January 29, 2006
Kneed entertainment
I am bored. 4.5 weeks to go. I had to stop taking physio because the Bunac medical insurance is pitiful and only covers £150 of physio, hell imagine if someone had surgery, at least 3 months worth would follow that...
In other news it has snowed an unholy amount tonight, there is easily a foot and it's only midnight.
Posted by Mark at 11:50 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 24, 2006
The cost of busting your knee...
Doctors Fee - $110
Emergency Fee - $300
Xray - $87.15
Lower extremity-spec (what) - $43.90
Crutches - $65
Knee Immobilizer - $65
Codeine and Ibruprofen - $34
Knee Brace - $120
First session of Physio - $90
Additional 3 weeks of physio - $1200
Making an insurance claim - priceless.
I landed a 200 hour, $45 an hour (that's $9000) contract today to create an activities/events management website. Should keep me busy while I'm out and keep me loaded for when I'm back.
Posted by Mark at 5:58 PM | TrackBack
January 22, 2006
Note to self:
Don't drink while on codeine.
Posted by Mark at 11:49 PM | TrackBack
January 20, 2006
:-(
Today was a good and a bad day. First off we hiked up the Flute bowl, a 30 minute walk uphill into the Whistler backcountry, I've never sweated so much in my life but it was well worth it for the views and the run down, untouched powder and a hilariously steep slope. 15 minute hike back out and Adam and I were heading back to the bottom of the mountain for drinks and rest when I decided I would dislocate my knee.
I ended up sat for 45 minutes on the slope, with mild hyperthermia and frost bite setting in waiting for mountain rescue to find us. Finally they did, without a sled meaning another 10 minute wait for that to turn up. Eventually they produced the notorious laughing gas and I was having a whale of a time going down the entire mountain on a toboggan in a state of surreal high-ness. Forms, ambulances, x-rays and 2 hours later I was sent home with codiene (woo heroin), a $700 bill and a knee the size of a football oh and a sweet leg brace which is almost like tying a matress round your leg.
Anyway the drugs are kicking in now so it is time for sleep. Doctors say I'm out for 6 weeks and I have to have physio also, guess it's going to be a dull month :-(
Posted by Mark at 10:33 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 17, 2006
So tired...
Fresh Tracks was awesome, we had 25cm of snow in the end and after getting up at 6am, lining up from 6.30 to 7.15 with 1,000 other hopefuls we were treated to an excellently greasy breakfast at 8am. The mountain opened up shortly after and we had 2 incredible runs down ungroomed slopes being the first people down and surfing the powder.
Hiking over to the far side of the mountain proved equally successful as we hit another untouched tree run and joined a line for the Harmony chair for an hour where a huge 200 person snowball fight ensued while we waited for Ski Patrol to finish blasting the avalanches. We had again another 2 pretty much untracked runs through Harmony, hiking out of the thigh-height powder a bit more often than I was totally happy with. Note to self: Snowboard needs a waxing.
Amazingly I took my camera and there's a few new photos uploaded. This pretty much sums up the day:
6 hours of boarding, epic. I'm so tired.
Edit: Actually I just uploaded a buttload of older photos too.
Posted by Mark at 8:40 PM | TrackBack
January 16, 2006
Fresh Trax
So here's the thing, it's snowed 2 inches already (its 8pm), the storm is going to last all night and I have Fresh Tracks tickets - you pay $16 and you get breakfast and an hour on the slopes before the masses descend (it's limited to 600 people).
Best get myself in bed early!
Posted by Mark at 7:55 PM | TrackBack
January 15, 2006
$45 an hour you say?
Yep I got a new job, doing some development freelancing and the pay is a relatively staggering $45 an hour. Certainly beats the $8.66 you get for working for the mountain. The guy in question said my skills were quite rare in Whistler (him having been here for 10 years) and I could easily stick around for a while and have plenty of work, he also suggested if I stayed in Whistler during the summer and worked for him he would sponsor me but I guess we'll see about that.
Skiing today, I demo'd a pair of Scratch BC skis, powder twin-tip skis and they were weird, I'm glad I didn't go out and buy any as they were really tough to ski on the piste with. Think I'll keep the board for powder and stick to the carvers. I have my eyes set on a nice new Prior (handmade in Whistler) board, which I'll hopefully keep as a memento.
