Christmas at Canmore, Post 1: Snowboarding at Lake Louise

Tuesday, the first full day of our Canmore holiday, was spent snowboarding at Lake Louise. Megan and I had been intending to try skiing (both for the first time) because we have issues with getting off chairlifts on our snowboards (and apparently it's much easier on skis), but it turned out there was a gondola at Lake Louise, so we decided to snowboard instead.

Riding a gondola means that skis and boards are placed in boxes on the outside of the capsule and retrieved upon exiting at the top of the ride, thus avoiding the awkwardness and terror involved in sliding off a still-moving chairlift seat with only one foot strapped to a snowboard and trying to avoid the other three people disembarking at the same moment. (Click here to read the blog entry from the day this phobia developed - I didn't end up going snowboarding again last winter because my knee continued to twinge for some months and still occasionally does so!)

We were all quite happy with the grouping afforded by the skill, confidence and energy levels present in our 4-person group. In other words, Ben and Justin spent the day snowboarding from the top to the bottom of the gondola about 10 or 12 times, whereas Megan and I only boarded down 3 times. :) It was great to have company and yet not have to worry about holding the boys back (or being constantly instructed by them to do things that result in lots of falling over, bruises and grumpiness)!

Here's a building we stopped at for a rest - it had delicious chocolatey smells issuing from it but there wasn't a soul in sight! How awesome are these icicles!!

**All photos in this post are Megan's**

In between each of our runs, we had a nice rest in the cafeteria area. We met the boys for lunch after our first run, and discovered that what they say of Whistler is also true of Lake Louise - the place seems to be entirely staffed by young Aussies (and a few Kiwis)!! I've never felt so patriotic while ordering lunch in a foreign country before. All four of my servers were Australian and we shared a sympathetic whinge about how this country does not know about putting chicken salt on chips!

Here are Megan and I sitting in an ice sculpture of a bobsled - the sculpture was advertising the upcoming International Ice Sculpting Competition at Lake Louise!



And at the end of the day, here are four tired but happy and uninjured snowboarders, about to brush the snow off the car and drive home to some delicious pasta prepared by Megan and Justin...