Fat Biking in Canmore (and other activities)

Back in March, Kyle and I got to spend 2 amazing weeks in Canmore with Andrew, who generously offered us a place to stay. The avalanche danger was high, and I was pretty busy with school, so ski touring and ice climbing were not particularly enticing. But, it was my birthday and I wanted to do something active. As an alternative to our usual sports, we rented fat bikes from the Canmore Nordic Centre and took them out for a couple of hours on the trails nearby. It was a blast! Being able to ride in the snow is pretty amazing. 

We were directed to go check out the Highline Trail by the guys at the rental shop. The ride around the reservoir and up the connector trail was fun and well packed down. The bikes gripped the hardpack and ice like crazy on the climb. When we turned onto Highline however, we were the first ones through. Breaking trail was not easy and we wallowed in the deep snow.

Trying to stay in Kyle's tracks to avoid coming to a complete stop

Elizabeth Parker Hut

Last year, Emily invited me to go ski at the Elizabeth Parker Hut. It sounded amazing but I had to bail because I was going to be in the NWT. When Kyle came back from EPH with stories of amazing new friends, crazy shenanigans and great skiing I knew I had to make it a priority this year. When the email for the trip arrived, I booked the weekend off immediately, many months in advance. This hugely successful weekend was orchestrated by Emily, but wouldn't have been nearly as fun if it hadn't been for all the enthusiastic participants (all connected to Emily and Trevor in some way) who traveled from far and wide to attend. 

Emily had booked the entire hut for our group of 20. Prior to departure, I thought I only knew 5 of the people on the trip but upon arriving in the parking lot, I was greeted by an old classmate from Handsworth who I hadn't seen in 9 years! The coincidences kept coming as I met Emily's other friends and realized that the trip was full of North Van folk, UBC grads and friends of friends. It was an amazing group of super nice people.

Shaun powers ahead with the keg