If it is going to keep snowing in April…

Might as well hit the slopes!

I must confess. I bought two season passes to the Lake Louise Ski Resort and hadn’t used them even once this season. Seemed like such a disgrace. I mean, one of the main reasons I moved to this part of the country was because of the proximity to the beautiful Rocky Mountains and all the adventure they have to offer. But the passes just sat on my desk, taunting me.

Yes, there were a few ski weekends planned this winter, but they always seemed to get derailed because of out of town guests visiting, studying taking precedent or just bad timing. But when we got another big dump of the white stuff this month, I said to heck with it…I’m going!

Since Danny is completely in ‘study-only’ mode, I asked a good friend of mine to come along. We got up really early in the morning and made our way out to the hill. The roads were horrible…so much so that we considered turning around. Even with driving at half the speed limit, we could barely see the pavement because it was covered in so much snow…and we hadn’t even hit the mountains yet. Now if experience has taught me anything, it is that inner mountain roads are usually the most treacherous section to drive. We figured that if things didn’t improve by the time we hit the next town we were heading back home.

Contrary to all logic, the roads actually got better! Yipee, our ski day could continue! We made it to the hill just as it was opening, got our equipment and were one of the first people to get on the hill. It was fantastic!

I took this photo while we were waiting in line to take the Gondola up to the top of the mountain. I was feeling a bit nervous because I hadn't gone skiing all year and wasn't sure how my legs were going to hold up. Plus I had never taken a gondola before, only chair lifts. Apparently this route was too high up for chair lift access. Oh boy, time to suck it up and jump right in!

Making our way up the mountain on the gondola. It was a 12 minute ride to the top. Crazy if you ask me.

It was a lot colder once we reached the summit (not surprisingly) but the view was fantastic. We spent a few minutes just taking in the sights before we conquered the slopes.

Time to put on a brave face. There's only one way down!

The first few trails were thrilling. I definitely had to use some muscles that hadn't been activated for a while but it felt great to be back on the hill.

When we were approaching the bottom of the mountain, I spotted this little guy. He was skiing all on his own and let me tell you, these were no gradual slopes! I was very impressed. In fact, these metal stairs were more of a challenge for his little legs. His Dad told us that he was 3 1/2 years old. Wow!

A familiar comfort awaited us in the chalet. Mmmm....delicious! Such a great way to wrap up a day on the slopes.

As we leisurely headed back to the city, we decided to stop at the Fairmont Lake Louise. It was snowing and quite overcast at this point so we didn't even attempt to take the quintessential mountain/lake shot. However, I found the snow accumulation to be quite impressive.

I told you we've got lots of snow, right?

All in all it was a fantastic day. I'm so glad that my friend and I were able to head out into the Rockies and enjoy fun day of winter activities...even if it was late April!