Praise the Lord

We have water. Amen.

Evening Update - No Water

Still no fuckin' water. I'm at a loss. It's pretty warm (-4) at the moment, so I hope that over the next day or two it will sort itself out. I've e-mailed Fleetwood to try and get a plumbing diagram....

This is a classic. Since when did the outer-suburban massive turn gay and 80's?!

Bah.

Minus 11

Still no water, but at least the temperature outside is slowly going up today.

Inside the thermostat for the furnace says it's 32C. Holy crap it's hot. The gas heater does NOT FUCK AROUND heating the place up.

Today I'm going to dig out the hose that lets us connect an external propane tank to the turd - I don't want this to happen again, and if the furnace is the key, so be it.

I must admit I'm not sure what to do if it doesn't defrost - it's not really practical to live in if there's no running water.....

Minus 13

Motherfucking fuck fuck.

We have cold water in the toilet (for flushing, and for teeth cleaning).
But no water (cold or otherwise) anywhere else. Have had the heaters cranking all day, but to no avail.

Have heated the space where the water comes in (and I presume splits off into two pipes) but that hasn't helped either.

I'm fresh out of ideas, and a bit worried that it won't unfreeze.

Had to have showers at the park facilities today. $1 for 6 minutes. 6 minutes seems like a really long time in the shower, but I guess we don't have long showers in the turd.

Fuck. It's still -13 outside. WAAAH WHEN WILL IT WARM UP?!

On a lighter note, I hit the slopes hard this morning - got some pretty good air off the kickers, and on little bits and pieces in the trees. Stompin!!!

My switch riding is coming along, however there's still a long way to go....

Kat joined me after work, and I promptly decided to fall on my ass a lot. Oh well....

Freezy freezy freeze freeze!! Tomorrow afternoon it's supposed to get up to -2, so let's hope the turd unfreezes :|

Minus 15

Holy crap it's cold this morning. Yes, the water's frozen inside too so looks like I have to take a shower at the camp facilities - guess there's a first time for everything.

Definitely left the heaters and such on last night, but perhaps they weren't turned up enough. Seems like when it's going to get down to around -14 or less then they'll have to be set to "giant carbon footprint" mode for the whole night. Sorry Mother Earth.

The heaters are blasting, and it feels like a bloody sauna in here. Time for me to get out into the cold!

Evening Update

I felt like today was kind of lacklustre.

Didn't feel super together. Landed the jumps at slow speed, but at higher speed I still shit myself. Bailed a a couple of times today and jarred the shit out of my shins. Bah.

Riding switch is like learning to ride all over again, and kind of frustrating.

I think you should click on this link, because it's funny.

Morning Update

Holy fuckin' bejeezus it's cold.

The delightful live temperatures page says it's -13. Elke says it's -16. Either way, it's chilly.

Nothing appears to be frozen however, and this is a good thing.

Going up the mountain to practise my mad skillz. I've finally started to get serious about learning to ride switch (that's riding the other way from your normal stance, for those of you who aren't rad enough to know these things) and in the process on Friday I fell over and whacked my right shoulder again.

BOTH my shoulders are running at around 80% these days. Don't quite know what's wrong with them, but they're NQR - if I fall asleep and roll onto my front with my head on one arm, there's much pain when I wake up and try to move. In fact, it requires me to try to roll over without using my arms for leverage. Who's a fuckin' old man now eh?

Well I better get off my ass. Time waits for no man.

Forza Two

Huge day of Forza today.

Thankfully it's finally snowing again. I'd say more than 10cm already today.
Hopefully it keeps going all night, and all of tomorrow. Puke snow, puke.

Wow is it 22:30 already? Must be time for bed.

Tuning, Riding, Lesson

This morning Kat von Shred went up the mountain to have a lesson.

As is my morning duty I arose to make her coffee, and prepare breakfast and lunch, only to be informed that her ladyship didn't require sandwiches.

If you'd paid attention to yesterday's entry, you will remember that this morning I was going to tune the snowboard. In case you're not gnarly enough to know what tuning entails, here's a brief summary:

1. Remove burrs from the base side of the edge using a stone (similar to one you'd use for sharpening a knife).

2. Apply a 90 degree angle to the side edge with an edge tool (basically a file in a guide which sets the angle for you).

