Period: November 2005 | December 2005 | January 2006 | February 2006 | March 2006 | April 2006

Goodbye & Good Luck

This is my last post of my Whistler Diary. I hope everyone who has checked in has enjoyed and not got too bored of my daily blog! Today we fly home to Jersey and our next adventure, whatever that might be.

On reflection, the season has been a dream come true and an absolutely fantastic experience. I first really seriously thought about the idea in Chamonix when I went snowboarding with friends in January 05. Then that came true when I quit work and secured the place in Whistler last June.

The snow has been fantastic and we couldn't have asked for better conditions. My snowboarding has improved loads and I've had the opportunity to experience and improve on many elements of snowboarding I hadn't before like backcountry hiking and terrain park features.

I've made some great friends and met some good people. Hopefully I'll stay in touch and see again Mike, Lisa, Ben, Bron, Justin, Ross & Kat. I've had some amazing days on the mountains with these guys and plenty of laughs off the mountain. It's difficult to say goodbye.

So it's goodbye to Whistler, for now at least...

Sunday April 30 2006 - Pemberton & Goodbyes

This morning was packing and sorting again today. I got everything I needed done by lunch time again.

I went out into the village for some fresh air and to but a few bits and pieces including a piece of luggage to get stuff home!

I went and picked Mike & Lisa up from Brio at 4 and they came back here for a couple of hours before we set off to Pemberton. The village is about 30kms further along highway 99 from Whistler. It's a quaint little place which felt a million miles away from Whistler. We walked around for half an hour and then went and got some food at the Wildwood Restaurant. We all had lots of meat!

We then walked to the Crystal Lounge where quite a few people who we knew were having a few drinks. We said quite a few sad goodbyes and headed home.

Saturday April 29 2006 - Three Films

I started packing today with only two nights left before our season comes to an end. I got stuck in and got most of it done by lunch time. I met up with Ben & Bron to sort out the PO Box. It's Bron's birthday - happy birthday Bron!

I then walked into the village and had a browse round the shops. It was pouring with rain and I wanted to just chill out and enjoy our last couple of days in the village so I went to the cinema. I watched 'Thank You For Smoking' which I both thought was clever and very funny. I also wanted to watch 'The Sentinel' so I booked tickets for that and grabbed some food in Three Below, the cafe at the cinema. 'The Sentinel' was good, it's got Keifer Sutherland and Michael Douglas in it, but it's not a classic I don't think.

I also watched 'The Hostel' on DVD when I got home - very gory and strange!

Friday April 28 2006 - Journey Day

Today was a full journey day. I got up, packed, checked out, dropped the surfing gear back to the shop in Tofino and headed back to Whistler.

The first leg was from Tofino to Nanaimo which took about three hours. I stopped for a short while at Wal Mart to have a look around. This was Liz's idea and she was very excited about it! She only bought a CD - The Sound Of Music - but she enjoyed her excursion.

I checked in at the port at Nanaimo and Int and got a few snacks and sat outside in the sunshine for an hour.

The ferry ride was an hour and a half and was just as stunning as the ferry ride we took to the island. We passed beautiful islands and saw many otters paddling around laying on their backs in the sunshine!

Then it was a two hour drive to Whistler and our house. We stopped off at Tim Horton's on the way for doughnuts and coffee. Then it was maccas back in Whistler to round off a long but fun day.

Thursday April 27 2006 - Surfin Tofino

Another lovely lie in today. The hotel is so comfy and relaxing you can really feel like you're slowing down and enjoy the surroundings.

I drove into town and went to the Storm Surf Shop. I rented a board, a suit, gloves, booties and a hood. The wetsuit was a good 5 mil O'Neill suit, the hood, booties and gloves were all good Xcel gear. Unfortunately though the board was a 'soft-top'. I asked for a 9'6'' mini-mal and got this horrible rental board!

Undeterred we strapped the board to the roof and drove back to the hotel on Chesterman's Beach. I unloaded, went to the room, got changed and hauled the tanker of a board down the beach.

