On the day we left Jackson Hole, WY, we decided to go for an early cross country skate. We were encouraged to see signs of moose on the trails.
And we were excited when we saw a moose and her two calves. The calves were probably nine months old. It was hard to get a good photo of all of them, as they were hidden by the aspen trees they were eating, but we managed to get photos of each calf.
We drove north to Banff for more skiing. As luck would have it, we got to see more moose. And this time, we were able to get real close.
Banff is a charming town with streets named for wild animals, such as Wolf Street. The sidewalks have these cool brass plates installed at street corners.
We also saw lots of Canadian signs with maple leaves. The town of Banff is part of the Banff National Park (NP) so growth is tightly controlled.
We skied at Lake Louise, and enjoyed the beautiful views of the Canadian Rockies on the long runs there.
We drove the Bow Parkway scenic route for more views. Banff National Park includes 2,500 square miles and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
We saw several of these wildlife overpasses, which provide a safe way for bears, cougars, wolves, moose, elk and deer to cross the highway. We learned there are also 38 underpasses and more than 50 miles of fences along the highway to direct animals to safe crossings while keeping them away from traffic.
We stopped for a delightful soak at the Banff hot springs pool one day after skiing.
And then we enjoyed a Korean seafood hot pot for dinner.
We also skied at Sunshine Village. There were more clouds that day, and the snow there was great too.
We couldn’t resist going back to the Korean restaurant for another delicious hot pot. This time we got beef and vegetables.
We left Banff and drove through several beautiful Canadian national parks. We saw frozen waterfalls!
We stopped at a nordic (cross country) club in Revelstoke National Park and skated on their beautiful trails.
The trails were really fast because the temperature was below freezing. But we weren’t cold, as nordic skating is very cardiovascular.
On the second day of driving we stopped to take photos of Seton Lake near Lillooet, BC.
This is Duffey Lake. One side of it was frozen.
And the other side, beyond the logjam, was not frozen. The lake is called Teq by the Native Americans, which means stuck.
Whistler hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics and there are visual reminders around the village, like this bobsled that Pete is sitting in. He tried to order a beer, but they told him drinking and driving are against the law.
We were shocked to see no snow on the bottom half of Whistler ski resort. It felt strange to ride the chair lift with our skis on but no snow below us.
But once we got up to the top of the mountain, there was plenty of snow.
We skied first off of Symphony chair where all the runs have musical names. Kristina is at the top of Flute Bowl.
We took the Peak-2-Peak gondola from Whistler over to Blackcomb, an eleven minute ride with great views of both mountains and the valley in between. You'll have to trust us on that.
We liked skiing at Blackcomb a lot. Kristina is posing in front of the Whistler Inukshuk rock sculpture that was created for the 2010 Winter Olympics. An inukshuk was historically created by the Inuit as a landmark.
The next day we skied at Blackcomb too, and it was St Patrick’s Day. We saw people dressed in green clothing and fun costumes, like this lift operator. Or perhaps he is the largest leprechaun ever!
At the top of Blackcomb there are several glaciers that we skied on. This photo was taken from Horstman's glacier. The weather was clear so we could see Black Tusk Mountain, which is an extinct stratovolcano in Garibaldi Provincial Park.
While Whistler isn't over-commercialized like Yellowstone, we did buy some Black Tusk beer at the grocery store.
Our final day of skiing at Blackcomb was after a night of snowfall so we enjoyed 8 inches (20 centimeters) of fresh powder. It continued snowing throughout the day, making for a white and wonderful experience.
We were glad we were familiar with the runs off 7th Heaven chairlift because it was a whiteout at the top!
At the end of the day we skied down past the arsenal of snow makers that weren't needed now.
We left Canada and drove south through Washington to Portland, Oregon where it looked like spring. In fact it was the first day of spring.
There were tulips and daffodils everywhere!
We went to Pok Pok for dinner, and noticed that the Buddhist altar in the restaurant also had fresh flowers.
Pok Pok has authentic northern Thai food that we love, like Chiang Mai-style sausages and duck laab.
They also take advantage of the local produce, like this fiddle head ferns dish, and gave it a Thai twist. It was outstanding.
Our seventh and final location to ski with our Mountain Collective passes was Tahoe. We rode the funitel up to the mid point at Squaw, and there wasn’t much snow.
But at the top of the mountain there was enough snow to make for a fun time. Kristina is skiing a run off Shirley Lake chairlift. Down the mountain from her you can see some grasses poking up though the snow.
