Montreal :: Canada
Fun in the snow.
Places: Calgary, Banff & Montreal.
Coolest thing I did: Sat in an outdoor hot tub while it was -5 degrees and snowing. Very invigorating, yah?
Coolest thing I didn´t know:
Since last we spoke I've been mostly snowboarding.
After a quick flight out to Calgary on Canada's only remaining cheap airline (thank got we chose Westjet over Jetsgo, who went bankrupt last week) we got a nice 1.5 hour drive through the flattest suburbs on Earth and into some of the nicest scenery I'm ever likely to see. More on that in a sec. Watching the rockies disappear beneath the plane as it came into Calgary we were confronted with what must be one of the longest plains I've ever seen. You can see the Calgary skyline from miles and miles away, a jagged square silhouette jutting out of the infinite horizon. I'm sure if you had good enough binoculars you could probably see Toronto from there, it's that flat. However, off into the other direction, from whence we'd come, you could see the majesty that is the Rockies.
The drive up is everything you want from Canada: fir trees, mountains, frozen waterways and snow, lots of snow. It was an excelent reward from the trip through the estates of identical 3 story houses you see for miles before (one family per 6 bed house apparently, they call them Mc Mansions over here). The only thing that could have made it more perfect if there were mooses (is that the plural?) strutting over the road. This is why we came to Canada, and it was only going to get better.
We met Grantos at the Sunshine village, a remote little ski resort that he's currently doing fine work in. The place is nestled in a valley between several mountains that must be reached via a 20 min gondala ride. Most people come up from the town of Banff to come do snow sports there, but thanks to the Friends of Sunshine program, Grant got us a place to stay in the lodge for next to nicks. We did get a lovely room first up looking over the water filtration plant, but with that much snow, who cares? It was tops.
So, we spent the next few days on a bit of drinking, a few sessions in the outdoor hot tub and, of course, lots of snowboarding. Yvette had to take a lesson on the first day we got there so I went out with Grant and he was quite paitent as I tried to regain my balance, then composure, then courage to turn the board. He had to work a fair bit, so we'd hook up with him on his time off and either eat, drink or board with him and go out riding ourselves. Yvette did very well and we were pretty much going down the green runs (for us beginners) at about the same speed by the end of the week. Silly grins on both our faces.
We had a fair bit of snow, but only two mornings when there was freshly fallen powder snow overnight. It was so much better to ride on and I had a ball. Grant and his mates have become what they like to call snow snobs, only really being happy if half a metre fell overnight and towards the end we were both getting a bit like that. We were very lucky though. We overheard a few blokes at Calgary airport saying they were off to another local resort, Fernie and there was so little snow their mates had passed mountain bikers going up the slopes. With what we heard of the conditions in Whistler too I think we were extremely fortunate. I hope the option comes up again to go this winter, but if not, there will have to be another next winter for sure.
Being such a small village, we found the nightlife was mostly the people who live on the mountain, as the hotel guests who can afford to stay there are mostly too old or boring to be out on the booze. After a big night on Sunshine Lager (as good as it sounds) we converted to something called Honey brown, and then coke and Rye whiskey. Between that and eating in the staff cafateria we got a good look at who works up here and why. There seems to be a certain crowd attracted by the idea of spending half a year doing nothing but working and snow sports. Almost appeals to me too.
It was a very young crowd. Gap year brits, aussies and kiwis dominate so it looks like alot of fun. We even got to see the world famous DJ Weasal play, who is a kitchen hand that smokes weed with Grants room mate. At least I think we saw him play, too much Sunshine larger in between the afternoon and going to bed that day. I like to think it was the altitude but I'm assured by Yvette that I was just too drunk.
So since then we got on a plane and came to Montreal. From what I can tell flying over the country in about two weeks it can be summed up as thus: Rainy, Mountains, flat, cold, lakes, french, more lakes, Newfies. I'm sure there's more to it but you get the gist.