A most excellent trip! We arrived Saturday afternoon at the Chateau Lake Louise after an uneventful flight and a nice scenic bus ride from Calgary. After some unpacking, I hiked out across the lake to a frozen waterfall fed from melting glacier water. After climbing up a snow-covered hill to the base of the waterfall, I could hear water flowing beneath me. The ice was blue due to the mineral content. The easiest way back down was to slide down on my backside. It made for a rather cool walk back since I was wearing jeans. I made it back just in time for a great pasta dinner reception for our club that night.

Our first ski day was Sunday and everyone went to ski Lake Louise. The snow was in pretty good shape considering this has been their worst snow year in a decade or so. There were some rocks showing on some of the runs. I skied by myself for about half the day. The weather was mostly cloudy so we didn't get to see the wonderful views. On Monday, I and a few others took the bus over to Sunshine Village. They had much better snow and I skied by myself all day in leftover powder conditions. The new Goat's Eye Mountain has some great runs, although lots of rocks to dodge as well. I skied down to the base just in time to get on the last bus back to the Chateau. The hotel staff went all out for our Texas Ski Council welcome party that night. The food was out of this world. They had a buffet that had everything from baby octopus and calamari to veal and roast beef. Those Canucks sure can cook! I ate way too much and had to limit myself to six desserts. They had a great dance band so I was able to work some of it off. I finally crashed a little after 11 while others partied until after 1:00AM.

On Tuesday, some others in our club headed to Sunshine and had lots of wind and blowing snow to deal with. Sunshine could use a few more ski patrollers from what we saw. My roommate said it took about an hour for them to respond to an injured girl and get her off the mountain. That same day several of us Clear Lake skiers got in first tracks before the lifts opened skiing with Sandy Best, the Lake Louise sales director. He took us on a tour of some of the better runs and showed us where some of the backcountry stuff was, although we stayed in bounds. I had forgotten what a great mountain they have. On Wednesday, lots of the group headed over to Banff for shopping, etc. I spent almost all day skiing in the back bowls. There was a steady stream of skiers/snowboarders hiking up Elevator Shaft above the Larch area all day. It supposedly was a 45 minute hike to the top, assuming you were in shape. I wasn't and since I was by myself, I stuck to the lift-served runs. The next day a skier was buried in an avalanche up there. I heard he lived but didn't hear what injuries he sustained.

Thursday was club race day. I picked up my usual bronze medal on the NASTAR course and qualified for the individual races the next day. That night most of our club (about 60 out of 75) attended the torchlight dinner thing. After the lifts closed everybody met at the mid-mountain lodge for dancing/partying followed by another loosen-your-belt buffet. Dancing in ski boots is "different". I was a little late getting there. At 4:10, I headed up the lift to the top of the mountain and got caught in a sudden blizzard with 40mph winds and heavy snow. I skied back down through it and got back on the lift for another run. By the time I got to the top, the wind and snow had stopped and the sun was shining. I was looking forward to dropping into the bowl when I noticed a man leaning over a small child. I headed over to see if they were ok. They weren't. The child was a 6 year old boy named Matthew who was completely hysterical. He had really been psyched out by the blizzard and was crying/screaming his head off. His hands were cold because his gloves were wet from playing in the snow and his legs were partially exposed from his ski pants riding up. He could barely stand, much less ski. His 8 year old sister was also pretty scared but could ski. In retrospect I should have hiked back up to the lift shack and called the ski patrol but I figured one would be along soon since they'd be sweeping the hill at the end of the day. I carried Matthew's skis and his father's poles while he carried Matthew. I stayed right below his sister Kate as we skied down while their mother followed behind her. After about 20 minutes we finally came across a patroller and I had him call for a snowmobile. As I got to the lodge, there were five patrollers sitting on the snow talking. When I confronted Sandy Best about their inadequate job of sweeping the mountain, he said "Quit b****ing. Every time you open your f***ing mouth you're whining." That's Sandy. He rides a fine line between engaging, gregarious and entertaining to raving jerk. He said they'd already helped 6 people off the mountain that afternoon during their sweep. I responded that they missed a family of four so they were only hitting 60%. I didn't bother trying to continue the conversation and instead switched over to party mode. After the dinner and dancing was over (about 9:30), we were equipped with headlamps and skied down a freshly groomed beginner run in the falling snow being led by a ski instructor with torches. It was most cool. Unfortunately, our club was the last group of the ~150 people being taken down so the batteries in lots of the lights were going out. At least one member of our club was unable to ramain in control and hit a woman in our group, twisting her knee in the process. My toes are still a bit sore from wearing ski boots for 14 1/2 hours straight. Except for the injury to a club member it was a ton of fun.

Friday was our last ski day. I picked up another bronze in the individual races but finished well behind the leaders. One of these days I'll have to learn how to race. Bret Picka and Doug Griffith did much better but the Clear Lake club was still shut out of the top three in all of the racing divisions. Of course, none of us take racing nearly as seriously as some of the members of other clubs. Some of the clubs make rather ungracious winners, in my opinion. The final awards banquet featured yet another great buffet and more dancing/partying. The Lake Louise staff did a wonderful job all week. They really want us to come back. I'd imagine everyone who went would go back in a heartbeat.

For the week, I skied most of the mountain except for some of the hairier stuff that was either extremely steep or had too many rocks. I only had one wipeout where I released my skis, resulting in a bruised knee. Naturally, that happened on the first day on a beginner run in full view of a lift. Lake Louise remains at the top of my list of favorite all-around mountains. The weather was its usual unpredictable self, sometimes giving us several seasons in one day. The new snow we received throughout the week meant the conditions improved a little each day. I'd love the chance to ski there in a "good" ski year. Last year when they shut down Sunshine Village, some of the ski racks at the base were still buried under the snow. They usually run out of customers before they run out of snow. For the bus ride back to Calgary we had beautiful weather. I managed to stay awake until we got out of Banff National Park. When the skies were clear during the week, the views were unbelievable. I'm sure we'll be back soon, if not with the Texas Ski Council, then with just our club.

Until next season, keep thinking SNOW!!!