Sunshine

I’ve been MIA for the last few months trying to get settled into my new job, so here is a little update!

After my time in Lake Superior I went out to Kamloops, BC to visit my brother and his housemates. I ended up staying for three weeks and had the best time. The change from high school and living at home to being on our own has really solidified the friendship between my brother and I. I couldn’t have asked for a better stay with them. I got to see where he goes to school, went rock climbing and swimming, partied with all people in his program and got to find another place I would consider home. It was a nice transition before I started work and allowed me to feel settled before moving to a new place with new people.

I moved into staff accomodation at Sunshine on November 15th after a chaotic journey back to Alberta. Two nights before I needed to start at my job, I spent the night with my parents in Golden, BC where they are now based. The next morning we woke up to a blizzard. I had a four hour drive ahead of me to make it into Banff through the snowstorm, low visibility, and crappy road conditions. On the way I passed four or five vehicles that had gone off the road into the ditch, including a transport truck. Needless to say I drove with caution. Mountain conditions are nothing like Ontario winter conditions.

I drove through Radium Hot Springs and made it onto Highway 93 where not 20 minutes later, I was stuck in a line of traffic that spanned out of my eye line. I was hoping it was just a small accident that would be cleared up in under an hour. I was wrong. After waiting in line for an hour, I saw cars driving up the other lane heading in the opposite direction. Like everyone else, I had my window rolled down and listened as every car yelled at me, “Four to six hour wait!” , “Highway’s closed! Turn around.” , “Don’t waste your time”.

On Highway 93 there is a two hour stretch where there is no cell service, so of course I had no way of checking if their comments were true. I decided to wait in line for another hour on the off chance that they were making information up. Hope took over my rational thinking, because why would over 10 people all have wrong information? The line was moving forward slowly every 10 minutes and in my head, I took this as a good sign. Until I realized that it was just people who had given up and turned around which made more space for the rest of us.

I decided to turn around a few minutes later because my parents and a friend in Banff were both waiting to hear from me and I had no way of contacting them. Once I got back into Radium I gave my parents a call and asked what they thought I should do. I tried to search up road conditions and accident reports but nothing came up. I told them that I would try again and see if by some miracle the line had moved. 20 minutes later and I was even farther back than I had been before. By that point it was reaching six o’clock and it was getting progressively darker. Instead of risking going off the road myself in the dark and blizzard conditions, I turned around and spent the night in Radium.

I called my work to tell them my situation and checked into a motel. I didn’t get much sleep due to a combination of nerves, and because of two screaming infants in the room next to me.

I woke up at six the next morning to make it on time to work for nine. I drove down the highway for the third time and everything was looking promising until I hit another line of traffic. I had a full tank of gas, my parents and work knew where I was, and I had an audiobook downloaded on my phone. Instead of a two hour drive, I spent a total of six hours in my van that morning. I was stopped long enough to take three naps, get a third of the way through my book, and to watch the sunrise come and go. Once the traffic started moving, I putzed along at 15 km/h over hard packed, patchy snow and ice. The van was shuttering so much I worried that I would break something. I tried to follow tracks in the snow or drive on what pavement was visible but nothing seemed to ease the bouncing.

I finally made it to Sunshine at 12:30, unorganized and disoriented. I checked in with HR, loaded all my stuff into a cart to go up the gondola and headed up to meet my boss. The rest of my group had arrived at 9am and had already gotten the tour and rundown of Lift Ops, so I followed them blindly around trying to remember all of my online training as our boss asked us questions.

The first day was chaotic to say the least.

I have been living on the mountain for a month and a half now and it has been an incredible time. My coworkers are incredibly welcoming and easy to talk to and there is a great sense of community within Lift Ops. They hold bar nights and traditions every week and I’ve made a great group of friends.

I live with a roommate who works in the Daycare at Sunshine and we get along really well.

I still have five months here and am looking forward to what they bring. I have taken advantage of the skiing and I have a few goals that I am going to work towards while here. Moving across the country was definitely an adjustment, but looking at what my friends at university are dealing with as Covid ramps up again, and the general stress of trying to figure life out, I am super happy with my decision.

The year still has a lot in store and I will be sure to update the blog once things fall into place.

Go check out the gallery for photos of the place I am calling home for the winter.