What a Weekend in Banff

Having collected everyone from the airport on Friday, there were lots of happy and slightly nervous looking faces. We arrived in Banff at 7pm on Friday and headed straight out to Chillies for the welcome meal which was a great success. Some ventured into town afterwards, whilst others sneaked in an early one, not suprising having travelled half way across the world (Laura and Matt, both from Australia were dealing with an 18 hour time change)!
 

On Saturday, Andrew and myself took the guys around town showing them the sites, the good bars, the Basecamp restaurants as well as picking up the ski passes from the Banff hub. In the afternoon we let everyone explore town to do some shopping. We had drinks in the meatball bar at 7 and then headed to Soul Ski and Bike for a tech session. Soul Ski and Bike are working with us this season giving Basecampers great deals on equipment and ski/board servicing. Some of the shop owners are also the Basecamp ski instructors which is really helpful for advice and guidance on gear.

 

Sunday saw us take to the mountains. We caught the first bus up to Lake Louise and the stoke was on. Everyone had itchy feet and the amazing scenery on the way up didn't help things. In my mind The Rockie Mountains provide some of the most amazing scenery in the world! Andrew and myself lead the group up the chair for the first run. We were very impressed with the guys and everyone had a fantastic day.

 

Today was the first day of coaching at the Lake. We arrived nice and early in order to split the groups and match everyone with their instructors. We have 2 snowboard groups and 1 ski group which is working really well. Andrew is coaching one of the snowboard groups, whilst Tayna headed up the other and Andrew from Soul Ski and Bike lead the skiers. I skied with all the guys today and it was great to see everyone so stoked and keen to learn.

 

All in all a fantastic weekend has been had. I am sad to be leaving tomorrow, but know that Andrew will make the remaining 4 weeks an absoulte blast for everyone.

 

Enjoy the pictures and video.

 

London here I come!

 

Until next time,

 

Tom