Dec 30 - a tale of two elk

They are everywhere. The other night when we were going out to dinner, we parked in a lot with an elk right in front of us, a few feet from the car, munching twigs off a tree or grass on the ground, I forget. Being a curious sort, I got out of the car, rounded the back and walked towards it, since it (I'm guessing "he") was closer to the passenger side. All of a sudden it lunged towards me -- not moving more than a foot on the ground but clearly facing me and being the "alpha" ... and I retreated. It's easy to think of these wild animals as tame -- yes, they are used to people and outside of mating season they are not naturally aggressive towards people who ignore them ... but it ends there.

This morning, taking Abby out for her constitutional pee and poop, an elk was standing by the driveway munching on tree branches. It ignored us ... Abby moved towards the elk, but thankfully I had her on leash. Well, Abby had a hard time doing her business after that since she was constantly aware of the elk that was not too far away and "woofing" and bristling. Yes, she is brave when it doesn't matter -- if that elk came towards her she would turn into a wuss.

The skiing was cold yesterday. It started out around zero fahrenheit / -18C and basically stayed there. This morning it's -22C ... more brrr. It was also windy at the bottom. Surprisingly it was much warmer at the top, I'd guess at least 5C-10C - the advertised temp at the top was -11C so that would make sense. We were fairly organized for the third day out. Kim and Megan headed to lessons while Sandy, David and I headed up. When we found out how warm it was up top we stayed there for a few runs. Coming down to the mid-mountain chalet we could feel the temperature change just up from the chalet, descending into the colder layer of air. It stayed that way all day.

We went down at lunch, David and I having had an extra run, meeting up with Kim. After lunch we took Kim up to the top, her first trip, and worked our way down. She did very well, always in control. Close to the bottom we intercepted Megan, who was on the way up the t-bar by herself, skiing with her group. Kim and Sandy then skied with her while David and I went up and did the glades a couple of times. Coming down, we talked to Sandy via walkie-talkie who said that they were about ready to quit with Megan -- it was around 2pm at that point -- so David and I headed up for one last run. When we got to the top, Sandy called to say that Megan wanted to go on the chair -- great ! so we headed down quickly, gathered everyone up and went to the quad that goes to the top.

Taking her up that quad was a bad decision. I was the instigator. She was excited going up but psyched herself out at the top where she had a wide open area where she had to traverse. It wasn't steep, but she was completely discombobulated. We worked our way down slowly, Sandy leading Megan. She skied the entire way down by herself, deserves a lot of credit, but it was an unfortunate end to the day. Hopefully she will take pride in the accomplishment, not remember the fear. She was always in control, seems to have a natural ability -- a strong kid -- but her abilities always exceed her self-confidence when it comes to physical things. We continued to talk up the accomplishment during dinner -- for both Megan and Kim -- but she wasn't in a "ripping" mood yet. Hopefully the three of them will get out skiing again soon to reinforce the lessons.

For dinner we went to George's again -- I learned that it is actually "Papa George's" and when asking the question, found out that we're now on George III -- and had another excellent meal. Everyone was in a good mood, perhaps a little more contemplative since we realized that our time together was just about over.

So ... today we head to Banff. We're not in too much of a hurry since we cannot check-in until later and cannot leave Abby in the car while we visit some shops. They will most likely be closed tomorrow, New Years Day. David is also heading to Banff to do some shopping and then onto Calgary. They have dinner reservations for 5pm. We have dinner reservations too, but that's not until 8pm and in Banff. With only 300 kms to drive today, it'll be an easy day, other than the fact that the road is not in good shape. We're not in a hurry though.

That it, I think ... Onward !