We are up at David Henry Lodge, a 15 minute helicopter ride from Valemount, BC. We are up here with 6 others to ski the powder and, for me, to rest and enjoy being away from the city.
Murray and I set a track around the lake and I do a couple of loops to get some exercise in. It is about a kilometer around and as I ski around, the snow sparkles, the sun beams down and the trees are decorated with the latest dusting of snow. I am a bright blue and orange dot of movement on a canvass of white and green.
After my “walk” around the lake, I sit in the sun at the front of the lodge. Murray has written about the quiet of the uphill climb while back country skiing. I am experiencing the quiet of the lodge and its surroundings. I hear the dripping of water off a crystal clear icicle. I see the trail of an airplane at high altitude, I do not see the plane but the sound of the engines drift down to me. All of a sudden there is a RAT A TAP TAP of a woodpecker! The wood of the lodge creaks every so often as it warms up in the sun.
The roof is heating up and the snow slides down and hits the ground with a loud THUMP. The first time it does this I jump. More slides off with a THUD, but I no longer jump. When it finally stops, a quarter of the red roof on one side is bare of snow.
The woodpecker is back and its RAT A TAP TAP is further off to the left. There are no other animal sounds, just me breathing in and out.
I move inside when I start to cool off. The fire crackles and spits, the flue pops as it expands and contracts with the heat and cooling. The quiet outside and inside the lodge, sitting high up on the mountain, is very calming and peaceful.