Emelies Travels

When I was packing my bag back in Sweden for the season I was not expecting it to be summer here before I went home. I had to buy some new clothes and bikinis, even flipflops. So we've been boarding in the mornings and then done some summer activities in the afternoons, such as biking and canoing. Life is pretty good and I start to feel a bit sad to leave Canada in the summer because it's so damn beautiful. And I love the wildlife. A few weeks ago they had to shut some of the lifts down at Lake Louise because swedish liftie Klara spotted a grizzly bear at the bottom of her lift. And our housemate James saw a bear crossing the road in front of him when he was driving. That's pretty cool, my eyes are wide open for bear right now I tell ya! 

 

It's only a couple of days left to work, and the mountain is pretty dead right now. Especially at Tee Pee, but I don't mind that, I've been sunbathing in a bikinitop at a matress in my lonelyness. And got burnt about a hundred times. It was 21 degrees on hill the other day. It feels really wierd when I think back at the days when it was -25 degrees up there, and you can still go boarding with a 46 degrees differens. Crazy. But it's very slushy now, you can't even turn on a black run or you won't get any speed and get stuck. Yesterday it rained too, that will hit hard on the snow. I really hope it won't be a thunderstorm when I'm sitting in that top shack together with that propane tank. I really don't want to get hit by the lightening, again....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The summer has arrived to Banff, the last week we've had around 20-26 degrees every day. It's crazy, nobody was prepared of this and everyone got sunburnt. Big time. It's only two weeks left until I go home and I'm not looking forward to say goodbye to all of this. Things are happening all the time, boarding/sun tanning during the days and BBQing at the river during the nights. I don't have time for that photo project I have to finish before 1st of June to get into the school I want. I'm stressing out a bit over that but whatever, we will see how that goes... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's a hard life we're living. All the amount of alcohol we drink, the hard work we do and the energy-poor food we eat makes us age faster. To be outdoors everyday has been tough on our faces. The sun has made us really wrinkled.

 

 

 

           

It's April. Hell yes it is. What is that weather God doing up there? He seems to be very confused. The weather changes every halfhour, and the little taste of spring we had a couple of weeks ago seems to be far, far away. The last two days has been really windy up at Sunshine. The first day we never even opened Tee Pee and after a while two other lifts had to shut down. Yesterday three lifts had to stop running after lunchtime. And today it's puking down in Banff. I'm sorry to say this, but I'm over snow now! Even if I love riding powder, I want sun and springriding in t-shirts. 

 

           

 

 

 It was time for our little family to hit the road again last week and this time we drove to Invermere and the Lussier Hot Springs. It was quite a drive, around 3 hours but the scenery was beautiful so the time flew by. We saw a lot of animals, the deers were everywhere and plenty of sheeps were walking around on the roads. We also saw a wild turkey, some squirrels and, the best of all - a wolf! Finally I got to see one, it was running at a riverside into the forest. We stopped to try to get some photos of it, but he dissapeared quickly. 

 

The springs were pretty nice, really warm. It was almost too hot to be in the water. The hottest pool is up to 43C, and then the water cools as it flows down towards the Lussier River. We had a nice little roadtrip, but I still want to see a bear before I leave... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had our doubts that the season really would last until end of May after those warm spring days, but now the winter is back again. We've had snowfall almost everyday and it's pretty cold. The season is close to end in about 5 weeks which feels pretty wierd and sad, but I have longings for summer now. I've booked my flight today so I'm back in Stockholm the 27th of May. 

 

Haha so true. Someone posted this on facebook and I had to coyp it from this site. 

 

1. Swedish People Stare. After 2 months of constantly thinking you might have a gnarly booger hanging out your nose, toilet paper hanging from your pants, or that random strangers have a huge problem with you, you’ll slowly come to the realization…. It’s not you. Swedish people stare tenaciously.

 

2. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is God.

 

3. Speaking of God… Don’t mention him (unless you want to attract some pretty mean stares). He doesn’t exist in Sweden. You’re better off praying to Zlatan.

