Tree cutting in Kananaskis

After last year when we paid a small fortune for a not particularly great tree from Staples car park, we decided to do the Albertan thing and cut our own tree this year. For a $5 permit, you can cut your own tree (less than 8ft tall) from anywhere on Crown Provincial land, so armed with a map, the permit and our good friends the Ross family, we set out in convoy on Sunday morning to find our tree.
Bearing in mind the harsh winter storms of the previous 2 days, we fully expected to have to turn back at some point as we heading for Kananaskis country, just west of Bragg Creek. However, the roads were pretty good and we arrived about an hour later. We had to pick our spot, and ended up at Station Flats, where after wading (yes it was that deep) around in snow for a while, found a likely specimen.
The next trick was to cut it, drag it back to the car and try to load it onto the roof. We realised pretty quickly that the tarp that we'd brought was a little inadequate to say the least! After some problem solving and lots of 'to me.....to you' we finally got our trees aboard our cars and after having our permits checked by the park ranger, we headed off for a firepit cook out at McLean Creek.
It was freezing cold (-25) but we managed to get a fire going and roasted some weiners for lunch. We gave up before our marshmallows though, as all our condiments and milk had frozen solid! Instead, we headed for the Cinnamon Spoon cafe in Bragg Creek for some much needed hot chocolate and a good thawing!
The tree is now stored in the garage 'acclimatizing' to warmer temps (it's a balmy -11 in there!) before we bring it in. It's looking a little out of shape after a trip back on the roof of the Honda, but hey ho, we did it!
Pics of our tree will follow after we've got it up.