August 22, 2010 (Canmore, AB) – Venturing into the blogging world is something that I’ve always been interested in, but never really knew how to go about it. The opportunity presented itself when teammate and current SkiTrax blogger, Drew Goldsack, proposed the idea. I’m excited to be joining a well-established group of North American skiers who share thoughts and insights with others as well as sharing a passion for our sport and the pursuit of excellence.

From what I’ve seen, I think this is the part where the newbie blogger shares a bit of their background. Starting from the very beginning, I was born in Banff joining three older siblings (Philip, Matthew and Angela) and a great set of parents. Fast Forward through elementary and High School and my real ski career began. I’ve been training with the Alberta World Cup Academy out of Canmore coming onto three years now and this will be my last year as a Junior category skier. I currently live in Canmore with my brother and Canadian National Ski Team member, Phil Widmer. Even though it’s more like we just rotate through this apartment, it is fun to live in the same place again, even if it is just for a few days at a time.

It’s mid-August I’m full swing into my summer training, but I was lucky enough to have a rest week recently (Au. 9-15). The more hours I begin to log, the more apparent it is that I need equal attention to rest and recovery. It comes as a bit of a shock at first when I think, “whoa, rest week! I’m going to have so much energy!” and then I realize, “whoa, rest week! I really need to rest”. That is the purpose though, to recharge the batteries and feel energized, but it honestly takes me at least three days before I want to attempt anything with energy.

So for the first three lethargic days of my rest week, I embraced my inner Martha Stewart and made some drapes for the apartment. I have a lot more respect to her now (except for her insider trading ethics). I also seize every opportunity I can to head back into my hometown (a whole 20 minutes away) to visit my family and friends.  I can also say I never miss having to dodge the tourists on Banff Avenue.

My main event planned for this rare week was to canoe to LM 22, a beautiful campsite on Lake Minnewanka just twenty minutes from Banff. However, because of a grizzly sow and two cubs, my boyfriend Joey and I had to rearrange our plans last minute. Canoeing to the campsite was a must for me, to avoid lugging a pack and also to avoid RV’s at car campsites. Upper Kananaskis Lake? Some might immediately relate this to the trailhead for the run into the Haig Glacier. I will admit I was very hesitant to head back to the area where I’ve spent so many hours training when I was avoiding the idea of exertion. Side note: the Haig Glacier is an on-snow training camp where many hours are logged and many tired athletes made. Don’t get me wrong, I love the training opportunities the Haig offers and the area truly is beautiful. It was just the idea of relaxing when the place means ‘training’. But, we decided reserve the last campsite, pack up the Rav-4, put a canoe on top and head out for an upwind paddle to our campsite. About forty-five minutes into the paddle, there was a neat island that had “Lunch Break” written all over it. Continuing on after a refuel, Joey and I reached Point Campsite and pulled our canoe to shore.

Rain that night, but thanks to tarps and sealed tent seams, we were dry. Morning came, and so did another mission. I had heard good things about Aster Lake, a remote alpine lake, rumoured as good for fossils and flowers, so we thought we’d give it a try. The rain was an on-and-off drizzle; which was actually refreshing to run in and thanks to my IceBreaker layers, I stayed warm when wet. After many photo ops, scree slopes and some creek jumping, we reached a windy Aster Lake two and half hours later. The run down was a lot more focused and proved to be very slippery and muddy, but we survived.

Starting a fire that night is a different story. The fire wood looked and felt dry, but those little water drops were in there somewhere and did nothing in the way of a fire and everything in the way of driving me nuts. An hour and half later and after many more choice words, Joey found some dry cedar kindling which I honestly think saved my life at this moment. The pure joy that fire brought us is hilarious now that I think of it. Maybe I lost too many brain cells from blowing on wet wood, making smoke. Maybe it is just one of life’s simple pleasures. My hair still smells like campfire, but it was well worth the effort for fireside pita pizzas, s’mores and tim-tam slams.

The next morning brought clear skies and the hammock set-up of a lifetime. We knew the rest week was over so we packed up the canoe again and leisurely headed back along the other shoreline. Rolling back into town we smelt a lot worse than when we left, but there was new fuel in the tank and that’s what it was all about.

This week the Alberta World Cup Academy is in Whistler for some concentrated training and some new scenery. Thanks for reading and I will report back next time with whatever pops into my head or into my life for that matter.