March 7th

1.30pm: So another, amazingly glorious summer's day in The Rockies. Today was Tabby's second set of ski racing lessons & she out ski-ed me by some considerable distance, seriously at 5 years old she is 10 times better than me!! How can that be? The group skied double black diamond moguls all day, I had to take an easier route down & meet them at the bottom - luckily she is too young (for now) to realise the humiliation this entails....still I had time to stop & take in the scenery, I love this view of the Rundle range beyond the beautifully symetric sloping mountains in the foreground.

February 12th

3pm: On the short hike to the Skoko Bowl on Eagle Ridge way above the base lodge - I spent a great day at Lake Louise with Brent from the CBC, a friend of Pete in Toronto & an all round nice chap! This is probably the only time I have ridden without a helmet in the past 10 years, a slightly strange feeling of vulnerability especially as the hill was extremely icy in parts. We ended up at the Iron Goat in Canmore, where we learned of the tragic death of the Georgian Luge competitor on the opening day of The Olympics. Yet again the weather was extremely mild, can't remember the last snowy day......

January 17th

5pm: Canmore Nordic Centre on the way to a quick cross-country ski, not really the perfect time in a near deserted, forested wilderness surrounded area. Twilight is the time they say that cougar's are most active & given our neighbour made the headlines in the paper this week by bumping into a big cat just down the road, I was a little bit sensitive to every rustle in the bushes.

January 14th

Heading home, an unusual route took us right over downtown Calgary, happily basking in the warmth of a chinook. A lot of the snow had melted in the 4 days I was away. The Bow River is clearly visible, if somewhat frozen - to the north of the downtown core. Princess Park Island in the centre of the river a fantastic setting for the Calgary Folk Festival in July which will draw huge crowds, (& us), to see some top names perform.

January 10th

A fantastic day of snowboarding at Lake Louise, Jenne (pictured), Shane, Lisa & Brent joined us & we proceeded to shred every square inch of the hill in super-fast slick snow. Warm conditions, great company & apres ski at the Juniper - what more can you ask for!!

January 9th

Self portrait - halfway up the Mystic Chairlift at Norquay, an insanely warm day on a hill I haven't ski-ed in 3 years. Tabby started her ski lessons today, I had plenty of time to explore the slopes. Doing it all again tomorrow!