Cross Country Skiing in Jasper

Suffering a Croatian vacation hangover Chrissy and I hunkered down inside the house early this winter season. It was good to get grounded again but eventually we started going a little crazy. Looking for a relatively inexpensive weekend getaway we decided on Jasper National Park for some cross country skiing.

Leaving straight from work on Friday we arrived at the Lobstick Inn and settled in for an early morning on the trails. 

After a big breakfast we grabbed our rented gear from Skis Please (fantastic service), jumped in my 'all terrain car' and headed out to the Athabasca Falls Loop.

The area received about a foot of snow earlier in the week providing a good base on the groomed trails. The Classic cuts pathways were not well defined yet but I think we ended up benefiting from some earlier hardcore skiiers who had recently come before us.

With the snow hanging off the pines we couldn't have asked for a better setting.

Our first time out in 2 years we didn't push ourselves to hard and only went about 7 total kilometers. This left us plenty of time to goof around in the lovely weather.

Calling it a day we hit up some giant nachos at De'd Dog and finished the night with a nightcap and game of crib back at the hotel...we are a wild party! 

The next day we got a quick ski in close to town at Whistler's Campground a simple 4.5km loop. While maybe not as picturesque as Athabasca Falls it did have some cool segments like the narrow trail between the campsites.

Feeling more refreshed then tired we decided to treat ourselves to a needed beverage at the Jasper Park Lodge on the way out of town. Chrissy had a hot chocolate and I got a very cool honey lager beer. The honey is actually harvested from the bee hives on the roof of the hotel, shipped to the Big Rock brewery and then specialy brewed only for the Hotel. Besides being an awesome novelty it was a great tasting beer.

Jasper Park Lodge was undergoing renovations but was still decked out in full Christmas decorations. We couldn't help but marvel at their giant gingerbread house with some very impressive stats.

Sad that our weekend was over we were comforted by the fact that Jasper wasn't too far away and we would be back again someday soon.

Cross Country Skiing

I haven't been blogging much lately as I have been busy prepping my condo for sale. I will be writing on this sooner than later but in the meantime take a look at my listing and pass it on to your friends. http://bit.ly/104stCondo

Well, we finally got snow this winter. After the fun of cross country skiing last year I have been waiting and waiting.  After a big fall of snow (Edmonton got as much snow in 3 days as it did in the previous 3 months) I convinced Chrissy to venture on treacherous roads out to the Strathcona Wilderness Centre for some nordic fun.

It took us a little bit to get the hang of it again but we were much improved over last year. The conditions and trails were great and the fresh snow was outstanding.

There isn't much need for explanation. So here are some pictures.

And it is a good thing we got out when we did. The weather since then has been unbelievable and a good portion of the snow has melted. Until next year....

Cross Country Skiing

Last weekend for the Family Day holiday. Christina and I drove out East of Sherwood Park to go cross country skiing. We have been talking about going for some time but always found an excuse to not go - it was too cold, too warm, too lazy...

I'm not sure when the last time I went skiing was. I'm guessing it was back in grade 8 or 9 at Dixon. Meanwhile, Christina had never gone cross country skiing before so we weren't sure how much was fun we would actually have.

We arrived at the Strathcona Wilderness Centre around 10am figuring we would be able to beat the crowds. There were a few hardcores out there already but we had no problem getting equipment (first come first served).

The skis were waxless and really sharp looking. After a bit of wrangling we worked our way to the groomed trails and into the tracks. I slipped in first and took off right away. I wasn't very smooth and I ended up pushing with my shoulders more than my legs but I was pretty comfortable. Christina took a little bit more time to figure things out. She didn't seem to trust herself too much and was taking really small 'steps'. The first lap we took was quite slow.

Eventually we both got better and started to enjoy ourselves. I tried going free style and fell - Christina started taking larger 'steps'.

We ended up taking a few different routes and probably skied a total of 8kms. It was a great workout and in the -6 weather I built up quite a sweat.

Pics below.

Christina's model form.

          Our shoes were pretty sweet - they had an outside liner that kind of made them look like spats.

  Christina taking a well deserved break.

               Watch Christina gracefully get up from her bench break.

       I started to overheat and chowed down on some snow.

I am not really sure what I'm doing here.

This is my new favorite picture of Christina. Check out the hot ski bunny with the rosy cheeks.

I am already looking forward to our next trip skiing. Hopefully we can find the time in March.