Having not surfed for six months I didn't know what quite to expect. The waves were a friendly 2ft and clean but with peaks appearing inconsistently along the beach - so just like home really! The water was cold - probably about 8-10 degrees. I paddled out but my arms felt week and not that powerful. I was glad the surf wasn't anymore powerful! The plastic on top of the board was slippy and it was difficult to keep balance. After a few minutes I turned and tried to catch waves. I was struggling to snap to my feet and felt really cumbersome. That's not surprising seeing as though I'm probably about a stone heavier than the last time I surfed!

The coolest and most unexpected part of the day was the sea lions that decided to join us whilst surfing. First of all one just popped up out of nowhere and porpoised and played in the line up. Then a couple more came along and they actually started surfing in the unbroken waves - porpoising along the face only meters from where I was surfing. Then more turned up until there were about 15 all bobbing around with their heads out of the water all pointing in my direction and sniffing the air. As I was on a long board I was a bit further out than most in the line up. So I was the nearest to the group of sea lions and it seemed there attention was on me! They all just sat in their little group about 10 meters away from me in the water. One of them swam over and dived down at touching distance. I was a bit nervous, they are pretty big - about the size of me and really wide and thick, if they wanted I'm sure they could do some damage. Eventually they turned their attention and disappeared. I saw them a bit later doing the same thing to another guy in the line up. I was chatting to a local guy in the water who was in the line up next to me. He was called Roy who was a baker and drove boats. He said that the sea lions are fine as long as you don't drop in on them!

I surfed for about two and a half hours. Towards the end I was managing to paddle and surf much better but there will be quite a few sessions to be had before I'm at the standard I left off at back in October last year. But it gave me hope. I can still surf and even though it was a very poor standard, I still enjoyed my session.

I walked back to the hotel, stashed my board and walked to my room. I got changed in the bathroom and had a great hot shower.

Wednesday April 26 2006 - Whale of a time!

Today was an awesome day. We got up quite late, I phoned my sis at home and then headed into Tofino village. I grabbed some food and coffee at the Drifters Cafe. Then I went to Ocean Outfitters to start our whale watching trip. I got dressed up in these huge sea suits and big yellow macks - I looked like a huge Michelin man!

I walked down to the harbor and got on our Zodiac RIB. The waterside at Tofino is stunning and very beautiful - a real wilderness and feels very remote. The weather was very overcast and a little rainy - just what you would expect at this time of the year in Canada.

Almost immediately we spotted huge bald eagles feasting on something on some rocks at the side of the water. The adults were just finishing off their eat and letting the babies have a go. I was amazed how big the birds were - they're huge and pretty amazing to see so close up in the wild.

Then it was onward to try and find some Grey Whales. It wasn't long before we were out of sheltered waters into the open ocean. The swell was about 6-8ft and it was great fun on the small zodiac boat. It was the sort the lifeboat people use - the small fast open types. We looked around for a while but the swell and the wind slop made it difficult to spot signs.

We made it to a rocky outcrop where there were loads of Pacific Harbor Seals bobbing around in the water - it was a group of about 20 all with their heads and noses just peaking out. Everyone was facing and looking at us - it was an amazing and funny sight! We navigated round the rocks and saw loads of seals all laid on top of each other in a big pile on the rocks - they were moaning and groaning - again another amazing sight!

Then it was back to calmer waters where Peter knew there was a young Humpback Whale. We saw sea lions in the water this time playing in the water basically porpoising. Then we saw the whale in the distance. There were a couple of other boats around and we waited for them to head off before we got closer. The whale was coming slightly to the surface, blowing and then going back down. Then after a couple of blows it would show it's tail and go deep for a few minutes before surfacing again. We didn't know when or where it would surface so we had to watch everywhere. Occasionally it would pop up behind us and we would almost miss it.

Finally we got quite close and it started to get really close to us swimming right at us! It showed it;s tail only meters from our little boat and then dived. It was very spectacular!

We headed off to see some more Eagles on the way back and saw some splashing. There were about 10 sea lions having a real old play! They were jumping up out of the water and flicking fish high out of the water to knock them out before eating them! It was very spectacular. We got pretty close before they all gave up and went underwater. We noticed there were a bunch of Pacific seals all with their heads bobbing just above the surface watching what was going on. It was very funny.

