A more balmy -10 this morning, but for once common sense took hold and I had a more relaxed start and walked down to the village for the morning coffee. Robyn was upright and, between coughing boughts, expressed a hesitant desire to ski, so decided on a late start to the morning with a visit to the Creperie for second breakfast then on to the nordic trailhead. I got off to a flying start when putting the skis on after the short walk up from the apartment, one took off without me and I did a one ski crash. Then as we got onto the Gentle Giant ski run down into the village, I tried to do fancy turns and BOTH skis took off – though at least this time I stayed attached to both – and crashed again. Walked in to eat looking like I’d crawled through the snow to get there.
As it was now rapidly approaching midday, opted for an afternoon trail pass. Now at $6.30, this has to be the best value on the mountain. You get a single ride on the Morrisey Chair, which gives you 400m vertical that you DON’T have to ski uphill, and the Holy Cow trail heads off from the top station. Sensational snow and perfectly groomed trails made for a fantastic afternoon ski. Although you have the big vertical drop of the trail system overall, there are enough little rises along the way to give you some work to do, so it’s not all just sit back on the skis and let them ride. Took a diversion up high on the viewpoint trail, which gave us some steeper climbs and very few views(!?) then hit the first of several long sweeping descents where with the snow in such good condition you could attack it at full speed. Thankfully I had finally figured how to stay upright again and it was a hoot.
After the 7km descent of Holy Cow, took a side trip out to McGillvray Lake Outpost with a huge warming hut and got chatting to a couple of Kamloops locals. Headed back toward the village and delighted to find we still had plenty of vertical left to wash out. Got to the East Village where the trail was abruptly cut by a road. As we were fairly close to the flat as the raven flies, Robyn and Trevor pressed on, while I doubled back a bit to complete the circuit back to the village for a well earned coffee and croissant.
Headed for Maccas a bit after 5 for some wings – Cajun this time – and another honey beer. Dinner Menu not very appealing – particularly the $50 curry !! – so wandered over to Chopstix where we had a most enjoyable and more modestly priced meal.