After 32 years of teaching Elementary School for me and 30 years of practising medicine, as an orthopaedic surgeon for Ross we are both officially retired from full time work! We have also just reached the great age of 60 and have decided to spend at least 60 days living in the mountains of Western Canada!

Our condo. at Silverstar Mountain will be our home base. The Canadian Birkiebeiner 55 m ski with a pack (the Torskeklubben) is on our to do list as well as the Sovereign 2 Silverstar Ski Marathon. The plan is to also ski (downhill and cross country) at some of the other interior mountain resorts. When our legs are too tired we will try to snowshoe, fat bike and hike.

We probably spent 60 days packing and organizing our gear in the dining room in Ottawa. On the morning of January 27th Ross put 10 pairs of skis, 2 fat bikes, 2 pairs of snowshoes, a bike trainer and a bike for the trainer, numerous duffle bags of clothing and 19 litres of windshield washer fluid into the car! Fancy, the nickname for our car was full! So full that Ross never bothered to adjust the rear view mirror as there was no hope of seeing anything. His destination was Canmore, Alberta which was a mere 3,600 kms away! I on the other hand have packed a carry-on bag to fly to Calgary to meet Ross on February 1st! This way I could join Ross for the best part of the drive!

These are some of the many photos from the drive out. We had our own 2 bedroom chalet just outside of Canmore at Deadman Flats, the perfect set up and location for the next 10 days. And a spectacular view!