and we're back...

so i'm back from my canadian sojourn, a bit behind in classes and with a stuffy, achy head and throat and general fatigue. if it's flu i don't want to know, i just want to keep plodding through this last week of classes without falling further behind.

this is the iconic mountain that is on all the postcards of Banff. it's not the one with the ski area (i was also surprised to learn that the Banff ski area is small and Lake Louise is far preferable to most locals), but right above the iconic Banff hotel. the name escapes me at the moment, but i have to post this picture of it because it is so amazing in person. the canadian rockies are incredible in general, but this particular mountain is especially cool because it is so easy to see how it formed. the whole area is formed of rocks that used to be seafloor in the Cambrian era, pushed up and broken into craggy mountains. see how one side is so smooth, and the other is a jagged series of layers? it's awe-inspiring to imagine what sort of a huge event caused this formation. so, so cool.

this is the view from the gondola from the base of the lake louise ski area. incredible view. amazing powder, good trails... a good day of snowboarding.

left to right: the weiglator (scott weigle, our mentor and professor, and all-around awesome dude), katie (testing her radio) and tim, not realizing i'm taking a picture and hiding behind his skis.

nels, ben and i on the gondola. good times.
as always, there are more photos on my flickr site.
in other news, insert vague reference to some sort of huge development afoot in my life. it turns out persistence, patients and guts pay off, occasionally. more later... maybe.