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| Paul testing some new trails. |
Sorry we haven't posted for a while genuinely hadn't released how long it's been I guess it's true what they say time flies by when your having fun.....
I have settled in to the working lifestyle and Paul is in full swing at his job and has started hosting a running group once a week from the store he is loving getting paid to run! Through this group we have met a fellow Brit Dave who has been over in Banff for a couple of years so he is showing us some new routes he is also training for his first ultra like me so it encouraging us to go on long runs.
So a couple of weeks ago we did something that we have never done before we both received our work rota and noticed we had the same two consecutive days off so we booked a bus and went to Vancouver I have never been so last minute but I suppose it they joy of traveling. Whilst we were there we visited the world famous Capilano suspension bridge in North Vancouver where we spent the morning after taking a seabus from main Vancouver. We were also blessed with no rain which is almost unheard of in Vancouver it's one of the wettest places in Canada! Vancouver we have found to be the cheapest city we have visited here in Canada for anyone who is reading this for ideas for travelling.
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| Capilano Bridge Park, BC |
On another day off of ours we decided to tackle one of the most photographed and well known peaks of Banff Mt Rundle standing tall at 9,672ft this was going to be our biggest challenge to date. We set off early with one of Pauls work colleagues Christoph and with fresh snow fallen it turned into an unforgettable day. The snow was waist deep in the Forrest we ended up 'snow bunnying' up which was basically getting on all fours and going as fast as possible.
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| Dragons back of Mt Rundle |
Once we got out of the Forrest this is where the fun really begun on the notorious dragon back with gale force winds and snow it became a good battle. Unfortunately we didn't make it completely the top we got to 9,584ft and were faced with a rock face with sheer black ice on it and with no rope and only once of us having crampons we had to turn back!
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| Vermillion Lakes, AB |
Paul also did a night hike up Sulphur mountain (8,041ft) with Christoph during a night I was working which saw him get home just before 2 in the morning which ended with him rescuing one of our housemates who had got stuck in the bathroom the lock had broken on her! We have got some early morning hikes and some more night hikes planned as the weather warms up and the conditions become more ideal. So we will keep you all posted on here.
This week we have also found out that TNF have managed to get Paul an entry for probably one of the most famous races in Canada '
The Canadian Death Race' which is a 125k race with a 17,000ft elevation change where the runners will have upto 24 hours to complete which will be held at the start of August so he is very excited for this challenge. Most people who compete in this race do it as part of a relay first. Paul is doing it solo and most likely won't get a support team like a lot of others who compete. Any one fancy a trip to Canada?
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| TNF Canadian Death Race Profile |
Thanks for reading Gemma & Paul x
