Three weeks have passed since our last update, and February has brought the dump of snow we had been craving - we had over 2 metres in the space of a week, which made for some pretty unbelievable skiing. We now know the resort well enough to head straight for the best spots when fresh snow falls, and have even got into the habit of waiting at the bottom of lifts higher up the mountain while ski patrol carry out their avalanche testing. Leo and I patiently waited for nearly an hour last week, with a crowd of fellow ski-bums steadily building - a mighty cheer went up when the lift finally opened, and we were rewarded with a couple of runs through waist deep, untouched powder. We were annoyed not to have taken our cameras up that day; we'd have liked a snap of our lone tracks. Temperatures have returned to suitably arctic levels - on Wednesday the Whistler mountain website proudly announced they were expecting 'highs' of -20˚C, and it got as cold as -27; unsurprisingly, the shop on the mountain which sells balaclavas was doing a roaring trade. Our landlord has also hit us with a heating ban due to our excessive consumption up to this point, making life in the dungeon pretty unpleasant at times - on several occasions I've woken up and started going on my laptop, only for my hands to go numb after a few minutes...
During the period of heavy snowfall, one of my skis has developed a frustrating habit of popping off without warning, which has inevitably left me in a couple of sticky situations. The other day, whilst traversing across a track above a cliff, I stopped suddenly and aforementioned ski popped off - I glanced behind me, praying to find the troublesome ski waiting for me on the track. Unfortunately, it had slid off, and lodged itself halfway down a steep slope, with cliffs and a 30 metre drop onto rocks waiting beneath. Somewhat nervous about the best way to proceed, I turned to ask Leo whether he thought I should try and retrieve it; helpfully, he pointed out that I "didn't have much choice"... So, I took the plunge and spent the best part of half an hour slowly kicking steps down the snow, whilst trying not to soil myself. Ice climbing in ski boots is not something I'll be doing again in a hurry; I felt like a severely disabled mountain goat. Leo watched on from above, half amused and half wondering what he'd do if I did end up sliding off the cliff. Fortunately, I lived to tell the tale - I was a very relieved man when I climbed back onto the track, ski in hand.
We've had the Coote clan in town for the past week, and enjoyed showing them Whistler at its best. Coote broke the habit of a lifetime and managed to catch the 7.24 bus each morning to get on the slopes with them, and he even led Ian and Emily on a hike up the glacier on their final day. Ian was less keen on 'In the Spirit', a dense icy tree run! Having family in town held dual benefits - we had a nice meal at the Keg on their penultimate night, and also returned from the mountain one day to find our fridge fully stocked, and our freezer brimming with ice lollies - a sight which brought a tear of joy to my eye. We also have some house guests once more which always makes our lives more interesting; Laura and Andy's friend Joyce is staying for a week, and Katie's friend Chris has just arrived for a 3 week holiday - they've been briefed to make themselves scarce if our increasingly annoying landlord turns up!
Our working lives are still going well; Leo has got so much cash he doesn't know what to spend it on, and Coote has been working lots of hours - he worked 14 consecutive days before his parents arrived, and is currently toiling away at a double shift. I'm stuck into a 5 day a week working routine, which is a little too much like the real world for me, but keeps the bank balance ticking over. I had a particularly amusing/disturbing incident at the end of a late shift the other night; having finished at about 2am, I was sitting in the corner of the bus stop, surrounded by drunken revellers, attempting to mind my own business. I then made the mistake of turning to my left, to be confronted by a large penis, mid-urination. Fortunately, there was a sheet of perspex between us - had there not been, the chap would have been pissing more or less directly into my eyes. Not knowing quite how to react, I gawped for a second and then went back to minding my own business, safe in the knowledge that the bloke was too drunk to see me - he finished relieving himself and then wandered into the night.
As ever, we've been ensuring we have time in our busy schedules to drink to excess - we have our final rent payment to look forward to on Tuesday, so we've been continuing to frequent the Whistler house party circuit, and are going out tomorrow night to show Joyce and Chris the joys of Moe Joe's on a Sunday night. Leo and I indulged in a lengthy late night wrestling session post-house party the other day; Leo took things too far and got his claws out, leaving me with a nice cut down my forehead, and sparking Harry Potter comparisons. We also enjoyed leading our friend Jonny's brother astray in the form of an evening playing 'Edward Ciderhands'. For those that aren't aware, this involves duct taping a bottle of cider to each hand, and consuming them at high speed. Needless to say, this results in chaos; Jonny's brother was in bed within a couple of hours, Leo spent some quality time with the kitchen sink, and I ended the night with no trousers on, much to my bemusement.
