Rodgers in Seattle Blog: Ski Trip to Canadian Rockies

Friday, December 31, 2021

Ski Trip to Canadian Rockies

In the summer, we decided that since it appeared Covid was on its way out, we would brave going across the border and head up toward Banff for our Christmas ski trip this year. In fact, by December, there were new concerns as the Omicron variant was spreading. Each of us needed to take a Covid test to cross the border into Canada, and, with our original plans to fly, we would have needed to get a negative test on the way home as well or we would be stuck in Canada for an extra two weeks. We decided to reduce the stress level somewhat by driving, which meant we didn't need a Covid test on the way back, just on the way up.

Regardless, it was a very stressful trip. We didn't know for sure we were going until the day before when we got our fifth negative test back, and then we had to deal with a drive through snow and treacherous road conditions. We planned to do a bit more than half of the drive on the way up, but wound up just continuing on and doing all of it, making it to Golden BC in one day, about eleven hours.

We stayed at a house in Golden for three nights, and skiied Kicking Horse Mountain Resort. It snowed while we were there, complicating our plans as we had a hard time getting our car out of the driveway. But it was fine by the time we were ready to leave, at which point we drove across to near Banff.

There we stayed on top of the mountain at Sunshine Mountain Lodge. Mary Jo and John headed into Banff for one day, including a pilgrimage to the Christmas Shop we had gone to back in 1990 on our honeymoon. We stayed there for two days and then drove home a day early to make it back before more snow hit. We had a tough drive in Canada, but made it back, again all in one day, to arrive home late on the night of December 23.