Friday, 25 December 2009
Happy Christmas!!!
Hi Everyone, sorry for the long period of inactivity - its been a busty old time. The next few days should see the blog updated from the past 2 weeks, but in the mean time: Merry Christmas One and All :-)
Friday, 11 December 2009
Monday 30th - Sunday 6th
Monday 30th November
Now into the second week of the course, we had a change of instructors up at Sunshine. The 2 groups of skiers swapped instructors so as to get a fresh perspective. This change was very welcome, as a new way of explaining things helped many people make huge leaps in progress in both groups and suddenly it all felt like it was coming together. By the afternoon, the snow was once again falling heavily. So much so that after 10 minutes of swinging on a chair lift we stood up looking like snowmen - absolutely covered from the short period of inactivity. After a hard day on the slopes, there was a tough decision about what to do for the evening. The course had organised another attempt at road hockey, and the new Warren Miller film was being shown in town as well. However, we all decided that a restful night in was in order to prepare for the insane snow conditions we were sure to find the next day. I thought it would be a great opportunity to get the blog up to date and continue the search for a manvan. Sharing a small kitchen between the 6 of us, it means that dinner has to be staggered. I was part way through the search for a truck, and still hadn't eaten - so when the phone rang at 7.30 asking why weren't at hockey, and we were guilted into leaving the house in the snow to participate - i was starving. This did in no way stop us from absolutley dominating the hockey "pitch" - a gravel carpark with a good inch of snow and homemade goals. No other team could withstand the Cougar pressure - and with the exception of 1 game where the rules changed halfway through we were undefeated when the local residents came out at 10 to insist we stopped due to the noise. We traipsed home in high spirits, and finally it was time for dinner!
Tuesday 1st December.
After last nights dump, we were all looking forward to the mountain today. It was a freezing cold day, but with perfect blue skies and the bus arriving early, I took the oppportunity to have a few warm up runs. It was going great until I got stuck on an old lift in freezing cold. Arriving at the top of the mountain, with less than a minute to get to my lesson, it was time to put all my newly learnt skill out the window, set my skis straight and go as fast as possible down the hill. Despite the blinding speed in freezing cold winds, I was late for the start of the lesson, by 5 minutes- DOH! They had all gone already, and today was the day both our normal instructors were absent on a course to re-certify themselves. In desperation, I bombed around all our normal haunts, searching for where they were doing a the warm up runs. after 25 minutes of searching, and having covered more terrain than we normally did in a morning, I gave up the search and text Emily the course coordinator. She directed me to where the group was skiing, one of the few lifts I hadnt yet been up. I caught up with group in advance of the meeting point and introduced myself to the new instructor - a Harrison Ford lookalike. Despite the rocky start, we all had a great day with new instructor and learnt loads. In his years of experience, the instructor had been an olmpic race coach, and we sure felt the increase in speed as day went on. Following on from yesterdays positive feeling - it was only enhanced today leaving me very positve about the course.
Wednesday. 2nd December.
Yesterdays blue skies were an indication of a high pressure system sitting over us, and led to a temperature of -26 with wind chill on the hill. In weather this cold, you have to be so very careful of getting frostbite, and halfway through the morning we stopped for hot choc with instructor. Despite yesterdays confidence, today my skiing was very shakey - despite the praise at the end for having improved the most over the 2 days, I definitely didnt feel ready for the exam next week by the end of the day. After getting home, we barely had time to wash and change before heading off to the evening technical session. On getting out the shower, i'd started cooking dinner in the oven, only to discover we didnt have enough time to let it cook. My highly sensible plan was to turn the oven off - leaving the food in to slowly cook in the residual heat as I thought we would only be there for a few hours. However, following the technical session, I spotted a fellow student perched at the bar on his own and despite him being a snowboarder decided to join him for one quick drink. Well, we all know how "one quick drink" alway ends up - the most memorable being an epic pub crawl via every pub en route to see a band playing in Portsmouth.....
When I finally arrive home, dinner was definitely slow cooked, and tahnkfully just about still warm - but bed was definitly required for the night!