Unfortunately, the final rent payment shows that we're getting ever closer to the end of an incredible time out here; we've still got eight weeks to go but are expecting it to fly by. We're all doing our best to get to the hallowed mark of 100 days on the mountain by the time we leave, but it's going to be a close run thing. Our Vegas trip is still very much on the cards and just needs some final organisation, and we also have the Telus Ski and Snowboard festival to look forward to in April, where some of the world's best descend on Whistler to strut their stuff. Love to all, Josh, Leo and Sam.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
Aussie Aussie Aussie...
Depressingly, we have now reached the half-way point in our trip and are hurtling towards our return home all too quickly. With that in mind, we have had a pretty hectic couple of weeks, with Australia Day on January 26th a particular highlight. Australia Day coincided neatly with KK's birthday, so the whole house, as well as assorted house-guests, were determined to celebrate in style. We began the day with a champagne breakfast, with KK and Katie pulling out all the stops on the baking front - a pretty sophisticated way to start the day, and a far cry from the way it finished. After various people had hit the slopes for a few hours, we reconvened mid-afternoon to embrace Aussie culture - in the form of alcohol.
Most of the Aussies had packed their boardshorts, rugby shirts and blow-up kangaroos ready for the big day, and Whistler village was buzzing from late morning onwards. Unfortunately I was working in the evening, so had to take it comparatively easy; we bouncers need to have our wits about us. As I left for work, the rest of the house came home to carry on the celebrations with a house party chez nous - flagrantly disrespecting our landlords anti-party stance. My evening at work was surprisingly quiet - we had to throw out one extremely drunk chap (for headbutting his wife! Ha!), but otherwise my main duty was to stand at the back door, doing my best to look mean. Having finished work at 1.30, I was looking forward to getting home and re-joining the house party - only to receive a reasonably incomprehensible phone call from a heavily slurring Leo, which went a little something like this - "the police were here, but it's fine now. Can you bring me home a cheeseburger?". As it turned out, our house had got a little busier than expected, and the police had responded to a couple of noise complaints - fortunately Emily was on hand to turf out the remaining revelers. Needless to say, the Whistler shoe thief struck again; we are expecting a second hand shoe shop to begin trading any day soon...
We are also in the midst of the biggest animal welfare scandal to hit British Columbia in recent years. It's recently come out that one of the big outdoor adventure companies slaughtered 100 of their huskies following the Olympics last year due to a lack of business; having never been a dog-lover, I wasn't fully prepared for the strength of reaction this would provoke - however, it's certainly been poorly received, and some nutters have even been sending them death threats! Nothing like a good animal rights activist...
The last week has also seen the arrival of a rather different crowd in Whistler, due to the annual 'Winter Pride Festival'. The influx of benders has been both entertaining and good for our working lives, with most of the restaurants pretty busy at the moment. We were also amused when looking at the itinerary for Pride Week, which included a 'late night pool party' at the Sports Centre down the road (similar to Cheltenham Leisure Centre), costing a mere $50! Leo booked his ticket weeks in advance - better safe than sorry.
We've also been indulging in a bit of celebrity spotting, with Whistler proving a bit of a haven for A-listers. Stars spotted so far include Justin Timberlake, Will Ferrell, Andrew Flintoff and Simon Pegg. Poor old Simon was having a solitary dinner at the Keg on Tuesday night - lots of money but no mates! Unfortunately I haven't actually seen any of the above - my best spot being a man who looked a bit like Kevin Pietersen...
Over the last couple of days we've completed a 'deep clean' of our house, at the request of our landlord. What was a seemingly simple, if tedious, task became a little less appealing when we realised our toilet was resolutely blocked. Being the real man of the house, I took it to task with a bucket of water, and emerged triumphant, though with slightly less fragrant feet... It is quite nice having a clean house once more though, and we have resolved to keep our dungeon clean for the time being at least.
Skiing-wise, the disappointing snow conditions have largely continued, with it being a little too warm to have great snow. This has led us to embark on more ambitious hikes to access some decent snow - we've hiked for half an hour a couple of times over the last week to get to some fresh snow; rewarding, if pretty knackering. We've also managed to drag KK and Kara along with us on some of the shorter ones, which came as a shock to us and them. We're also trying to develop our jumping ability, something which has so far been on the back burner; the aim is to have a 360 nailed by the end of the season, but progress is a little slow. After a day of practicing, I've mastered an ungainly 90˚ airborn turn, Leo has completed a 180 with minimal style and Coote has won the competition for biggest air... and most spectacular crash. Watch this space.
