Day 9 - CA

Last day on Whistler today and Jeff left us to go to San Francisco. Got off to a slower start than I wanted but made up for it. Met Cam, Fi and Pas at Whistler Bowl and had some fun around there. Rode a T-bar for the first time as a boarder and didn't stack it. Used it four times to get to some reasonable powder.

Bumped into Ash and then headed down to the Big Red Express chair. Had some fun with some runs on the way there starting with a steep entry from the peak.

Pas enjoying the terrain

We met some of the others for lunch and then Fi, Pas, Cam and I headed up to Harmony and Symphony for some final runs. Good conditions and not too many people made for a good time until we skiied out.

Symphony

Fi on her way off the hill

All natural stubbie coolers are popular here

Pre-dinner drinks and nibblies

Fi also left us today and it was Mitch's birthday so we went to a Chinese place for dinner. Mel and Inga headed home and the boys headed to the pub. I left them after a guinness to get some photos of the town. Ten minutes later I get a call and they're singing Bon Jovi's 'Livin' on a Prayer'... Doh!!! Oh well, I got my shots and they had fun including some snowtime shenanigans on the way home leaving Ash covered in snow.

Things are definately looking up!

Day 8 - CA - Meet the Crew

(back row) Mitch, Ash, Jeff, Lucas, Cam
(front row) Mel, Pas, Cookie, Inga

Mitch works for Energex in the control room. He started on the lines and has his ticket, has an electrical engineering degree and one in business management as well.

Ash works for a perspex manufacturing company and recently proposed to Mel while in Banff.

Jeff is a government employee. (for security reasons further details cannot be disclosed)

Lucas is a civil engineer working for KBR and was involved with the NSBT planning works.

Cam is a civil engineer with Maunsell and the principal planner of this trip. He is dating Inga.

Mel is an electrical engineer who worked for Maunsell but has since moved to Bassetts. She recently said 'yes' to Ash.

Pas is an environmental engineer with Maunsell and has involvement with the Brisbane second runway prelim design.

Cookie is the principal clown and team nerd.

Inga is a civil engineer working for KBR and is presently working on the Horizon Alliance. Incidently her boss lives nextdoor to Cam's parents in my street and used to be our CEBS leader at St Faiths. She is dating Cam.

The Connections:
Cam, Pas, Jeff and Mitch went to school together at St Paul's (along with Bridgy's famous David Brown). Cam is dating Inga who works with Lucas. Mel worked at Maunsell and is engaged to Ash and I knew Cam from younger years as well as knowing Pas from Maunsell.

Day 8 - CA

Got off to an trying start to the day. Slight overnight falls so we headed back to Symphony / Harmony lifts. Pas and I were the first up the gondola so had a quick run on Emerald before heading over. This time we decided to go as far around and keeping as much vertical as we could. Big mistake. We made it to some dense trees and while it was untracked, it was obvious why - we were on a rediculous slope! We ended up walking back out the way we came and it was stupid hard work, probably wasted 45 mins doing this. Got some neat photos though.

Ah... Pas... we're lost!

Pas wishing we were at that lift

We met the others at Harmony then headed to Symphony. Made some runs and then some crevases looked ripe for the picking so Cam decided tolaunch off one. He might have jumped unsighted, he might have dropped twice the hight he bargained for but he came up trumps after landing in powder on his back and was nothing but grins when we caught him at the next hill.

Conditions were cold and windy but we still had fun. Back to Roundhouse for lunch and then hung off Emerald until we skiied out.

It was Fi's last night so we headed out to a place called 21 Steps which was really good. Before hand we hung around upstairs in a place called the Attic which had a few screens playing Planet Earth and Attenbourough's other recent docco.

Last day tomorrow. Sadly Steve and Jo won't be coming up but that's hardly surprising, the hill was busier today as the long weekend skiers were coming up and there was major issues with the road and Creekside access closed due to an accident.

Day 7 - CA

Two words:

Pow - Der!

Dave from NZ has on occasion said how he's boarded on days that were 'all time', well... after today I believe I've now experienced the definition of 'all time'. The report said 15cm had fallen overnight and the end result was something beyond amazing.

The crew as we were leaving for Symphony

When we were leaving this morning, they were still bombing some of the slopes by the time we made it halfway up the hill. Initially we hung around Emerald (Whistler) for a coupla runs but as soon as Harmony opened, it was like rats leaving a sinking ship. Once there we were greated with a winter wonderland for the rider. Bowls, drop ins, long slopes, open runs... the choice was yours, there were fresh tracks a plenty to be made and at times we were up to our waist in snow!

View from the base of Harmony lift

We dropped into a bowl off a face I'd never thought I'd try and it was brilliant. Riding down groomed runs is fun but floating through real powder is just amazing. Even on our last run we made fresh tracks albiet short but on that run I actually had snow being thrown up around my face, it was incredible.

Cam after a day of powder and a face full of cold snow

I'm actually standing on my board!

The crew also had some fun with someone's lost phone
which is being returned tomorrow

Nicole will be happy, I wrote this blog watching Sleepy Hollow.

Day 6 - CA

Go hard or go home I say. Ash, Mel and I headed out but everyone else went soft. Don't blame them though, three days of boarding and the mornings conditions were far from favourable or enjoyable and they've got Big White in front of them after three more days here. We still had fun though. Initially 7th Heaven up Blackcomb was where we headed but it was too windy so we moved to Whistler. Ash had his binding fixed which was in the process of failing and we stopped in for and early lunch.

It's a beautiful winter wonderland

We stuffed around on the runs around Emerald. Coupla quick legs however the clouds were dropping and making for low visability halfway down the hill. Mel and Ash headed off so I decided to have a stab at Peak to Creek as quick as I could. I did the run in under 16 minutes without stopping or stacking and my legs were burning like a good Indian curry.

