Cool Kat! GSG reader wins $20,000 star Canadian prize.

Blasting down the sunny slopes at Lake Louise in Canada is lucky lady Kat Tolley, from Frimley, Hampshire, winner of our Air Canada – Lake Louise $20,000 star prize last spring.

Snowboarder Kat, aged 29, took along husband Scotty, a fellow shredder, and they had the time of their lives, loving every minute from their valet parking at London Heathrow then they were upgraded to First Class by Canada’s national airline, and it was champagne all the way to Calgary.

Said Kat: ”We had never flown First Class before, and it was incredible to experience.   We got treated like Royalty and lavished with food, wine and attention – and I never knew when you fly First your luggage comes off first too on the carousel, so we got a flying start to our big adventure.”

The couple were so keen to get on snow they drove the 90 miles to Canada’s top ski area in less than 90 minutes, and checked into a luxury suite at the famous Chateau Lake Louise, on time for an early  dinner at the Chateau’s gourmet restaurant.

Next morning they picked up their ski passes so early they missed the reception Lake Louise had laid on for them, so we do not have photos of the happy event.

Kat explained: ”We appreciate that we should have announced ourselves to Resort Manager Dan Markham when we picked up our complimentary ski passes at the desk, but we had left a snow-less Europe and arrived in a snowstorm and we woke up to a real winter wonderland and couldn’t wait to get boarding. And when we came off the slopes at close of play it had started to snow again so we headed straight back to the Chateau.”

The couple had five days of non-stop snow and fresh powder every morning in late April – when most of Europe’s snow had long gone.  The Tolleys are the latest in a long line of skiers and boarders to win a Good Ski Guide star prize – acknowledged as the finest in the ski industry.