Gorgeous day at Lake Louise

I was finally feeling well enough today to go for a bit of a ski. I can't remember the last time that I took three days off in a row, so I really needed to shake the cobwebs out and get some movement in. Andrea took us up to Lake Louise today, and what a day it was to be up there! The sun was so bright and warm that our new warm-up suits were definitely too hot to wear, and the scenery was so beautiful that I had to keep stopping for pictures.

That being said, I got a solid 1.5 hours of skiing in with a few short sprints to shake myself up and get my muscles to remember speed. It was really hard to get myself going at first, but after about 40 minutes it got easier: I could breathe better and my muscles felt more inclined to do their job. I think in a couple more days, I'll be good as new. Now, if only the rest of my teammates can stay healthy!

It being as warm as it was, we of course had to use klister for grip today. For those of you not familiar with this ski-specific stuff, klister is what nordic skiers use when the conditions are warm and icy. It's a really sticky liquid grip wax that is a huge pain to deal with. We Ottawa skiers are a little spoiled when it comes to ski conditions: our snow can most often be counted on to be cold and wet - very easy to wax for. As a result, I don't even own any klister, much less know how to apply it! Well, I got a lesson today from the non-spoiled west-coast skiers! If you're interested (and I'm sure most of you are not), Klister comes in a tube like toothpaste, and you have to put little dabs of it all along your grip zone and then use a cork - or apparently your thumb (no, thank you!) - to spread it very evenly. But the really fun part is of course cleaning it off your skis after you're done skiing! It's a sticky mess. Yuck!

Anyway, after we'd finished our ski, Andrea took us "to say a quick hi to the lake." So today I actually saw Lake Louise for the first time in my life. Granted it was covered in ice, but it was still breathtaking. See for yourselves!

The Lake Louise Ice Festival is on there now. They've got a skating rink set up on the lake, an ice castle bult and some Olympic-themed ice sculptures including giant Olympic rings. Of course, we had to take a picture with those. Don't we look sharp in our new team outfits? Apparently, Andrea missed that memo :).

And that's our day! Two more sleeps till Wistler! Good night from Canmore for now.