Finally we went by the Eagles nest and saw an adult eagle observing from a tree. I got a few more photos then we headed back to the harbor.

Tuesday April 25 2006 - Tofino Time

Today was a travel day. I departed from Victoria after a couple of big bowls of Frosties at about 11:00am. The drive took about four hours plus stops. The scenery was absolutely stunning.

The hotel in Tofino was easy to find as there are only a few main roads on the whole of Vancouver Island and the hotel was on one of them. The name of the hotel is the Wickaninnish Inn and it's right on Chesterman's Beach - a beautiful surf beach on the Pacific Coast. The hotel is a blue green wooden building that doesn't look so spectacular.

It's not until you walk in until you realise it's a special hotel. Huge wooden beams and luxury dark wood and leather upholstery makes for a really homely and cozy hotel but modern at the same time. The room is stunning with beautiful wooden features, a gas fire place, huge windows with views over the sea, a double jacuzzi/hot tub in a glass room looking over the sea and a separate shower. It also has mod cons - cd player, dvd player, microwave, loads of books, binoculars etc etc. It is one of the most stunning rooms I have ever stayed in. It doesn't feel like a hotel and is very cozy and homely.

Monday April 24 2006 - Victoria

After a big buffet breakfast and checking out of our hotel in Vancouver, we dropped Liz's Mum and Dad off at the airport and then picked up a hire car to keep until we go home next week.

I drove to to the port at Tsawwassen to catch the ferry to Victoria on Vancouver Island. The ferry port was way cool with cool little shops and loads of food options - chinese, greek, italian, canadian etc. It wasn't very 'porty' either, more of a cool niche shopping center! The ferry was cool too with smart little cafes, a big shop and loads of comfy seating. Jersey, England and France should take a lesson - the price of the crossing was a fraction of what you would pay at home as well!

The crossing was stunning, the big ferry navigated past tiny islands and narrow passes. The scenery was stunning. The sun was out which made the viewing really lovely.

It took about half an hour to get into the center of Victoria and our hotel. The place, the Delta Ocean Pointe was nice but a bit clinical and very 'hotely'. We went for a walk around Victoria. There were plenty of people out and about in the evening as the sun had been out all day. It's the capital of BC with parliament buildings which are stunning but it's not a big place and seemed like a world away from Vancouver and it felt like an entirely different country.

Sunday April 23 2006 - Early Bird iPod (Day 101)

I was awake super early - about 4:00am. I laid awake not sleeping so I thought I would get up and go and queue for the lifts to try and be one of the first up and try and win an iPod. Apple had changed their policy from random winners to the first up the lift.

I was the fourth in line for the lift up Blackcomb and Justin turned up as fifth at about 5:30am. This meant we guaranteed to be the first gondie up the mountain as they hold 8 people.

The three hours went pretty quickly although it was freezing cold. I had loads of layers on and laid on my upside down board as the concrete was super cold.

Time went and eventually it was time for us to get on the gondie. Lisa scanned us and we were checking out to see if the iPod lady was about in her White iPod jacket. We got on and to our delight the lady jumped on our gondie at the last minute. We were all well chuffed and it was definitely worth getting up so early for.

I got the first tracks down the mountain and then went home and got ready to go to Vancouver that afternoon.

Saturday April 22 2006 - Ton Up - Flute x 3!!! (Day 100)

The forecast was good for today and I woke up to beautiful sunshine. I got my gear on and got ready for my 100th day snowboarding this season - something I have been aiming towards since I arrived in Whistler.

I headed straight for the piccolo peak and flute bowl. The sun was blazing and there was tons of fresh lovely powder from the poor weather during the week. The wind was pretty strong though but that helped me keep refreshed whilst I was hiking.

The first journey up Piccolo was a bit of an adventure. The wind was strong and when I got halfway up I saw that ski patrol had the route up to the peak closed. They were still avalanche testing. There were other people who had hiked half way and looking over the cornice to see if they could drop off. They decided instead to turn back and ski down the way they hiked. I had a look over the cornice and decided it wasn't super high and only as high as other drops I had done before - about 10 - 12ft. I kicked a bit of snow over the cornice to pick my route over then hiked a bit back up the hill. I strapped on and rode over. The landing was really soft and I sank deep into the lush powder. I got up and rode off through untouched snow - awesome!

