The massive dump I mentioned last time continued almost all week so by the end we had around 50 - 60cms of new snow. Which came just in time for the arrival of a mate of mine from Rovers back home.
Anton stayed with me for almost a week which meant he got to experience the wonderful Alberta Family Weekend, which turned out to be our biggest weekend so far on the hill. So many people! The line to the Gondola stretched for ages!! Im glad they're all gone now, back to quieter days which is easier on us.
It was good to see someone from home again, I had a good week with Anton. We skied all over the mountain and I showed him some of my favourite spots and discovered some more chutes on CPR ridge, Feuz Bowl and Whitewall.
Since that big load of snow almost 2 weeks ago we havnt had a thing. Its been blue bird and warm everyday which, dont get me wrong is brilliant weather. Its really warm and fantastic to ski in but we have a big case of needing more snow. Everything is now hard pack and the little stashes where you used to be able to find at least a little powder are all completely tracked out.
Im really hoping for some new snow before Baz, Nudd and Mancer get here but Im not that confident; they keep forecasting snow but just keep pushing it back, the high pressure here at the moment is just too strong. Awell we have better snow than everywhere else, even Revelstoke apparently so thats something.
Without the new snow to cut Ive been keeping myself entertained by doing jumps and trying to do tricks. Ive managed do a small trick and a grab but Im working my way up to others. Id like to be able to do a box properly by the end but Im not sure if thatll happen because we've only got around 5 short weeks before the end of the season.
Thats right around 5 weeks and Ill be heading home. Looking forward to seeing you all.
Have a good one.
Saturday, 23 February 2008
Sunday, 10 February 2008
New and AWESOME Skis!!!
Hey hey,
So the biggest news of the week is my new skis!
Sophie, a friend of mine from the Sportsmans recently had her father over here to visit. It turns out that back home he owns a ski shop and we was coming up with a new set of skis to ski with and then was going to put them into his demo fleet for the shop. When he heard about my lost ski he decided to sell me these brand new, 5 day used, Dynastar Legends for $600. These skis are next years model and retail for around $1200 and they are AWESOME!
I tested them out today and Im loving them, Im almost glad I lost my others, these are so good. I had a good day with them today too, I went down WhiteWall for the first time and had a great time in all the new powder in Feuz Bowl.
Yesterday and today we got the biggest dump of the winter. On Friday the reading was around 22cm of new snow and in the last 24 hours we've got another 12cm; and its still going! Its forcasted to snow all night too, unfortunatly Im working tomorrow but fingers crossed I get to work on Stairway.
On thursday night we finally had the Lift Ops Beer Fine Party (photos). For those who I havnt told, we get a beer fine if we screw up or do something wrong while working and then we total them all up and thats how many beers you have to bring to the party. Its a fantastic idea in my opinion :P. We all owed different amounts but because we lost a whole bunch of people before the party, (one of whom was Rich who got fired and owed at least a carton) we had to all bring an additional 8 which bumped me up to 15.
There were a couple of trophies given out; one of which I got for the stupidest beer fine, thanks to getting knocked off the Catamount midstation by a chair when I wasnt paying attention.
One of the other lifties, Eve and I did some firetwirling which is pretty interesting in the snow and there were a few people tackling each other into the snow which was also good entertainment.
To get through all the beer we apparently had to average about 15 beers each which was never going to happen and now Eric and his housemates get lots of free beer. :P
Anyways thats it for now.
Later.
So the biggest news of the week is my new skis!
Sophie, a friend of mine from the Sportsmans recently had her father over here to visit. It turns out that back home he owns a ski shop and we was coming up with a new set of skis to ski with and then was going to put them into his demo fleet for the shop. When he heard about my lost ski he decided to sell me these brand new, 5 day used, Dynastar Legends for $600. These skis are next years model and retail for around $1200 and they are AWESOME!
I tested them out today and Im loving them, Im almost glad I lost my others, these are so good. I had a good day with them today too, I went down WhiteWall for the first time and had a great time in all the new powder in Feuz Bowl.
Yesterday and today we got the biggest dump of the winter. On Friday the reading was around 22cm of new snow and in the last 24 hours we've got another 12cm; and its still going! Its forcasted to snow all night too, unfortunatly Im working tomorrow but fingers crossed I get to work on Stairway.