Izzy (housemate) broke her neck on Thursday, well okay she apparently tore a ligament in it and maybe cracked one of the discs, still, not very pleasant at all. Medical costs are currently hovering about the $2000 mark.
Friday night was sensationally boozey, haven't been so inebriated in a very long time. I think it has something to do with the rather worrying trend that Ad and I have slumped into of creating shots at the bar. The concoction of Tequila and Sour Puss dubbed "wee" was a killer and I was hungover all day yesterday.
The town has been invaded by young college girls this weekend, a US national holiday, it's quite horrific.
Posted by Mark at 6:19 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 13, 2006
OH GOD THE SNOW
Thank you for the 40+cm of snow today it was a blast. Actually, there was TOO much snow in places, up to your thighs and you get stuck. Still it was fun to climb/roll out of.
So much for the day off tomorrow, 7th Heaven didn't open today and will be insanely powdery tomorrow.
PS My leg feels like it needs amputating I am in so much pain.
Posted by Mark at 4:05 PM | TrackBack
January 12, 2006
Injury and crash collection
Since I have nothing else of merit to discuss I am going summarize my current injuries, most of which don't heal because I don't ever have time off from boarding/skiing.
I have ordered them current pain order:
1) Calf obliteration. My left leg has been giving me grief now for 2 weeks since I had a nasty fall on my skis and the boot gave the muscle a good bruising all around. Since I fell on it again today rather harshly it is now top of the list. I now have a black and blue ring around my lower leg.
2) Thigh strain. Same leg, higher up, I pulled my thigh quite badly so it almost feels like I have permanent cramp. However, after an hour activity it usually eases up and ceases to hurt. Until the next morning OH GOD.
3) Ribcage. I landed on my elbow underneath my ribs a few days ago, as if the humiliation infront of the chinese tourists wasn't enough, I winded myself and couldn't inform Mark that I was actually okay and just needed a minute.
4) Other internal organs. The Lakeside Bowl got the better of me yesterday and a spectacular triple somersault cartwheel crash made me really crush my intestines/stomach/liver/kidneys, not to mention the bending my back took.
5) Tree damage. I'm still bruised down one side from the meeting with a tree on a tree run.
6) Butt. My left buttock took a staggering blow from a log on Wednesday when I decided I would sit down on it, from standing, half way down a tree run. The cries of "OW MY ARSE" have done wonders for my reputation.
7) I have a little cut on my thumb that really smarts.
8) My heart aches after all the pounding it has taken from the local girls.
I have had some awesome crashes in the last few days, I'll run them down too:
1) Double release Superman. Adams suggestion of taking a small jump seemed fine until I noticed the ridge right in front of it, except not with enough time to stop, so I flew over the first, skis planted into the actual jump and I continued without any of my equipment about 10 feet.
2) Backflip. Today I managed to somehow fall, but then find myself standing facing backwards with my skis still on. It was admired by all not least of all because we can't figure out how it happened.
3) The Tree Incident. As mentioned above, I crashed into a tree on a tree run. The worst part was the horror of all the snow coming down on top of me and almost burying me.
4) Triple somersault cartwheels. A common fall while adventuring on my board over terrain I shouldn't really be tackling yet. Nothing like hurtling down a ridiculous incline doing cartwheels with a board stuck on your feet.
God bless ski insurance.
Okay time for bed, it has snowed ~8cm already tonight and 40cm is forecast so I'm getting up early!
Posted by Mark at 11:29 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
January 7, 2006
News
The immense amounts of snow have died down but thankfully so have the tourists, we're back to 2 minute lift lines and still being able to find fresh snow at midday. Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty amazing up the mountain, good 20-30cm of snow overnight then bluebird days, unfortunately we had to say goodbye to Laleisha who's left to pursue her teaching career back home in Aus, so good luck to her and she will be missed greatly.
Oh I need to do a New Years update which ended up being a small houseparty at ours, resulting in Naked New Year, thankfully there are few pictures. Unlike most New Years it was actually really fun and memorable, not least because it was again a pretty weird scenario.
Blowing through money as though it was cheap hookers and cocaine and I a footballer, hopefully it'll last though. It'd suck to have to work for my last month out here or something dumb. Parental loans are good for that ;-)
Going back to the two amazing days of snow this week, it really hit me how lucky I am to be out here, in "the best resort in North America", skiing and boarding every day, meeting some amazing people and having a fantastic time. It's about time it hit home really.