By Sandy Kiyomura, NSC Member
On Saturday January 25th, Seven Nisei Ski Club members boarded the United flight to Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Who was on the trip? Elaine Graves, Roland Lee, David Uyeda, Jay Fukuda, Ed Lee, David Uyeda and myself, Sandy Kiyomura. We joined 135 others members from Far West Ski Association. At the airport, I saw an old friend, Jim Stewart from Rusty Bindings. I met Jim on a Far West trip to Japan, once in 2004 and again in 2017. Jim was such a nice person that he treated me to a nice breakfast.
We had a smooth flight to Calgary. Their mountains looked different than the ones in the Sierras. At Calgary airport, we took a bus to Banff. After settling in, Elaine and I went to registered and got my 5-day lift pass. Sorry to say, I only skied 2 out of the 5 days – details to follow.
We met up with the group that evening and we had Pho for dinner. The next day we were excited to ski Lake Louise. David Uyeda, Jim Stewart and I took the mountain tour. I wasn’t used to skiing so fast since I’ve only skied at NorthStar earlier in the month. Our guide Davide from Italy was excellent. He took us all over the mountain. Guides usually cannot take skiers on black runs. We met up with more people after lunch and skied until 3:30pm.
The next day we went back to ski Lake Louise. I skied with Elaine and I’m happy I skied nonstop on a black diamond run. The run was called Meadowlark and I won’t forget it. We skied on this run right after lunch and I experienced a “weird” fall. I twisted and was falling backwards down the hill with my legs split. Ouch. I felt a pop and came to rest with my left ski uphill. A nice ski instructor, Cameron stopped and helped me. Once I told him I just had hip surgery a few months ago he called Ski Patrol and 3 patrollers got me off the slopes. Elaine said they were going really fast down the slopes, but all I could see was the sky. There was a small clinic at the bottom, but they sent me to the hospital via the ambulance. After some X-rays, they determined nothing was broken and I probably tore my hamstring. Elaine and Roland were able to help me back to the hotel by 8pm. So now you know why I only skied 2 days and have crutches and a wheelchair as my mode of transportation for the week.
There were many events planned during a Far Wes Ski trip, both on and off the slopes.
I really enjoyed their dessert night. We attended Council night where Karen Albrecht announced that the exchange rate was so good that she gave each room a $62 bottle of wine in addition to the prime rib or salmon entrée. There was a picnic at the lodge at Lake Louise and a farewell dinner dance. Unfortunately, I couldn’t dance. SNIFF, SNIFF
