Winters in Alberta are all about extremes. If it’s not the seductively warm Chinook winds that prompt us to flip from ski suits to shorts in a matter of hours, then it’s our sports.
It starts with the season’s premier event, the Bombardier Lake Louise Winterstart World Cup series, at Lake Louise Mountain Resort. Few places on Planet Earth can guarantee snow at the end of November, apart from this 2,621-m- (8,600-ft-) high resort in Banff National Park. The last weekend in November and the first in December signal the season of speed—it’s when the world’s fastest Super G and downhill alpine racers barrel down these frozen slopes.
Want to soar like an eagle, specifically Eddie “the Eagle” Edwards, the Coke-bottle bespectacled Brit who stole the hearts of millions during Calgary’s ‘88 Winter Olympics? Then strap into North America’s fastest zipline at Canada Olympic Park (COP) in Calgary, and rocket off the 90-m (295-ft) ski jump tower—just like Eddie. Want to ratchet up your pulse even further? Pop over to COP’s bobsleigh track (the only Olympic track in Canada open to the public) and discover the terror of the Kriesl (turn) where you can clock speeds of 120 km/h (75 mph), while pulling five times your body weight in G forces. Best news is you don’t have to do a thing. An experienced driver, often a retired or developing World Cup athlete, does all the work. Just breathe—and don’t blink. It’s over in 61 seconds.
It may look benign, but when you’re strapped flat on to an iceboat and frozen shards of snow are spraying up from blades next to your helmeted head, you feel the potential trauma. Just west of Calgary, on Ghost Lake, watch colourful sailors hurtle across the frozen ice at 40 km/h (25 mph), then 60, then 80—or take a lesson and join them.
Don’t worry, the heat of those handlebars underneath your mitts has nothing to do with your clanging heart. The handlebars and seats of most snowmobiles today are heated, and for good reason. You’ve got enough to think about if you’re ripping up a frozen lake at the Lac La Biche Winter Festival of Speed in March, let alone the nippy elements. You’ve got muck, snow, ice and enough horsepower to spin you off a snow bank and into a bog; no wonder you’re nervous. But because everyone—from snowmobilers to ATV racers—appears like bloated Michelin men in full-facial armour, take comfort in the fact that no one will recognize you.
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