December 27, 2005
Powder take 2
Wheeee another 6 hours spent boarding in 2 foot deep powder today, now I remember this is EXACTLY why I came here. My body aches all over and unbelievably tired yet still in a great mood. There is 1 meter of snow forecast in the next 5 days so I can see this continuing for a few days yet.
For those keeping note, yes, I am snowboarding a lot more than I'm skiing, when the snow is like this it is like surfing on a cloud, something that you can't come close to even with powder skis.
I kind of lost track of the 600 hour target thing but know I am around the 100 hour mark so decided to start from there as of today and keep a better tally. I know I've done 30 days on the mountain so 100 must be about right.
Posted by Mark at 4:32 PM | TrackBack
December 26, 2005
POWDAY
Best day ever, ok let me backtrack to yesterday evening which ended up being an awesome Christmas, from the weirdness of sitting in a bar eating wings earlier on things moved slightly more traditional with Adams spectacular effort at dinner and Gwens triumph at dishing up a huge dessert helping, effectively we ate a lot and drank a lot then all fell asleep so I guess it worked out as most Christmasses do.
I was fully intending to sleep today until I was woken at 9 and kind of made myself get up, out of the house and tentatively onto the mountain and oh god was it worth it. 7th Heaven hadn't been open for 4 days due to 100km/h winds although it'd been snowing all the time so today there was easily 2 foot of powder and I must admit that it's an amazing feeling to board on it, like all floaty and surflike. I was on my own which was a shame but hammered it and I now feel like my whole body is about to collapse on itself. I am going to ignore the fact that below the restaurant it was raining and I got soaking wet on the way back down the mountain.
It's still snowing up there so Gwen and I are aiming for a 9am start tomorrow. I'm kind of tempted to board it again...
Posted by Mark at 7:25 PM | TrackBack
December 25, 2005
White Christmas
So I got my white christmas but I did have to travel 20 minutes up the gondola and it wasn't exactly "snow". Conditions remain poor and the wind meant they closed all the lifts just as we hit mid way on the mounain, at about 11am so we had no choice but to ride down, a bad choice in hindsight as I wrecked one of my skis. However after complaning I got a free tune up, hopefully they can fill in the MASSIVE gash with some P-Tex.
Chicken wings, pool and beer at lunch in a random bar is the best way to spend Christmas, believe me. Time to put the turkey in, judging by the size it should be done in about 7 hours...
Merry Christmas!
Posted by Mark at 2:44 PM | TrackBack
December 23, 2005
Sometimes stop, sometimes go.
There is not a great deal to report, hence the lack of reporting.
The weather has turned and finally wet weather arrived, however, it brought a warm front with it and dumped a bit too much rain on the entire village wiping out what snow we did have. Temperatures managed to stay below zero at the peaks and there is a good 10-15cm powder. In December so far we have had ~25cm of snow. Last year (the worst on record for snow) they had 221cm. Beat that.
Anyway the above means there has been a continuation of the alcohol consumption, the tourists have swept into the village and made going out and finding a quiet bar pretty tough but we've been out a few times this week and had a good time.
King Kong is a legendary and worthy remake, Jackson has surpassed himself again, I could have sat and watched it again, which is justified praise I think.
Apparently there's 2 days until Christmas, I don't think I've ever been so apathetic about the holiday before, I figure the general lack of routine and familiarity of this time of the year has taken the spirit away. So I bought myself a $400 coat which I figure almost made up for it.
Anyway, Happy Holidays all. I'll be up in the snow on Christmas day which is a pretty awesome way to spend any day, nevermind one where you get socks given to you!
Posted by Mark at 4:25 PM | TrackBack
December 17, 2005
Drunken 2.30am update!
Tonight was another awesome night out in Whistler and lots of drama has ensued. I am heavily inebriated after having been out drinking for 7 hours and having a great time and Mark just got a beating from the bouncers in Merlins for what he says is no apparent reason but in fairness he probably gave them a whole lot of lip. Still, nothing deserves the bloody face he has especially when the guys are employed by the same people as him.
Tucker and Nate are up for the weekend and I managed to keep Tucker out until around 1am so I think his day boarding is going to be about as much of a write off as mine tomorrow.
Time for sleep.
Posted by Mark at 2:36 AM | TrackBack
December 15, 2005
Switch
Since the snow is REALLY poor, and there hasn't been any new since forever we took the oppurtunity to learn to ride switch yesterday which was a very painful day. I must have fallen over more times than since I started boarding, the problem being I can ride normally and so have false confidence. Well, it was mastered by the end of the day and I can now ride facing the wrong way, albeit it doesn't look that great.
The skis are all tuned in preparation for it snowing sometime soon, or even again this year would be nice. All the holes from rocks are filled in and they look almost like new, except one of the edges which has a big hole in it.
Today was a write off due to going to a BBQ house party followed by Bills last night and quite a few beverages were consumed, one of the best nights out so far though.
OH GOD MY PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED:
COOLER AIR FROM THE INTERIOR POOLS ALONG THE SOUTH COAST MOUNTAINS. BY MONDAY THE RIDGE BEGINS TO BREAK DOWN ALLOWING THE FIRST OF THE ENSUING PACIFIC SYSTEMS TO MOVE IN BRINGING SOME SNOW.
Posted by Mark at 3:23 PM | TrackBack
December 11, 2005
Top 25 albums of 2005
Since I am bored and someone made a page that formats this for you, I compiled my list of this years top albums. Basically ordered by how much I listened to each one.
1. Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy
2. Ben Folds - Songs for Silverman
3. M83 - Before the Dawn Heals Us
4. American Analog Set - Set Free
5. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
6. Death Cab for Cutie - Plans
7. Clem Snide - End of Love
8. 65daysofstatic - One Time for All Time
9. Explosions in the Sky - The Rescue
10. Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson - Unnoticable in a Tiny Town, Invisible in the City
11. Boards of Canada - The Campfire Headphase
12. Sigur Ros - Takk
13. Iron & Wine and Calexico - In the Reins EP
14. Final Fantasy - Has a Good Home
15. Stars - Set Yourself on Fire
16. M. Ward - Transistor Radio
17. Gravenhurst - Fires in Distant Buildings
18. Early Day Miners - All Harm Ends Here
19. Hem - Eveningland
20. 13 & God - 13 & God
21. Electrelane - Axes
22. Emiliana Torrini - Fisherman's Woman
23. Martha Wainwright - Martha Wainwright
24. The Decemberists - Picaresque
25. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
This list is subject to change when I feel like it.
Posted by Mark at 10:23 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
December 10, 2005
I knew this would happen
So I didn't update for like forever. In an attempt to bring up to date here's a list of what has happened this week:
1) I got a cold and spent 2 days in bed
2) I bought some Xmas and Birthday presents
3) I went boarding with Adam for an entire day and am now happy off-piste and caning it down blue runs. Did a couple of blacks but they were a bit too steep for me to feel comfortable turning on. Had a couple of big falls, one leaving me about an inch from a BIG rock.
4) Bought a helmet (see above). It has speakers built into the ear protectors
5) Went out for Lucys birthday on Wednesday to Buffalo Bills which is ranking highest among Whistlers nightlife.
6) Got a replacement iPod from Apple, thank you Apple.
7) Am up to 68.5 hours on the slopes.
That's about it, imagine I made those updates once a day and I think I'm pretty much even again.
PVG (our esteemable landlord) is in town and griefing us a lot by coming over and slapping Izzys bum in the restaurant she works in. Please note he is about 60 and a bit gross, he refers to her as "a beaut".
It hasn't snowed for a week now, nothing forecast until next week either damnit.