Skiing Day 3 -- Jan 30

Vertical: 8,835 m, Cum to date: 26,085 m
Runs: 14, Cum to date: 47, Average run 555 m

The time Gods were against us all day. It started with a blizzard just outside of Calgary, a crashed semi and a park pass check at the Sunshine road. This turned a 10 minute early departure into a 5 minute late arrival.

We spent the morning on Goat's Eye, and between the really nice snow, a few of my favourite runs being groomed, and what appeared to be poor viz up on Divide, we lingered quite a while. It snowed on and off all morning, then started snowing in earnest at noon, giving some lovely turns the whole time. At 12:45, we decided to upload to the village for lunch. Big mistake. Huge.

The celebrities were out in force in the village for a fundraiser (Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Waterkeepers Alliance). In the village, KC skated past Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon. But that meant the Sunshine Inn (where we like to eat) was closed to the public. Mad Trappers was therefore packed; standing room only. The Lookout in the daylodge had a 20 min wait. The Deli and the Cafeteria were zoos with no place to sit. So starved, with the time Gods against us, we decided to head to the parking lot for lunch, knowing there would be no lineup there. As we were heading down the ski out, the wind started howling up the valley, and the snow got heavier.

We finally sat down for lunch at 1:40, and the time Gods were against us again. Lunch hit the table at 2:15 because of a kitchen screw up. At lunch, Ed Begley Jr walked by, as did a pack of other celebs (and their handlers). Since we had to be off the hil by 3:15, all we could do after lunch was one ride back up to Goat's Eye, and back to the parking lot. Up top was miserable. The wind was howling, the temperature had dropped from an OK -8 in the morning to -16, all the nice snow above the tree line seemed to blow away in an instant, and so that last run wasn't great.

And the trip home was really ugly. We counted 9 incidents and 17 cars/truck in the ditch, including several severe rollovers and accidents. Many sections of road were moving at only 50 km/h because the lanes were snow covered. It snowed at least 5" in Calgary, and more than that blew across the road. The time Gods hit us with their best shot; the typical 90 min drive home became just under 2 hours. But we made it safe and sound.