Because I couldn't get to the summit of Piccolo, I had a bit further to hike up flute but it went pretty quick as I had my music going and as I was on my own I only had myself to worry about. I chilled out for ten minutes at the summit taking in the views and then picked my line into the bowl - a steep drop right at the beginning of the bowl between two rocks faces. The snow was soft, deep and steep - perfect! I few down at top speed and it only seemed like a minute before I was right at the bottom at the start of the hike out. I had a huge smile on my face. I looked back and saw my line - a great track through hardly touched snow.

I hiked piccolo again and this time it was open. There were no tracks from the summit so I got some more great amazing lines. Then It was back into flute and back out again looping via Harmony. As this was my 100th day and the conditions were perfect I did the whole thing again. Three big hikes in one day. Needless to say I was shattered but very happy!

I went home, got changed and headed out to the Telus Festival Big Air Showdown. This was a huge ramp at the bottom of Whistler. Mike, Lisa, Justin, Ross and I got great seats on the terrace at Blacks pub and chilled out with quite a few jugs of beer whilst watching the event. The ramp was pretty impressive. Basically the skiers and snowboarders dropped off a big tower and then rode up the ramp, jumped a huge gater pit and landed on another ramp on the other side - no room for error! The ramps took three days to build by the cats and was made from reserves built up all season for the event. It was a super fun evening.

Friday April 21 2006 - Finding Lost Lake

A day off - the weather was pretty bad - rainy foggy and windy. My legs were also tired after four days on the mountain - end of season fatigue was setting in and virtually every joint in my legs was aching.

I went for a walk to Lost Lake. It didn't take much effort to find it though. The lakes have melted now and even though there weather wasn't great, it was starting to really feel like spring with things looking a lot greener and the temperature a lot milder.

Thursday April 20 2006 - Glue (Day 99)

Today was a really welcome lie in bed. Then it was up the mountainabout midday. It was raining all the way up to Solar Coaster and the snow above was very slushy. I popped into see Mike at his tuning center. I was on my rock board so it got a well deserved base grind and edge sharpening and then a buff wax.

The snow was super soggy and really sticky in places which made the riding very difficult.

Dinner was a real combo of about six previous dinners! Mash potato, bolognaise, cheese and carrot sandwiches, fried rice and a bit of chicken breast - awesome!

Wednesday April 19 2006 - Pro Photographer Showdown (Day 98)

Up the mountain again today. I'm putting on a bit of a push to hit the 100 days!

It was Lisa, Mike, Justin, Ross and Me today. Justin wanted an iPod but no luck. We headed up Blackcomb. The weather and conditions were poor again today. We covered a lot of the mountain though and did some cool trees near Ross's Gold and then headed up 7th Heaven. We did one icy run down and headed back up.

We dropped over the back this time though. The snow in Secret Bowl was pretty nice and headed down the narrow steep chute - Pakalolo. It's a double diamond black and very visible from the Glacier Chair. It always looks fun and today the snow was nice but the visibility was horrible.

We didn't last long and I was home for about 3ish. Liz and her mum and dad had gone on a tree trek - a bit like a canopy tour through Fitzsimmons Creek. I had a very long bath and did some more research finding somewhere to live.

I was due at the Pro Photographer Showdown in the evening. I met up with Lisa and Ross at Tapley's at 8:00pm. We had a chat and a couple of beers then headed in about 8:45 for a 9/;00pm start.

The Pro Photographer Showdown was billed as 'The World's pre-eminent action sport & lifestyle photography expose'. The worlds best skate, surf and snowboard photographers compete for a prize of USD10,000 and the honor of being crowned the worlds best. Tonight was the final five photographers. Each photographer display their favorite photos to music. It's a bit more than a slide show and is presented in a very creative and stunning manner.

The show was stunning and very inspirational. The set up was in the large Telus Conference Center. The stage was in the middle - a bit like a boxing rink - and above was a pentagon of five huge screens. There were also screens round the room and chairs for 2,000 people all facing the stage.