We were surprised that it snowed lightly for most of the day. This helped to keep the snow firm for skiing.
On our final day of skiing this season we started at Alpine Meadows then went to Squaw after lunch. The weather had been cold from the storm, so in the morning the trees still had snow in them. Kristina is on the Summit chairlift near the top where it looks like winter!
We enjoyed beautiful views of Lake Tahoe from the top of the mountain. It was a great way to end the season.
We've been on our ski road trip for five weeks and we've driven almost 5,600 miles. The best road side attraction we saw was the Spud Drive-In. Old Murphy the potato is in the passenger seat of this great old truck. The Spud Drive-In makes sense because we were in Idaho, the land of famous potatoes (according to their license plates).
We didn’t play the license plate game on this road trip. Instead we looked for birds. We saw: Black Billed Magpies, Northern Harriers, Red Tailed Hawks, Golden Eagles, Trumpeter Swans, Coopers Hawks and a Sharp Shinned Hawk. We even saw a Bald Eagle at Klamath Lake, OR. But the only bird photo we have to share is Kristina feeding the Gray Jays at Whistler ski resort.
Closest wildlife sighting were the Big Horn Sheep in Jackson Hole when we were at the National Elk Refuge.
We are happy we downhill skied 17 days, for a total of 328 miles (529 km) with over 356,000 vertical feet (108,000 meters). Our biggest day was at Blackcomb where we skied almost 25 miles (40 km) and descended more than 30,000 feet (9,400 meters). Our favorite places to ski were Blackcomb, Snowmass and Jackson Hole. Here's a photo of us with our friend Pat at Snowmass.
We can relate to Aleksandar Hemon's Letter of Recommendation: Skiing. And we certainly got great value from our Mountain Collective ski passes! We averaged less than $24 per lift ticket.
We had 9 days of fun nordic skating and we skied 80 miles (130 km). The most beautiful nordic skating day was at Grand Teton National Park.
The best trails were at Revelstoke Nordic Club. Kristina is zipping past a pond there.
We had such a great trip that we've started thinking about doing a similar trip next year! We feel fortunate that we got as much good snow as we did, especially at Mammoth when we had a fun powder day with Cynthia. We hope you enjoy this movie that Pete filmed of Cynthia, Julian and Kristina skiing at Mammoth.
And we were excited when we saw a moose and her two calves. The calves were probably nine months old. It was hard to get a good photo of all of them, as they were hidden by the aspen trees they were eating, but we managed to get photos of each calf.
We drove north to Banff for more skiing. As luck would have it, we got to see more moose. And this time, we were able to get real close.
Banff is a charming town with streets named for wild animals, such as Wolf Street. The sidewalks have these cool brass plates installed at street corners.
We also saw lots of Canadian signs with maple leaves. The town of Banff is part of the Banff National Park (NP) so growth is tightly controlled.
We skied at Lake Louise, and enjoyed the beautiful views of the Canadian Rockies on the long runs there.
We drove the Bow Parkway scenic route for more views. Banff National Park includes 2,500 square miles and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
We saw several of these wildlife overpasses, which provide a safe way for bears, cougars, wolves, moose, elk and deer to cross the highway. We learned there are also 38 underpasses and more than 50 miles of fences along the highway to direct animals to safe crossings while keeping them away from traffic.
We stopped for a delightful soak at the Banff hot springs pool one day after skiing.
And then we enjoyed a Korean seafood hot pot for dinner.
We also skied at Sunshine Village. There were more clouds that day, and the snow there was great too.
We couldn’t resist going back to the Korean restaurant for another delicious hot pot. This time we got beef and vegetables.
We left Banff and drove through several beautiful Canadian national parks. We saw frozen waterfalls!
We stopped at a nordic (cross country) club in Revelstoke National Park and skated on their beautiful trails.
The trails were really fast because the temperature was below freezing. But we weren’t cold, as nordic skating is very cardiovascular.
On the second day of driving we stopped to take photos of Seton Lake near Lillooet, BC.
This is Duffey Lake. One side of it was frozen.
And the other side, beyond the logjam, was not frozen. The lake is called Teq by the Native Americans, which means stuck.
Whistler hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics and there are visual reminders around the village, like this bobsled that Pete is sitting in. He tried to order a beer, but they told him drinking and driving are against the law.
We were shocked to see no snow on the bottom half of Whistler ski resort. It felt strange to ride the chair lift with our skis on but no snow below us.
