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