Thursday 3th December
A groggy start to the morning, but still making the bus on time. Today we were back in Lake Louise, and back with Anna - our instructor from Monday. Further improvements were being made to our technique and in the afternoon, we were videoed to have a look through what improvements we had made and what still needed to be worked on. Despite everything looking good on the video, i was still very concerned thati wasnt going to pass the skiing part of the course. Come the end of the day the instructors were very encouraging and as they were going to be the ones who would be assessing us for the actual exam it was definitely a good thing they'd seen what we were capable of over the last week.
Thursday night on the course is always meal night, and once again Rich and I opted for the smarter shirt option. Its a great excuse to get everyone out for the night, and as there is no lessons on Friday its a good night out. Following a good meal, despite the expensive drink prices there was a split in the group as some people were heading back to our place for "pre-lash" and others were thinking of staying out or heading home due to lack of numbers. Horrified, I came up with a solution and set about converting the going home crew that a few quiet pints over a pool table was a good idea and headed down to pump&tap tavern - where i manage to persude the barman to set our pool table to be free for the night. Bonus. With free pool and pitchers for $10 bucks, the night started well - and we even found 8 free songs on the jukebox. With an eclectic mix (from Rammstein to The Eagles to WHAM to Drop Kick Murphies) the Scots were beaten down in revenge for the other weeks narrow pool victory. When the other patrons got fed up with our musical tastes and hogging of the pool table, we headed onto our next favourite, The Devils Gap where those I hadnt convinced to join us had regrouped we provided shelter from the cold before heading on to Hoodoo's once more. The hot barmaid once again proved an exceptional sales woman, and jagerbombs flowed. The cougars lasted the longest - rocking out on the dance floor with a wide range of interesting dance moves. Sarah, who lives upstairs and arrived at the club late and relatively sober was still amazed at our moves the next morning!
Friday 4th December
Despite last night celebrations, I was determined this morning to make the hill. Norquay was opening today and I needed to meet my new boss as well as get to know the place I would (fingers crossed) soon to be working. Dragging myself out of bed, with 15 minutes till the last bus, my plan was ruined by having taken my inners out of my boots to dry them yesterday, and putting them back in was more of a mammoth task than I could manage. Wobbling up the road, I started to consider how wise it was to out just yet... After 10 minutes of waiting at the bus stop I reluctantly called it a lost cause, and teetered home to spend the rest of the day nursing my hangover from the comfort of the sofa.
Come the evening, i was fully recovered. Fortunate really, as we had arranged to play 5 a side football with some of the other 3 weekers from the course. A long walk to the gym later we heard that the scottish under16 national player who was the scots secret weapon had broken his arm and was camped up in the hospital. The 1.75 average we had been warned about at the start of the course to be injured by the end of the course had now occured, both snowboarders! This may or may not have helped influence our whitewash win over the voyager 3 weekers who had turned up, not just at the 5 a side but at the 10 minute basketball game afterwards. Cougars just dominate! Finishing nice and early I finally managed to catch up on writing the blog! Finally. Its been such a busy week.
Saturday 5th December
After yesterdays epic fail at getting to Norquay, I managed to make it out the house and to the bus on time today. Completely surprising the others waiting at the busstop as when they had left, I was still in bed. Everyone already thinks I have a magic way of stopping time, and this went to enhance that even further. Arriving at Norquay, the runs were in poor condition, with rocks strewn all over the place, the snow cannons had been working full power leaving the patches that had been covered exceptionally sticky and the runs that hadn't exceptionally hard packed and icy. But we still didn't let that get in our way as we explored the runs to get a good feel not only of where we would be working but also where we would be examined next week. Before catching the bus home, I finally made contact with my new boss. Emails and phone calls had failed, and only hanging around her office for 40 minutes proved successful. Fairly disorganised and unapproachable, the news she had for me equally bad - the lift pass I had been using ran out in a week, and I had followed up on Norquay's offer to purchase my season lift pass upgrade through them. However it had not yet been processed, and may only be available to full time staff, where as I would be part time only. Devastating news, especially as I had turned down other offers to purchase the lift pass at a discounted rate as I had said yes to this. Still, there was still hope as it was only a maybe only open to full time staff. Ollie (my new boss) said she would be checking with higher management to find out. Only time would tell.