3. Smooth the new edge gently with the stone.

4. Clean the base of the board (normally you'd use base cleaner, but I forgot to get any so I used normal household cleaner - conveniently I forgot it had bleach in it, so my brand new Burton hoody has a few faint bleach marks on it - IDIOT!!!)

5. Wax the board.

6. Make sandwiches for my lunch. (Technically this is optional, but good for hunger)

This took me an hour or so, including some Forza2 in between steps. Rockin.

Met Kat on the mountain, and had a light afternoon's riding. The board was lighting quick, and more responsive with the sharper edges. I rule.

Tomorrow's Australia Day here, but you've already had it. Happy Australia Day I guess. I'll be hanging around the RV playing Forza. Wooooooo!!

Terrain Garden

Today I ventured into the "Terrain Garden". Note this is different from the "Terrain Park".

"Garden" being the place for noobs, "park" being the place for the pros.

No huge leaps of skill, I still shit myself at the top of each kicker. Oh well. Onwards and upwards eh!?

I finally got sick of the cold water tap in the toilet not working, and tried to heat up the compartment to defrost it. Didn't think I had any luck, until suddenly it started flowing again. Mission accomplished.

I am tired. Tomorrow I'm going to de-burr and tune the edges of the board. Then a lil' waxing, and hopefully the board will propel my skills to new heights. Fat chance eh.

Teeney Swodd

Last night we went to the cinema to see "Sweeney Todd" the new Tim Burton musical, based on the.. well musical.

Frankly I was under-whelmed. Despite the nearly universal positive reviews, it never really grabbed me. Sure there were some gruesome moments, but I didn't think that Broadway and the Silver Screen really connected.

Made me think twice about ever getting a shave with one of those nasty cut-throat razors though.

I'm going to give it 6/10. It's dark, it's musical, it's Burton, but ultimately it failed to keep me entertained and I found myself wondering whether it would be better if someone slit MY throat to put me out of my misery.

Anyhoo.

All this sunny weather comes at a price - the price of keeping the turd heated when it's below -10C at night. Right now it's around -11/-12 and it's only 10pm. The poor old heaters have been working overtime.

I'm looking forward to some snow. Partly because it'll be great to ride some fresh powder, but partly because the cloud will bring milder nights.

Brrrr...

In the high-back-country today the snow has formed strange giant ice/snow crystal hybrid things.

They look like snowflakes do, but are large, so you can see the crystalline structure with the naked eye. These weird flakes have coated the landscape - they're super light, and you can pick a handful up and it feels like you're picking up ... crystals.

I consult the oracle of Wikipedia - and apparently it's called "hoar frost".

I took a photo, but it's not as good as this one. I shall subject you to my abstract photography tomorrow, when I get the card reader back.

G'night!

Water-On

Thank fuck leaving the heaters on all day has defrosted whatever was frozen.

Not a huge day on the slopes. Still werkin' the little kickers, the ollie, and making my first attempts at riding switch. Not a whole lot of progress, but something is better than nothing eh?

Oh wait, I did break a binding strap landing a jump today (I think).
Well at least the binding strap did break....

Play-Off, Water-Off

NFL Update
No big surprise that the New England Patriots eventually beat the San Diego Chargers to advance to being the only NFL team to ever have an 18-0 record. IMHO however if SD had managed to convert any of their trips to the red zone into a touchdown instead of just scoring field goals it could have been a different story. C'est la vie I guess....

In my mind the upset of the day was the fact that New York pipped Green Bay. Favre's men seemed low on energy in the -18C weather. I would be too I guess.

Water Update
This morning there was no water again. On quick investigation it turns out that it's NOT the hose that connects the Turd to the city water. This implies that something INSIDE is frozen. Not quite sure how to tackle this, except to bring the interior temperature up and hope that it thaws..... stay tuned for a potentially stinky update later on.

Snow Update
No new snow, but a great sunny day so we're off up the mountain.

Playoffs - Conference Championships

Today I'm kind of annoyed.

