Canada 07/08 – Kicking Horse – Day 1

The day started early – really early… we were on the bus at 7:10am, ready to head to Kicking Horse, just out of a town called Golden (pop 4200). The bus trip took almost 2 hours, and luckily there was no time difference between Banff and Kicking Horse (although Kicking Horse is in a different province). The scenery was excellent to look at along the way – for those of us who were awake – and once the sun finally rose (after we were well past Lake Louise).

We arrived at Kicking Horse not long after 9am, and removed our luggage from the bus (it was actually a day-trip ski shuttle bus, and as such, they weren’t as happy as we thought about them taking our luggage… but I figured that because we were only going one way, and paying full price, that we could take up double the space). We wheeled our bags across the snow to the lobby of the hotel, only to discover that we couldn’t check in until 4pm, and that the receptionist suggested that we leave our bags in our car, in the parkade… The only hitch? We didn’t have a car.

After a bit of discussion, we figured that the best place for our bags would be the room that we were going to check into, and were given a key to take them upstairs to do just this. According to the cleaners who were up there, it was going to take 20 minutes to finish – according to reception, at least an hour. It wasn’t a problem, however, as we weren’t in a real rush to laze around the room. We headed for the day lodge for some breakfast, and discovered that we could get a breakfast ‘buffet’ (1 plate, as much as you can fit, but only once.. $10.50) – not a bad deal actually, compared to Sunshine.

We hit the slopes not long after 10am, but couldn’t believe how quickly the time flew – we were back in for lunch not long after 12… after only about 3 runs. The weather was incredible – as you’ll be able to see from the pictures once I finally get them up – and the views were just breathtaking. We spent the rest of the day exploring the mountain, until our legs couldn’t take any more. Ed decided to follow Tess off of a cliff-like area, although he took the easier entry, but ended up losing a ski and taking a bit of time to get reorganised. With every run (from the top) around 1000 vertical metres, it wasn’t hard to get tired doing only a couple of runs.

We retired just before the lifts closed at 3:30pm, and finally were able to check into the apartment. What a relief it was to finally have a washing machine, kitchen etc to let us live properly – rather than eating out every night (which while is nice, can get expensive and tiring!). Most people were exhausted after the day’s events, and probably a cumulation of the past couple of weeks, and so we retired to bed fairly early (in comparison to other days). Everyone was looking forward to not having to wake up early to catch a bus!

I think I’ve almost caught up with the daily reports… hopefully will do today’s, tonight.

Thanks to everybody who’s been keeping in touch – good to hear from you all!

About the Author

Scott

Web designer, graphic designer, coder, scripter, photographer, musician, performer, entrepreneur (and the list goes on) based in Adelaide, South Australia. Scott loves to experiment with new ideas, and OnSno.com is his creative dumping ground.