Sorry, I hate that phrase. But when you’re gettin it, you’re gettin it.

I finally got under way towards alaska, and now am sitting in my van in a sun-baked parking lot just below the Chateau Lake Louise. I took off two days ago through eastern Idaho and Missoula then crossed the border yesterday at Eureka, MT/Rooseville B.C. I managed a nice 1 hour mountain run through some rolling cow fields in Lima, ID then a 1.5 hour skin up the Lake Louise ski area yesterday.

HOLY MACKEREL the cliffs behind Lake Louise Ski Resort are amazing!! Teton fever anyone? There was a mild breeze at the top but otherwise skinning the resort was pretty nice. Skinning can get a little boring if you are doing it alone often, but once you get up high and you’re in the middle of some sick mountains, things start to roll along pretty well.

Sick

Sicker

Sickest

Speaking of sickness, The Kootenay/Jasper/Banff National parks never fail to completely blow me away every time I visit (this would be my fourth). Between the hoards of deer and staring at the mountains, let’s just say the driving on these dry, well maintained highways is a little rough.

After cruising the 3000′ down to the car I cranked some Zeppelin and had a snack of bread and sun-melted butter before driving up to the Lake Louise Hotel to check out some parking lot camping possibilities. I’d been here in February for the relay from Lake Louise to Banff just after the World Cup in Canmore. It’s pretty nice to be here when it’s warm, not 5am, and not “tired” after a week of watching people ski.

So today I wake up in this parking to a perfect blue-bird and next to the nordic trails. Little did I know that in 20 minutes of fun crust cruising through the trees I would be HAULING across Lake Louise toward what could easily be one of the coolest crust skis of the spring. There is a little glacial moraine at the end of the lake, but over the top you end up in the middle of 2000 cliffs and amazing couloirs and chutes (that I will some day dominate). This part was amazing. I didn’t bring my camera, but you *just* have to be there to understand anyway. WOW. What better way to wake up to a new day than getting a 1.5 hour workout without even realizing it.

So the coffee’s done and the sun is getting high. Time to roll.

Usually I like hitting the creeks to wake up and stay clean on a long drive, but since they are all iced up, I’ll settle for a freezing garden hose!

This entry was posted on Friday, May 2nd, 2008 at 3:27 pm and is filed under Training, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.