It's sunny and I can't ride, and I'm not working.
Kind of fucks me off a bit, as I'll have to work during the week which means I lose a day of riding.

How am I going to get to my goal of 100 days on the snow if I keep losing days like that?! Grrr...

Anyway - it's the NFC/AFC championship games today. San Diego play New England, and Green Bay play New York. Must admit I'm not completely in the mood. Oh well.

Maybe this glass of gin will help.

Jumping Crickets!

Xbox 360
So thanks to Team Maglaras (oh and Anil who COST ME $30 IN DUTY!!!!) we now have the 360 in the Turd. Even though it's only currently connected using the composite inputs, it looks FARKIN' GREAT at 1080p. I notice that either I had burned DiRT and Forza2 or someone else did it for me. If it was me, well I rock. If it was someone else, thanks!!

Colin McRae: DiRT is pretty nice, although the physics model doesn't feel super real. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it feels even less real than the already unreal earlier editions.

I'm thinking of saving up to buy Guitar Hero III :-)

Mad Skillz
Yesterday we hit the terrain park again, and both managed some small jumps off the tiny baby kickers. Kat also hit the small tabletop. Shaun White can still rest easy, but it's a start. My ollie is also coming along pretty well. Am just practising being able to ollie over things without having to think about it for 100m beforehand.

Today I'm having a lazy day, it's 09:00 and I'm still sitting around in the turd. Mind you I still got up at 06:30, what's with that?!

Think I'll cruise up the mountain a bit later in the morning. Feeling kinda run down this week.

A taste of the Backcountry

I finished work today at midday and headed up the mountain with Elke and Andrew after I bumped into them at the campground. It was a sunny day so we headed for the top of Blackcomb Glacier. Once we rode off the Glacier chair we decided to check out what lay over the backside of Blackcomb.

To get into the backcountry we had to navigate a fifty step climb up a snow ledge which had no handrails, only boot grooves dug out by other climbers. I nervously climbed up, hoping that I wouldn't slip and fall back off the ledge. I was relieved to get to the top, but only for a moment. There was another narrow ledge that you had to drop off in order to access the bowl below. Once in, it was an easy traverse to get to the next drop off. We had two options, drop in to the left, or into the right - cautioned by signs that read 'Steep, rocky entrance' that as well as knowledge of numerous permanently closed areas PLUS visible signs of an earlier snow slide. We chose left.

The drop in was exceptionally steep, double black according to the map. It was a slow decent at first, tricky for me as we had to get through a narrow, rocky pass. Once we all cleared the pass, it was a steep, powdery line to the bottom. Very nice riding, well worth the uncertainty faced at the top.

A few more cheeky powder lines and then we hit a 3.4km path which lead us through the valley and back into civilization. The path was super quick, no room to turn because skiiers were absolutely flying past, bent over in racing positions. So with the board pointed straight, I flew along the path and had a great ride back to the lifts.

All in all, pretty cool fun.

Nothing to report

I have nothing to report.

Kat "Double Black Diamond" Von N will be posting later on today.

Ahh a day off. No new snow though, but some sun. What is this sun business, I am not familiar with it.

We're moving to Narre Warren

This article is gold.

"Best party ever, that's what everyone's saying"

Corey rocks. Not as hard as Benny C, but pretty hard.

Crappy Work, Playoffs

Man what a day at work I had yesterday. It was my first day flying solo, and if they're all going to be like that I want to take my ball and go home.

Not only did it piss wet snow and rain on me all day, but it was bloody mayhem with tours going in and out at the most inconvenient times.

Some Japanese guy drove AROUND my parked sled, into the ditch, breaking his hand. Nice one. He then tried to blame me for distracting him. Pity I was on the OTHER side of the corner.

To top it all off, I lost my radio (it was later found by someone) and managed to drive my snowmobile off the edge of the road into waist deep snow while looking for the radio. Ripper.

Anyway. The NFL playoffs have started. Today I've spent the entire day on the couch (un-showered) watching the San Diego/Indianapolis and New York/Dallas games. The Chargers upset the Colts in the first game, and if they can hold on it looks like the Giants MIGHT just upset the Cowboys.

