Feck it.

*{`{#())#%}........

ok, presenting snowiscold.com !!!

Dusted.

new link, again

hmmm the previous address I was using doesn't seem to be working too well right now so I've added a couple of mirrors.

Please use http://snowiscold.co.nr for the primary address, and if that's not working please use the current one or snowiscold.tk.

Hopefully there won't be any more problems :/

A fresh start

I've decided to move my blog to my own hosting as whilst blogger provides a great service, I'm getting irritated by its limitations and well, got bored with it frankly.

So, I've moved to a new site - http://snowiscold.iceglow.com - please update your bookmarks!! (Yeah right)

Also I'd like to thank Omar for having the time to scout out other systems and save time on my searching (thanks mate ;))

PS my photos are still at flickr for the time being and probably will remain there, with new ones going up on the new site when I get the time to sort that out!

The Thursday before

Actually I forgot to mention that on Thursday after not going boarding I got a call from Beth and we arranged to have a barbeque at our house. She’d bumped into some of the chefs from Sushi Village down at lost lake and they’d offered her the remainder of their salmon, which was a lot!! All the cuts that they can’t use for sushi, god knows how much they had when they started but we had a big bag of salmon parts for ourselves. The only problem was that we didn’t have a bbq, but, as they sell disposables in England we thought they would surely have some in one of the supermarkets… wrong. Instead the closest alternative was a ‘portable’ bbq, which we purchased along with some coals (and no firelighters because Beth said we didn’t need them). So later that evening, at around 8.45, three quarters of the way through that night’s episode of the OC, which my housemates insisted on watching, I took the bbq out of the box only to discover that it actually required assembling before you could use it. I mean, it required a screwdriver and everything, hardly the throwaway things you can buy in Tescos.. I think by the time I’d assembled it it was maybe 9.30, at which point Si and Beth tried to light the fire. Half an hour later there was still no fire, so a true man of the woods, Matt, stepped up and rebuilt the fire from scratch. I took care of the marinades (of course), and at maybe 10.30 or 10.45 we started eating dinner! The food was really really good (as was the beer), but made a lot of mess in our house – that’s hardly surprising though is it?
That night and the following one Dave and Lewis tried to topple my record time of 2 minutes 21 seconds for the metro city jam on SSX3, but to no avail!!! The record stands, muahaha.
Actually on the next night we had a meeting with our landlord as well to discuss our damage deposits. The guy is the most anal, tight fisted bastard I’ve ever met. In fact he enraged us when we went into his house (which was absolutely beautiful) because he said he was waiting for a big bag of money to fall on him so that he could renovate the place. We thought, “yeah our fucking damage deposits that you’re gonna screw us out of you absolute [expletive deleted :)].” Grrrrrrrrrrrr. I don’t think we’re going to get anything back out of it because maybe if he gave us some he couldn’t finance his 6 months a year’s worth of windsurfing trips. That would be a real shame wouldn’t it? Well, that reasoning coupled with the fact that we left the house in a bit of a state despite our best efforts to clean everything the night before our last day…

Yikes

Turns out I didn't get to post later, so I guess that means I broke my promise :s oh well I didn't get any complaint mail so I guess my updating isn't that important to anyone *sob* :)

