Richard in the Rockies

Week Five - Bumps and bruises
05.12.05 - 11.12.05

The week started with the eating of baby-back ribs and almost ended with the breaking of few of Richard's own ribs on the pro ski slopes of Lake Louise! At least the sun was finally out again, so all the locals could see his spectacular spills.

This week continued on the cold front, with continued snow showers.

ConocoPhillip's Operations personnel joined the project this week, so Monday saw a long night out on the town team building. The evening started straight after work at "The Flying Emu" Australia bar on the ground floor of our office building, (very convenient!), and ended at an excellent restaurant I had not tried before, called "Milestone". The menu was extremely varied, but I can highly recommend the baby-back ribs. Finally got home about 12:30am (not the best way to start a week!).

The end of the week saw a dramatic change in the weather within 24 hours, with the arrival of the "Chinook" winds. The winds are caused by moist weather patterns, originating off the Pacific coast, cooling as they climb the western slopes, and then rapidly warming as they drop down the eastern side of the mountains on to Calgary. As a result the temperatures rapidly changed from an average of minus 15°C to plus 11°C, and brought some welcome sunshine.

With the arrival of the good weather and the arrival of a friend from Norway, it was back up into the mountains again at the weekend and skiing at Banff Sunshine Village and Lake Louise.

Following the end of the World Cup Skiing competition, the downhill run was open, offering a chance for me to run the same course as the professionals. Needless to say, I was nowhere near their pace, and had some pretty spectacular crashes as a result of some nasty ice patches, where it was impossible to edge the skis. Unfortunately no-one had a camera rolling at the time to record the event.

Sunday was better in Sunshine Village, as a result of 5cm of fresh snow overnight. With the fresh powder, glorious clear blue skies, and warm sunshine, the skiing couldn't get any better than this. Thankfully I managed to stay on my feet all day, which was a god-send, as my body was still nursing the following injuries:
A highly bruised thumb (which, at the time of the accident, I wondered if it was still attached)
A sore thigh and…
A wrenched shoulder
...all as a result of the crashes in Lake Louise on the Saturday!

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