ROAD TRIP 2018: On the Road – Red Mountain – Lake Louise
Thursday, January 25: Departure for NASJA Group, but continuing on the road
The NASJA Western Winter Summit Meeting officially ended this morning with a bus departing at 8:00am, taking participants back to the Spokane airport for departures… Dan and I, along with Hula-Gan planned to continue on the road with more skiing destinations in Alberta, Canada as well as back through Whitefish, Montana, Silver Mountain, Idaho and Alta, Utah…
We opted to spend an additional night in Nelson, but decided to drive out to Red Mountain Ski Resort out of nearby Rossland, BC, Canada and about an hour drive away… We packed our boots and gear and headed out, following the directions of the GPS Mapping unit in the car… On route, we encountered a traffic delay with a roll over truck and accident that stopped traffic in both directions… and yes, it was snowing again with slick roads and everyone trying to get somewhere in a hurry…
By the time we got to Red Mountain, there was a long chain of cars attempting to get into the parking lot… We followed the flow and found one of the last 5 parking spaces in a lower lot… Geeze… this was a Thursday and why so many skiers & riders? We over heard some skiers stating that the power was out at Whitewater and everyone decided to drive to Red Mountain because you can’t pass up a powder day… We were glad that we made that decision but knew there would be lines on this day.
Red Mountain was on the road trip in 2012 when I had my hip replaced, but have had the opportunity to ski it two years ago on a similar road trip and was able to ski all the pods offered…
Red Mountain has 2,877 acres of lift-serviced terrain with 110 marked runs, served by 7 Lifts… It also boasts 2,919 feet of vertical and is a good size mountain with 5 different pods… http://www.redresort.com
This is a fun mountain… And is one of the only Ski Areas that one can make and investment in and be a part owner… http://www.redresort.com/ownthemountain/
Clouds were moving in and out over the top of the mountain and the call of more fresh snow thru-out the morning set up for perfect conditions… We headed up the Silverlode Chair then jumped on the Motherlode to the top of Granite Mountain at 6,807 Feet… From there we skied down Southern Bell down to the Paradise Lift, rode back up and skied Southern Comfort… I like that on this side of the mountain there is also a run named, “Inagadadavida”!
The snow was really good and yes indeed, nothing like fresh powder over groomed runs and good visibility… We skied a couple of more runs, then took a break in the Paradise Lodge… We skied back over towards the front side and rode Motherlode back up to the top and skied down to the base of the Grey Mountain Chair… Riding up the Grey Mountain Chair was like being transformed into a Winter Wonderland with open bowls and snow packed trees at the top… We skied down Corduroy… yep, that was the name of the run…
We skied back down to the base lodge and headed upstairs to Rafters for a lunch break… Legs were definitely feeling it today, but switched from the fat boards… Storm Riders to THE Ski as this was a lighter and easier turning ski… Thankful to do so and it made the difference…. Rafters is cool bar like setting with nice views and a comfortable pub feel… Hula-Gan was jonesing for Wings and these were plump and juicy…
We headed back up for a few more runs before calling it a day… There was lots of excitement going on in Rossland as they prepared for their annual Winter Carnival… in 2012 we attended the Winter Carnival and they have a bunch of crazy events lasting for several days… one of the crazy events is a home made sled race that screams down main street as well as huge rail jam, built in the middle of town that runs down a street… Folks in Rossland really appreciate and have fun with Winter!
