It's not so much the cold,

It's the humidity that'll kill you.... to quote the late great John Candy in Cool Runnings. And at -29 c this is the coolest I have ever been, And probably will ever ski as they stop running the lifts at -30 c

Apparently this is unseasonably cold as it doesn't usually get this bad until January, and skiing can be quite hard work as the snow can get quite rough like sandpaper so there can be a bit more skating and poling involved, all while wrapped up in everything so I look even more like Bibendum than normal

Winter is definitely here

As I stood in the driving snow on Sunday morning waiting for my ride to Banff for our winter concert, I did briefly question what we were doing here. It continued to snow all day and so the mountains had lots of powder yesterday. The temperatures have continued to drop and we have a high of -17C forecast today (it is currently -24C). Here is a snapshot:

Canmore, AB, Canada

Tuesday 11:00 AM

Partly Cloudy

⛅

-24

°C | °F

Precipitation: 5%

Humidity: 70%

Wind: 6 km/h

Tue              Wed             Thu             Fri             Sat

 ⛅      ☀       ⛅      ☁     ⛅

                          

-17°                  -17°                 -17°                -16°            -15°

-27°                  -27°                 -23°                -22°            -22°

I had to borrow Mark's coat on Sunday as mine wouldn't button up over all the layers! Our concert went really well and it included pieces from the concert band and big band too, not just them supporting our choir. Some of the musicians are so talented. Afterwards, I joined a few others to sing carols and excerpts from Handel's Messiah at another venue, this time outside in the snow. It was only -12C then and was lovely standing around roaring fires. This evening we're doing a flashmob outside at one of the local supermarkets then back to the Legion for a bit of Christmas cheer.  All I can say is that I'm extremely thankful for M&S thermals, although I never thought I'd have to wear more than one layer at a time... 

Three weeks in...

and I'm wondering where the time has gone.

I've joined the local choir - Valley Winds Music Association - and we have some 80 singers. We're too big for the church now so tend to practice in the hall next door. It makes a nice change to have a good number of bass and tenor voices (about 30 men), as most choirs I have been a part of are mainly women. Our Christmas concert will be in Banff this year as we'll have the band playing with us too so need a big venue. It should be quite interesting!

I've also volunteered at ArtsPlace and have been putting up posters all over town for upcoming events. It gets me out of the house every day for a few hours and I've distributed about 80 out of the 100 posters so far. My legs don't know what's hit them as I've not walked this much for some time. The temperature has been quite variable over the last few weeks and it was great walking around town when it was 15C-18C but the last few days haven't been much above freezing and yesterday had a high of -5C. One of my friends commented that in a few months I'll be wishing for -5C (thanks Jonathan!) Think I'll need more layers!

And as for the baking, it has taken a bit of a backseat of late as Mark has had a few issues with tight ski clothing :-)

driving in canada

my first proper snowy drive up the sunshine village car park was ok, just a light dusting. But another couple of inches fell while I was up skiing which was enough to cover the 5 mile side road back to the trans Canada highway quite effectively, and its just busy enough for the traffic to compact the snow without clearing it. Took it slowly past the first car in the ditch, slower still through the flock of sheep or goats that had come down to eat the rocksalt/grit that they had spread on the road with no effect, and really slow past the Banff shuttle bus that was also in the ditch....

and at last i'm feel justified in spending that money on the all weather tyres.....

Here we go again

After summer in the deep south I thought I would never feel cold again. That came to an end today with my first day up on the sunshine village ski hill - technically only just below freezing but quite a strong wind so a bit of a chill factor.

Sunshine actually opened last Thursday - earliest in 31 years - but Maria banned me from going up and hurting myself before we went up to Churchill, so today is my first day on the hill, and Lake Louise is supposed to open this thursday.

Feet are screaming at me, legs are burning already and lungs are a bit shredded from the altitude, but it beats cycling around the village

and proof they were not just stuffed....

follow this link - video was too big for blogger

Bad boy walking

and proof they were not just stuffed....

follow this link - video was too big for blogger

Licking sunshine off the rocks