Sun, Jan 23 2005 - Deception Pass & Skoki (View Original Event Details)
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Here is a great recipe for one of the best things one could do on a chinooky January day:
I met both the attractive 40-somethings Mike and Philip in the Brentwood parking lot WAY early Sunday morning. It was warm and chinooky and the full moon in the sky was smiling down on us promising a GREAT day. We had entertaining conversations all the way up to Lake Louise full of guffaws, dating rules and tips, funny stories, and getting to know everyone. 1.5 hours later we were at the Fish Creek parking lot at Lake Louise, where it was warm and somewhat rainy (how weird!!). The snow was a bit like mashed potatoes.
After gearing up (it is worth a mention that Phillip had 100lb skis, Mike had 50lb skis, and mine were about 1/2 lb), we did a quick tranceiver check (being the ever careful granolas we were with the high avalanche hazard throughout the Rockies!) and set off on the quad - burning, calf - tearing ascent along the Lake Louise Ski out from Temple lodge. We made excellent time to the Temple lodge and continued along the narrow single track winter wonderland (with the odd snowball in the butt from Phillip), Mike maturely and majestically leading the way in front.
~2 short hours after starting at the parking lot, we were at the Halfway Hut and stopped for a fabulous gourmet eclectic lunch of sugar snap peas, bagels, turkey sausage, and chocolate covered cranberries, accompanied by the ghosts of past skiiers who died in avalanches (according to the sign on the door the ghosts regularly play poker - I hope it was strip poker; I've never seen a naked ghost before!!). I once again told the exciting story of the geophysicist that lit a blue angel in my office. I am positive that both Mike and Phillip were blown away by both my maturity and classiness.
Blue sky was starting to tease us in little appearances as we ascended to the top of Boulder Pass. The wind blew us the remaining ~ 3km to Deception pass (we weren't able to figure out why it was called Deception pass until we were on our way back from Skoki lodge - you keep going uuupp and uuuuup and uuuuuuup, thinking the next ridge is the pass, but NO!! Deceived ya, it's the NEEEEXT ridge)
We tore off our skins at Deception pass and the downhill heaven began all the way to Skoki lodge… at least for Phillip with his 100lb skis and Mike with his 50lb skis. Yes, they made fabulous looking tight turns all the way down and then would stop at the side of the trail and quietly grin at me as I would make my way down on my skinny rented skis:
Me:
" WHEEEEEEEEEE!"
(thump)
" #$%^!!"
(struggle, struggle, stand)
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!
(thump)… and so on…
Finally, we got to the rustic beauty of the Skoki lodge (about 20 thumps and grunts later for me). Just in time for TEA TIME!! We sat our weary bums down and drank excellent peppermint tea, ate chocolate cookies, cheese, and pound cake with whipped cream, all for the special rate of $5 each!! WICKED!! It was hard to leave an hour later after gaining at least a pound each on the goodies.
We regretfully left the lodge (it was rather tempting to stay another couple days it was so nice and comfortable - did you know the honeymoon suite there is supposedly almost soundproof??) and, after some wrestling in the snow by Phillip and Mike (WOO! Kind of like watching female mudwrestling for men??) we made quick time back to Mike's Isuzu by dusk.
We drove back in a dreamlike setting - the full moon was poking out of the clouds, it was almost like daylight with the snow illuminated by the moon and the dark outline of the mountains on either side. The conversation was once again awesome and informative ( and Mike kept it mostly nice and mature for us) and we arrived back in Calgary in once piece thanks to Mike's awesome driving. A pint at Kilkenny's and a filling meal full of jokes, burps (from me), and conversation completed a FANTASTIC day. Did I mention we skiied 27km?? WE ROCK! I can't wait for next weekend's adventures!
-Geology Jen of the Peckerheaded sort