After that early night.. well it's all kind of blended into one.. Like I said the day after I had to get up at 6.30 to be at work for 8.15 (after my 45 minute commute to work it makes sense - I'm not a girl at getting ready promise). It was the first Saturday that only one mountain had been open and it was a gorgeous sunny day, which meant that for one we had loads of people because of the reduced terrain, and also that the people that were there hung around for ages on the patio drinking beer and sunning themselves, damn them. This 'problem' was compounded by the fact that ski patrol (the people who perform a mountain sweep to make sure everyone's down ok, who usually come and kick everyone out just before the last lift download) didn't show up that day so the patio didn't get cleared until maybe 4.30 or 5, and most of the staff buggered off at 4.30, which left about 4 of us to close up the entire place. I think I actually got to the village at 5.55 that day, having been out of the house at 7.58 that morning, making for a ridiculously long working day by roundhouse standards.
After that chore I phoned my buddy Pete when we got to the bottom to see if he was still around drinking cuz I'd seen him finishing up around 4.30. I went to meet him and a few other people in Crystal Lounge - another girl who had been working at the hut at the top of harmony with Pete, Katie, a cock sure of himself but generally nice guy Liam (whose board I stole on my way out) and a lodge host (volunteer people who cruise round the roundhouse but really don't contribute anything, for example the majority of their responsibility is asking people whether they'd like a tissue) called Matt. Pete let on that he’d picked up $100 worth of tips that day whilst being paid to stand out in the sun, so I thought it was only fair that he bought the first jug after the tribulations I’d been through. After a couple there we moved on to Cinnamon bear because one of the food servers, Ads, another Aussie who’s 6’5” and always wearing a huge grin, was leaving Whistler the next day. Turns out there were loads of people from work there so much more drinking and some nice games of pool. Somewhere along the way all the people from work disappeared and were replaced by Si, Lave, Mark and Lewis (Mark was on my course at uni and also in the ski club, as was Lave). When it got to around 10 we decided to move elsewhere, but I decided first that eating is cheating, but then realised I was definitely in need of some dinner having had my break that day at 10a.m. and then getting absolutely shitfaced. We passed by Zog’s where Beth was working, so I proceeded to ask very bluntly for a hotdog and fries, which I refused to pay for. Apparently she said to me, “Well I can give you some fries”, to which I replied, “and then get me a hotdog”, but I have to take Si’s word for it because he reminded me of it the next morning! Anyway she later told me she was worried about what a state I was in so decided to give me a hotdog as well. I then managed to totally miss my food with the ketchup pump, which she had to come out and clean up, and then after I’d finished attacked her with a squeezy bottle full of either oil or washing up liquid. Nice. (I did apologize profusely the next day, but I think she was cool with it all! Nice girl.)
For some stupid reason we wanted to carry on drinking so we went back to Crystal Lounge but by that point I was pretty much done for the evening. I saw Jess in there though who also seemed similarly drunk so I undid her halterneck top to see if it would fall off. It didn’t so then I tried to physically remove it but also no dice. Someone thrust a couple more beers into my hand which I dutifully saw off before stumbling to the bus stop having not contributed any money to the drinks tab. I saw Ali on the way to the bus stop coming down the steps but all I said to her was “have to get bus”. In fact I’m amazed I didn’t pass out on the bus and end up miles away from home but it was all good. Even more of a miracle was the fact that I got up the next day and felt fine, much to the surprise of my fellow drinking companions. Fortunately I’d managed to swap shifts with another guy Nathan else getting up at 6.30 again might have been a bit of a painful experience..

Anyway have to call it a night, will document more soon now that I’m settled in a new place ;o hehe. Keep the *ahem* emails coming, by the way Gurpal, Liverpool are so going down in the Eurocup :p peace. X

Timetable, eh.

So the bus left 2 minutes early and I didn't get there on time, so celebrations on hold til tomorrow :) maybe for the best cuz I have to get up at 6.30 tomorrow for work.. Damn these early mornings... So off to bed :o more l8z, promise yo.

Losing touch

Aaaargh it's hard to keep up with all that's been going on...

Last I posted about the party last Saturday night? Well that was crazy - awesome night!! Josh Wink was a bit disappointing and think missed the other guys I wanted to see but everyone was so up for it, it was wicked. There was a mental queue to get in but ran straight to the front with my friend Pete and got in about 12.15 after necking about 5 cans each and 3/4l vodka between us. Got home at 5.45 after taking a taxi with some randoms cuz all my friends/housemates were going to afterparties. 3 hours sleep and off to work. 6 people phoned in sick that day, lightweights. The day went so quick too because I was still wasted from the night before lol.

This week went up and hiked piccolo and flute bowls for the first time. Both are awesome but it's a long walk considering how long it takes to come down!! It was so nice just to be out in the beautiful sunshine though so it was worth it, except I didn't put any suncream on on Monday and got chronically sunburnt, the worst I've ever burnt my face. It was absolute agony. To try and remedy it applied cucumber straight from the fridge and much moisturiser/aloe vera aftersun. It seems to have helped somewhat but today at work I looked like a reptile because all the burnt skin is peeling off, i.e. my whole face. Will try to post a pic for you to laugh at tomorrow.

