Cross Country Ski Weekend

Posted on February 19, 2013 by debbie

Our good friends J&R join us in the mountains for a weekend of cross country skiing, fresh air and snow covered mountain views.

After a late start on Saturday, caused by a fire alarm in J&R’s hotel, we head out to the Lake Louise area. We will ski either Pipestone or a new route between the Moraine Lake Road and the chateau.

IMG_5694blogWe opt for the Moraine Lake Road route which takes us parallel to the vehicle road on the Tramline Trail, then onto Fairview back towards the Moraine Lake Road. Once we are skiing on Fairview, the sights are gorgeous with snow decorated trees – whiteness all around.

IMG_5686blogWe do not meet any other skiers. The stillness and silence is amazing. The trail is in great condition and the ski is enjoyable. We wind our way along and soon find ourselves on the Moraine Lake Road. We decide to keep skiing and ski up and up along the road. When we turn around it is a fast glide down in the tracks. Everyone enjoys our first ski of the weekend!

IMG_5633blog

We wake up to snow on Sunday and all agree to ski Mt Shark up the Spray Lakes Road. We pile into our vehicle and head out and up into the wilds. We are surprised at the number of vehicles in the parking lot when we arrive at Mt Shark. We are not the only ones with the idea to ski up here.

We have skied this area before and we all know that the first few kms are gruesome. Lots of steep downs and ups. It has been snowing up here too and the tracks are covered in six inches of snow.  Snowplowing through the fluff making S turns (I follow J’s tracks!) down the hills is actually FUN! The deep snow makes herringboning up the hills more difficult and I notice my cough/cold has sapped some strength and endurance from me.

We get to the end of the first section and the fellows say “That’s the way” and we head off to realize quite quickly that we are doing the same loop again. I struggle on, getting further and further behind and breathing harder and harder, and those of you who know me know that this would not make me happy. Anyway, we get through the loop again and decide to follow the signs for a 5 km loop (and I am praying that it isn’t as hard) and we head out after I catch my breath.

IMG_5701blogIt is snowing now and the trees are iced in snow. We truly live in a wonderland and the marvelous thing is that it is in our own backyard. How many people are so fortunate?

The trail winds it way around and soon we are back in the parking lot. Except for some grouching by me, el sicko, another great ski. Time for sandwiches, treats and tea in the car.

Murray, Debbie, J and R

Murray, Debbie, J and R

It was a good ski weekend, with fresh snow, good conversation, exceptional friends and wonderful snow covered sights.

Posted in Western Canada | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

A Few Days with a Birdhouse

Posted on February 18, 2013 by debbie

This birdhouse lives in the backyard in Canmore.

IMG_5654 (522x640)I keep my eye on it and one morning, it gets a visitor!

IMG_5684blogThe little chickadee perches on the front post, sticks its head inside for a look and then hops on top for a view before flitting off.

The next morning, we wake up to a snow covered birdhouse.

IMG_5697blogThrough the day, it keeps snowing and snowing and snowing, almost burrowing the little treasure.

IMG_5704blogThe life of a birdhouse!

Posted in Western Canada | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Simple Things

Posted on February 14, 2013 by debbie

I have been thinking about light and photography lately. This morning, in Canmore, the sun is shining through the living room windows. I get my camera. I start shooting.

IMG_5648 (640x523)I love how the sunlight illuminates the silver pot and also highlights the Christmas Cactus. The bright red adds a zap.

IMG_5663 (640x527)At home, we get shadows playing across our walls from the trees and the front door. We are always marveling at the wall art. I see that the wall art has followed me to the mountains.

IMG_5662 (427x640)This is my favorite. See how the light accents the bird’s beak, neck, back and wing. Wood shows off the light wonderfully.

IMG_5654 (522x640)As I was eating my breakfast, I was studying this birdhouse out the back. The roof is rusting, making it blend in to its environment hoping for some small inhabitants.

 

Posted in Western Canada | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Packing Puzzle – The Decision

Posted on February 12, 2013 by debbie

I ignore the bags and the mess in the library for days. I roll over the pros and cons of the last two options in my head. I keep coming up with the same answer. I discuss everything with Murray yet again. He agrees.

