While I enjoy the sport, I would hardly call myself an avid skier.  As much as I enjoy taking advantage of the season and all the Winter has to offer, I’m no more enthusiastic to strap on shin-bruising boots and seven-layers of clothing, than I am to shelling out several hundred dollars for and losing all feeling in my extremities for a few hours of potential entertainment and the chance to hurt my 45-year old body.  That said, when the weather lines up, the price is right, and I’m feeling the need to take a vacation day, well there’s no place I’d rather be than running the slopes with my family.

Set against the backdrop of the Blue Mountains in Grey County, we setup our basecamp directly in the village, a convenience we wouldn’t normally splurge on, but when weighing out the logistics we decided, well: “why the heck not?”.  Upgrading our tickets to include a few of the extra amenities, also seemed to fall into the ‘why not’ category, as our plans to go for a ski day evolved into a little family weekend retreat.  A couple of vacation days and some hooky days out of school and here we find ourselves within walking distance of the lifts, overlooking a heated outdoor pool, and gearing up right now to go check out some canopy climbing and a ‘roller coaster’ through the woods.  It’s a weekend that comes without any special occasion, gifts, fanfare, or pressure – just the four of us hunkered down in a beautiful location doing beautiful things with beautiful people.

Making our little time away from reality even more noteworthy is that it falls in line with the opening ceremonies of the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.  Personal feelings and challenges with the Olympics aside, I do recognize the incredible skill, talent, dedication and work that the athletes put into their craft and so I will focus my comments on the pure admiration I have for the power of human ability and spirit.  It also meant that, between our outdoor events, we had something communal to gather around back at our room. Perhaps even more noteworthy was how our girls were proud to educate us on all of the facts they’ve been gathering over the past few weeks regarding the events.  Who the athletes are, where they come from, back story on the location, and so much more.  They’ve clearly been learning, and the situation we’re in allows us to share it all (which, as any parent knows, is not par for the course – I typically have as much luck getting information from my kids regarding their school day as I am to land a corked 720).

What surprises me most about this weekend’s adventuring is my kids (and candidly my own) resilience to the cold.  Friday was a perfect -7, with moments of snow, hardly a wind, and nary a lineup in sight.  We’d take the lift up, comfortable and quiet, sail down the run, and do it all over again with hardly a beat in between.  The feels of Winter were unquestionably in the air, but it was hardly worthy of complaint and not once did anyone make mention of the their toes bordering up on that numb feeling.  It was honestly a perfect day for what we were doing.  Saturday…well, Saturday was a different story.

I’ve started to grow more than a little annoyed at the weather networks incessant pop-ups and yellow, orange and red banner warnings. I’ve live through enough false alarms to know better than to count on whatever they say is in store.  That said, I won’t deny that they’ve been more on than off lately and that honestly might make the whole situation worse – just ask any parent who needs to figure out bus days.  Suffice to say – when the warnings came in that Saturday was going to be pressing up against -35 degrees, we were really starting to question what our plans would shake out to be.  Come prepared for anything, however, and you can face down anything.

Bright and early, under cover of cloud and aggressive winds, we wrapped ourselves in all that we had and trekked out for our adventures in the canopy, some well-deserved poutine and a surprisingly comforting frozen yogourt.  I am perhaps more exhausted today from how much time we spent outside wrestling and racing in canopy, than I am from skiing the day before.  Happy to be in the elements and not once asking for screen time, Alison and I both made it a point to be thankful to one another for the day, but more importantly to thank our kids for allowing it to happen.  It’s not every day they are willing to spend 8 plus hours in the bitterly cold wind, but today was the exception to proved the rule.

I know that times like these end, and that the harsh return to reality is just around the corner, which is why it’s perhaps doubly important to recognize and appreciate them when they happen.  Use this time to indulge, appreciate, spoil and relax.  Whatever is waiting for me back at the office is not going anywhere, but eating beavers tails at the top of the run with the snow tricking down can only happen here and it can only happen now – there is no recreating without at least some deviation, so it’s best to just soak it all in while we can.  We have one more full day of whatever we want ahead of us, and I’m going to be sure it doesn’t get wasted.  So here. I.  Go!