The drive back to Rossland was uneventful and traffic flowed as normal on the snow covered roadways, but staying one more night in Nelson was a good call…
Later that evening we headed into the Vault for dinner and was able to view the Dub’s loose, not a good end to a great powder day…
Friday, January 26: Skiing Whitewater in Honor of Warren Miller and on the road to Lake Louise
Kind of a bummer this morning with the news of the passing of Warren Miller… Most of you know that I have had a long time relationship with emceeing the Lake Tahoe annual Warren Miller movies for the past 25+ years, plus have had the pleasure to meet him on several occasions, including being invited to have breakfast with him when they opened the Yellowstone Club… He was an inspiration for me to continue to find powder and the good things in life while on the slopes… He would be dearly missed… RIP Warren Miller… Today we ski in your Honor…
We packed up the Subaru and headed out to Whitewater for a few more turns before hitting the road to Lake Louise in Alberta, Canada…
Yes, there was snow covered roadways heading up and Yes, it continued to snow so again we would be catching some freshies… Hula-Gan continues to deliver the goods! Being a Friday, everyone in town took off this morning and by the time we got there, parking was limited to the bottom of the main parking lot…
We hit the slopes and rode up the mountain to ski some of the runs that we took the other day, but most of all took it easy and cruised for most of the morning… We did the change of clothes in the parking lot as it continued to snow, and we were off, back to Nelson to refuel before heading to Lake Louise…
We should have fueled before heading up to Whitewater, because after we did, the GPS Mapping instructed to head back up that roadway, so we drove past Whitewater, again… The drive to Lake Louise would take us north and east of Nelson, BC into Alberta, Canada… Snow Covered roadways and beautiful scenery, of what we could see… We headed towards Radium Hot Springs and up and over the pass… it was dark when we hit Hwy 1 and turned the wrong way, having to travel another 6 miles before we could turn around…
We checked into the Lake Louise Inn, a multi-building resort in Lake Louise and found the room to be cozy, but would suffice… no elevators, but got the main gear up the second floor with no issues… Being a Friday night, this resort was packed and had to figure out where to park the car… Lots of folks come to Lake Louise for the Weekend from both Calgary as well as Seattle and they were all here as well as their dogs, as they offer pet friendly room… Well, quite a few people and with dogs, at least… http://www.lakelouiseinn.com
The Lake Louise Inn is a nice property and the main lodge features 3 restaurants and a comfortable lobby… We made our way from building 4 to the Lodge and headed downstairs to the Explorer Lounge for dinner… this is a bar but with a casual setting with kids and families and other activities from board games to a pool table… Lots to chose from their offerings: http://www.lakelouiseinn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Explorers-May-1-2017-.pdf and I went for the Salt & Pepper Wings… Yes, sorry but I have always been a wing man, and so is Hula-Gan…
That evening, back in the room, I continued to checked all the posts in regards to the passing and memories of Warren Miller and was saddened but also a reminder to live each day to the fullest…
Saturday, January 27: Skiing Sunshine Village
Morning came early as we had to drive 20 miles to Banff to pick up our lift passes from Ski Big 3… The sunrise was magical this morning… I dropped Dan off at their office location in downtown Banff and circled the block as there was no parking on this main street… I have been to Banff several times and skiing the Big 3 in past NASJA National Meetings and this is a neat town with incredible scenery… In the 90’s I had the pleasure to stay in the Chateau Lake Louise as well as the Banff Center and the Banff Springs Hotel…
After picking up our passes we headed back down the highway to Sunshine Village… There have a multitude of changes and improvements to this resort since the last time I skied it… Sunshine is a huge ski area with over 3300 acres, 145+ runs and 3514 feet of vertical drop… all this serviced by an 8 passenger Gondola, 8 HS Quads plus a Bubble Headed Quad and 2 surface lifts…
https://www.skibig3.com/sunshine-village-ski-resort
We ended having to park way down the road from the resort center and take the shuttle bus up… Dan had set up to meet with a rep to take us a tour of the mountain… as he was writing his blog for GetSkiTickets.com and wanted to first hand interviews… We met up with Kyle, a young energetic kid… Okay, a 28 year old snowboarder who was detailed from their marketing department to show us around…
I was amazed how quickly the Gondola took hundreds of riders up the mountain to the Village at the top… Yes, even though this in a Canadian National Park, there is a small village with lodging and restaurants on the mountain… Visibility, again being an issue, this morning we rode up the Strawberry Express and followed our guide down and took a couple of warm up runs…
We skied a couple of more runs off several other lifts and made our way over to the Goat Eye Mtn. Pod… It was easier to ski with treelined runs on this side of the mountain… I lost track of what lifts and runs we skied down and just followed the guide…
We made it back to the Village and took a tour in Mad Trapper’s, in the Old Sunshine Village Mountain Lodge, one of the original buildings built in 1928… This was packed as a locals favorite and walls were lined with pictures and artifacts from years gone by… We made it over the newer Sunshine Mountain Lodge and stopped for lunch in The Chimney Corner Fireside Dining… Nice sit down restaurant with Big picture windows and a fireplace and menu that had lots to offer… Dan continued to get his interview and information for his blog and I ordered a pork belly sandwich, but was bacon and the dressing in the mixed greens in the sandwich did not agree with me… I ate it anyway… I should have gone with the others and ordered the fish & chips…