On thursday night we finally had the Lift Ops Beer Fine Party (photos). For those who I havnt told, we get a beer fine if we screw up or do something wrong while working and then we total them all up and thats how many beers you have to bring to the party. Its a fantastic idea in my opinion :P. We all owed different amounts but because we lost a whole bunch of people before the party, (one of whom was Rich who got fired and owed at least a carton) we had to all bring an additional 8 which bumped me up to 15.
There were a couple of trophies given out; one of which I got for the stupidest beer fine, thanks to getting knocked off the Catamount midstation by a chair when I wasnt paying attention.
One of the other lifties, Eve and I did some firetwirling which is pretty interesting in the snow and there were a few people tackling each other into the snow which was also good entertainment.
To get through all the beer we apparently had to average about 15 beers each which was never going to happen and now Eric and his housemates get lots of free beer. :P
Anyways thats it for now.
Later.
Saturday, 2 February 2008
Australia Day Awesomeness and Disaster
Australia Day was awesome!
We all went up to the hill in a massive group at around 10:30 in the morning and after collecting skis we went to Peaks (a pub near the Gondola) and grabbed a beer before going up for a run. We had a few runs down, some of us with Australia flag capes flying out behind us before going to the Eagles Eye Restraunt for another few drinks and then had another couple of runs. At the end of the day I decided to do a shirtless run down from Catamount which was great fun. It was pretty warm (-5 or so) at the time so it wasnt even that cold on the way down, that is until I got to the bottom and Tyler threw snow on me with a shovel. :S
After we put our skis away we headed to another pub on the mountain, the Local Hero and had a few there until the bus came. After grabbing some dinner at home we all crammed into a taxi and headed to The Golden Taps Inn (aka Taps) where they were having an Aussie Day party. They had a bit of a BBQ and a good DJ who played lots of aussie music, it ended up being a really great night, unfortunatly I had to work the next day so went home pretty early.
The other big thing that happened was the staff trip to Revelstoke yesterday. Revlestoke is another ski mountain about 2 hours away from KH. It only opened this year and so is quite small and there arent that many runs but it does have a lot of vertical, a couple of hundred more than KH.
The bus came to the Sportsmans at around 8 and we got to Revelstoke at around 10:30 local time (They're about an hour behind us). Unfortunatly half way up the road to the mountain the bus got stuck slipping on the snow and we then spent around an hour trying to get up that particular patch as our bus driver wasnt good at driving on snow.
We eventually got up there and WOW! Ive never seen so much powder, even all the main runs where still covered in it. It was sooo good, I got so many fresh turns in and it was all so deep. Awesome but very hard work, we got tired pretty quickly. We also did a lot of tree skiing which was great fun, weaving between trees through completely untouched powder, it was awesome.
However at around 1:30 disaster struck. One of the people I was skiing with; Amanda and I cut into some thick trees of a cat track and as I was making a turn one of my skis caught a sappling and the binding released. I tumbled for about 5 meters managing to miss hitting the trees and came to a stop unscathed and covered in snow. I took off my other ski to clamber up the hill to grab my other ski but when I got to the sappling it was nowhere to be found. I searched and called for help for about 20 mins but I couldnt find it anywhere so in the end I had to grab my one remaining ski and walk down to the next run. I walked for a bit until a couple of guys stopped and phoned dispatch to send a couple of patrollers down with a taboggan. I wouldve walked but I was almost at the top of the hill and on the opposite side to where the gondola was. The ride down was pretty fun, they werent used to carting people who could help them set everything up and I had a good chat to the patroller on the way down. When I got back to the Daylodge it was about 3 o clock and I only had to wait an hour before the bus left, so I just sat there talking to some others who had finished early and had a fe beers with them.
On the way home we stopped in the town to take off the snow chains so we picked up some beer and food for the journey home. Amanda, Eve and I split a 12 pack and we had a good enjoyable drive home. When we got home we pretty much went straight to the pub where I had a great time drowning my sorrows.