The room was full and some people had to sit on the floor. The atmosphere was buzzing and the crowd ranged from your average snowboarders (me) to full on world class pros to media industry professionals and heads. There was also a few oldies - locals who are had been exploring the whistler backcountry for years.

Each of the five presentations were about 15 minutes long.

The first was a very beautiful presentation of backcountry skiing and snowboarding by a Whistler photographer - Blake Jorgenson.

The second was my favorite and was a very gritty story type presentation by Tofino surf photographer - Jeremy Koreski.

The third was pure skate photography and was very clever and vivid with great contrast and textures. The photographer was Scott Pomier from Vancouver.

Next up was a set of a large variety of outdoor photography including some amazingly impossible climbing photos. The style was very clear and commercial, the photographer was Corey Rich.

Finally was Burton's principal photographer, Kevin Zacher, so expectations were high. He didn't disappoint - every photo was pretty amazing and unique. Some were clever with shots of riders showing amazing skills in unique settings, not surprisingly some of the snowboarders were recognisable with the likes of Shaun White riding for Burton. And some photos were more portrait showing bruises, smiles and exhaustion. The presentation was incredibly polished and the music was a little more edgy than the rest leaving a very arty and up-to-date pop culture feel to the whole thing.

Everyone had their own favorites and all presentations were great but unsurprisingly Kevin Zacher won the event. Everyone just wanted to go out snowboarding or take photos the next day - it was all very inspiring!

Tuesday April 18 2006 - Sore Knees (Day 97)

Another day and another day up the hill with Ross, Mike & Lisa.

We were one gondola short of winning another iPod - we went up Blackcomb about 8:30 and the iPod girl jumped on the gondola in front of us! It was super icy up the top. We came down the groomers to the base of Blackcomb. We all grabbed hot chocolates and Liz and I had a great Raspberry Muffin. Mike wanted to try and fix a great big hole in his rock board but I think the p-tex kept falling out.

It was very foggy and windy in places. We spent quite a bit of the morning on Jersey Cream playing around and hitting a little kicker trying to pull off 360s. Mike was doing OK but not quite stomping the landing. I was terrible - whilst I find it super easy to do front and backside 180s virtually anywhere - when it comes to a 360 it all falls to pieces. Today I landed really hard and crunched my right knee. It was very painful!

We then headed to Crystal via Glacier. There was an absolutely huge kicker built near the top of the glacier chair with a humongous gater pit between the kicker and ramp landing.

The snow at Crystal was good but the visibility was awful. We all got split up. We didn't have such a full day and we all headed down the mountain about 2:00pm. We went and sat outside the GLC and all had burgers. Their was a band warming up on the festival stage just outside so it was pretty entertaining.

Monday April 17 2006 - iPods for all! (Day 96)

I had arranged to meet up with Mike, Lisa and Ross today. I got to the gondies at 8:00am and grabbed a coffee for Ross and myself. Lisa and Mike showed up and we queued up for Whistler. We fancied doing flute bowl as we had about 30cms of new snow over the last few days and we knew the alpine had been closed so flute would be untouched.

We got to midstation and a lady with a white jacket jumped on the gondie. The doors closed and she announced to us all that we had all won iPods! Mike, Lisa, Ross, Me, a local old couple and another guy all got tickets to claim a free iPod from the VIP stand at the Telus Festival HQ!!! Apple are a major sponsor of the Telus Festival and apparently they give out about 25 iPods every morning to people on the lifts - they call it 'Fresh Tracks for Fresh Tracks. The iPod is a 1GB nano and very cool indeed. We collected them later and also got a free t-shirt.

The day of riding was full and we covered a lot of the mountain. I even found a couple of tree runs I hadn't found yet this season - Unsanctioned and In Deep. The snow was great, soft and deep in places. We had some great fun in Harmony bowl as well. We found a great rock drop and hit it three times - going a bit faster and getting longer grabs each time.

We eventually finished at about 4:30 and went and got our iPods. We also got loads of other free stuff at the festival including razors, shower gel, snowboarding magazines and eye drops!!!

We all had a chinese takeaway from Joey Chan's. Mike came round a bit later and brought his lap top. We sorted it out with iTunes and Skype.

Sunday April 16 2006 - Chocomania!!!

