A short ski & a long soak in the hot pools.

I managed to drag myself out of bed after another restless night's sleep ready to head up to the slopes again.  This afternoon while I was vacuuming I realised that my mid-night attempt some weeks ago to jam the heating vent under my bed closed had slipped out - with the help of daylight & being fully awake, I've rectified this & hope to sleep a little better now.  After the last two days packed with skiing of various forms, a slightly lazier day was planned.

We were at the parking lot well before nine & it seemed reasonable busy, but getting off the gondola the village was pretty sparse.  Luckily for us, all those we had seen below seemed more interested in the day lodge or the parking lot.   Alex (that's new-Alex, I'm sure it would save a lot of confusion if I just called everybody Bruce) & I were both more than happy to take it easy on the groomed runs we could find.  Again with no new snow around, it was a beautiful day - & I had a willing photographer.  So here's a view you've seen before, but with me (I assure you) standing by.  We had some difficulty picking out our skin tracks from the previous day, but I was finally able to provide evidence that we had actually gone across the meadows.

I think it was shortly after this photo was taken that we hit a run that had been chopped up a lot since Saturday.  I did a very passable impression of someone trying to hurl themselves off their skis at speed on hard pack, but somehow managed not to.  Time to change runs.  Best run of the day (for me) was the last one off Goat's Eye & then the ski-out (which for the first time ever was almost enjoyable, as it was only 11.30 & empty).

The afternoon was even more chilled out, with Alex continually trying to warm up, an introduction to Barpa Bill's (great burger), a little shopping at Monod's before the final attempt at recovering circulation - a good long soak in the Upper Hot Springs.  Another great thing about only skiing half the day is that the Hot Springs are not very busy - & you can actually see the view as it's before five o'clock & consequently it's not dark.  A short little drive around town was what passed for a tour of Banff & it was off home with still plenty of time left to do those boring weekend chores that have been mostly neglected since the skiing took priority.  Apparently I have to go back to work tomorrow - that may be a bit of shock; and it'll be January the Fourth - happy anniversary Mum & Dad.