Spring has Sprung at Sunshine Village

Lookout Mountain and Goat's Eye in the background

Spring has finally arrived in the Rocky Mountains. We have had the chance to get out a few times in the last couple of weeks to enjoy the great conditions.

Just this past week we spent Mother's Day on the hill. We had an amazing blue bird sky, temperatures around 0^oC, snow that softened up as the day went on, but never became slushy.

Skiing the Dive

We're very lucky to ski at a hill that runs such a long season. While there are a number of great hills in the area near us, we call Sunshine Village Ski Resort home. This is a hill that offers wonderfully variable terrain for all ability levels. Sunshine offers a kiddy zone with a magic carpet for the little ones just starting out. There is also a day care for the little ones not yet on skis. Sunshine offers an entire chair (Strawberry chair) that services a great grouping of green runs – perfect for the beginner of any age. All other chairs offer a range of terrain, from green runs to blacks and double blacks. I have skied here with friends that stick to greens, while we head off for some tree runs and then meet at the chair no problem. It's really easy to accommodate all ability levels within a group and ensures that everyone is having fun.

Sunshine also has a number of distinct regions with in the hill. There's the main are, where the lodge, hotel and other building are, but there is also Goat's Eye. This area has great terrain, including the South Chutes, which are a super fun double black are to play in. A little open bowl and little tree skiing. Amazingly fun area! Beyond this they have two controlled areas that can only be accessed if you have PEEPs, shovels and probes. These are Delirium Dive and WildWest. I've not had the chance to ski WildWest, but I can tell you that the Dive is beyond fun. There are a few drop in points, all giving you access to superb skiing. Wide open bowls the whole way. There is a risk of avalanche, but they to control for it, unfortunately not like they can within the resort proper. So only enter with the required gear and if you know how to use it.

Chris and I in the Dive a few years ago

Outside of skiing they have a wonderful hotel. We stayed there for our wedding – yes, we got married at Sunshine. Words can express what a fantastic job they did with our wedding. They were very accommodating and went out of their way to ensure that we had a marvellous day. Chris even skied the day of the wedding. And we both hit first chair the next day. The hotel has undergone some renovations in recent years and is super nice. Prices often include lift pass as well and there are great mid-week deal to be found. A great place for a little get away.

There is not much to do up there during the evening, but they do have amazing food, a bar and a breath taking hot tub available. So if you desire world class skiing and quiet evenings, you will love the vibe at Sunshine.

All in all, we are super happy to have this as our home hill and never get tired of the terrain that it offers up. Check it out if you ever get the chance, you wont be sorry.  

Tag Team Parenting

Chris and I have been working on our Tag Team parenting skills. The Kraken is too young to be placed in day care at the ski hill and still needs me for most of his meals during the day. So we are necessitated in taking him with us to the ski hill and trading off parenting. We have a great system going right now, that seems to work for us and for the Kraken. We have tried our method with friends around and when skiing on own our – true tag team parenting.

The gist of our system is that we load the little man into his Ergo carrier (I love it!).  I tend to use it as a side sling when schlepping all my gear and his gear for the day. Our home hill tends to be Sunshine Village in Banff, Alberta. So we take a short trip in the gondola – the boy loves watching the sights go by, or staring at others that we share the ride with. I then head into the hotel restaurant and get settled. They have great sofas in front of a fire place and make a wonderful home base. Chris takes a few runs while I get things settled. He then comes in and gives me the opportunity to head out. Since the lifts are very accessible to the hotel it makes trading off in this manner work really well. We each tend to take 3-4 runs and then relieve the other and parent for a short period. At lunch I feed the Kraken while Chris takes a few runs and then we take a brief break to eat together and continue the afternoon in a similar manner.

The only issue we've run into is nap time. But so far we've been lucky, Chris seems to have some magical skills that can get the boy to sleep in the middle of a busy restaurant. Don't ask me how, but he does it!

This method only alters slightly when others are around since we have kind friends that will often take a shift of care giving, thus allowing Chris and I to ski together.

The best thing is that the other day we had the chance to spend the day with another set of parents who were tag team parenting. They were trying a different method – they traded half days. In their case, the dad skied for the morning, came in for a late lunch together and then the mum headed out for a chunk of the afternoon. I can totally see the benefit of this method as well. It would work much better at hills where a home base is not as accessible to the runs that one is wanting to ski. But could also make for very tired legs or a very tired parent from trying to entertain an active child for so long.

Later that same day we met parents who had spent the day tag team skiing as well. Twice in one day! They even took it one step further and were sharing skis! We really liked meeting and chatting with others taking their little one to the hill so early.

I think the best part is the support and encouragement that we've received from everyone around us. Here's to maintaining a passion while raising a young one. If you have another method or ways to make ours better please let me know, I would love to hear ways to tweak my method to make the day even better for everyone.

Powder!

We had our first powder day today!  Chris took the day off for a little family time.  We weren't expecting much as they weather experts were calling for dropping temperatures last night and during the day.  There was supposed to be a little snow - 5cm range.  Not great news on either front.  But, we decided to take the day and just hope for a few turns at Sunshine Village.

We got more snow over night than called for.  While this seemed great, it made the drive horrible!  But, we took our time and made it to the hill to find that it was not too cold and it was super quiet.  The best part was it got warmer when we took the gondola up to the hill.  I took the Kraken into the hotel to get settled - he's still too young for day care, so we were all over tag-team parenting.

Chris took the first shift on snow.  We were meeting friends, and they were kind enough to watch the little man, allowing Chris and I to head out together for a bit before lunch.

And was the snow ever great!  I would say we had a good 25-30cm to play in.  It was easy to find a few fresh turns.  There was also lots of fluffy chop to play in as well.  There has been enough snow in the past little bit to fill in a lot of the gaps and cover the rocks well.  This got us into the shoots to play in the fluff.  What a great time!  It felt great to play in the powder for the first time.  I love the feeling of snow flying up and hitting you in the knee (the tight hit is even better, but I won't complain).


And we finished the day with the sky clearing to this view...

So, yep, an all round great day first day of powder!  When I said powder at the start, did I really ever need to say more?