Waiting for snow
Winter has arrived, but so far, it has left the snow behind. As alpine and cross country skiers, Murray and I are waiting anxiously for the white stuff to fall. We hear parts of the mountains have gotten snow.
When we travel to the mountains, driving my SUV, we take loads of clothing and gear. We usually have 2 or 3 (gym bag size) bags each. One bag has street and lounge clothes. One bag has ski clothing and one bag has miscellaneous stuff like books, the notebook, Berkenstocks, ski wax, that kind of stuff. Along with the bags, we will have skis, boots, poles and backcountry gear. If we plan to swim, we will have our swim stuff in separate bags too. We often take food with us, so that adds a box and sometimes a grocery bag. All this equals a very full vehicle.
Since we know we have lots of room in my vehicle, my clothing limit is what I can stuff in the 2 bags I take. I always take multiple layers of ski clothing – for warm and cold weather. The temperature can be quite different between Edmonton and Canmore, Banff or Jasper. You don’t want to end up in the mountains with not enough layers. When I go to the mountains for the first time this season, I will list out what I take with me. I don’t really have an official list, I just go through my exercise clothing drawers and start pulling stuff out. Seems to work!
Murray is heading to Canmore this weekend for a teaching update course on cross country and telemark skiing. For two days he will need 3 pairs of skis, boots and poles (classic, skate and telemark). How can you travel light with 3 pairs of skis, boots and poles?
When Murray packs for the weekend, I will follow him around and write down what he packs and let you know what he takes. His “open the drawer and pull out stuff” method is the same as mine. Seems to work for him too!
The skis are ready, scraped and tuned. We are just waiting for snow……