If I asked you to picture a women’s backcountry ski and yoga
week, what comes to mind? Bright ski suits, frosted braids and poufy toques,
bouncing down perfect powdery slopes? Firelight glow on serene early morning
stretching sessions? Wide smiles as wine glasses clink and flavours are
savoured and recipes traded?
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| ACMG ski guide Kitt Redhead skiing like a girl. |
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| Our own yoga teacher for the week Sarah Manwaring-Jones enjoys some fireside play. |
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| Don't worry. This is just the first course. There is also dinner, and dessert. And did I mention post-skiing appies. You earn your turns up here, which means refuelling is an important and awesome part of the week. |
But what about chainsaws confidently (carefully) brandished
to clear the path to our day’s skiing destination? Stuck snow machines hoisted
from unimaginably deep drifts by dozens of arms so we can be towed home as the
last pink light fades from the peaks. A conga line of rosy-cheeked girls carving
a waist-deep trench as we head towards peaks and steeps.
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| You thought I was kidding about the stuck snowmobile? This ain't Deer Valley, ladies! Time to push! |
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| The fast-track to sauna and apres-ski goodies. |
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| Sticky skins require teamwork! |
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| Skiing in the trees also requires teamwork! |
Last January, a group of 11 women took over Valhalla
Mountain Touring for the first annual Women’s Ski and Yoga week. Ever since
then I have been wanting to do a little post about what the experience was
like, how it was different than hosting and guiding a mixed or men’s group at
the lodge. Despite the fact that the
week was overwhelmingly positive and fun, I have had trouble coming up with
good language to describe the unique qualities of a women’s week. It’s so hard
to steer around the clichés like “women are so much more supportive of each
other” (they were) and “the bathrooms remained much tidier with an all women’s
group” (they did). I just have to come to terms with the fact that one-liner
universal truths about women don’t really capture what was great about the experience
of hosting and guiding an all women’s group.
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| This owl kept an eye on us during our lunch break one day. |
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| Shadow play on the ridge top |
The week was about different things for different members of
the group. Some were go-getters new to
the sport who challenged themselves by pushing their skis uphill and getting
after it in the deep snow day after day for the whole week. Others were
seasoned mountain women getting back into the sport after time off with babies.
Some ladies came to push themselves. Some ladies came to chill.
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| Smiles |
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| Smiles |
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| Sunny smiles |
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| Staff smiles |
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| Snowy smiles |
Sarah, our yoga-guide for the week not only found the most exquisite ways to challenge and ease our ski-strained bodies. She also gracefully narrated the classes with ski, snow and mountain metaphors from the day, and closed the practice with poems, some even originals like this one.
-ruby creek-
have you ever heard the voices of winter?
the dialogue between snowflakes falling through space
a ridgetop breeze
splintering trees
the thundering whumph
and, the space,
where dialogue ceases
and there is a voice, a sound, a cellular experience of silence
i still feel it now, hours later,
it touches some deep place inside of me
that yearns for endless quiet
where time and space stand still
and all I know is in(Finn)ity
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| The light in January is really special, in part because there isn't very much of it! |
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| Cruising home after a day of sunny powder skiing. |
It is a rare treat to get to spend a week in the mountains
with a big group of women, and even more special to get to share my winter work
space with my friends Kitt Redhead (the other ski guide for the week) and Sarah
Manwaring-Jones (the yoga teacher).
Natalie Harris worked her butt off (small girl, giant camera!) to take these
beautiful photos that capture the heart of the week.
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| Even in a big group, there is always solitude in the mountains. |
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| Got to go up... |
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| To go down |
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| And then back up... |
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| For some more down. |
If you think you would enjoy a week of skiing, yoga, good
eats and great company, there are still a few spots available in this year’s
Women’s Ski and Yoga Week at Valhalla Mountain Touring. Fresh air, deep snow
and lots of exercise-induced (and post-sauna snow roll induced) endorphins are
guaranteed. Chainsaws and stuck snowmobiles are not.
What: Women’s Ski and Yoga Week, Jan 12-19, 2014
Where: Valhalla Mountain Touring, Selkirk Mountains, BC
(near New Denver)
Price: $2120 per person (including tax). Includes
transportation to the lodge by snowcat, 7 nights accommodation, guiding, all
meals, daily yoga.
Open to: Good fitness and intermediate to advanced downhill
skiing skills. Prior backcountry skiing experience recommended but not
required.
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| If you think you could use some of this |
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| And some of this |
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| You should join us here Jan 12-19, 2014. |