Today was a proper Sunday - a lie in, lots of chocolate and a great roast chicken dinner. I did actually manage to leave the house, albeit for about 15 minutes to get some olive oil but that was it! I did some more van research and did my usual combing of Jersey property websites to find somewhere to live. There wasn't anything new on the websites though.

Saturday April 15 2006 - Hot Dogs

It was the start of the Telus Ski & Snowboard Festival and there was quite a bit of a buzz around town with skateboard ramps set up, loads of sponsor tents around the village and the big stage at the bottom of Whistler gearing up for the live bands.

I got to the village stroll and noticed there was quite a big crowd. It turned out to be a dog festival. There were trained dogs having races, the avalanche dogs all out and about and loads of people had brought there dogs out. Whistler has a bit of a passion for dogs as you will have seen from my previous photos and blog posts. Today was the day everyone brought out there dogs.

The best dressed dog in my opinion was a sausage dog which had two halves of a very large baguette cut down the length strapped to the side of the dog - to make the dog basically dressed up as a hot dog. It was getting lots of looks as it walked through the village with it;s owners!

Friday April 14 2006 - Powder Day (Day 95)

I headed up the mountain about 10:00am. There had been about 30cms overnight so it was the first proper powder day for a while. It felt like January had returned again!

I did a few laps through the park and pipe. Although the mountain was very busy because of the Easter holidays, the park and pipe was very quiet. I also found some great powder in the trees and although I had on my short board, it was great fun. The visibility started to get bad and I had to be home by mid afternoon.

Lunch was at Milestones, my old favorite and I had my standard hash dish, a large OJ and a big Latte coffee. Then it was a short walk around the village and home again.

Thursday April 13 2006 - Vancouver & Back

Today was a drive and a trip to Vancouver. I set off about 11:00am stopping off in Squarmish at Tim Horton's for coffee and doughnuts. We then made it to the Park Royal shopping center for a few hours wandering around and drinking more coffee. I bought a mouse - not a real one but a travel one for the laptop!

I then set off to the airport at 4:00pm hoping to get there about 4:45. Unfortunately the traffic was horrendous and it took us 45 minutes just to get out of the shopping center and a good two hours to get to the airport.

The trip back to Whistler wasn't as busy - there were a few small jams here and there but the rain was horrendous which turned to slushy snow when I arrived in Whistler.

Wednesday April 12 2006 - Ride & Relax (Day 94)

Up early today - and I think everyone struggled. The girls - Lisa, Kirsten and Bron went off together and so did the boys - me, Mike, Tim and a couple of friends of Tim and Mike.

It was fun going and we did a run over the glacier. There was no wind at all but the visibility wasn't fantastic. We also did a Crystal run and a few others around the park and the half-pipe. Some of the snow was sticky which made it tough going. My legs were pretty tired by about 1:00pm and I headed down and home for about 2:00pm. I was sleepy and a bit exhausted but was meant to be going ski-dooing with Ben and Co at 3 but I had to text to say I couldn't - I needed some more rest - I'm more in need of sea and sunshine but the rest would do!

Tuesday April 11 2006 - Ice Age

I met up with Mike and Lisa to go to the cinema. I think they were also making the most of a day together and had an equally lazy day.

Monday April 10 2006 - Go Canucks Go (Day 93)

I met up with Mike, Kat, Justin and Ross and we headed up Blackcomb again today. We stayed pretty low around Excelerator where the snow was a bit softer and we followed our usual jibbing route. My 180s were improving and I was getting some good air and grabs of some of the larger jumps and drops. There was also plenty of snowballing going on, the snow is perfect for them at the moment!

We were all due to go and watch the Vancouver Canucks play the Mighty Ducks leaving Whistler at 4:00pm so we quit riding about 1:30 and headed to the GLC where we tucked into burgers and Coke. The Cokes were with free refills so we must have got through a few liters each!

It was a fun trip, the bus was full and lots of friends were on it. We stopped off at Tim Horton's on the way and we filled up with doughnuts. We got to the GM place stadium shortly before 7:00pm. We all had separate seats so I went off to get my tickets and find my place.

