Sunshine Hitch-hikers

Once we had drivers licenses we entered a new world of freedom. Lester and I decided that it was time we learned how to down-hill ski. We'd done a lot of cross-country skiing by this time so down hill skiing came naturally. We skied at Fernie because it was the closest ski hill and it really did have some nice slopes but they only had a "T" bar at that time. We loved it never-the-less. I think Greg still worked at Gotchna Ski Haus at that time and they had some old beater ski's in their ware house that we bought quite cheaply. I remember one day I was skiing down the hill at a fairly good clip. I was going across the slope keeping my eye on what I was heading towards and not really paying attention on what was coming toward me. Suddenly I heard this blood curdling scream coming from up the hill and I glanced up just in time to see this wild woman crash into me. We both went tumbling for quite a ways down the hill. Luckily I emerged more or less unscathed but if I was expecting an apology from the kamakazi I was to be dissappointed. She actually got mad at me for getting in her way. Crazy woman.

One day we decided we were going to join the big leagues and we planned a trip to Sunshine Village. Rick drove in his big beast of a car and Rick, Tom, Lester and myself got up in the dead of night and headed to Banff. Not too far out of Banff we saw a hitch hiker on the side of the road and we decided that we should be good Samaritans and give her a ride. The fact that she was a beautiful girl not much older than we were might have influenced our decision as well.

She climbed in the back seat and there we were, way too nervous to have a normal conversation. Finally she tried to break the tension and she offered to share a joint with us. All four of us simultaneously said, "NO THANKS". I think we scared the poor girl. It was pretty quiet after that. We had a great time skiing Sunshine and it became my new favorite ski hill. They have bowls off the back side of the hill where you are in powder up to your chest and you still move down the hill at lightning speeds. Many of the hills I was the first one down the hill and the fresh powder was great. I remember wiping out one time and when my body came to a stop I was buried in the snow and everything was black. I couldn't tell which way was up and it took quite a bit of wiggling around to figure out which way I should dig.

What I liked the best about Sunshine Village was that at the end of the day you could ski down to the parking lot rather than take the bus. It was a long and fairly gentle trail. It must have been a few miles but I loved moving down the hill at a fairly good clip just standing there doing nothing. I love skiing and I wonder why I don't go more often. It might have something to do with the fact that it requires snow and I'm not too excited about going places that have snow. What a dilema.