We have normality

The blocking high that has kept Whistler in Groundhog day mode for almost 2 weeks finally broke down yesterday and delivered a powder day. I hear Wellington is about to enjoy a similar high pressure system.. except it is appreciated in the summer!

Yesterday I did my first fresh tracks breakfast on Whistler. Fresh tracks is a program where you pay to head up early on the mountain and have a full cooked breakfast at the top restaurant. Then when the mountain opens you get 25 minutes or so of riding before the first people who loaded the gondola at the bottom reach the top. The snow unfortunately didn't deliver as it was quite wet, and on top of a very hard crust. Today made up with that however with 11cm of dry powder and blue skies.


As with anything in life, it's the little things that can really put a spring in our step

While it may just look like an ordinary meat pie.. these are in fact a rarity in Canada (and at $6 + tax I can see why they may stay that way). I can say however that it is genuine, with meat chunks and tongue burning heat. (Remember.. always blow on the pie! Safer communities together.)

Last Friday night's hockey game was highly entertaining. Unfortunately the few photos I took didn't save on the phone so there isn't much to share. Our seats were 3 rows from the glass, and right next to the players box. Hockey is certainly a very fast paced game, and the NHL matches on TV faster again. One of our party from Whistler was also very lucky not to catch the puck with her face as it made it over the glass.

Brandon came with me and gave me the run down on all the rules and intricacies of the game, and although it doesn't seem that way there is actually quite a bit more than just getting the puck in the net and fist fights! (Although it wouldn't be hockey without a bit of roughing.)

Retro Rod

Monday night was our last staff party, and it was quite sedate compared to the others earlier in the season. I managed to get a little in with the retro theme with an old rental jacket (children's size of course). The 200' roll of fluro tape also went down a treat with all. It's hard to believe that we're already half way through the season!

Details for the upcoming trip to the interior have been a little more firmed up. Looks like it's going to be 4 days riding on the first week of March. Phil, Amy, Chris and I are already counting down the days. I'll throw up some more details closer to the time.

Tonight/Tomorrow in town is all about 'Straya day (Australia Day for the uninitiated). This is a very popular time for drinking, cricket, drinking, footy and more drinking for the large amount of Australians that are in Whistler. I think I'll be giving town a miss tonight and tomorrow, but here's an indication of how wild it gets.

Note the times!

A White Christmas

The busy period is certainly upon us! With most of the North America's on break, the expectation is to have around 25,000 people on the mountains over the next week. Work has changed from being sent home early, to being called in to deal with the crowds. While this does mean a little less time on the hill, it does wonders to covering the arrears I have with staff housing.

Christmas has also come and gone, and while it's the first I've had away from home for a while we still managed to eat too much, stay up too late and share much. I actually felt like I had 2 Christmas days, as on the 24th it was not only a fantastic ski morning but a Skype call home to share presents with the family, and a shared dinner at the flat after a few hours work made for a big day.

Christmas day itself was mostly spent at work, but another dinner was soon to be enjoyed. While I felt like the lone colony member invited to the British empire.. Amy, Phil, Ed and Lucy together with myself managed to put on quite a spread.

Would you believe that since I left Vancouver, I have not travelled more than a couple of km's in either direction! That finally changed last night with my first trip to the nearby town of Squamish. With 6 of us piled into Chris' Ford F150, we hit up the all important stops. Walmart, Save-On-Foods and Timmy Horton's! What I thought was just a coffee shop turned out to be a sandwich/doughnut/snack amazement. I'm told these are all over Canada.. just not in Whistler.

Bemused at the need for a photo...

To keep myself entertained in the evenings without spending too much money I have started working on my next edit. There has been so many good days that I will let the pictures and video do the talking. I even managed to get a morning in on one of the biggest snowfall of the season so far (30-40cm overnight).

Getting airborne..

I have called this "Midget's Meadow" on the grounds that no-one has told me otherwise yet!

And this is what pillow's look like from above!

Powder Turns!

Always safe to ride with friends in the trees

We have also been gifted some great blue sky days that have made for good hiking opportunities. Brandon and I managed to get up into Flute bowl the other day. For a 20-30 minute hike we were rewarded with a number of deep powder turns. It certainly would have been easier with a touring setup, but I am holding off until spring!

Not a bad view

Brandon on the cat track

I'm sure there is more to tell.. but my mind is still a little fuzzy from being rather sick the last few days. It managed to knock me around a bit, but I'm coming back around now.

P-P-P-P-POWDER

Over 1m of snow in the last 7 days has transformed the mountain. We still haven't had a full blue sky day yet so I haven't been able to take a full mountain photo, but I did get a brief glimpse of Whistler peak the other day. To say the last 6 days of skiing have been great would be a serious understatement. Take a look at the following video for a quick edit of the first 2 days only.

Whistler Opening Weekend from Aaron Tasker on Vimeo.

Enjoying an apres beer as the snow falls outside

Since that day the snowfall totals have kept climbing. Sunday was a 30cm day, Tuesday and Wednesday each had well over 15 and more and more of the mountain is becoming accessible. My legs finally decided to fail me yesterday for a while, but after a good nights sleep and some stretching I was back at the Blackcomb gondola for opening day today

In the queue at 7:30am, 1 hour until opening and 2nd Gondola up for me!

If you haven't have figured it out by now, 6 days straight skiing means that I haven't had any work yet. Tomorrow will be my first official day working in a proper store (not setting up or training). I'm working the morning shift Friday/Saturday/Sunday, and with American thanksgiving today I'm told it's going to be busy.

The village has been decked out in Christmas lights. To some peoples' disappointment there aren't any Christmas shops like home, it does look rather impressive with some fresh snow falling. I snapped these on the way home tonight. Hopefully I can get some better ones closer to the proper date!

I've also finally found the first new food (well kind of) here that I have fallen in love with. I am certainly missing meat pies, good cookies and proper chocolate muffins, but this does make up for some of the loss.

I think 'The Oatmeal' sums up the taste of it best... http://theoatmeal.com/comics/sriracha

The family are happy to know that I am looking after myself and cooking properly. Having to get inventive with some of the utensils (a fork makes a great potato masher), but so far I'm not starving, or lacking in vegetables. Leela has thankfully sent me some of my favourite recipes from home.. pastry pie here I come.

I leave you tonight with the highlight of my day. Taylor and I managed to get the first tracks of the season through 2 gladed tree runs. Unfortunately the camera fogged slightly (and my quick upload washed the whites slightly), but you should get the picture! I have a feeling this is going to become one of my favourite pow spots.

Yard Sale - First tracks of the 2012/2013 Winter from Aaron Tasker on Vimeo.