31 seconds to go, Dallas needs a touchdown to win. If New York manages to block this drive, they win.....

....and the Giants intercept Romo's last effort at a touchdown pass!! So one Manning loses, one Manning wins.

I can tell you care. Fingers crossed for snow. Gonna hit the mountain tomorrow and work on my ollie and hitting some bigger jumps. Rockin'.

Ride 'em cowboy

Very short update.

Yesterday we went up the mountain extra-early to do "Fresh Tracks" - which is breakfast on the hill and then you get to ride the powder before anyone else is allowed up. Excellent fun.

Kat gave a snowboarding lesson to a couple of her work colleagues. Very nice.

It's amazing how quickly that what was originally so flat and delightful becomes chopped up and bumpy.

We rode until about 3pm and then had some drinks, dinner and Uno. In bed by 10pm, which felt super late. Ahh the life of an 80 year old.

This morning I'm pretty slow to start - it's nearly 10am and I'm still hanging around the turd. Kat is at work (where else).

Speaking of turd, this morning someone had delightfully smeared poo on all the toilet seats in the men's toilets. Ripper. Thankfully they'd spared the disabled toilets.....

I'm not sure what kind of person does that. Probably the same kind of person who asks you to move an injured skier out of the way so they can keep hitting the kicker.

I better get moving, otherwise I may never leave.

Bad Landings

Another 9 till 3 day on the mountain.

I think it put down around 10cm of new snow last night, so it was much more fun.

Nothing revolutionary today - going for more speed, and more air. Going to work on my ollie and riding switch this week - looking forward to falling over some more. Not.

Saw the aftermath of a girl writing herself off in the terrain park this morning - at best she's probably torn something in the top of her leg, at worst it might be her pelvis or femur that got fractured. Not nice.

Sadly, some guys who wanted to jump off the kicker thought it might be a good idea for us to move the girl, rather than them have to wait until the ski patrol could take her away. Tossers.

Well it's 21:16 - nearly time for bed!

Frozen Jeep, Mountain Stomping

This morning we awoke to a frozen up Jeep.

Normally when we know that it's going to be really cold at night we crack the doors so that they aren't frozen shut, but last night we were caught by surprise.

So this morning all the doors were frozen shut. I managed to get the drivers door open (always a good thing) but then it wouldn't latch shut.

I drove Kat to work holding the door closed. On the way home I got the door to stay shut by locking it.

Unfortunately when I arrived back at the RV, the door wouldn't open again.......

.....so I had to climb out the window.

Very annoying. Luckily during the day everything defrosted, and Kat was kind enough to open the doors - tomorrow I hope there won't be a repeat of the issue.

I hope.

Spent 6 hours up the mountain today. Didn't feel like I made any breakthroughs, but also didn't go backwards. Blackcomb had been fully groomed, so was kind of boring. Made my way through the trees a few times and a bit off the beaten track to try and find some powder - was ok I spose.

Last run of the day was on Whistler - was definitely better today - which is unusual.

Just finished trying to diagnose a Vista/Skype problem with my old man. No luck.

Ben enjoyed the privilege of the MooseCam(tm). You win, Ben.

G'night!

Mayhem

A little bit of work today.

Today is the last day of the holidays for many Canadians, so many were packing up and leaving Whistler. Or so they thought....

Apparently there were several accidents (I only saw a burned out shell of a car being driven back to whistler and a Greyhound bus stuck in a snow bank by the side of the road) and it took nearly 1.5 hours to get back from work (normally a 15 minute trip).

I'd be guessing there was a traffic jam stretching for about 20km in total, although not all of it was standing still. The centre of the village was completely gridlocked. Amazing. Cars were parked on the road with lights and engines off.

Anyhoo. Tired. Goodbye.

Post-Work Celebrities

Today was a bit of a day of celebrity at Blackcomb Snowmobiles.

First on the card was five times MotoGP world champion Mick Doohan and family.

Strangely enough I never followed bike racing, but recognised him anyway.
I've got a picture of him wearing a helmet and riding a snowmobile which I will post. You will not be able to recognise him.

The second celebrity was Pamela Anderson (and her kids).

