What was it like in Lake Louise?

It’s a Saturday afternoon at work and I was heading to Lake Louise with Steele once I get off work. I checked my phone and there were 15 missed calls and 5 voice messages. It was all from Steele trying to get through to me. I called him back and Steele told me that I had to pick up the rental car across the road from AVIS in the Four Points Hotel across the road from COP. So I went over there to collect the car but only to find out that I had left the one thing I needed most to collect the car. My credit card was at home. They were closing in an hour and the stupid thing was that they required the credit card of the person who will be driving the car which meant we couldn’t even use Steele’s credit card and on top of that he wouldn’t even be able to make it down here within an hour. After trying for 20 minutes to negotiate several ways I can rent the car without a credit card, the AVIS lady wouldn’t budge so I left and it was time for Plan B.

As soon as I got off work, I got home dumped my bag and got changed and went over to Steele’s house and by this time he already worked out how to get to the airport via bus. It took us about an hour and a half catching a bus then the C-Train then the Bus again and we were at the airport. Luckily I booked online the previous night with Budget so we walked right up to the Budget service desk and confirmed my reservation and we picked up a car. We then drove home quickly to get all our gear and by this time it was 10pm. Jenny was expecting us at 10pm but we were only leaving town at this time. Oh well. So Steele and I were finally off to Lake Louise after some hassles and we were driving in the dark and mind you I went out last night so I only had 4 hours of sleep as well. I was pretty darn tired but Steele had kept my eyes on the road with the ever so interesting topic on girls. The topic was so interesting that the next sign we saw read “Welcome to Golden.” Steele and I were like what the hell? We crossed the border into British Columbia. So we did a U-turn and drove back, about 30 minutes later we saw a sign indicating Lake Louise. Once we got to Lake Louise the next set of problems would soon arise, we had no map, and it was as good as traveling blindly. We were driving down every single street trying to find Lake Louise Inn where David(Jenny’s Boyfriend) was working and we ended up at the famous Lake “Lake Louise” where the Chateau was, this place was classy, huge and elegant. It was a place for the rich. But after this little distraction we were on the road again to find Lake Louise Inn.

We simply stumbled across Lake Louise Inn purely by luck and once we went inside there was no one at the reception desk so we kind of started walking around then I heard my name being yelled out and I turn around and there was Dave. We finally made it. Dave was a night auditor so he was working graveyard shifts. He gave us directions to his house. Once there Jenny opened the door and I gave her a big hug. It was nice seeing her again. We dumped all our gear inside and Jenny made me some noodles to eat because I was complaining I was so hungry. Steele and I were meant to stop by somewhere to grab a bite to eat but that never happened. So after 4 hours of sleep the night before, a bowl of noodles at 1am for dinner, my body was telling me I should go to bed and wake up early tomorrow to snowboard.

But as soon as Jenny asked “Do you want to go out to the pub?” My mind wasn’t going to refuse the invitation. So we drove out, it was only a 5 minute drive to this pub, apparently there were only 3 main bars in this town and this one was the most happening one. Once we walked in, I saw 5 guys huddled around the pool table playing pool , Jenny’s girlfriends getting up from a table who were just about to leave and a few other girls and guys at the bar. I joked with Jenny saying “If this is the most happening bar what’s the other two like?” This was a Saturday night too so I don’t know what the problem was but I couldn’t see myself working up here for a season because I would seriously get bored out of my brains. So after a couple of drinks, we left and went home. Jenny unraveled the sofa bed and Steele refusing to sleep on the sofa bed with me so he took the other couch and we went to bed.

The next morning Steele told me that I literally fell asleep in 3 minutes. Well I was pretty tired so that sounds about right. But anyway it was boarding day, and Dave just got home from work, we ate some cereal with him and then we were off to the mountain.

The first run that we did was a tree run mixed in with some steep and narrow terrain but also filled with moguls. It was a bloody hard run and it absolutely caned my legs. There wasn’t as much fresh snow that I thought Lake Louise would have but it was fun none the less. It was amazing being here, the mountains are so monstrous, and the scenery from the top was simply epic. It doesn’t even compare to the mountains we have at home or even New Zealand. Anyone thinking about a snowboarding trip, come to Canada. Although I haven’t checked out Japan yet so I can’t really compare any other.

Well the day was drawing to an end and Steele and I finished up our last run and decided to go check out the Lake. By the time we got there, the Sun was starting to set and there wasn’t a lot of sun light left but the Lake still looked quite magnificent. It was all white, the trees the water, it was all frozen. However I think it would be much more breathtaking during summer when you can see the blue water and the green trees surrounding it.

It was 5pm and we had to get the car back to the airport by 8pm so we went back to Dave’s house but nobody was home. I twisted the door knob and the door opened, no one was at home but there was a note from Jenny. She must of went to work, so I didn’t end up catching up with her before I left so I left a thank you note and we were on our way. All in all, Lake Louise was quite an experience it always makes it easier when you know people. But I still liked Kicking Horse better for snowboarding. I’ve only been here for one day so I will need to come back again before I can make an unbiased decision.

Note: Unfortunately I need to get off my ass and hassle Steele for some pictures so sorry about this one. Check back soon