Banff Ski Vacation
Alberta, Canada
January 2024
The fun never stops!This is the first of what we hope to be a tradition! A guys' trip to Sunny Alberta, to the majestic Rockies! Patrick has been talking about this for years from his 3-decades-old memories of Lake Louise and you can only imagine the stories his mind's eyes have spun.
On the back of such stories, we start planning this trip in March 2023, 10 months early! The logicstics are a little different than our usual road trips. We need to fly to Alberta with our equipment, rent a van from the Calgary airport, drive to Banff, reserve accommodations and travel from the hotel to the ski resort daily. We settle on a 5-day, 4-night trip flying WestJet, driving an Alamo rental vehicle, and staying at the Banff Aspen Lodge. There will be 3 full days of skiing in the middle of 2 days for travelling.
There are four of us on this trip: Patrick, Jeremy, Pascal, and yours truly, Kenny. The flight from Toronto is a little more than 4 hours. The drive from Calgary's airport to Banff is about an hour and a half. We get a free upgrade from Alamo. Instead of a minivan, they give us a gigantic Ford Expedition SUV. To our surprise while driving on the highway, the vehicle isn't equipped with Winter tires!! A few skidding episodes where I am able to maintain control of the vehicle instill a respectul fear of Alberta Winter driving conditions in the group.
Lake Louise
Our first day is spent at Lake Louise. We get there at the break of dawn and park in the 3rd row by the main lodge. Forecast is for the day to very cold, below -20 Celcius, but the sky is blue and cloudless, and the views are breathtaking. Patrick did not lie to us!
1/22 - The main K-1 Lodge
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1/19 - First gondola
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3/19 - Still snowplowing? SHAME!
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Views from Killington
1/23 - Mountain Green Resort where we stayed
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6/23 - Cloudy day
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Good company
1/12 - Stand to be counted
2/12 - Sit to eat
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5/12 - Smoking up the condo
6/12 - Those achy muscles
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8/12 - Movie night every night!
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10/12 - Still shorter
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12/12 - Dunkin Donut for the first time