Getting home nice and early, I was able to prepare for the evenings adventures. I had volunteered yesterday for the Banff Christmas Parade. So at 5pm I walked down to meet up with the organisors, and once again despite being hundreds of miles from home was once again right back into events work. With a flourescent jacket on, and floats from many different companies and ski resorts to walk safely through the streets, I quickly found my calling. I chose the giant Columbian Icefield Truck and walked point on it through the street, holding back the crowd to keep them at a safe distance. The wheels on one of these things are massive, taller than I at least and would have easily eaten one of the small children darting around for supper.
Sunday 6th December
Due to the early night last night, I was able to easily get up in time for Louise. While the others, slightly the worse for wear stopped immediately for lunch, I got some great runs in to practise and at the same time had plenty of opportunity to watch the ladies GS world cup runs. Those skis go so exceptionally fast and they are so accurate and yet they still are not even close to getting the times of the mens from the previous weekend. Still. by getting in so many practise runs, I was unable to stop for the freebies on offer in the tents. By the time I had exhausted myself the racing was over and the tents packing up, with nothing by warming hot apple juice and soup left for free. Goes to show, Im finally no longer a student in a ski environment, eagerly itching to get my hands of the piles of free stuff from table to table, and now a skier in an environement where free hot apple juice and soup is so eagerly anticipated.
Following the days ski, it was off home to revise and prepare for the start of exams tomorrow. Once again missing out on the favourite haunt for locals on a Sunday, i've now been here 3 weeks and the closest i've been to getting to Auroras is the queue! Fail.
While finishing off my revision however an amazing thing happened. The time difference between countries allowed me to chat to Rhea as she was waking up back home in the UK, bright and early at 8 am, and then video call with Maria over is Australia as she got home from work, before going to sleep at the end of a long day in the early hours of the morning in Canada. Round the world communication spanning 2 days - what a world this is.
Now into the second week of the course, we had a change of instructors up at Sunshine. The 2 groups of skiers swapped instructors so as to get a fresh perspective. This change was very welcome, as a new way of explaining things helped many people make huge leaps in progress in both groups and suddenly it all felt like it was coming together. By the afternoon, the snow was once again falling heavily. So much so that after 10 minutes of swinging on a chair lift we stood up looking like snowmen - absolutely covered from the short period of inactivity. After a hard day on the slopes, there was a tough decision about what to do for the evening. The course had organised another attempt at road hockey, and the new Warren Miller film was being shown in town as well. However, we all decided that a restful night in was in order to prepare for the insane snow conditions we were sure to find the next day. I thought it would be a great opportunity to get the blog up to date and continue the search for a manvan. Sharing a small kitchen between the 6 of us, it means that dinner has to be staggered. I was part way through the search for a truck, and still hadn't eaten - so when the phone rang at 7.30 asking why weren't at hockey, and we were guilted into leaving the house in the snow to participate - i was starving. This did in no way stop us from absolutley dominating the hockey "pitch" - a gravel carpark with a good inch of snow and homemade goals. No other team could withstand the Cougar pressure - and with the exception of 1 game where the rules changed halfway through we were undefeated when the local residents came out at 10 to insist we stopped due to the noise. We traipsed home in high spirits, and finally it was time for dinner!
Tuesday 1st December.
After last nights dump, we were all looking forward to the mountain today. It was a freezing cold day, but with perfect blue skies and the bus arriving early, I took the oppportunity to have a few warm up runs. It was going great until I got stuck on an old lift in freezing cold. Arriving at the top of the mountain, with less than a minute to get to my lesson, it was time to put all my newly learnt skill out the window, set my skis straight and go as fast as possible down the hill. Despite the blinding speed in freezing cold winds, I was late for the start of the lesson, by 5 minutes- DOH! They had all gone already, and today was the day both our normal instructors were absent on a course to re-certify themselves. In desperation, I bombed around all our normal haunts, searching for where they were doing a the warm up runs. after 25 minutes of searching, and having covered more terrain than we normally did in a morning, I gave up the search and text Emily the course coordinator. She directed me to where the group was skiing, one of the few lifts I hadnt yet been up. I caught up with group in advance of the meeting point and introduced myself to the new instructor - a Harrison Ford lookalike. Despite the rocky start, we all had a great day with new instructor and learnt loads. In his years of experience, the instructor had been an olmpic race coach, and we sure felt the increase in speed as day went on. Following on from yesterdays positive feeling - it was only enhanced today leaving me very positve about the course.