I was on my own with a spare seat next to me which should have been for Liz. I thought I ought to get in the mood and went and bought a 'classic big dog' - just a big hot dog. I sat down with about 5 minutes to go before the start of the game. It was a really cool build up with laser lights and big noise as the teams came out.

Each period is 20 minutes and it's pretty frantic. Each side has a couple of teams which they rotate every couple of minutes even in the middle of plays - it;s pretty impressive stuff. Unfortunately the Canucks conceded three early goals. They kept trying and trying with about three times as many shooting opportunities as the Mighty Ducks but couldn't catch up.

The stadium is indoors and the ice rink is smaller then you expect creating a pretty good atmosphere with about 20,000 people and a very one sided crowd - the Mighty Ducks are from a few hours south of LA so along way for fans to travel.

It was a cool experience and I really enjoyed it - I would definitely go back. The game finished about 9:15 and we all got on the coach for the three hour trip home stopping off at Tim Horton's again.

Sunday April 9 2006 - Fire & Ice (Day 92)

I hooked up with Justin & Mariko and we had a few hours of fun on Blackcomb.

It was pretty foggy but it was in a band only a few hundred meters thick so as it dropped, we went higher and vice versa! We had good runs around Crystal, Springboard and the terrain park and the half pipe. The half pipe was freshly cut and a little soft so great for confidence.

I quit about lunch time and headed home. I was still feeling a bit dodgy and so had a couple of hours sleep laying in the sunshine coming through the bedroom window. I then got my glad rags on and met up with Justin, Mike, Lisa and Ross and went out for a few drinks at 6:00pm.

We sat on the balcony at Blacks and watched the final Fire & Ice show of the season. I huge kicker and ramp is built at the bottom of Whistler and top skiers and snowboarders put on a show jumping off the ramp through a big hoop of fire pulling big tricks. The skiers were great pulling switch (skiing backwards) back flips whilst the riders were getting rodeos and 720s. We sat there for a few hours whilst the sun set and got through a few jugs of beer.

Justin, Ross, Justin's friend, Kirsten and I went over to Merlin's for a few beers. We finished off at about 11:00pm and I headed home for a few slices of cheese and jam on toast and then to bed.

Saturday April 8 2006 - Chill

Still a bit tired and under the weather, I had a lie in. I just put my feet up and put together my CV for when I get home and find a job.

Friday April 7 2006 - Cats & Dogs

For some reason I've been feeling a bit under the weather again. It feels like hay fever with headaches but I'm not sure what it is. Anyway, I had a day of rest.

I walked up to Nesters and to the Animal Shelter where you can walk the shelter dogs. Unfortunately all the shelter dogs hadn't had their latest vaccinations yet so we weren't allowed. We did have a look around though.

I strolled home and I finished off a website I was doing for James Painter who runs the Kitesurfing School in Jersey. The site is pretty basic but does the job - you can see it here...

I was still feeling dodgy that night so had an early one.

Thursday April 6 2006 - Speed! (Day 91)

I met up with Mike, Justin and Ross at 10:00am and we headed up Blackcomb. It was still pretty cold at that time and the piste's were super hard and icy which also meant they were very very fast! I had stupidly put my bindings on my board the wrong way round after I had put them back on when Mike borrowed my board. I sorted them out at Mike's tuning workshop and we were good to go.

The morning was spent up 7th Heaven racing all the way from the top to bottom. It was so so quick and tons of fun. We also found a few jumps which we were hitting pretty fast. This would have easily been the fastest I have ridden all season - run after run flying through corners and hitting the runs fast and straight. We were getting weightlessness and air off most of the rollers and the wind in our faces felt like it does when you stick your head out of a car window whilst driving down a motorway!

We grabbed lunch at Rendezvous and met up with Kat. The afternoon was spent hitting free riding jumps and drops repeatedly along the same course. Again it was tons of fun and we got a lot of mileage. The run was; the top of Excelerator dropping off the rocks on the left hand side at the top of the lift; cut across to Honeycomb; cut across to Cruiser; cut back across to Espresso and then back on Excelerator. Tons and tons of fun with some great fast hits.

That evening was spag bol and Happy Gilmore.

