**LOTS OF PHOTOS**
We spent two days at the steep & deep of Revelstoke for Mike’s birthday in a cozy lodge where we discovered that snowmobiling is a sport and that we were staying at a hotel specifically catered to the (men) that enjoy it. The hotel had some pretty cool vintage snowmobiles from the 70s and 80s.
fullsizerender-25
We managed to get a fair amount of powder on both days that we were in ‘Revy’.  The locals / traveller are crazy for powder and they were queuing from 7am ready for the lifts to open at 8.30am! Revy as a mountain was great fun, lots of different terrain and the runs are so long you only needed to get on a chairlift 4 times the whole day.
fullsizerender-34
Not much apres ski in Revy, but that is easily forgiven because the town has tons of character; lots of 2 storey converted general stores and 1900 houses:

fullsizerender-33

Two days wasn’t enough and definitely somewhere we’ll come back to.
 .
The drive from Revy to Canmore was absolutely stunning as we drove through Glacier National Park and Banff National Park. One section of the highway was closed for a few hours for avalanche control so we sat and waited patiently.
.
Unfortunately we’re in the middle of a snow drought so everything is a bit hard and icy. In this 11sec video you can see how good we are (not) getting. We’ve skied a few days a Sunshine Village (where Kellie crashed with a snowboarder – no injuries thankfully) and one day at Lake Louise. The views from Lake Louise are the most stunning we’ve seen so far.
fullsizerender-20
Lake Louise ski resort
img_6217
Sunshine Village
Since the snow hasn’t been great we’ve been filling our time with lots of yoga (at an amazing local studio) and winter hiking. We’ve bought some crampons which attach to our hiking boots to stop us from slipping and sliding in the snow and ice – they’re fabulous!
.
We’ve hiked up gorgeous frozen rivers, seen stunning frozen waterfalls (with crazy ice climbers on them) and scrambled up through a pass to see big horned mountain sheep (it turns out the road could have taken us there and that mountain sheep aren’t a noteworthy sighting!). What’s been nice is that we’ve done some of these hikes with a Canadian lady, Amberlyn, who we met via Bumble (Tinder for people wanting to find friends).
fullsizerender-23
Grassi Lakes

fullsizerender-27

fullsizerender-29fullsizerender-31

fullsizerender-32
Crazy ice climbers
img_6220
The Ink Pots at Johnston Canyon
img_6218
Walking up the river in Grotto Canyon

 

While walking we came across paw prints and a big pile of hairy poop… Mike first thought it was an animal that grooms  itself, but then we realised it was probably an animal that eats hairy little animals. (No photo included!).
.
While we wait for fresh snow (due in the next few days) we’ve also been busy preparing for when the drought breaks, so the skis are freshly waxed and ready to go!
img_6219
Wax on, wax off!
Oh and Happy (late) Burns Day 🙂
PS If you missed our last post, you can catch it here and links to a funny video Kellie made about the ice hockey game we saw.
Advertisements