I decide to go with the carry on option using a roller bag and knapsack.

Osprey Talon 22 and Rossignol Transit Roller Bag

Osprey Talon 22 and Rossignol Transit Roller Bag

Now I have to clean up the mess in the library!

Posted in Planning and Packing | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Feeding the Addiction

Posted on February 11, 2013 by murray

For those that do not know Edmonton is 4 hours from the mountains so I cannot just wake up and decide to go skiing on this day or that. The past few years I have been ski touring almost exclusively. Our river valley offers very little opportunity to pursue such a passion.

Snow came early this year but I was not able to take advantage of it. We were in Africa. So I headed west as soon the Christmas holidays were over. Part of backcountry skiing is the serene surroundings and the busiest time of the year (Christmas) in the mountains means more people in the backcountry and since I’m retired I do not have to be there when the crowds are. The skiing in the Rockies is mostly marginal at best before January anyway so even though the snow came early I did not miss much.

I managed 4 days in January. All four were up into areas I had never skied before. Three out of four had snow that was at least knee deep. Although the snow was very dense and hard to ski it is that kind of skiing that we walk up mountain for 3 or 4 hours for. The other day the snow was not deep but it was light and fluffy and was like skiing silk.

Back country skiing is not for everyone. It is gear intensive, I carry a 10 kg. pack on my back all day. It is a long tough slog up hill sometimes through knee deep snow. There is always impending danger; avalanches, injury, and I suppose animals. There is no guarantee of good snow, which at the end of the day means a nice walk in the woods. The out track is often not enjoyable skiing, but it can be fun, if not a little dangerous.

The fact is even when I ski at a resort I look for marginal conditions to challenge myself. I can ski the piste reasonably well and it no longer holds much interest for me. The last few winters 90 % of my mountain days have been in the backcountry and I do not see that changing.

I am hooked. To feed my addiction I have to travel. This week we go again. As I said there are no guarantees but the fix should be enough to abate the shakes for a week or two.Taylor 5 Cirque 1 Taylor 1 Taylor 2 Taylor 3 Taylor 4

 

Posted in Western Canada | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Packing Puzzle – Part 2

Posted on February 8, 2013 by debbie

Test pack Options Three and Four from my last post. Here are the results:

Option Three – We pull all Murray’s dive gear out but no clothes, toiletries etc. We have to play to fit four fins into his bag and still leave room for wetsuit, clothes, dive booties etc. We actually get it to work! There appears to be lots of little spaces to stuff clothes and such in. He usually takes 2 dive mask containers, one with his dive mask and one with assorted small gear in it (compass, extra straps, that sort of thing) but we will have to devise another way for him to carry these. Ziploc bags work great! The bag isn’t overly heavy either. We also talk about him talking a small backpack as a purse instead of his courier bag.

I then repack the Rossi Transit roller bag and my Talon 22 knapsack and it is doable. It is very tight though and if we have forgotten something, we will be in trouble.

This option looks like a possibility.

Option Four – I first pack my knapsack with the items that I definitely want to carry on – camera, housing, regulators, netbook, bathing suit, dive mask. I then pack absolutely everything else on the floor into the Swissgear suitcase. It all fits with room to spare. It only weighs 27 lbs. It is large and bulky and for someone used to going with carry on luggage it looks and acts like a stegosaurus. AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!

The issue I have with checking a bag is that the bag may not make the connection, or will disappear completely, in Houston on the way to Cozumel. I  have all this new dive gear and there is a potential that I won’t be able to use it. This would annoy me to no end.

After all that, this is a plausible option too.

What do I do?

I push all the bags and gear into our library and there it sits. I now have to commit.

Posted in Planning and Packing | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Packing Puzzle

Posted on February 6, 2013 by debbie

As I mentioned in my last post, I purchased my own BCD and regulators due to frustration with rental gear on our last dive trip. So now I have to figure out how I am going to pack this extra stuff and still travel carry on.

We are flying United Airlines and their website says that each passenger is allowed one bag and one personal item. The dimensions allowed are 14 inches x 9 inches x 22 inches (23 x 35 x 56 cm) or 45 linear inches (114 cm). I cannot find a limitation on weight of the bags. I guess they figure if they restrict the size of bag, a bag of that size can only weigh so much.

