Embracing Winter

I am not a winter person. I am a 25 degrees, sunny, warm breeze, kinda person. I hate being cold, I cringe everytime a snowflake falls (unless it's Christmas, exception granted), I nearly cry when I hear the temperature will be less than -10 degrees.

Yesterday, Ryan said to me "pack a lunch, we're going outside". Again, cringe. Really? I would very much like to stay in my pyjamas today thanks.

I didn't win that conversation.

So packed a lunch, I did, and we jumped in the car, and drove up to Mont Tremblant. A place that we both love to go to, anytime of the year. Ryan received snowshoes from me for Christmas, and brought them along, so I rented a pair (for only $15 for 8 hours by the way!) and we set off to find the trail.

Once on the trail, my heart stopped. Beautiful mountain forest, amazingly silent with the dead of winter. Not one tree in the vast forest was untouched by snow or ice.

Ryan & I hiked up towards Johannsen Peak, about 6km's from the base. Considering we were snowshoeing uphill, it was suprisingly easy! Every 20 feet it seemed to plateau for about 30 feet. We went up for an hour and a half before we met up with a family who were going down the mountain. They informed us that we would have another 6km to go to the top, and advised us to turn around before it got dark, since the chairlift stopped at 3pm. So, it took us only 20 minutes to snowshoe back down the mountain. That's when we realized, how far we had gone UP.

So we returned our snowshoes, changed, then went for dinner at Casey's (terrible service), and then walked in and out of shops while pretty snow (yes I said pretty snow) fell all around us.

I thanked Ryan a hundred times over for a beautiful day with him. It was truly the best way to embrace winter - with someone you love, a place we both adore, exercise breathing in fresh mountain air, a camera, and a smile on Ryan's face which meant the world to me.

Next on the list of Embracing Winter - I will be attempting to learn how to snowboard. Set your cell phones to 9-1-1 if you see a flare fly up from Mont Cascades!