Ash, Mel, Pas and I ate in tonight with some nice chicken dish and we got stuck into some 500 whilst watching Warren Miller's Off the Grid. Cam and Inga headed to Kirst and Fi's place for dinner and the others found some Chinese joint in town.

Large cards help with the eye sight of people like me!

Checking out the Symphony / Harmony bowls tomorrow with some reasonable dumpage overnight and then we're hoping to grab a fresh tracks tickets on Friday.

Day 5 - CA

Well, it just keeps getting better. Fresh falls today made for an aweful lot of fun. Ordinary conditions, mid week and no holidays made for a mountain that wasn't busy. This meant that when we made it to Whistlers Peak to Creek run, there were riders far and few between meaning more powder for us. This run is the longest here measuring around 8km. Just to give some idea of it's size, it took us just on an hour from when Ash, Pas, Cam and I left her, caught the lifts and made the run until we joined her again. The hot chocolate and coffee's were welcome after major stacks by Pas, Ash and myself.

This is what it's about... let's get our swerve on

After lunch and meeting Kirstin, Matt, Lucas, Inga and Mel we hung around the Emerald Express and made multiple fast and glade runs. By default moguls are the bane of boarders. Glades are basically moguls with trees so you'd think we'd avoid them. At least, smart people would but boy they are fun. Hard work but fun.

Those gondolas get cosy

Dinner saw us back at the Italian joint from the other night. Smaller crew but heaps of fun. It was here we decided to call ourselves Crikey Team and a moment where I was on the verge of laughing my head off whilst witholding a mouth full of tea. Some how I kept my composure and avoided some impromptu redecorating. We also decided that whilst there's more Kiwi's in Australia, there's more Aussies here than Canadians.

After last nights litre beer, Mitch's wheat intake has substantially reduced

I think the others want to take tomorrow off so we'll see what happens... wusses...

Day 4 - CA - Meet the McKellars

McSmile

Introducing Fiona, Kirstin and Cameron. Our families have known each other for a long time having parents that have lived in the same street, kids go to the same playgroup, church and schools up until their teens. Fiona is 3 days younger I, Kirstin went to school with my brother Gavin and Cameron went to school with my sister Megan. Both Fiona and Kirstin have moved over seas to London than New York and London respectively. Kirstin's Liverpludleon boyfriend Matt is on this trip whilst Fiona is on a 12 month sabatical and is quite the lady of leisure. Cameron's girlfriend Inga is also enjoying the time here.

Also, legend has it that Fiona takes with her a photo from her childhood. It contains Fiona, Robert Thiele (now a married father), Robert Ratcliffe (presently living in Canada) and yours truely.

Day 4 - CA

Well, if yesterday was good, today was great. It was pretty much a bluebird day and although it was around -14 early on, it was relatively calm and the sun made things plesant. Once again Cam, Pas and I headed to Blackcomb however we made it to the top. Yesterday we only covered about 30% and today we did another 30%. Jeff joined us early on and then Ash found us.

Ash needed a tool for his board,
so I pointed there's plenty around the place...

Mikey, this place is prepared for you

A few quick runs made for an enjoyable start on fairly untouched runs. Ash has a helmet mounted camera and on a glade run he managed to capture Cam tackling a tree and coming off second best while I had to stop in a hurry to avoid him.

Hangin' with the boys

We pitted in for lunch and caught up with the girls who then joined us afterwards. Fi had been spending the morning with Kirst and with her joining us, it meant she could enjoy some faster runs. Pas hiked off to some far off bowl and was stoked with the run so Cam and I joined him to do the same. Pas and Cam made their runs and had to hike it out after not carrying enough speed to make the opposite ridge. I decided to learn from their mistake and go fast. This resulted in making other mistakes ending in one of the biggest stacks I've had to date and fits of laughter from the other two. I'm glad that I stacked it in powder and had a helmet on. Our return to the villiage saw us going from the top most Blackcomb chairlift to the villiage which is almost 1500m's of vertical and a lot of fun.

Dinner was at a Mongolian joint and it was pretty good. They also had fortune cookies and I was fortunate to have three bits of paper in the one.

Mitch had a Mongolian beer...
which was basically a one litre glass of beer

I guess things are looking up?

Very light snow on the way home tonight and fresh falls are expected this week. Heading up Whistler for the first time tomorrow.

It's pretty cold here

Day 3 - CA

Two words: Whistler / Blackcomb

Today was the day but We had to get there first. Steve was gracious enough to drop me off at the bus even though it meant getting three hours sleep. We arrived as the others were and it was all aboard. Fi's plane had been delayed out of NY by two hrs which meant that she'd arrived in Van around 4 in the morning and after the 2 hr bus ride, she was spent and living on caffine.

Once we were into the accomdation we suited up and headed out. Most of the day saw me trailing around with Mark Passier (skis) and Cam (board) up Blackcomb. Pas is fast and Cam is pretty quick too however he managed to break a highback off a binding and discovered the other was cracked too.

Cam, Pas and some clown

Here's a view from Crystals Hut on Blackcomb. There's impressive views all round but they don't convey how big an area it is. In NZ I'd get burning muscles from doing one quick run. Here each leg is a run in itself. In the words of Jeremy Clarkson: It's simply astonishing!

A view from Crystal Hut

Afterwards we all met up for dinner and as Mel and Ash had arrived, we were now at our full complement. I'd had burgers for dinner for my first two nights here so eating Italian was a good change.

Lucas was trying to be the typical backpacker
and cutting corners where possible.

He was also concerned about the grizzly bear warnings however we found some
safeboxs which might come in handy should he be chased.

Clockwise from me; Pas, Lucas, Jeff, Mitch, Kirst, Matt, Mel, Ash, Fi, Cam and Inga