Ski Trip in Banff

It was a ski day! Julian and I took off from Calgary, on an early Monday morning and headed to Banff. It was about an hour drive from Calgary. The view along the highway was breathtaking! The magnificent alpine looked unreal.....

The overpass ahead of us helps to keep animals off the highway during their migration. What a neat idea!

The Rundle Mountain.

The ski mountain we intended to go, Sunshine Village, was overcrowded by the time we got there (around 9:30 a.m.). It was unexpected, especially on a Monday morning. We spent an hour waiting in line before we finally got a chance to turn around. Another 30 minutes wasted just to get out of the ski mountain...

Our second choice, Mt. Norquay was not too far from where we were. Its smaller ski area allowed us to hop on and off the chairlifts without much waiting time; which in turn, maximized our ski time. It turned out great after all! We purchased half-day ski lift tickets to ski from noon till 4 p.m.

It has been my dream to ski at the Rockies. Why do I enjoy skiing? I shared my downhill skiing experience previously. As compared to the Crabbe Mountain in Fredericton, Mt. Norquay offers more and longer ski trails at higher elevations. In other words, it was more thrilling and challenging to ski at the big mountains!

The mesmerizing beauty of Canadian Rockies, snow-covered evergreen trees, as well as the long and steep skiing terrain were astonishing! Mt. Norquay has a variety of ski terrain for all abilities, ranging from beginner, intermediate (blue run), advanced (black diamond), and expert (double black diamond). The advanced trails I've explored at Crabbe, turned out to be much similar to the intermediate trails here at the Rockies!! Thus, I didn't go further than that. Furthermore, I haven't had a chance to hit the ski terrain for nearly a year... I'd need to sharpen my skills before trying anything more adventurous...

Our first chairlift ride of the day!

I was pumped to ski at the Rockies for the very first time!

All geared up and posed for a nice shot ;)

The marvelous view of the Rockies!

Julian, my ski buddy cum personal ski instructor :)

Dog Sled Tour in Canmore

Participating in the dog sled tour was an excellent experience! After out trip to Lake Louise, we had a stopover in Canmore before heading to Banff. The Snowy Owl Adventures offered an unforgettable dog sled tour, as it turned out. It was a two-hour tour, including a van ride to Spray Lake, where we began our exciting adventures!

We were given a short briefing about the huskies and some useful commands before driving the dog sled on our own! Here are a few commands we learned:

Hike: Get moving

Easy: Slow down

Whoa: Stop

On by: Pass another team from the opposite direction

Whenever the puppies did a good job in obeying the commands, we said "good puppies!" These puppies are very tame and smart. We had six huskies for our dog sled, the two puppies in front were the leading dogs; whereas the puppies closest to the harness were among the strongest.

Some other useful commands I found:

Gee: Turn to the right

Haw: Turn to the left

The sled dog breeds at the Snowy Owl:

Canadian Inuit Husky: "Original" sled dog, the closest living relative to the wolf
Alaskan Malamute: Very similar to the Canadian Inuit Husky, also a close relative to the wolf
Canadian Indian Husky: Indigenous to North America, the closest living relative to the coyote
Siberian Husky: The most well known sled dog breed, typical "Hollywood" Husky with blue eyes

(From left) Julian, myself, and Annie posing with the puppies during a short break.

Good puppy!

Kayak Trip

Is there anything exciting you can do over the Thanksgiving weekend? Of course! If I was sailing in the summer, I wanna try kayaking in the fall! Something different (my favourite saying) ;) We left at 8 a.m. in the morning (another working day?) for kayaking at the Spednic Lake. It's about an hour's drive from Freddy, located west of McAdam.

Here we were, getting ready for the big day! Dave took the kayak on the right, and I had the other one. The vivid fall foliage was simply gorgeous! I felt as if I was in a dreamland... The green foliage in the summer has transformed into the autumn palette of glowing topaz, vibrant orange, and blazing crimson! Some turned into dark purple instead. Looking out to the mainland U.S.A. across the lake, I couldn't believe how close I was from the border! I can literally swim over! Haha..if I try hard enough :P In this case, I'll paddle the kayak instead ;D

The Spednic Lake encompasses part of the St. Croix Heritage River. Apparently, this lake is also open for recreational activities such as boating, canoeing, fishing (some do ice fishing in the winter, wish I can try out one day), camping, snowmobiling, ATV use, and hiking.