As for my skis, Ive lost what is basically $400 worth of equipment. I can pretty much guarentee it wont be found as it was lost in thick trees where not many people go. Im hoping my travel insurance covers it but Im not sure if it will. Luckily one of the guys I work with, Ralf says he sick of skiing and wants to swap to boarding so seeing as he got his skis in Vancouver for $70 he's selling them to me for $50! Im still really cut about it though, I liked those skis a lot and Im not sure what Ralf's are like.
Anyways Ill leave it for this week on that note, below are some links to photos Ive put up recently.
Have a good one.
Revelstoke Photos
Australia Day Photos
Staff Apreciation Night Photos
Dodgeball Tournament Photos
We all went up to the hill in a massive group at around 10:30 in the morning and after collecting skis we went to Peaks (a pub near the Gondola) and grabbed a beer before going up for a run. We had a few runs down, some of us with Australia flag capes flying out behind us before going to the Eagles Eye Restraunt for another few drinks and then had another couple of runs. At the end of the day I decided to do a shirtless run down from Catamount which was great fun. It was pretty warm (-5 or so) at the time so it wasnt even that cold on the way down, that is until I got to the bottom and Tyler threw snow on me with a shovel. :S
After we put our skis away we headed to another pub on the mountain, the Local Hero and had a few there until the bus came. After grabbing some dinner at home we all crammed into a taxi and headed to The Golden Taps Inn (aka Taps) where they were having an Aussie Day party. They had a bit of a BBQ and a good DJ who played lots of aussie music, it ended up being a really great night, unfortunatly I had to work the next day so went home pretty early.
The other big thing that happened was the staff trip to Revelstoke yesterday. Revlestoke is another ski mountain about 2 hours away from KH. It only opened this year and so is quite small and there arent that many runs but it does have a lot of vertical, a couple of hundred more than KH.
The bus came to the Sportsmans at around 8 and we got to Revelstoke at around 10:30 local time (They're about an hour behind us). Unfortunatly half way up the road to the mountain the bus got stuck slipping on the snow and we then spent around an hour trying to get up that particular patch as our bus driver wasnt good at driving on snow.
We eventually got up there and WOW! Ive never seen so much powder, even all the main runs where still covered in it. It was sooo good, I got so many fresh turns in and it was all so deep. Awesome but very hard work, we got tired pretty quickly. We also did a lot of tree skiing which was great fun, weaving between trees through completely untouched powder, it was awesome.
However at around 1:30 disaster struck. One of the people I was skiing with; Amanda and I cut into some thick trees of a cat track and as I was making a turn one of my skis caught a sappling and the binding released. I tumbled for about 5 meters managing to miss hitting the trees and came to a stop unscathed and covered in snow. I took off my other ski to clamber up the hill to grab my other ski but when I got to the sappling it was nowhere to be found. I searched and called for help for about 20 mins but I couldnt find it anywhere so in the end I had to grab my one remaining ski and walk down to the next run. I walked for a bit until a couple of guys stopped and phoned dispatch to send a couple of patrollers down with a taboggan. I wouldve walked but I was almost at the top of the hill and on the opposite side to where the gondola was. The ride down was pretty fun, they werent used to carting people who could help them set everything up and I had a good chat to the patroller on the way down. When I got back to the Daylodge it was about 3 o clock and I only had to wait an hour before the bus left, so I just sat there talking to some others who had finished early and had a fe beers with them.
On the way home we stopped in the town to take off the snow chains so we picked up some beer and food for the journey home. Amanda, Eve and I split a 12 pack and we had a good enjoyable drive home. When we got home we pretty much went straight to the pub where I had a great time drowning my sorrows.
As for my skis, Ive lost what is basically $400 worth of equipment. I can pretty much guarentee it wont be found as it was lost in thick trees where not many people go. Im hoping my travel insurance covers it but Im not sure if it will. Luckily one of the guys I work with, Ralf says he sick of skiing and wants to swap to boarding so seeing as he got his skis in Vancouver for $70 he's selling them to me for $50! Im still really cut about it though, I liked those skis a lot and Im not sure what Ralf's are like.
Anyways Ill leave it for this week on that note, below are some links to photos Ive put up recently.
Have a good one.
Revelstoke Photos
Australia Day Photos
Staff Apreciation Night Photos
Dodgeball Tournament Photos
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