As ever, the house parties have continued in style, with a thermal themed party at some friends up the road on Wednesday night. Not wanting to be spoilsports, we donned our finest undergarments, only to find, upon arrival, that most of the party had been less adventurous. Fortunately, our house-guest Rob and friend Ross took the attention away from my thermal clad lanky legs by repeatedly exposing their genitalia - see Facebook photos. Granny, look away. Again, we are all well, and leaving shortly for what is sure to be the highlight of the week, dinner with Emily's mum at the Brewhouse. Love to all, Josh, Leo and Sam. X
Most of the Aussies had packed their boardshorts, rugby shirts and blow-up kangaroos ready for the big day, and Whistler village was buzzing from late morning onwards. Unfortunately I was working in the evening, so had to take it comparatively easy; we bouncers need to have our wits about us. As I left for work, the rest of the house came home to carry on the celebrations with a house party chez nous - flagrantly disrespecting our landlords anti-party stance. My evening at work was surprisingly quiet - we had to throw out one extremely drunk chap (for headbutting his wife! Ha!), but otherwise my main duty was to stand at the back door, doing my best to look mean. Having finished work at 1.30, I was looking forward to getting home and re-joining the house party - only to receive a reasonably incomprehensible phone call from a heavily slurring Leo, which went a little something like this - "the police were here, but it's fine now. Can you bring me home a cheeseburger?". As it turned out, our house had got a little busier than expected, and the police had responded to a couple of noise complaints - fortunately Emily was on hand to turf out the remaining revelers. Needless to say, the Whistler shoe thief struck again; we are expecting a second hand shoe shop to begin trading any day soon...
We are also in the midst of the biggest animal welfare scandal to hit British Columbia in recent years. It's recently come out that one of the big outdoor adventure companies slaughtered 100 of their huskies following the Olympics last year due to a lack of business; having never been a dog-lover, I wasn't fully prepared for the strength of reaction this would provoke - however, it's certainly been poorly received, and some nutters have even been sending them death threats! Nothing like a good animal rights activist...
The last week has also seen the arrival of a rather different crowd in Whistler, due to the annual 'Winter Pride Festival'. The influx of benders has been both entertaining and good for our working lives, with most of the restaurants pretty busy at the moment. We were also amused when looking at the itinerary for Pride Week, which included a 'late night pool party' at the Sports Centre down the road (similar to Cheltenham Leisure Centre), costing a mere $50! Leo booked his ticket weeks in advance - better safe than sorry.
We've also been indulging in a bit of celebrity spotting, with Whistler proving a bit of a haven for A-listers. Stars spotted so far include Justin Timberlake, Will Ferrell, Andrew Flintoff and Simon Pegg. Poor old Simon was having a solitary dinner at the Keg on Tuesday night - lots of money but no mates! Unfortunately I haven't actually seen any of the above - my best spot being a man who looked a bit like Kevin Pietersen...
Over the last couple of days we've completed a 'deep clean' of our house, at the request of our landlord. What was a seemingly simple, if tedious, task became a little less appealing when we realised our toilet was resolutely blocked. Being the real man of the house, I took it to task with a bucket of water, and emerged triumphant, though with slightly less fragrant feet... It is quite nice having a clean house once more though, and we have resolved to keep our dungeon clean for the time being at least.
Skiing-wise, the disappointing snow conditions have largely continued, with it being a little too warm to have great snow. This has led us to embark on more ambitious hikes to access some decent snow - we've hiked for half an hour a couple of times over the last week to get to some fresh snow; rewarding, if pretty knackering. We've also managed to drag KK and Kara along with us on some of the shorter ones, which came as a shock to us and them. We're also trying to develop our jumping ability, something which has so far been on the back burner; the aim is to have a 360 nailed by the end of the season, but progress is a little slow. After a day of practicing, I've mastered an ungainly 90˚ airborn turn, Leo has completed a 180 with minimal style and Coote has won the competition for biggest air... and most spectacular crash. Watch this space.
As ever, the house parties have continued in style, with a thermal themed party at some friends up the road on Wednesday night. Not wanting to be spoilsports, we donned our finest undergarments, only to find, upon arrival, that most of the party had been less adventurous. Fortunately, our house-guest Rob and friend Ross took the attention away from my thermal clad lanky legs by repeatedly exposing their genitalia - see Facebook photos. Granny, look away. Again, we are all well, and leaving shortly for what is sure to be the highlight of the week, dinner with Emily's mum at the Brewhouse. Love to all, Josh, Leo and Sam. X
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)