But once we got up to the top of the mountain, there was plenty of snow.
We skied first off of Symphony chair where all the runs have musical names. Kristina is at the top of Flute Bowl.
We took the Peak-2-Peak gondola from Whistler over to Blackcomb, an eleven minute ride with great views of both mountains and the valley in between. You'll have to trust us on that.
We liked skiing at Blackcomb a lot. Kristina is posing in front of the Whistler Inukshuk rock sculpture that was created for the 2010 Winter Olympics. An inukshuk was historically created by the Inuit as a landmark.
The next day we skied at Blackcomb too, and it was St Patrick’s Day. We saw people dressed in green clothing and fun costumes, like this lift operator. Or perhaps he is the largest leprechaun ever!
At the top of Blackcomb there are several glaciers that we skied on. This photo was taken from Horstman's glacier. The weather was clear so we could see Black Tusk Mountain, which is an extinct stratovolcano in Garibaldi Provincial Park.
While Whistler isn't over-commercialized like Yellowstone, we did buy some Black Tusk beer at the grocery store.
Our final day of skiing at Blackcomb was after a night of snowfall so we enjoyed 8 inches (20 centimeters) of fresh powder. It continued snowing throughout the day, making for a white and wonderful experience.
We were glad we were familiar with the runs off 7th Heaven chairlift because it was a whiteout at the top!
At the end of the day we skied down past the arsenal of snow makers that weren't needed now.
We left Canada and drove south through Washington to Portland, Oregon where it looked like spring. In fact it was the first day of spring.
There were tulips and daffodils everywhere!
We went to Pok Pok for dinner, and noticed that the Buddhist altar in the restaurant also had fresh flowers.
Pok Pok has authentic northern Thai food that we love, like Chiang Mai-style sausages and duck laab.
They also take advantage of the local produce, like this fiddle head ferns dish, and gave it a Thai twist. It was outstanding.
Our seventh and final location to ski with our Mountain Collective passes was Tahoe. We rode the funitel up to the mid point at Squaw, and there wasn’t much snow.
But at the top of the mountain there was enough snow to make for a fun time. Kristina is skiing a run off Shirley Lake chairlift. Down the mountain from her you can see some grasses poking up though the snow.
We were surprised that it snowed lightly for most of the day. This helped to keep the snow firm for skiing.
On our final day of skiing this season we started at Alpine Meadows then went to Squaw after lunch. The weather had been cold from the storm, so in the morning the trees still had snow in them. Kristina is on the Summit chairlift near the top where it looks like winter!
We enjoyed beautiful views of Lake Tahoe from the top of the mountain. It was a great way to end the season.
We've been on our ski road trip for five weeks and we've driven almost 5,600 miles. The best road side attraction we saw was the Spud Drive-In. Old Murphy the potato is in the passenger seat of this great old truck. The Spud Drive-In makes sense because we were in Idaho, the land of famous potatoes (according to their license plates).
We didn’t play the license plate game on this road trip. Instead we looked for birds. We saw: Black Billed Magpies, Northern Harriers, Red Tailed Hawks, Golden Eagles, Trumpeter Swans, Coopers Hawks and a Sharp Shinned Hawk. We even saw a Bald Eagle at Klamath Lake, OR. But the only bird photo we have to share is Kristina feeding the Gray Jays at Whistler ski resort.
Closest wildlife sighting were the Big Horn Sheep in Jackson Hole when we were at the National Elk Refuge.
We are happy we downhill skied 17 days, for a total of 328 miles (529 km) with over 356,000 vertical feet (108,000 meters). Our biggest day was at Blackcomb where we skied almost 25 miles (40 km) and descended more than 30,000 feet (9,400 meters). Our favorite places to ski were Blackcomb, Snowmass and Jackson Hole. Here's a photo of us with our friend Pat at Snowmass.
We can relate to Aleksandar Hemon's Letter of Recommendation: Skiing. And we certainly got great value from our Mountain Collective ski passes! We averaged less than $24 per lift ticket.
We had 9 days of fun nordic skating and we skied 80 miles (130 km). The most beautiful nordic skating day was at Grand Teton National Park.
The best trails were at Revelstoke Nordic Club. Kristina is zipping past a pond there.
We had such a great trip that we've started thinking about doing a similar trip next year! We feel fortunate that we got as much good snow as we did, especially at Mammoth when we had a fun powder day with Cynthia. We hope you enjoy this movie that Pete filmed of Cynthia, Julian and Kristina skiing at Mammoth.