Yuki left for Vancouver on Weds, we were supposed to go see a bunch of houses (3) but all fell through, bah. We hired a car cuz she had so much stuff, it was a Chevy Malibu MAXX, I think the maxx part was all important, still it was also a piece of trash like the sunfire we hired before :) got back home around 1.15, could barely keep my eyes open!! She's looking for houses this week cuz they go so quickly once they're advertised, so maybe we'll have some success this week.

Forgot to mention that Blackcomb closed last Sunday, very sad as I've mostly been riding that mountain for the month previous. It's also gotten very warm the last few days, I think it reached 25 degrees in the village today!! This means the snow is disappearing fast too, we had to walk out quite a way at the bottom on Tuesday and the run down to the mid station is getting to the same state.

We had a BBQ last night, except we didn't start cooking til about 10 because the BBQ had to be assembled first!!! Also we screwed up making the fire the first time so had to start over :) we got lucky tho cuz Beth scored a bunch of free salmon from some guys' BBQ earlier in the day at lost lake, made it a bit cheaper, and the food was delish, prepared by yours truly of course :)

Am feeling sad about leaving, am really going to miss here I feel, even though I've bitched about the season/job/etc. I guess it's the same anywhere though, things are always better with hindsight.. Anyway have made excuses for celebrating every night while I'm still here, which is where I'm off to now!!

Will try to write something meaningful soon, sorry if this is disjointed.

Spread the love X

Smirnoff experience

I'm going to a beeeg party tonight under the banner of "Smirnoff experience" as part of the Telus world ski & snowboard festival that's been in town the past week (check out whistler2005.com). It's been pretty cool cuz they've been giving out lots of freebies in the village - I've bagged a couple of free breakfasts, some hot chocolate and a couple of smirnoff beverages so far..
Anyway, there's a good lineup including Josh Wink, Ali B and Hipp-E plus a couple others I hadn't heard of... I think I could be the only person there not drugged up but hey. The only downside is I have to work at 11 tomorrow and the party goes on 'til 5.

Couple other things, I saw Justin Timberlake at work today, not that I'm that bothered, and also he's been following Lewis & Matt around a bit on the hill...apparently ;) also JF Pelchat - a pro boarder who's in a couple of our DVDs.

Oh yeah and I handed my notice in last Sunday - there's light at the end of the tunnel! Last shift is on next Sunday. Still not found a house yet but have heard back from a few places. Fingers crossed.

More later!

Avalanche blasting

Today whilst we were putting the ski racks away after work (oh how I'll miss doing that) they were blowing snow off the peak with explosives! It was quite cool to watch, there were these guys hovering in a helicopter then they detonated a series of bombs in a line across the mountain, causing a load of small avalanches. After they'd finished blowing up the first lot, a guy stood on top of a huge windlip and blew off a chunk of snow underneath him, nutter.

Anyway, thought I'd share that :)

Two near misses?