After lunch we made it back to up the mountain and took a couple of more runs including a fun run down a narrow tree lined corridor that was fast and fun! I wished I remembered the name of the run… Kyle had to leave us… So we continued to ski a few more runs before skiing down to the bottom of the Resort Center… A Great Day on the mountain with fresh snow… improved visibility, etc until we got back to the car… There was ticket on my windshield that I was not displaying a National Park permit and wondered what that was all about…
On the drive back to the Lake Louise Inn, the Low Gas Signal appeared and we made it back to Lake Louise on fumes… When I filled the tank, we had ¾ of a gallon left… I don’t think AAA would have come to my rescue, if we did run out…
I asked the front desk clerk about the notice that I received on my windshield… He said they do check for permits and that I would have to check with the National Park Visitor Center that was in the shopping center two blocks away, but they were already closed for the evening…
We ended up making our way back down to the Explorer Lounge for dinner and we sat at the bar and watched basketball…
Sunday, January 28: Banff Lake Louise Resort
We decided to take the 8:30am Lake Louise shuttle from the front of the Inn and this was a large modern bus with all the comforts, including loading our gear in the bottom luggage bins… We were dropped off at the base of the Lake Louise Lodge of Ten Peaks and walked down the steps to base of the lifts… This was Sunday and the buses continued to come in and unload skiers & riders from Banff and all other overnight destinations in the area… http://www.skilouise.com
Lake Louise Ski Resort is huge… with 4200 Skiable Acres and delivers 3250 vertical Feet from it’s top elevation of 8650 feet… They have 145 marked runs served by 10 Lifts & Tows…
Dan snagged a couple of Mountain Hosts and continued to interview them for his blog as Hula-Gan and I overlooked the modernization of the lodge and mountain. A line was forming for the Grizzly Express Gondola to open, so we got in line… To get the feel of the snow, we carved turns down Eagle Meadows to Cameron’s Way to Easy Street and back to the Gondola… a good top to bottom route…
After riding back up, we skied Old Ptarmigan to Ptarmigan down to the base of the Larch Lift… We took some cruiser, Larch Poma to Lynx, to 30 Goats to Larch, making our way down the intersecting runs and it was great to see and ski on real snow…
Clouds started to cover the top of the mountain and snowflakes started falling from the sky and yes, another fresh snow day on the mountain… We took a break at the Whitehorn Lodge at the top of Gondola… We skied down the base and rode back up the Glacier Express and then to the Top of World Express… We took Home Run and skied back to the the TOW Express to ski down the Ladies DH run back to the base at the bottom… My stomach wasn’t feeling it, or should I say was feeling not so good, so I decided to sit out a few to see how I felt… I kicked back in the beautiful Lake Louise Ten Peaks Lodge and grabbed a mocha to see if it would settle my stomach… Unfortunately, I was done for the day… What I did ski that day was great and navigating around the mountain was easy and the snow conditions were perfect… Also out of the base was a National Park interpretive center with displays and information, to which Hula-Gan made a friend…
I decided to take the 2:30pm bus back to the Lake Louise Inn, while Dan continued to take several more laps… Walking back to the room, I was amazed that the parking lot was a ghost town… only a few cars in it, including mine… I guess that weekend crowd is truly a weekend crowd… check In on Friday and check out on Sunday before heading to the slopes… I cleaned up and walked a couple blocks down to the Banff National Park Visitor Center and presented my window tag that I received while parked at Sunshine Village… I explained that we entered through a gate at Radium and that ranger, just waived us through, with out stopping to pay or requesting any kind of fee…
The Ranger informed me about having a permit while within the National Park and so I paid the fee and got a tag to place in my car window. I was most willing to comply and to enjoy the opportunity to visit this beautiful national park…
Dan made it back on a later bus and mentioned that he talked to some people about dining at a restaurant call The Lake Louise Station… So, later that evening we headed over and found it at the end of a non-plowed road, which was the original Lake Louise Train Station… This is a historic and beautiful building that still had much of it’s character, including it’s original wooden floors and leaded glass windows… http://www.lakelouisestation.com
The menu offered beautifully prepared and hearty meals and thought it was out of place to have Wonton Soup on the menu… Dan ordered the Station Masters Beef Stroganoff, while I went for the French Onion Soup and the Traditional Pork Schnitzel with baby Bok Choy…
We splurged this evening being the last night in Lake Louise and thought it would great to enjoy a nice dinner and not pub food… The dining experience was superb with great service and delicious food… Our server told us that 35 cm of snow was predicted to fall that night as we discussed having to drive back to the US the next morning, this got us a little concerned in regards to what road conditions would be like and whether or not passes may be closed or ?
Here is the link to Dan Giesin’s Blog on GetSkiTickets.com
https://www.getskitickets.com/blog/good-things-come-in-threes-at-banff-national-park/