Wednesday. 2nd December.
Yesterdays blue skies were an indication of a high pressure system sitting over us, and led to a temperature of -26 with wind chill on the hill. In weather this cold, you have to be so very careful of getting frostbite, and halfway through the morning we stopped for hot choc with instructor. Despite yesterdays confidence, today my skiing was very shakey - despite the praise at the end for having improved the most over the 2 days, I definitely didnt feel ready for the exam next week by the end of the day. After getting home, we barely had time to wash and change before heading off to the evening technical session. On getting out the shower, i'd started cooking dinner in the oven, only to discover we didnt have enough time to let it cook. My highly sensible plan was to turn the oven off - leaving the food in to slowly cook in the residual heat as I thought we would only be there for a few hours. However, following the technical session, I spotted a fellow student perched at the bar on his own and despite him being a snowboarder decided to join him for one quick drink. Well, we all know how "one quick drink" alway ends up - the most memorable being an epic pub crawl via every pub en route to see a band playing in Portsmouth.....
When I finally arrive home, dinner was definitely slow cooked, and tahnkfully just about still warm - but bed was definitly required for the night!
Thursday 3th December
A groggy start to the morning, but still making the bus on time. Today we were back in Lake Louise, and back with Anna - our instructor from Monday. Further improvements were being made to our technique and in the afternoon, we were videoed to have a look through what improvements we had made and what still needed to be worked on. Despite everything looking good on the video, i was still very concerned thati wasnt going to pass the skiing part of the course. Come the end of the day the instructors were very encouraging and as they were going to be the ones who would be assessing us for the actual exam it was definitely a good thing they'd seen what we were capable of over the last week.
Thursday night on the course is always meal night, and once again Rich and I opted for the smarter shirt option. Its a great excuse to get everyone out for the night, and as there is no lessons on Friday its a good night out. Following a good meal, despite the expensive drink prices there was a split in the group as some people were heading back to our place for "pre-lash" and others were thinking of staying out or heading home due to lack of numbers. Horrified, I came up with a solution and set about converting the going home crew that a few quiet pints over a pool table was a good idea and headed down to pump&tap tavern - where i manage to persude the barman to set our pool table to be free for the night. Bonus. With free pool and pitchers for $10 bucks, the night started well - and we even found 8 free songs on the jukebox. With an eclectic mix (from Rammstein to The Eagles to WHAM to Drop Kick Murphies) the Scots were beaten down in revenge for the other weeks narrow pool victory. When the other patrons got fed up with our musical tastes and hogging of the pool table, we headed onto our next favourite, The Devils Gap where those I hadnt convinced to join us had regrouped we provided shelter from the cold before heading on to Hoodoo's once more. The hot barmaid once again proved an exceptional sales woman, and jagerbombs flowed. The cougars lasted the longest - rocking out on the dance floor with a wide range of interesting dance moves. Sarah, who lives upstairs and arrived at the club late and relatively sober was still amazed at our moves the next morning!
Friday 4th December
Despite last night celebrations, I was determined this morning to make the hill. Norquay was opening today and I needed to meet my new boss as well as get to know the place I would (fingers crossed) soon to be working. Dragging myself out of bed, with 15 minutes till the last bus, my plan was ruined by having taken my inners out of my boots to dry them yesterday, and putting them back in was more of a mammoth task than I could manage. Wobbling up the road, I started to consider how wise it was to out just yet... After 10 minutes of waiting at the bus stop I reluctantly called it a lost cause, and teetered home to spend the rest of the day nursing my hangover from the comfort of the sofa.