After our first 1.5 hours of paddling, we stopped for an early lunch at the shore. Then, off we went again for another 1.5 hours or so, and landed on the Big Island for a break. There are some cottages that are build individually on an island. How neat is that! Having the whole island to yourself and partying all night! *Sweet*

At last, we spent another hour paddling back to where we first launched the kayaks. It was an awesome day (slightly below 15 degrees Celsius) to stay out, perfect for a fall outing! I wondered how many warm days (-40 degrees in the winter, what do you expect?) left, before I've to put on my winter coat...



On our way back to Freddy, we paid a visit to the old railway station in McAdam. The railway station was opened in 1900. As a National Historic Site since early 80's, it attracts approximately 25,000 tourists each year! The building is 285 ft long and 45 ft wide (with the east and west ends built in 1910 and 1911, respectively). With its unique combination of Gothic, Baroque, and Victorian architectural styles, it's known to be an important reminder of McAdam's past.

The railway tracks behind the station. This place is open for tours to the public with a small fee of $3. I could only look inside of the building through the windows since it's closed for the season. I couldn't help but to imagine the busy crowd and loud steam trains back in the old days. The benches behind the platform brought back my memories of the fighting scenes in "Wong Fei Hung" movie by Jet Li.

This is one of the places I'd like to visit next summer!

Sailing

I always wonder what's sailing all about. I've heard wonderful stories about it, and often amazed how sailing can be a passion of someone's life. Here is my chance, when I found out that the Small Craft Aquatic Centre in Fredericton offers an eight-week sailing lessons in the summer. "Never try, never know" is my philosophy. Who knows, maybe sailing can be my passion too :) These are pictures taken during my last lesson:

With a personal floating device (PFD) with an attached whistle, and a pair of aqua socks, off I went sailing! First and foremost, we had to set up the main sail and jib sail (which can be a challenge) before hitting the Saint John River!

Off I went sailing with my fellow classmates and two instructors (one of them on a motor boat in case of emergency).

That's me as a skipper ;) Steering the boat with the tiller on my left, and ensuring a smooth sailing by grabbing on the mainsheet on my right.

The river view from the front of our sailboat. The water was calm at this moment.

Who would have imagined our boat to be a few inches away from being capsized a few minutes later?! I was controlling the boat direction by holding on the tiller and mainsheet with all my might, while Alison was pulling hard on the jib sheet. We were in a similar situation at least three or four times in one windy evening! A good practice though. I wouldn't mind getting into the water, except that the water was really chilly and I had my camera with me!!

Alison, my sailing buddy has been a wonderful companion. We've been helping each other out a lot.

What a gorgeous dusk! Overlooking the Westmorland Bridge from the south side of the city.

Sailing, is definitely more than sailing itself. It does not only requires experience of controlling a sailboat, but also knowledge of the wind and wave conditions. Depending on the points of sail, we'll have to steer the boat appropriately by either pulling in or letting out the main sail, as well as bearing off (pulling on the tiller) or heading up (pushing away the tiller). If we want to change the course of the boat, we'll have to either tack (heading into wind) or gybe (away from wind). Under most circumstances, we want to avoid the sheets from luffing.

There are lots of terminology involved. Sailing on a river was a challenge for us who were in White Sail I, I could barely imagine myself out in the unpredictable ocean. Sailing safely is one thing, sailing with speed is another level of the sport. I'm sure one will have to be determined and passionate, to be an awesome sailer. Maybe I'll be one, one day. You never know...

Skydiving

"Don't ask what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive."

~ by Gil Bailie

No source of information is 100% trustworthy. It was already 8:40 a.m., and I was still searching for Skydive Moncton, in a residential area! Apparently, MapQuest has given me the wrong direction. I still can't figure out why.

Now listen, drive along Elmwood Drive, go pass the Trans Canada Highway overpass, Irving gas station, Tim Horton's, till you see a big sign on your right that says "Skydive Moncton." I was lucky to be given directions from a guy in the neighbourhood, who was scraping off paints from his fence at that moment.

"Skydive Moncton, here I come!"

I felt a sense of relief to find out that the class has not started when I arrived. A piece of advice: "always check for method of payment, don't just assume that they accept credit card." I had to drive into town during lunch hour to get cash, certainly not a good idea if I'd have known better.

I attended a 5-hour course before my IAD (Instructor Assisted Deployment) jump. The first half of the course, we learned about the different steps, from when we were getting dressed up in a diving suit, boarding the plane, getting off the plane and hanging onto the wing, leaving the plane, making sure that the canopy is deployed properly, and finally, how to do the landing at a designated spot. Everything sounded great up to this point.

The second half of the course, we learned about "what if something goes wrong?" That sounds horrible, doesn't it? As a matter of fact, we had to face the reality that things might not turn out as well as what we expected them to be.