 

4. Swedish Pizza is a can’t miss. You’d never expect that the best pie you’ve ever tasted would hail from just outside the arctic circle. Kebab style. It’s amazing.

 

5. Swedish people love cooking shows. Master Chef Ireland, Master Chef Australia, Master Chef USA, Junior Master Chef, Master Chef Master Chef… On T.V. 24-7.

 

6. Swedes love their stimulants. Caffeine: Swedish coffee is black crack. Swedes consume more coffee per capita than any country in the world besides Finland. If you plan on getting your Swedish residency be ready to drink coffee first thing in the morning, at breakfast, after breakfast, before lunch, at lunch, after lunch, at dinner and before bed. Java, Java, Java. Nicotine: SNUS. Chewing tobacco. All the cool kids are doing it. Even the girls. Except unlike in America, it gets tucked under the upper lip. No spitters here.

 

7. Bruce Springsteen. Swede’s have a very special relationship with The Boss.

 

8. Black is the average Swede’s favorite color. Considering that black is not even a color, I guess that says something.

 

9. Sweden is one of the most fashionable nations in the world. Often preferring entirely black outfits, Swede’s throw down some serious cash when it comes to style. Don’t come to Sweden dressed like a slob. You’ll get plenty of stares.

 

10. Converses anyone?

 

11. 12 eggs will run you $4.32. Not the brown organic ones. The white Kentucky Fried Chicken version.

 

12. Swedes speak more better English than Americans. No need to worry about language barriers. Swedes are taught English since pre-school, which makes ordering food, asking for directions, and getting around a breeze.

 

13. Speaking of a breeze. Swedish public transport is as good as it gets. Super easy and convenient.

 

14. Most Swedes have never heard of a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich, let alone tasted one. The mere idea of PB & J is as repulsive sounding as fish egg mayonaise in a toothpaste tube.

 

15. That’s right. Caviar in a tube. It’s as commonplace as mayo or ketchup. It’s delicious. And is best served with boiled eggs. So I hear…

 

16. Swedes eat their spaghetti with ketchup. Spaghetti, frozen meatballs, and ketchup is the college student budget meal of choice.

 

17. It’s called a Semla and it’s amazing.

 

18. The sport you’ve never heard of… Innebandy (i.e. floor hockey) was invented in Sweden in 1970. Sweden has its own professional league. It’s a huge deal.

 

19. Allemansrätten: The Freedom to Roam or Everyman’s Right to the Wilderness. The greatest law ever created for the nature lover.

 

20. Speaking of nature, Swedes love the outdoors. Seemingly everyone has a summer cottage, cabin, or lake house. Multiple Flugfiske (Fly-Fishing) magazines can be found in almost every gas station!!!

 

21. The rumors are true. Swedish women are beautiful and they are everywhere.

 

22. Swedish people are very hospitable and have a great sense of humor. Once past the intimidating stares and Darth Vader dress code, it won’t be long before a Swede has you smiling and laughing over a fika (coffee & a sweet treat).

Two workingdays after everone's gone back to Scandinavia, I went on a staff trip to Big white, close to Kelowna (around 7 hours away). Why rest when you can have fun!? We arrived pretty late the first night so after checking in to our hostel we just went to bed, exciting for the next days riding. 

 

We woke up to the shining sun and some fresh powder, headed down to the village for some breakfast buffét and then just straped on our boards outside the restaurant and cruised away.Big White was pretty similar to the Alps, everything were on hill, no need to catch busses anywhere. And the houses was really nice with a hot tub at the balcony of every appartment. 

 

Our first runs was a bit of an dissapointment. There was fresh snow everywhere but we couldn't ride it because it was all hard and crusty. But the further up we went, the better the snow got and after a while we had amazing runs in trees all covered by snow, "the goast trees". 

 

After riding fast as ever before and deep powder, my legs were killing me and the beers we had went stright up in my head. We played some drinking games and then it was time for dinner. It was way too early to be that drunk so some of us got back for a powernap, which ended with a tower of chairs, snowboards and other stuff on top of some people... haha! 