Come the evening, i was fully recovered. Fortunate really, as we had arranged to play 5 a side football with some of the other 3 weekers from the course. A long walk to the gym later we heard that the scottish under16 national player who was the scots secret weapon had broken his arm and was camped up in the hospital. The 1.75 average we had been warned about at the start of the course to be injured by the end of the course had now occured, both snowboarders! This may or may not have helped influence our whitewash win over the voyager 3 weekers who had turned up, not just at the 5 a side but at the 10 minute basketball game afterwards. Cougars just dominate! Finishing nice and early I finally managed to catch up on writing the blog! Finally. Its been such a busy week.
Saturday 5th December
After yesterdays epic fail at getting to Norquay, I managed to make it out the house and to the bus on time today. Completely surprising the others waiting at the busstop as when they had left, I was still in bed. Everyone already thinks I have a magic way of stopping time, and this went to enhance that even further. Arriving at Norquay, the runs were in poor condition, with rocks strewn all over the place, the snow cannons had been working full power leaving the patches that had been covered exceptionally sticky and the runs that hadn't exceptionally hard packed and icy. But we still didn't let that get in our way as we explored the runs to get a good feel not only of where we would be working but also where we would be examined next week. Before catching the bus home, I finally made contact with my new boss. Emails and phone calls had failed, and only hanging around her office for 40 minutes proved successful. Fairly disorganised and unapproachable, the news she had for me equally bad - the lift pass I had been using ran out in a week, and I had followed up on Norquay's offer to purchase my season lift pass upgrade through them. However it had not yet been processed, and may only be available to full time staff, where as I would be part time only. Devastating news, especially as I had turned down other offers to purchase the lift pass at a discounted rate as I had said yes to this. Still, there was still hope as it was only a maybe only open to full time staff. Ollie (my new boss) said she would be checking with higher management to find out. Only time would tell.
Getting home nice and early, I was able to prepare for the evenings adventures. I had volunteered yesterday for the Banff Christmas Parade. So at 5pm I walked down to meet up with the organisors, and once again despite being hundreds of miles from home was once again right back into events work. With a flourescent jacket on, and floats from many different companies and ski resorts to walk safely through the streets, I quickly found my calling. I chose the giant Columbian Icefield Truck and walked point on it through the street, holding back the crowd to keep them at a safe distance. The wheels on one of these things are massive, taller than I at least and would have easily eaten one of the small children darting around for supper.
Image of a Columbian Snow Truck - Still not able to find the one from the parade with me in the front corner.
After the parade, I headed up to the lighting of the christmas tree. The others from the house were supposed to have been at the parade, but had instead hit the hot tub to warm up and relax after the weeks skiing and had not made it to town. Having missed the parade they were determined to make the lighting of the tree.I directed them in to where it woud be, and as they walked up the road they had started to wonder if I was walking them the right way when ping! The lights went on. Not only had they missed the parade but also the lighting of the tree. DOH. We stopped on the way back in Bruno's to recover with a deep fried mars bar before heading to the liquor store to grab some drinks for the night. We had decided to have some pre-drinking games before going out for the night and got going with Ring of Fire. Teaching so many pre-university students to play drinking games was as much of a challenge and combining the different sets of rules those of us who had experienced it before were used to. When the final King was finally pulled, Kira had the unfortunate challege of the Kings Cup - which was a 1 litre jam jar filled mostly with beer. Over 10 minutes of video footage later - Kira still was unable to finish it, and shortly later we were breaking down the bathroom door to recover her. Now remember kids, when your a little bit the worse for wear - DONT LOCK THE DOOR!!!! While Kira was looked after, the others went out and I fixed the bathroom door, pulling out the trusty swiss army knife to repair the broken lock. It was good however, as it gave me a much deserved early night to prepare for getting up the hill on an earlier bus tomorrow.
Sunday 6th December
Due to the early night last night, I was able to easily get up in time for Louise. While the others, slightly the worse for wear stopped immediately for lunch, I got some great runs in to practise and at the same time had plenty of opportunity to watch the ladies GS world cup runs. Those skis go so exceptionally fast and they are so accurate and yet they still are not even close to getting the times of the mens from the previous weekend. Still. by getting in so many practise runs, I was unable to stop for the freebies on offer in the tents. By the time I had exhausted myself the racing was over and the tents packing up, with nothing by warming hot apple juice and soup left for free. Goes to show, Im finally no longer a student in a ski environment, eagerly itching to get my hands of the piles of free stuff from table to table, and now a skier in an environement where free hot apple juice and soup is so eagerly anticipated.