"The few seconds after leaving the plane, the canopy should deploy itself, with the assistance of the instructor. If this doesn't happen after six seconds, we should cut away the main canopy and pull out the reserve canopy instead. Assuming everything goes well, we want to check if we could stall, since we'll need it for landing. We grab on the toggles with both hands and pull them all the way down. We should experience a moment of free fall if it works right. Next, we want to steer to make sure that we're in control of the direction we're moving into. We hold on to the toggles; pulling the right toggle allows us to turn right, and vice versa. Subsequently, we want to recognize the landing spot and the wind direction. Landing into the wind is what we aim for. Last but not least, when we're about 12 to 15 ft above the ground, we want to pull the toggles from the top to bottom to completely stall the canopy, with our knees bend and put together, and get ready to roll if we need to."

At the end of the course, we had to write a test to make sure that we understood what we learned in class, and hopefully, we'd apply them during the jump. It was raining cats and dogs around 3 p.m. No jump was allowed, especially if it was overcast, because we couldn't tell where we were supposed to land! Oh no... please stop the rain, I'm gonna have to come back another day, which means renting a car and driving for 2 hours to get here...It was 4 p.m. There was nothing much we could do, but to wait for the sky to clear up. I took the opportunity to wander around town, went to the Champlain Place and had a meal at the Arby's (knew it from the TV commercial but never get around to trying it). Here comes my meal...

Meanwhile, I was praying hard for nice weather before dark. Finally, the sun was out around 7 p.m. I waited for another 20 minutes before checking with Skydive Moncton if they're planning on jumps. Whoo...whoo...they were sending experienced skydivers to check it out! It was 8 p.m. when I got there. Since we had limited daylight hours, I was in a hurry to get dressed up and be ready for the jump. My heart was pumping hard. Johnny, the instructor who went with us, was taking video of me on the ground. That helped to ease my tension a bit.

The final practice on the ground before the actual jump.

At 8:30 p.m., six of us (an instructor, a pilot, and four students) were on our way to 3,000 ft above sea level. I was the first one to jump. The moment the door popped open, I felt the rush of wind through the plane. I first extended my right foot onto the step, but could hardly positioned it due to the strong wind. You'll be amazed how strong the wind could be at a high elevation even though it was calm on the ground. Next, my right arm reached out for the wing, followed by my left arm. Subsequently, I had both feet on the step, and slowly moved my way out, towards the tip of the wing. Soon enough, I was hanging onto the wing with just both arms. Once I received the signal from Johnny to let go, I experienced a few seconds of free fall before the canopy was fully deployed. My mind went blank at the very instant. However, keeping in mind that I had to practice what I've learned from class, I did the procedure checking my canopy at the sixth second. I saw a gorgeous canopy above me, wow... I was actually floating... in the sky!

I was pumped and nervous at the same time, as the plane took off.

Here we were, 3,000 ft above sea level for NO REASON!! The rush of wind and the bird's-eye view of the city left me speechless...

Urgghh... I couldn't position my foot well because of the strong wind.

"Leave the plane when it's time to leave, to ensure a safe landing," said Jim, our classroom instructor. Here I was, waiting for the signal to let go both arms, with my feet dangling in the air. I was literally living on the edge!

I was pretty certain that I screamed for one to two seconds, before performing the procedures checking my canopy. "Arch one thousand, two thousand, three thousand, four thousand, five thousand, check canopy (while turning right and looking to the top)."

The serenity in the sky was beyond descriptions. It reminded me of the tranquility I experienced in the underwater world when I scuba dived. I was overwhelmed by the awesomeness of the Mother Nature. God's creations are simply fantastic!

One of the best part of skydiving was to flare in the sky, just to make sure that stalling would work during landing. The few seconds of free fall was marvelous... The 5-minute landing seemed to pass very quickly. I was kind of worried that I would end up landing on top of the roof! Hehe... thanks to the instructions I received from the ground, I was able to land smoothly on the field beside the runway, while looking out at the horizon! I didn't even have to roll over :P Well done!

I was surprised how quick the dark kicked in. When I was ready to leave, it was about 9:30 p.m. I felt a bit sketchy having to drive in the dark alone. Oh well, what can I do? It was a safe journey home that took me only one and a half hours. I was exhausted at the end of the day, with a joyful heart!

When you're in a state of helplessness, you'll learn to appreciate what's the most important thing in life. Even at the very last breath of your life, you just wouldn't let it go, because of the faith you live by. It was a thrilling and unforgettable event in my life. I was overjoyed and self-contented that my dream came true.