I consulted our friends in Syracuse, New York as they have gone diving with carry on only. They did it by each of them carrying a bag made by Akona and a knapsack. The Akona bag is the “<7 lb bag” which is a roller duffel type bag. They indicated that they left their fins at home and with careful packing were able to get a BCD, shorty wetsuit, regs etc in the roller duffel. The knapsack had a few clothes and the rest of their stuff in it. Okay, sounds reasonable.

I checked out the Akona bag and it is airline regulation size. I went to see one and my fins would not fit in the bag. Now I know why our friends left their fins at home. I am not willing to leave mine at home. The bag was quite small and a BCD took up most of the room in the bag. I am not convinced this bag is the right solution for me.

I did not have a knapsack big enough to carry a decent amount of stuff so I have purchased a Talon 22 by Osprey from Campers Village. I have a Talon 11 and it is too small – I bought it to wear cross country skiing to carry extra mitts, extra warm layer, bars and water. The Talon 22 is larger and will carry more, and will hopefully pass as my airline “personal item” or “purse”.

Now I figure I have two options. Option One is to pack everything into my current carry on bag plus the Talon 22.  Option Two is to buy a roller suitcase that is airline cabin regulation size (and that my fins fit into) plus the Talon 22.

Option One – Murray helped me do a test pack today of my current bag and the Talon 22. All I can say is OUCH! Both bags were stuff to their max and I am not sure the larger bag fit the 14 x 9 x 22 dimensions once packed. The bag weighed only 22 lbs and the knapsack weighed 15 lbs. The idea of carrying the bag on my back as a backpack and carrying the knapsack in my arms like a sack of potatoes does not appeal to me – 37 lbs total on my little frame running through an airport.

Option Two – My buddy, A, showed me a roller bag made by Rossignol that measures exactly 22 inches in length and has a nice open cavity to pack stuff in. I borrowed one and did a test pack. All I can say is OUCH! I cannot get fins and BCD, plus the rest of my dive gear into the Rossi bag. The fins won’t fit into my Talon 22. If I left my fins at home, I might be able to make this work.

Now what????

Option Three – Murray suggested that he take my fins and pack both set of fins into his bag and I take some of his other stuff. We will test this tonight.

Option Four – I went out this afternoon and purchased a 25 ” tall, 4 wheel roller suitcase made by Swissgear. Yes, I may succumb to checking a bag! GULP! That would be a big step for me. We will test pack this monster tonight also.

Stay tuned for the results!

Posted in Planning and Packing | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Scuba Diving in Cozumel, Mexico

Posted on February 2, 2013 by debbie

Before we left for Africa, we spent some time researching and booking a dive trip with our Edmonton friends. I find it odd to be booking a long range trip before the short range trip has been taken, but sometimes it has to be done.

The group bantered about a few Caribbean destinations and chose Cozumel. Although Murray and I had been there in 2001 and then again in 2003, we decided that it was  a place that we would like to go back to. The island will have changed in the 10 years since we were last there. Here are a couple of pictures from those trips.

The motley dive crew - Debbie, Murray, Dive Master Polo, M and T

The motley dive crew – Debbie, Murray, Dive Master Polo, M and T

Street scene

We are going with R, A and B, so that makes a group of five – four divers and one relaxer. These are some of the same folks that we went to Bonaire with two years ago. Between R, Murray and me we investigated hotels and found a boutique hotel we were all happy with and booked ten nights into the Mi Casa en Cozumel. Murray and I like to stay in town so we can walk to restaurants, shops and explore the sights so we convinced the other three travelers to stay in town too.

At the same time, we investigated flights and the best route is through Houston then direct to Cozumel. Red eye to Houston, couple hour layover and into Cozumel by 11:00 am. Not bad. The return trip was even easier. Goofy story….Murray and I booked our flights early in the week, but B could not book until the weekend. We wanted to sit in the same row, so Murray and I picked seat numbers “D” and “F”, leaving “E” empty and hoping no one picked that seat before B booked her flights. B then booked her flights and was able to get seat “E” on all the flights, so we are sitting together. We thought we were quite ingenious with what we did, and it was a little fun trying to out think other travelers.