Following the days ski, it was off home to revise and prepare for the start of exams tomorrow. Once again missing out on the favourite haunt for locals on a Sunday, i've now been here 3 weeks and the closest i've been to getting to Auroras is the queue! Fail.
While finishing off my revision however an amazing thing happened. The time difference between countries allowed me to chat to Rhea as she was waking up back home in the UK, bright and early at 8 am, and then video call with Maria over is Australia as she got home from work, before going to sleep at the end of a long day in the early hours of the morning in Canada. Round the world communication spanning 2 days - what a world this is.
Friday, 4 December 2009
Monday 23rd - Sunday 29th November 2009
What a hectic time! I settled down to write all the notes p today and have realised how out of date this is. So it's time to rectify that. Im going to bring you up to date to the 29th, and then the Sunday i'l bring you back up to real time updates : )
Monday 23th.
Day 2 of the lessons today, and despite the beers last night I made the bus! However it was shortly after everyone else had got on and seconds before the driver closed the hatches... so I had cut it very fine to not miss it! My breakfast was once again in my pocket, and I scoffed it down before it had a chance to get cold. We were Skiing at Sunshine again today, and more work was done on getting to know the mountain and corecting our stance and body position. After a hard days ski, we all returned to Banff for a quick turnaround of showers and food, before heading back out to meet the rest of the group at the back of their Hotel for some Road Hockey. Standing around in the cold in teams of 5, we were all waiting for the top dog of ski instructors to bring out the hockey sticks. As we all got colder and colder and football with the tiny ball got tougher, I led a revolution! Road hockey needs beer, so we treked all the way back around to the front of the hotel to make the most of the liquor store. Over here, the only place to buy alcohol (outside pubs/restaurants) is a liquor store - none of the supermarkets can sell any. Instantly I introduced some of the younger lads to the local beers, a 6 pack costing only $7! bargain :) and at my reckoning, you surely do need to support the local economy. Returning to celebratory cries, the hockey sticks hadn't turned up but my fellow housemates were most appreciative of the fresh beers instead! Eventually, the road hockey was abandoned, we later found out that the man with the sticks was in fact not bothered at all as he was getting merrily drunker in a pub in town with his mates. Typical! Instead, a pool competition was suggested, and we moved to the pub accross the road. A tournement of epic proportions was started, as people paired up with well thought out team names - the northerners were first on the list, followed swiftly by the southeners, the Scots came along next, meanwhile I was negotiating at the bar for cheap drinks :) With all the early arrivals gone i was left waiting for the next arrival. Angus was next through the door and willing to play, but as a Snowboarder from Scotland, we couldn't have been more polar opposites. As such, we came up with the team name the Husky Hustlers and the games were underway. More teams were formed as we went through, and the Husky Hustlers played well. An interesting element was added, in that at the end of every round, 2 of the eliminated teams had the chance to play for a redemption chance. In the second round the Scots, we narrowly beat the Scots, eliminating them from the competion only for them to come back to challenge us in the final. Nail biting shot after shot, we battled on. the scots appeared to have been caught on the black, with no easy shot left, a H&H special sent the black carreering round the table, eventuall ending up in the pocket. The flukey Scots had won! Nursing my wounded pride, we set down to enjoy some more beers with the captors before I lead 2 other to town to meet up with everyone else who had gone out. We had arranged to meet at Melissa's, but no time was set and I still did not have a Canadian mobile to liase with them as to where they were. We sat in the nearly empty bar, and had a great chat over more beers seriously frsutrating the barman and the other 1 occupant of the place who had a film on all the TV screens and kept increasing the volume to drown out our conversation. By midnight, with no sign of anyone else, we called it a night. On returning home what did I find - only that everyone had gone to bed already having decided town was too quite to have a proper night out! Lame housemates! I was definetly missing my drinking buddies back home.
Tuesday 24th November.
