Nakiska Ski Resort located at Kananaskis Country in Rockie mountains. From Calgary drive along high way 1 toward Banff direction, take 118 exit then do a left turn, continue drive toward Kanaskis Country direction for about 40 minutes. Then you will see the sign to the ski hill. The snow came very early this year, however the weather kept so warm, most of the now cumulated earlier the winter meltted, the ski hill is not quite fully covered right now. Ski is our family activity. Kids are looking forward for the snow when it just entered winter, finally we had our first ski trip.
The winter in Canada is very long, it makes you feel like there are only two seasons: winter and spring. Summer only last less than three months. Sometime, the temperature in winter could continue to be cold for quite long time. However, the winter in Calgary is different. There will be Chinook every now and then. The warm air will be blown over to the city and stay for a few days. You can take a break and feel like summer after stay below minus 20 for quite long time. The latitute of Calgary is similar as Harbin China. It turns dark very early in winter days. Normally you left home in dark to work and return home in the dark after work. There are plenty of snow, almost every week there will be one day snow. The snow could cumulate to tens cm, it’s difficult to go out. You get used to it when you live here long enough, just be careful while driving, or try to stay inside if you don’t have to go out. There are not much night life, most people prefer to stay at home spend time with families. If you are new to Calgary, you might not know that most companies in Caglary work flexible hours. You work eight hours a day, but you can choose to start to work any time between six to eight o’clock. Hence you can go home while it bright, then arrange your personal life enjoy more after work activities. It really shows that work at North America you can live personalized life.
The bennefit of ski at Nakiska is not only because it’s so close to the city, also the parking lot is very convinent for family with kids. To drive to SunshineorLake Louise，you have to get up really early，it might take you 1.5 to 2 hours to get there for winter driving condition。If you arrive late, you ’ll have to park your car along the high way, then take the shuttle bus to the gandola. Other than ski equipment, you ’ll have to carry lunch , snack etc. With kids, I probably will feel like travel thousand miles. On the other hand, after working the whole week, you might want to sleep a bit more. It ’ll not delay anything if you ski at Nakiska, just arrive around noon time, ski a few run not only make you breath in all the fresh air also it’s enough exerice to get you strong and feel warm in the cold winter.
First time out for ski trip, I didn’t see snow covered mountains, it might be the temperature the snow meltted for the most part you can see. You can tell from the number of cars parked beside the highway, lots of people still doing winter hiking, cross country ski not quite started yet. Based on the statistics, Calgary is the city attract lots of young people. Most family enjoy out door activities. You ’ll see lots cars parking beside the high way, sometime the parking lot of hiking trail is really full. Only ski there are so many different kinds, cross country, downhill ski and back country. Some people like snow shoeing, which is wear snow shoe walk in deep snow.
Though we ski every weekend, there is no exception that the first time we forget something. While unloading, just realized that we didn’t bring kids ’s snow pants. It’s not possible ski without snow pants, It cost over hundred dollars to buy a new one. Kids won’t be happy if they fell and wet their pants. It just started snowing again, the lift must be wet. I was planning just go home. It’s kind of sad, kids insist to ski only at bunny hill to try out their skis. After a few run, they can’t give up the idea to take the lift do a run. With the weather hold, kids said they didn’t feel cold either. Finaly we took the lift went up the hill after lunch.
Only Silver Chair is open. After off Silver chair, you can continue take Gold chair go up. It’s bit colder on the top of the hill, but the snow is much powder. If you are beginner, it’s not recommended to go up Gold chair. There is no green run to go down from the top, you have to take blue and black run to get down. It often narrow and steep. You have to be able to ski different conditions can make your way down. Most people enjoy challenge will stay at the top, it’s less crowded. Our kids so enjoy Glacier run. Glacier is not groomed, it is actually not an official run, you can ski any where down between the trees. It’s easier when there are lots of snow, you only can see rocks while less snow or more people ski down those areas. It’s hard to control speed, also will scratch your ski board. There will be lots of scratches on your ski board after you run over rocks a few times, you can fix it by applying some wax which is a way to extend the life of the ski board.
A bit of history of Calgary：Calgary is the city of hosting 1988 Winter Olympics. The main venue is called Calgary Olympic Park (COP) which is located at west of the city, on the way connect to highway 1 exit. It’s a must go to place for beginners. They make snow when winter starts. If you want to start ski in the winter, you ’ll need to register the ski class early. The class ofen filled earlier. Some people might curious, why not ski at COP, have to drive so far to the mountains? First of all, the ski lessons fully booked at COP, it’s too crowded. It’s hard to find a parking spot, you won’t satify with ski downhill in a few minutes. Secondly, overall it’s much warmer in the city, the snow is made by machine. It’s very icy, rather say you skiing, might feel like skating. And lastly, COP is a hill not mountain, not high enough. You run down hill might only take you five minutes, it’s only for begineers to practice. For begineers, if you go downhill in the mountain, you might fall down too often, sometime might take you hours to ski down. You will not enjoy that experience. You might interested in how to get started with ski, I ’ll find time record how I started learning ski.
Thank you 🙏 for reading！