My Happy Place
This insanely frigid weather actually reminds me of one of my favorite places ever.....
You may think I'm a little bit crazy, but one of the places that I feel most alive is at the top of a mountain when it's -55, skis on, goggles down and ready to take the first run of the day!
Insert..."She's nuts"...here.
I will totally admit, having skied in Ontario for most of my life, the first time up the chair lift at Lake Louise both blew my mind...and scared the begeebers out of me!! Once I got over the initial sense of, "get me off this thing"...I could sit back and enjoy this....
The friend I was with, who lives in Calgary and is part of the ski patrol, doesn't really know the meaning of "easing ourselves in"....and again...he seemed to forget that I had NEVER skied on a true mountain before....
We went allllll the way to the top.
It was literally -55, the views were absolutely beyond breathtaking...and I was absolutely terrified!!
But, fear aside,...we pushed off and started to make our way down the mountain. I don't know if it was the cold mountain air, the scenery or just everything about this perfect day....but I settled back into my skis and that feeling of terror quickly subsided...
We stopped part of the way down to catch our breath (and let my legs muscles, that were currently on fire, have a wee break....again, I'm used to runs in Ontario that are top to bottom in less than 10 minutes, whereas these runs were almost triple that and with the slight difference in altitude, oxygen wasn't quite getting to my muscles as I was used to).
But again, that feeling quickly passed as we stood there and I literally began my love affair with the West....more specifically, the mountains!
In the picture below, you can see the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise and the Lake in the far distance.... Spectacular!
Here I come!!!
We spent the morning on the mountain, had lunch at a chalet mountainside and then it was time for a beverage 'apres ski' before we headed to the Chateau...
Check back soon as I continue on my journey in my Happy Place and take you on a tour of the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise and the Fairmont Baff Springs!
Talk about the epitome of the Bucolic Lifestyle....