Calgary and BC Ski Trip – Day 3

Today we woke up early and after the usual coffee and breakfast, we headed over to the ski hill to get an early start.
The morning started out chilly about -12, but warmed up to a balmy -2 C later in the day. The sun burned through the clouds and the conditions on the hill were great.
Fairmont is not a large mountain compared to the others in the area, but this year it worked to their advantage. Due of the shorter and lower number of runs, Fairmont Ski Resort staff are able to groom all the runs daily.
We were told by several people that all the other ski hills had icy conditions because of the lack of snow recently and a thaw that had created a base of ice that continues to make skiing at the other places not so great.
Julie and Will were ready to ski today, having sat it out yesterday. Will had a brand new set of atomic skis that he was trying out for the first time.
We got our lift tickets and were ready to go.
Since it was only my second day, I started off slow on the beginner’s hill, but after a couple runs I felt confident to venture to the top of the mountain on the chair lift. (No more evil poma lift)
Julie and Will had already hit the runs when Sue and I ventured to the chair lift for the first time post bunny hill.
Boarding the chair lift was much easier and less work than using the poma lift and before I knew it I was standing atop the mountain looking graced with a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains.
My first run down the easiest of the two greens was somewhat harry. I had to learn to turn up hill more to control my speed. It was exhilarating for a first run from the top, but the second time I was able to control my speed better. Sue was looking like a pro all the time.
After two runs down that green I was ready to try the green that Sue had been down the day before and said was more challenging.
This other run was a bit steeper in spots, but having learned how to control my decent better I was able to reduce my number of falls to only a couple.
We met up with Julie and Will at the bottom and they convinced me to try a blue run. I started on the green then branched off to the blue part way down, fell a couple times, but made it.
A few more blue runs and Julie managed to get me to try the black diamond run. I say “the” black diamond run because there is only one at Fairmont with a couple branches here and there.
This one was much more challenging for a novice like me and for a part of it I made it down before my skis. I slid on my butt for a couple hundred metres. I was reminded of tobogganing on McCauley Mountain in Picton as a child.
We stopped for a break around 1:00pm and enjoyed the relaxing chairs in front of the fire in the chalet, a couple pitchers of beer and some munchies before heading back out.
I did a few more blue runs and fell a few more times and by about 3:00pm my legs were giving out on me and I was sore from falling.
I decided to call it a day and Sue had had enough too, so we waited at the chalet while Will and Julie did a couple more runs.
The hill closes at 4:00pm although someone told us 5:00pm so we met back at the chalet and then ventured to the condo to recant our experiences and for me to take Tylenol and try to put left foot before right and get my legs to work.
We waited an hour and changed out of our ski clothes, then ventured to the hot springs for a soothing soak in the healing waters. A dip in the hot springs comes included in the $37.00 per day lift ticket fee. Without the lift ticket it would be a $10.00 charge. Julie and Will had to pickup bathing suits having forgotten theirs, but not long after we soaked for about an hour and it felt awesome. My muscles thanked me profusely.
We came back to the condo and had a delicious dinner of fillet mignon with Julie’s version of scallop potatoes and beans.
We decided we would take Tuesday off to give me time to heal. We’re to venture into Invermere and checkout panorama to see if it’s a skating rink like everyone has been saying.
After dinner I was beat and went to bed about 9:30pm. Everyone else was tired too, so that was the end of the evening.
That’s it for today, peace, and rest.