Bluebird Days in Banff!

The group all arrived in high spirits after a long flight against the clock from the UK, and after a quick check in to the hotel and apartments we headed off to Chili's one of the restaurants the group are able to use their meal vouchers at, for a welcome meal and a few deserved drinks!

Saturday was spent walking around town and picking out all the main hot spots, the restaurants the meal vouchers can be redeemed in, and pickng up ski vouchers. There is also a festival called “SnowDays” currently running in Banff, so we were able to give the sport of curling a go, and this weekend we will be trying ice climbing and visitng an avalanche talk. In the evening we had a closed session at one of the local ski shops so that everyone could ensure they had all of the equipment they needed for the course, and most importantly that it is all the right equipment, ski boots need to be fitted correctly, and it is important to ensure that everyone is on the right sort of ski's.

On Sunday we all “hit the hill”, it is a 40 minute bus ride up to Lake Louise, and the pick up is from right outside the door of the hotel. This was a great chance to dust off the cobwebs, and make sure that everyones equipment was good and comfortable before we kicked off the training on Monday.

The training itself is conducted in groups of no larger than 8, so on Monday morning everyone was split into four different groups to start their training for the CSIA and the CASI Level 1 award. The conditions were incredible with fresh snow and blue skies, and brisk temperatures reaching double figures below zero, cold but it does mean that the snow stays in mint condition!

I have since returned back to the UK, and have left Andrew Manuel, and Tom Devereux in charge. Andrew is one of the Head Snowboard trainers for Lake Louise, and Tom graduated from the Basecamp Banff course in 2008, so between them they have a wealth of experience in all areas to ensure that the programme is run to the highest standards.

Enjoy the video below and there will be one video update a week, and one other entry highlighting different aspects of the course, and the town of Banff itself.

All the best,
Linley