Icefield Parkway

Yesterday we hired a car and drove along the Columbian ice field parkway (like a freeway but through a park).  Probably the most spectacular 230km of road we have driven on.  Photos don't do it justice however here are a few I took.  Tomorrow we are off to Vancouver on the train.

Marmot Basin skiing

The weather the last couple of days has been brilliant, getting into positive temperatures and no wind.  As can be seen in these photos the Rocky mountains are very impressive.

Jasper

We are now in Jasper. Mum and Row spent two days sking with Stacey and Rachel. We also went on a guided walk to an ice canyon. The scenery around Jasper is breath taking and I will post some photos from the ski field soon.

Tumbler Ridge photos

Tumbler Ridge

We flew into Grande Pairie yesterday and Rachel picked us up and we drove to Tumbler Ridge (about 2.5 hours). To day we have been looking around Tumbler Ridge. We went on a short walk to a frozen river and tonight we played curling, which is lawn bowls on ice!

Tomorrow we head for Jasper. I took stacks of photos today however the internet connection is very slow here so I dare not post any pics from here. Hopefully when we get to Jasper I can find a faster connection.

Big White day 4

Skiing was out for me today because of my ankle.  Row and Mum set out early and got some good skiing before the wind picked up around mid day.  I went for a skidoo ride in the afternoon which was a lot of fun.  Off the track was deeeep powder waist deep and more.  A couple of riders managed to find the deep powder and we had great fun digging/towing them out.

Big White Day 3

We awoke to it snowing heavily, it had snowed 30 cm overnight!  It was also a balmy -5 degrees.   That was the good news.  The bad news was that on my second run just as I thought I was getting the hang of skiing in powder through moguls I stacked and sprained my ankle.  Not sure how you twist you ankle while wearing ski boots but I managed it.  Thus an early finish for the day for me!  Not sure how long I will be out of action.

Big White Day 2

Day 2 was still -10 however there was less wind and good visibility.  A good day skiing.  The first picture is of the 'snow ghosts', trees and bushes fully covered in snow.

Big White

We got into Kelowna 12:30 pm Monday which is not bad seeing that we left Sydney 1:30 pm Monday.

You can see the unit we are staying in.  Looks good with the snow on the roof.

Our first days skiing was Tuesday and it was really cold, windy and snowing.  It was -10 degrees and my face ached it was so cold particularly with the wind chill factor.  

We noticed that a lot of other people were wearing face masks so at lunch we purchased some as well.   The last photo is Row and Mum modeling their new face masks.

Getting ready

One week to go and we are starting to pack.  Canada here we come.