With the two critical pieces booked, we jetted off to Africa.

Once we returned from Africa and got back to mountain standard time, we started looking at dive operators.  This involved emails to dive shops, my famous spreadsheet analysis and a few discussions with the group.  Once again, between R, Murray and me we found one we were all very happy with (Blue Magic Scuba). Booked, paid a deposit and we were done.

Now on to the fun stuff – like figuring out how to pack my new BCD and regs and still travel carry on! More on that in the next post.

Cressi Aqua Pro 5 R BCD

Cressi Aqua Pro 5 R BCD

Posted in Cozumel, Planning and Packing | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Day in Banff National Park

Posted on January 31, 2013 by debbie

I delivered Murray to B’s house where a group is going to Taylor Lake to back country ski. I now have the day to myself in Banff National Park. The snow is abundant, so I am going to head to Lake Louise to cross country ski the Great Divide.

IMG_5603 (640x427)

I head off and notice that the tracks have been blown over by the wind but skiers ahead of me have cleared the way. As I ski I think about a conversation I had with J last week about photography and how important light is. I decide to look for opportunities where light makes an ordinary photo into a WOW photo.

As I ski I realize how tired I am. I skied 21 plus km on Sunday, swam and did weights on Monday and my body is telling me it is tired. I bargain with myself that at 5 km I can make a call to turn around.

IMG_5609 (427x640)There are clouds obscuring the sun today, so there is a lack of sunlight streaming onto the fresh snow to make it sparkle. The wind whips around the trees, with their ready to fire snow bombs, and swirls the snow across the tracks.

I meet only 3 other skiers and it is very quiet out on the track by myself. Eerie for a city girl. I stop occasionally to look around for photo ops, cougars, critter tracks, others skiers. None anywhere.

IMG_5605 (427x640)

At the 4 km mark, the tracks turn ugly (as it looks like only one skier has gone past this point) and I bail. The wind is at my back now and the going seems easier. I think about having soup and hot tea for lunch at Laggan’s Bakery and Deli in the Samson Mall in Lake Louise Village. They make the best vegan tomato vegetable soup!

As I drive back to Banff I realize that the sun is already disappearing behind the mountains and it is only 1:30. During the winter, when the sun has such a low arc, it does not stay visible very long between the mountains. I manage to catch Cascade Mountain with sun on it.

IMG_5617 (427x640)

The photo ops are few today, but as I walk along the river in Banff I come across an ice dragon!

IMG_5621 (640x427)

I now wait for Murray to return from his adventure so we can share stories.

Posted in Western Canada | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Africa Safari – Just Go!

Posted on January 30, 2013 by debbie

nov23IMG_4419 (640x434)

This is my last post on Africa. I want to tell you that if you have ever dreamed of, or have always been interested in, seeing all the animals we usually see in a zoo in their natural habitat, JUST GO ON SAFARI!

I have wanted to go to Africa for a very long time, perhaps since I was a child. Murray has wanted to go to Zanzibar since his stamp collecting days. We went and we could not have asked for a better experience. People use the phrase “a trip of a life time” and I actually dislike it, but in this case, it was a trip of a life time for me.

The safari in Tanzania was great. Assured animal sightings, excellent lodges, fabulous safari company and guide. Seeing our first animal – a giraffe – just inside the park gates of Tarangire National Park was just so thrilling. It is amazing that a single giraffe was able to illicit such a reaction!

If the safari in Tanzania was great, the one in Botswana was awesome. We saw so much “animal behavior” as we sat in the truck and just chilled with the animals. Our guide was amazing and was also so very interested in what we were witnessing.

The animals were fantastic. They were brilliantly colored, graceful in their movement, entertaining and informative. We have so many wonderful memories of elephants, giraffes, cheetahs, zebras, hippos, leopards and lions just doing what they do in the wild. If you have ever wanted to go to Africa to see these creatures, just go.

Go.

Posted in Tanzania and Botswana | Tagged , | Leave a comment