Dec 27 - off to the mountains

With the car half-packed, I headed to Mass and gassed up on the way back. At David's, I loaded the rest of our worldly goods and got David's skis into our ski box and we went over to Safeway to pick up a few groceries for our upcoming time at Jasper. I thought that I might find some ready-made lunch of sorts there too but we ended up going to the adjacent Subway for our standard sandwiches.

David & Kim looked to be almost ready to leave when we did but they took their time with final packing and also stopped along the way, catching up and passing us before the entrance to the park.

Speaking of the entrance to the park, I hadn't realized that we would have to pay per night even though we're clearly not camping. We made the mistake of just paying for our four nights, realizing later that both Banff (we've never had to pay there before) and Revelstoke are both in national parks too. Sandy called the park service and they said that it could be upgraded to an annual pass (break-even after 6 days I think) at the next park entrance. It's not a nominal fee -- close to $80 for the four nights -- but then again, it is nominal when you compare it to the cost of accommodation and skiing. It's all relative I guess.

It was a beautiful drive here. Even before we approached the mountains it was pretty -- I like the terrain. At one point we passed the road that George would have taken when he went to Alaska this past summer, labeled "scenic route to Alaska". It was snow-covered. Can you imagine driving from here to Alaska on snow-covered roads ? You wouldn't want to be in a hurry !

Once at our hotel, we unloaded and then headed up to Marmot Basin, the ski hill. We got Kim and Megan checked in for their lessons and fitted for boots, skis, poles and helmets. We also picked up our three day passes for Sandy, David and me. That will save us a lot of time this morning -- it took the better part of an hour for all the fitting etc.

It took quite a while to get up to the ski hill from the town of Jasper, close to 45 minutes. From my Garmin, we went from roughly 3300 feet elevation to 5800 ... and that's to the base of the lifts. It's not a huge ski area; I think that the vertical from that point is around 3000 feet. The conditions look great though -- good snow and good weather. Three days on the slopes, here we come.

We went to a pizza/Italian place for dinner. The food was good but the noise level and the disorganization were frustrating. We survived.

Our room / suite is pretty well setup with a reasonable kitchen & eating area typical of a ski chalet. The bathroom is off the bedroom - I don't know why they do that when there's only one bath. It's awkward in the a.m. when I'm up earlier; awkward if there is anyone extra in the room sleeping on the pull-out couch; I cannot think of any plusses, other than it saves wall space in the main lounge area. Perhaps all is forgiven, since we have a three foot artificial Christmas tree ... hmmm.

David & Kim's place is a typical small hotel room, however. They will be very cramped with Megan sleeping on the floor as well. I expect that we'll be seeing them soon since they are coming here to eat breakfast (I think) and then we leave at 8am. That's probably earlier than necessary, but for the first day it doesn't hurt to be a little early. Depending on the traffic etc. we can probably leave for the hill at 8:15-8:30 tomorrow. Kim's and Megan's lessons both start at 9:30. Kim's lasts two hours and then she'll meet up with Sandy; Megan's goes right through to 3pm. Megan's program is actually a "kid's camp" vs Kim's being lessons. Hopefully she'll learn enough in the two hours this morning to be able to enjoy the afternoon on the "bunny hill" at the bottom. The first day's ticket with her program only gets her onto the bottom lift.

On the way into Jasper we passed two groups of cars stopped and taking pictures of mountain goats scratching away at the snow to get at the grass underneath. The wildlife is used to being photographed. On the way back from Marmot Basin, on the icefields parkway, a herd of elk were getting the same "flashing" treatment. What do they think of all these digital cameras ? Can they tell the difference ? Are the people in cars more likely, now, to take lots and lots of pictures ? Probably so.

Sandy is up and bustling around now. It's probably time for me to shower etc. because it will get hectic soon.

Onward, and this time, Upward (and then Downward) !