Well the snow has continued to fall here although it's actually gotten a bit warmer the past couple days so it's only been falling higher up (potentially ominous although the forecast predicts more snow over the weekend). Monday and Tuesday were absolutely amazing powder days, on Monday I went to Whistler and rode Whistler bowl off the ridge line through some trees which was beautiful, then we went to West bowl and got stuck above a cliff band because the visibility was really bad, then managed to skirt round and pick a line through some big rocks :) after that we were too late to catch the last peak chair so we hiked to the very far side of Franz's meadow and rode through a clearing in the trees ending up by the bridge on highway 86.
Tuesday we hit Blackcomb and managed to get a bunch of fresh lines because the high winds (40mph at the top) and bad visibility must have put most people off. The glacier was in the best condition it's been in all season, although on the first run I managed to stay too far left and again ended up above some cliffs :) had to hike back up a little way that time which was a little scary because I could feel the snow was only about 10cms thick and there was sheet ice underneath. Could have been problematic if it had broken away especially as we'd noticed a sign at the top which said avalanche hazard :o
The first run down was so good we went back and did the same again! That was even better because we headed over to the far side where no-one had been and hammered it down over these powder rollers and slashing out huuuuge turns. The snow on that run is probably the best I've had, although the fact you couldn't see anything means that the hiking run was probably just better.
In the afternoon we went to do spanky's ladder because we thought no-one would have been there yet either. As we got to the top ski patrol arrived and said they were closing the high alpine off but we could still go down if we were quick. We set off towards sapphire bowl where there was a rope across the entrance saying "entrance to sapphire closed - extremely icy", or something like that, but we decided to go there anyway because we'd done it before and thought it would be more dangerous to try and locate the other entrance. A ski patrol guy came down after us though and said, "didn't you see the sign?" but we told him we'd already done that run so he said, "well, as long as you know what you're getting yourselves into". I was kind of worried though because along with me & Tim there were Yuki and another guy Masa who I wasn't sure would enjoy it too much. In fact if I had been leading then I would have probably made everyone walk back out, but the ski patroller said he would sweep after us and it was probably better to go down than try and get back up and go a different way.
Anyway, me & Tim had negotiated the entrance ok, and I actually believed it was in better condition than the previous time we'd been down there, when I heard an exclamation from above and turned round to see Masa sliding headfirst backwards down this ice track which was the traverse in (it's about 1.5m wide and with a maybe 10 degree camber). There was no way he was going to stop and I knew that on the corner of the entrance there was a cliff maybe 20 feet high and plenty of steep rocks off to the side if you slip down. Fortunately I'd stopped just before the corner and was well anchored to the run, so as he came I watched his speed (because I knew that if he was going too fast he could knock us both off) and as he came past me I grabbed him under the shoulder. Masa spun round and his edge stuck and he stopped right at the edge of the traverse...
The ski patrol guy was less than impressed, I'm guessing because he shouted "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME??! How the hell do you get around like that?!?" when Masa slipped, but he put a brave face on it once we were safely into the bowl and finished with, "Have fun guys", lol. I was pretty shit up though cuz I could envisage Masa having been in some trouble if I hadn't been able to stop him. Anyway, we all got down safe enough but I think after that Masa was done for the day! I actually hugged him at the bottom and said, "shit man, you scared me". We felt obliged to go for a beer afterwards.

On Wednesday the snow was nowhere near as good as the previous two days because even though it had snowed 16cms overnight it had gotten warm in the morning so the snow was extremely wet and heavy which made everything very hard work. The high alpine was closed all day so we spent the whole day (or half day rather cuz I only made it up at 12 again) exploring tree runs off of the crystal chair. On our first run of the afternoon we'd found a sweet line to the far right of the crystal runs which eventually brings you out on the traverse back from the glacier. On the way down me & Paul had found a maybe 60ft cliff that needed riding around, but we thought everyone else was in front of us so there was no worry of anyone else coming past that way. Actually just before that I'd eaten it hard because of not holding my edge off a jump turn, which was quite painful, although I'd nailed a couple of nice drops before that :)
Anyway, we carried on down and the run opened up into a big clearing. When we got there all but one were already there, but the one unaccounted for - Tim's girlfriend Shannon - had come down to the left of where me & Paul stopped and was stuck on top of a 20ft cliff with a frozen waterfall about halfway down, which made the total drop maybe 30ft high. She was asking us if it was possible to come down because there was a chute to one side, but it looked pretty sketchy so we told her to go back up. Shannon took off her skis, went to step up and lost her footing. Everyone (including the 8 or so Japanese tourists who had followed us or someone else down there) fell silent as we watched her fall sideways, bounce off something then cartwheel down to a stop, skis and everything in pursuit. Time stood still for a moment but then we heard a "woohoo" from the other side of the brow she'd come to rest on then she stood up with arms raised to everyone's applause. I can't believe she didn't hurt anything other than bruising her behind, I've got a picture of what she fell off that I'll try to post at some point.
The rest of the day we hit another tree run which was pretty steep and hard work, then we did a big traverse off of jersey cream to an area which you usually get to by the glacier express chair. We managed to get a few fresh turns in but further down was really steep and heavy again so by the time we got to the bottom my legs were in absolute agony, but Tim made us ride to the bottom of the hill through the slush so I had to collapse upon reaching the end!

So that's my recent news, oh yeah I bumped into Matt Wood in the village a couple of days ago - one of my friends from school. I'm actually surprised it's taken this long before I bumped into someone I already knew!

And I just got my hair cut at a barber shop where instead of putting a towel round your neck they tie a piece of tissue, no expense spared.