We had todays off, and after 4 days of solid skiing I chose to sleep in late. Getting up in the afternoon and chatting to various people on Skype, I promised Dad I wouldn't go out tonight and would get an early night instead. I had a long list of things to do in town, such as changing my helmet and sorting out a library card, as well as renting a man truck for when Doug and Rhea arrive over. However, by the time I had finished skyping, our house manager arrived. He needed to have us sign a few things and give us some information. As he left, Nancy from GapYearCanada arrived, who I needed to see about an Insurance Number. I eventually made it to town, only to find that all the rental shops had closed and that the library was also closed! Typical. Instead, I headed home stopping at the supermarket for the first of my MASSIVE shops. On arriving home, I just about had time to cook dinner when everyone else decided to go to the cinema. Scoffing my food down and swiftly departing, we headed to watch The Blind Side, a film based on a true story about american football. Its nice to immerse into the local culture, and at $10 with free drink and popcorn it was a excellent way to spend the evening. However, we did have to visit the pub afterwards to discuss the film, Sorry Dad, didn't quite keep to the not going out :)!
Wednesday 25th
For the first time, today I made it to the bus stop with spare time! It certainly freaked my housemates out, but perhaps it was just because the bus to Lake Louise where we were skiing today is 10 minutes later :P.After a long hard day in the new resort, I had found my favourite area so far. It would typically be the furthest away! Lake Louise is also one of the locations for the Mens and Womens Downhill and GS World Cup event. As we sat having our lunch, we were surrounded by the top skiers in the world milling around and chatting to everyone indiscriminately. It was a most surreal experience. In the evening, we had our second technical session. This consisted of our Ski Instructor, who also works in one of the repair shops showing us how to maitain ski's making sure they were smooth and flat and well waxed. It turns out my lovely ski's which had done so well since I got them, had never been properly waxed or tuned. Ski's come out of the factory in a pristine looking state, but not very good for the slopes. There was no point in me maintaining them myself yet - there was lots of work to have done before I could even start to help. the tuning shop had closed for the night however, so that was going to have to be a task for tomorrow!
Thursday 26th
Once again skiing up in Lake Louise, today saw further development - especially with the MASSIVE dump of fresh powder that occured all day! It was perfect, soft and fluffy snow - and so DEEP. There has already been a better snowfall with many runs open that didnt open until much later in the season last year. Good times. Slowly but surely our skiing technique was getting better and better, and we were starting to be able to diagnose where improvement needed to be made on other skieres on the hill. Despite knowing what we needed to do, it certainly felt to a few of us as if we were now much worse at Skiing than we had been before, silly mistakes popping up here there and everywhere. On the journey home, it was exceptionally tempting to stop at the hotel to sneak into the hot tub - a lack of fresh clothes, towels or swimwear was all that could stop this! So instead I took my skis to the tuning shop, with the aim of picking them up at 9 the next morning to get on the bus and head out to practise practise and kill my legs some more! Thursday night last week was wings and bingo night - this week we wouldn't be able to do that as there was a group meal in town, with everyone from the course. Still, it was good to sit down as a group and eat for free and with everyone in one place it made it much easier to persuade people that it was time for a big night out! A few pubs later and we hit Hoodoo's - one of the club's in town. Having already been around the town, arriving here to find the hottest barmaid serving jagerbombs meant that much money was spent which shouldnt have been spent, just to have a longer time at the bar!
By 2, the club was starting to empty out, and gentleman that I am when the girls left for home, my wallet dictated I should accompany them to ensure a bear didn't get them..... An hour later I was tucked up warm and in bed, only for the others to get home and decide to say hello in the form of jumping on my bed! Once 5 people had landed on the pile, the creaking from the woodwork grew louder and louder. With a painful screach of tortured wood, 3 of the 6 legs holding my bed up broke, and I was left with a severly slanted bed! With everyone finally kicked out, I was in no state to look at it, especially as I was collecting my Skis in about 5 hours....
Friday 27th
Throughout the night, I kept thinking I was having strange dreams. I thought I was proped up in a hospital bed, I thought I was on the top of a cliff, I thought I had developed a sever case of vertigo as everything felt very topsy turvy. But no, as I got up to use the toilet I discovered it wasnt that, it was just my broken bed. By 11.30 all the buses had gone, but my hangover was not. So much for altitude hangovers not being so bad - i have a feeling that jagerbombs break that rule of thumb :P Very little got done today because of this, except for the walk to collect my skis. They looked spanking and new and very slick again and with a little bit of luck i wouldnt be passed by weather hardy snails anymore on the flats. It had been most frustrating not having any wax on!
