Sunday, January 20, 2013

How Very Un-Canadian of me.

I have a confession... I don't like snow.


I know... I know... "But Mich, you live in CANADA??" 

The temperature here today is -15C (feels like -20C) which would be -4F for all my American followers. That's cold. And sadly not near as cold as it will get over the winter. 

On these days I hibernate at home. If i didn't NEED to get groceries today I wouldn't leave my home at all. 

I should clarify... I think fresh snow fall is one of the most beautiful sights. Evidence below. 


Emerald Lake - about 2 hours from where I live

The entrance to Banff National Park - about an hour from where I live

But I hate going out in the snow. I don't like driving in it. Or walking in it. Or shoveling it. And don't even get me started on winter sports.

For many Canadian's (especially those who live around me), fresh snowfall means "fresh powder in the mountains" for skiing or snowboarding. I am NOT one of those Canadians.

This love-hate relationship I have with snow probably stems from 2 events in my life. One would have been 2 years ago when I fell on the ice and broke my leg. You can see that story here.

The other happened when I was in 6th grade. The entire class was signed up for beginner ski lessons at Calgary Olympic Park (the local ski hill where many Olympic events were held here at the '88 Winter Olympics).

On the first day of lessons, we had a half hour at the end of the lesson to practice what we had just learned. The instructor told us to take the ski lift half way up the hill and then get off and practice our new techniques. Well... my best friend Amanda and I got on the ski lift together. The half way point came and we were too scared to get off the chair lift. When you are 10 years old those things are terrifying! So we ended up taking the lift ALL THE WAY to the top of the hill, we had no choice but to get off there... and I tumbled the entire way down the hill.

My ski's went flying, my goggles flew off one way and poles another. It was horrible.


The next day I stayed in and drank hot chocolate instead of going to the lesson. Amanda sprained her ankle that day.

I never went back.

And after my fall on the ice a couple years ago, i've realized the snow/ice is not my friend. Sorry Canada.

6 comments:

Gina said...

It's -4F there?! Right now?! I COULD NEVER SURVIVE IN CANADA.

Angela Tolsma said...

besides a few falls I have never really injured myself. But I hate the snow it's cold dreary hard to dress in. Plus I hate skiing/snowboarding, skating, who wants to be in the cold!

Anonymous said...

Well here in Aus there's only a small part of the country that gets snow in winter. Where I live is not one of them so I have never seen snow. And I hate winter. I also hate summer which I'm sweltering through now!

Casey Palmer said...

Let us note that no Torontonian likes snow. Any Torontonian who likes snow is experiencing their first winter EVER.

THEY WILL SOON LEARN, THEY WILL.

But then we must note that Toronto is unlike pretty much EVERYWHERE else in Canada, and though Torontonians think that they're representative of Canada, most of them haven't really been more than 2 hours in any particular direction from Toronto, so....

With THAT said, snow sucks. I'm on your side on this one.

Kelly L said...

I HATE SNOW. It was -4F here yesterday. Which means I also hate cold. Winter, in general.

And yet, I remain in the Midwest. I don't get it, either.

terra said...

This adds to my love for you. When I was a wee little thing - like 4 years old - my parents owned a shop at a ski resort and they enrolled me and my stepbrother into ski lessons. It seemed like a great idea, but I quickly learned that if I feel down (lesson #1) and made only pitiful attempts at getting up, my cuteness would win hearts and minds and I'd be shuffled inside a warming tent to be fed hot chocolate.

Moral of the story: Hot Chocolate is better than snow and skiing.