 

The second day was pretty slow, the weather was shit. Really wet, snowy and bad visability. We couldn't see the chair in front of us while riding the lifts. Pretty sketchy! Then it was time for the long busride back, and everyone just passed out stright away. Good trip, but way to quick! 

 

 

Josefin stayed one more day after mum and Oscar left, and the snow kept falling. We had some really good powder laps and there was only one thing I felt that I hadn't showed her yet. It was time to show her the Delerium Dive. We got some avi gear packs and hiked up to the highest point of Sunshine. The visability wasn't the greatest, but whatever, the snow was perfect! It all went really smooth until I took here to my "secret" spot where there's always untuched areas. To go there we had to traverse on the top of a cliff, which I've been doing a couple if times before. But Josefins board slipped on a ice spot underneath the powder and fell off the cliff. Puuh that could have ended really bad but luckely she fell off the part of the cliff that wasn't too high. After that, we had some sick turnes at the bottom of the Dive. Josefins snowboardning skills approved enormeously in in here time here in Banff! 

 

After two weeks with my best friend I finally decided what to do after this season. I've always said that at the point that I turn 25 it's time to try to settle down and stop doing seasons. I wasn't sure if I could ever stop travelling, but right know I feel like staying at one place for more than 6 months. And after working as a liftie in Canada I'm kind of broke, so moving in with Josefin in Stavanger in Norway for the summer seems to be a great idea for earning good money. Then I will hopefully be accepted to the education I just applied for in Sundsvall in Sweden, photojournalism. If not, well, that's not the end of the world, I just apply again for the spring and find out something else to do in the winter, or I'll stay in Norway. Who knows... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a while ago since I updated here, but things are happening all the time and today is the first day on ages I  sit and relax at home. However, it's over a week since mum, Oscar and Josefin left Banff and it was sad to say goodbye to them. 

 

But they had the best weeks of the season here in Banff. The weather was insane. The week started with warm weather, +15c in Banff and strong sun on hill, and in the end of the week they could experience some fresh snow. They were riding groomers, slush and powder in the same week and it couldn't be more perfect than that! 

 

I'm so happy you made it over here, we had such a great time (even though it was intense and I'm still not recovered haha). Thank's for everything! <3

All of us were supposed to go tubing, but the family was not sure if it was worth the money or not. I decided to do a test run because I got it for free, so I went up on the magic carpet with my own tube and the GoPro all on my own. I felt like the biggest kid ever, and a bit retarded haha. I took the "hardest" run they had, put up the GoPro and filmed myself, laughing so much for feeling like a geek. Hahaha the family could then watch the movie and they decided that they had probably more fun laughing about me than riding the tubes themselfs. Another time then I guess...

 

 

 

 

 

It's absolutely gorgeous around Banff right now. It feels like summer, It's really warm and people are walking around in tops and shorts in town. Today we were supposed to go riding in Lake Louise but we ended up sightseeing instead. We found a turquise-blue river and we had to put our feets in the crystal clear water. It looked warmer than it was, for sure! 

 

A pretty nice day after last nights partying, now I need many hours of sleep!

 

 

 

 

 

Lake Louise

Yesterday, mum and Oscar arrived Banff in the afternoon and we went to their hotel to meet them. They surprised us with sprakling wine, swedish candy and Kalles Kaviar (the best thing you can ever have with eggs). We got a little "easter egg" and inside we got an brand new Iphone each! Yeeees, now the batteries will last for hopefully a whole day at least! I'm never going back to Sony Ericsson again, that's for sure! 

 

Today we spent the whole day up at Sunshine Village and as the whole last week the weather was perfect. Everyone is amazed by the views and how good the riding is. Even if it's easter, it's not very busy, at least compared to Sweden. There's no ice on the slopes as it always is in Sweden and some people are riding in just a T-shirt (even though that's still a little bit too cold). 

 

We cooked them dinner in our house after a long nap for everyone. I'll better go to bed and get ready for tomorrow's riding! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The weather continues to stay amazing here in Banff. Bright sunshine and really warm days. It couldn't be better! And they say it's going to snow later next week which we really hope for!