2023-11 Whistle-Lake Louise

Whistler-Lake Louise 9,

Nov. 20, 2023,

Hi Everyone.

Last night I felt under the weather as it was my 6th day of skiing in a row and maybe I was just tired. In any case, I curled up in my bed, (which I need a step latter to get into) and fell asleep for 2 hours. I decided to skip my dinner at the Youth Hostel which would have required me to get dressed and drive in the cold to Lake Louise Village. I ate supper in the hotel which is a little pricey but what the hell. I ate an Italian dish which was great. I have learned from travelling in multiple countries around the world that if you are not enthusiastic about the cuisine, find an Italian restaurant and you can’t go wrong .

I ate dinner and continued drinking while writing my blog. For my readers information, I spend at least 1 hour writing my blog every day, after the days activities. At about 10:00 a group of young people came in for a drink and pass the time away. Apparently, it got very noisy, a phenomenon that I had not noticed, as I was very involved in writing my blog. The nice waiter came over to my table, and noticing my white hair, asked me if I would like to be moved to a quieter area in the restaurant. I declined of course as I very much enjoy watching and listening to young people having fun. Ah, to be young again….

To day I took a free style course. Ya I know, my age …… Anyway we had a lovely blond level 4 instructor who was originally from Wales named Katie. The only other person that I know personally from Wales is Tom Jones. ‘what’s new pussy cat oh oh’ We divided into 2 groups, 1 group wanted to do the ‘park’ with jumps and the other group would do everything else. I chose the latter group. Oh my. We did short turns and medium turns for a warm up. Katie then told me that I lift 1 leg when I turn. ‘Did I know that?’ No. My 1st correction to be made. We then did multiple exercises such as, lift 1 leg, lift the other leg, lift both legs (yes it is possible), jump, jump with the front of the skis up, jump with the back of the skis up, ski on one leg, turn on one leg, do the same with the opposite leg, side slip turning the opposite way with the body, do sliding turns instead of carving turns ( which is wrong according to to CSIA standards but it is good to know how to do it anyways.) We then went into the park and I did my first jump on a 2 foot jump. I wish someone had taken a movie as I am not sure that I would have the courage to do it again!!

I finished the day with a fellow from Quebec City and we did the fastest 2 runs that I have ever done in my life. We had a wonderful banquet this evening, with about 100 skiers present. The ski crowd is really a great bunch of human beings. Everyone is laughing, everyone is smiling, everyone wants to teach you something, everyone is having a good time. No one is interested in making a lot of money. Everyone just loves what they are doing. Skiing is their whole life. I don’t think that I will ever get my Level 3s, but just taking the courses and being here with such a great bunch of people, is an incredible experience that I will never forget.

Love,

Brian