Wednesday April 5 2006 - Creekside Chinese (Day 90)

I went up Whistler and went up to Peak and slowly back down Whistler Bowl, Doom & Gloom and finally through Frog Hollow onto Highway 86. I didn't do much else and downloaded from mid-station.

We had all arranged to go to Creekside for dinner at Joey Chan's - the food was great - we had a big banquet for $10 each consisting of ginger shredded beef, sweet and sour chicken, ribs, fried rice and chow mein. There was tons of it and loads left over which Justin and Ross took home. It was a good fun sociable evening.

Tuesday April 4 2006 - Thai Nosh

I had another rest day today - it's surprising how the legs can ache after a short break from snowboarding. I sat on the balcony for a while enjoying the sunshine - it's getting much warmer now.

Ben and Bron came round for an hour in the afternoon and we traded videos. Ben also showed me a video on the internet. We had heard about an accident on the tube park back in January. Apparently it was a Whistler Blackcomb staff outing. They linked up there tubes going down the run and crashed near the bottom. There were broken collar bones and virtually everyone had got concussion. Anyway, someone had a camera and got a video. It's now found it's way onto the internet much to Intrawest's dismay. The link is here...

We went out for dinner tonight - we had a drink at the Chateau Whistler followed by some Thai grub at Thai One On. I had thai fish cakes followed by a red thai curry. It wasn't the best I had ever had but it was good anyway. We left the restaurant about 10ish and walked back to Whistler village and then caught the bus back home to Stoney Creek.

Monday March 3 2006 - Swap (Day 89)

This was my earliest start in ages. I got up at 8:00am and headed up Blackcomb to meet Mike at Glacier Creek. The forecast was warm (above freezing), sunny and not windy. I decided not to wear a fleece but that ended up being a mistake as it was freezing and pretty windy!

We did a couple of runs including the baby park before Mike and I decided to swap boards. Mike was riding the mid-wide Burton Triumph 156 whilst I was on my T6. We went to Mike's tuning center and switched bindings around.

The difference in boards was very noticeable - Mike was able to get great control and speed from the T6 whilst I enjoyed the friendliness and easy maneuverability of the Triumph at low speeds. It was great in trees and really easy to play around on. Mike tried out the Pontiac Slalom Race Center which he had raced before on his Triumph. He said he went quicker on the T6 without even really trying. He was getting great edge control. Justin also joined us for a race - I went head to head with him - I was beating him until after hal way down I lost a heel edge, and so I cheated and just flat lined it to pip him at the gate - we agreed to race properly another time!

We then rode to the village at about 2:00pm where we swapped boards back and I went home.

Sunday April 2 2006 - Back on the slopes (Day 88)

After a good break from snowboarding, I was back on the mountain today. The snow at the bottom of Blackcomb had deteriorated significantly during the last week. There was a lot of grass poking out and the snow in the trees was starting to disappear completely.

I was riding alone today and did the rare act of listening to my iPod whilst snowboarding. I normally don't like it as I like to hear the environment around me including other people behind but it was pretty quiet today so I enjoyed snowboarding to music.

I did quite a few runs including a run through the terrain park and half pipe, couloir extreme and a few trees here and there. I also popped in and visited Mike and Justin. Justin came riding with me at the end of the day and Mike gave my board a good service including a base grind, edge sharpening and buff wax. It went like a rocket afterwards!

I felt the snowboarding on my legs more than I thought I would but I guess I hadn't really been snowboarding so much for a week or so.

Saturday April 1 2006 - Back in Whistler

Phil Again! So after all the excitement of Vegas I'm back home in Whistler to start the last month of our winter fun. I started the day by attending a bear's picnic. It's a family event here in Whistler held each year. The bears are waking up at the moment so villagers take any spare food to the village square and place it in a big pile. There is a big fan at the side which blows over the food to whiff the smells far and wide. Then people wait for the bears to come down from the mountain and tuck into the pile of food. Today we got several bears, a cougar and a sasquatch!

The other highlight of the day for me was a trip to the dentist. Basically an hour and fifteen minutes of scary dental treatment - I don't like the dentist at all and my state was similar to the Stratosphere fears I got in Vegas!

It's been raining today and I have no idea what the condition of the snow will be but I will probably find out tomorrow.