(Canmore, Alberta, Canada)

After four chilly days on the alpine slopes, the temperature dropped even further. The overnight low was around -30’C. The visibility was iffy and there was also a cold wind. It would have been miserable on the lifts, even with Hotshots! We made an executive decision to skip our planned last day of downhill skiing and try an outdoor sport that keeps you a little warmer: cross-country skiing.

Fortunately, I was in one of the best places in the country to do this: as I mentioned a few days ago, Canmore hosted the Olympic cross- country skiing and biathlon events at the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics.  The facilities have been maintained and remain a competitive/training centre today.  Instead of just visiting, however, this time I was actually going to ski!

I haven’t done cross-country skiing regularly for about 40 years.  The equipment has changed enormously.  But the basics are still the same and it is just a little easier to ski uphill with the new “skins” skis.  

There was no way that we could have enjoyed skiing downhill today: the windchill was approaching -30’C, although the actual temperature was about -17’C at midday.   While cross-country skiing was also cold initially, I warmed up after about 15 minutes of work.  We decided to do a series of loops that didn’t take us too far from the base lodge, just in case .  Eventually, the main concern was not getting too hot, as the moisture could really make you freeze when you got cold again later. 

After a delicious lunch, we did another longer loop in the afternoon.  The forest trails were beautiful but my favourite spot was  a spectacular alpine meadow (see photo at the very top of this post), where you could really appreciate all of the mountains around us. The sun had graciously reappeared shortly after we started, and the wintry colours were intense.

I don’t say this often, but this was definitely a day where it was better to be off the slopes than on them.  We ended up skiing more than 20 km and fully deserved the Mexican meal we enjoyed that evening.  I certainly wasn’t expecting to drink horchata in Canmore, but there it was! 

We made the most of our last full day in Canmore, and we could only laugh the next morning when the temperature dropped to a totally ridiculous -36’C (again, without the windchill!) on the way to the airport.

Coming up: another Alberta attraction!