Skating out on the pond on Boxing Day – there’d been recent snow though, so it was hard work.
Author: megan
For the first time since we’ve been in Canada, we got a real, genuine, not-made-out-of-newspaper-or-a-stack-of-old-tins Christmas tree. It smells of tree and has covered the house in pine needles, even if it is only sparsely decorated with home-made cinnamon stars (although now we have a rock-climbing Santa and a telemarking Santa to fill in the gaps a little).
We spent the traditional morning at the ski hill – and it snowed! And it was really warm, continuing the trend of this winter.
Unfortunately just as the flakes were getting lovely at fat and soft, I had to head home to get some cooking done. The offspring thinks the gondola ride is pretty cool though.
Christmas dinner was tasty, and silly hats were worn.
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Skiing Skogan Pass
This was another of the “really local but never done it before” outings. Earlier in the year, in Spring, we’d try to bike up Skogan Pass from Canmore but got turned back by snow near the top. This time we were approaching from the Nakiska side on skis.
Once we skied through Nakiska and gained a little elevation the snow was in great condition, and almost untouched. It’s a really gradual climb up to the pass, no steep hills, just lots of weaving back and forth through the trees, then under the powerlines. We saw some cat tracks crossing the path at one point near the summit (maybe a lynx?)
After a really late lunch at the summit, we realised our late start was about to get the better of us – if we didn’t hurry the sun would be gone soon. And although we did have one headlamp between us, it would be dark and cold, and there were wolves.
Luckily the ski back down was just that (it went down), so we were back at the car in just an hour – barely managing the last section through the trees without a headlight.
We weren’t eaten by any wolves either.
Distance: 24km (I think?)
Elevation gain: 200m
Chariot skiability: Perfect for towing a Chariot up
We started at Ribbon Creek trailhead, although it would have been easy enough to park at Nakiska too. Full trail description here.
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The King Bed conundrum
For two relatively small people, and a still relatively small miniature person, you would think that a king bed combined with a cot/crib would allow for plenty of sleeping space. Heaps.
Here is the sleeping set-up we’ve been using, and how it would work in an ideal world:
King bed, then cot/crib with one side removed, pushed up against the bed. Lots of room for everyone. However, in reality I’ve found it tends to work a little more like this:
It’s hard to convey in stick figures, but often my arms end up crossed over my body as there isn’t any space for them beside me. I could lie on my side, but then face getting trapped there, as my available space seems to only ever shrink.
And then there’s always the times I come to bed late. Faced with a small lower portion of bed available to me, I curl up as best I can:
Perhaps what we need is TWO king-sized beds…
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The teapot
Loose in the wild, this magnificent beast grazes on the asphalt. A solitary creature, it spends most of the summer months foraging in the semi-arid plains of Australia, before digging a den and hibernating for the winter.
