of hospitality.

 

[ilovepugs]

Not too much to report on today. DH is the skier depicted in the second shot above. (He does exist!) Was pretty disappointed with the footage today… camera was definitely pointed too low.

Got some new snow, which was nice. I was slow to get going in the morning because I ate it pretty hard yesterday and still had some lingering trepidation.

Highlight of the day was Hot Sauce, a black bump run I worked more on committing to my snowboard turns. I’ve come a long way from my fear of moving downhill at speed (even hiking), but it’s still a mental block for me.

Ended the day with 11k vertical feet. Slopes tracked a grand total of 4 runs. Not a lot! It’s hard work to ride on actual 3D snow while trying to fix my bad habits. The amount of vertical on this mountain is truly impressive though.

One more day on a single plank, then I think I’ll switch to skis for a little bit.

 

[tch]

@ilovepugs, in Revy now with a friend. Perhaps we’ll cross paths. But we’re a bit beat up after today; that new snow certainly got churned and bumped up quickly. Put in far too many vertical trying to find stuff that wasn’t so used. No trees for me after last year’s collision, so this place feels a little limited.
Two geezers both wearing all black.

 

[ilovepugs]

@tch Seems like this is the place for bump lovers! It is such a commitment for each run, especially from the top. Fortunately it’s easy to sit down and relax mid-run on a snowboard.

We have been eating in the Revelation Lodge for lunch, usually sitting outside. Short Asian woman with multi-colored jacket (blue/green/pink) and furry hood. Large white man with blue coat. Say hello if you see us.

 

[ilovepugs]

DH just told me this story. During his lesson, the instructor asked what we like to do aside from skiing.

DH had to think about it a bit. “Uh…. She snowboards too?”

I mean the better answer would have been petting our dogs, but I guess he didn’t think of that right away.

 

[ilovepugs]

Need to catch up on posting about my last day at Revelstoke and the skiing that happened and all that jazz but I met up with @Mel at Sunshine Village today and it was so much fun!!! Yay!!!

 

[Mel]

That was a great day!