Alas the closest I got to the star was holding her Amex Centurion card (I had no idea she was even coming). If only I had taken the number down, we could have gone on a spending spree.

I will also post an unrecognisable picture of her as well. Don't think I'll be able to sell that to News of the World any time soon.

Until tomorrow's star-studded episode....

Pre-Work Update

Mad Skillz
Yesterday I pushed through the cold and hit the mountain again. The mad skillz were still there amazingly.

The speed at which I am heading down the mountain has increased to the point that if a small child were to suddenly appear in front of me, I wouldn't even bother trying to stop.

I started to hit some larger jumps in the terrain park yesterday (no, not the actual kickers, but the side of them, which in my book still counts as a jump), and there were some spectacular wipe-outs on my way down the mountain. Nothing hurt however. New bindings functioning as advertised.

Snow
It's been snowing HEAPS the last few days. Only problem is that after every big dump is a little rain, so the snow gets a bit slushy and sloppy. I'm working today and tomorrow so praying for large dump on Sunday ready for my Monday morning session.

Time to head off to work. Yay.

New Years Wrap-Up, Surfing the Snow

New Year's Eve 2007

Pretty low key here in the RV park - we were both dead tired, but the careful application of gin, tonic and Lychee Martinis seemed to be the remedy.

Some photos... the first is of two little monkeys frolicking in turd...

(This is obviously Kat, and our friend Elke from next door)


The infamous neighbours, Andrew and Elke.


The other neighbours - Bob and Hunter. Hunter is the dog. Bob is a good man.


This was one of my Christmas presents - a moose that poos when you squeeze it. It sounds silly, but it's very cool.


Here's Bob and some bearded freak. This is pretty late in the night, and... well... I was very tanked.


Everyone was pretty crook the next day - but that's what you get I guess.

Despite best intentions, there was no riding, only working, and puking.

All of the working and puking was done by someone other than myself. A fine effort in my opinion.

Oh, and before I forget - SOMEONE was demonstrating their MAD KARATE SKILLZ and managed to kick me, fall over, break the heater, and spill wax on the floor. ROCK ON!!!!

Mad Skillz Update
Today my new bindings, the much maligned Vapor and myself melded to form something a little more than the sum of its parts.

If I have not mentioned my AWESOME Christmas present, you can look to the left, and weep over the weaponry that is the Flow NXT-AT. Such comfort, balance, and response. I only need think about turning, and like magic, we turn.

I don't know exactly how it happened, but everything came together and I was surfing the powder like I had been born into it. I could have danced a little jig by the time we arrived in the car park at 4pm.

It's the first time that Kat and I have ridden together for a while - we caught the last lifts up this afternoon and rode at dusk (it was bloody dark when we got to the bottom). Fine times!

Today we are both a little sick. I am going to bed now. Witness the sickness.

Yesterday on the mountain

A 29 year old skier died and a 21 year old snowboarder was seriously injured after triggering an avalanche in a permanently closed area on Whistler peak which swept them off a 75 foot cliff face. Both were staff members working for Whistler Blackcomb.

Elke and I saw the News reporters in the village today interviewing people about the accident. I think that's the third person who has died on the mountain so far this year. A fourth guy almost died a few days ago after getting lost in the trees but was rescued the next day after spending the night in freezing temperatures.

Kat

Internet Access Fixed

Finally it seems like the ISP here has fixed the wireless node here in the campground.

I will recommence more regular updates.

Happy New Year - hope NYE was fun!

Happy New Year

Sorry for the lack of activity here lately folks - but been absolutely flat out.

My days go like this.

Wake up, eat, poo, work, eat, work, beer, eat, sleep.
Repeat.

On the plus side, making some good cash. I think with both our jobs we will be able to cover all expenses, and still have some left over!!

So... here we are at the end of 2007 - and the first day of 2008 for you - hopefully you're still up, or passed out by this point.

Thanks for reading, and the good wishes and comments and stuff over the course of the year - it's great to know that people still care.

I'll make another update tomorrow (depending on the whim of the Gods of the Internet) - need to get my ass into gear to head up the mountain. Fitting my new bindings too.. mmm... bindings...

Well take care, next stop - 2008! Hope it's a blast!

xox