Saturday 28th
Due to yesterdays epic fail, Saturday would have to be my sking day. I had gone to bed early for a change, and woke up bright and early at 7.50.... felling absolutely terrible. The cold i had been fighting off for days finally hit me with a vengeance. Yesterday's dehydration not helping, i felt rough as. Plans for hitting the slopes were abandoned, and instead I got more sleep and rest and took some paracetemol. Waking up at various stages of the day and deciding that I wasnt better yet at 6 I was visited by various housemates, who informed me of the plan to go out later after the others had gone out for dinner. Perfect - i needed to eat and I needed to get better. As we all know (mainly because it is my personal mantra) Beer Cures All. Liasing with the hotel residents who were heading out for dinner, I met them all in town. Our table would be 30 minutes, "shall we go for a drink while we wait then?" was asked. ANd you'd be surprised to learn it wasn't me suggesting it for a change. With the best knowledge of the town, we headed outside and chose a pub I hadn't visited yet. With 10 of us to squeeze in we were immediately given our own booth to keep the bar more tidy and had avery pleasent drink before dinner. Dinner was really good, a great bargain. Anyone coming out to visit will undoubtably be taken there, so no names for now you'l have to guess when your here. For those NOT visiting me - well why arent you :-P and tough you'l not find out until the end of the season in case you ever do come here :) Following dinner, I led the troops up for a night out to the liquor store and then back to ours for some cheap pre - going out socialising.... The numbers started to dwindle but there was still 8 of us out, so we headed to a favourite pub for the remainder on the night.
Sunday 29th
After the past 2 days failures - I refused to lose anymore mountain time. I made it to the bus stop to find some others from the house had got there before me (no surprises!) so we all tried to practise what we had been taught, and mainly managed it with only the occasional free runs to bomb around and just enjoy ourselves. The world Cup main GS event was today, but finished very early. Anyone who had been there the day before had come back with masses of freebies so I know exactly where I will be next week! Heading home, it was decided early on that it would be best not to go out, despite the fact that it was once again a great night fro locals in town and I hadn't visited the best night club in town - Auroras. Still - we had 4 days of intensive skiing to come and my bank balance, let alone my liver, was not up for another night out. Instead, much time was spent searching for my man van. The lack of mobility here in town has finally got to me, and I have decided I need a vehicle to help get around. There are only a few options in a place like this, and a flat bed 4x4 pickup truck is the ultimate "MAN" vehicle - i had to have one. Ebay led me to the first possibility and I started my searching and bid on my first truck.... only 3 days left to go to find out if i win it!!!
I'm sure that was an long read for you all, I hope you broke it up into smaller sections. Next weeks installment is about to be started before I hit the sack, and I'l continue to keep you up todate. But expect to wake up on Monday morning to another installment of my time over here. Much love to everyone back home, as much fun as I'm having I do miss what i've left behind.
Until next time.....!
Monday 23th.
Day 2 of the lessons today, and despite the beers last night I made the bus! However it was shortly after everyone else had got on and seconds before the driver closed the hatches... so I had cut it very fine to not miss it! My breakfast was once again in my pocket, and I scoffed it down before it had a chance to get cold. We were Skiing at Sunshine again today, and more work was done on getting to know the mountain and corecting our stance and body position. After a hard days ski, we all returned to Banff for a quick turnaround of showers and food, before heading back out to meet the rest of the group at the back of their Hotel for some Road Hockey. Standing around in the cold in teams of 5, we were all waiting for the top dog of ski instructors to bring out the hockey sticks. As we all got colder and colder and football with the tiny ball got tougher, I led a revolution! Road hockey needs beer, so we treked all the way back around to the front of the hotel to make the most of the liquor store. Over here, the only place to buy alcohol (outside pubs/restaurants) is a liquor store - none of the supermarkets can sell any. Instantly I introduced some of the younger lads to the local beers, a 6 pack costing only $7! bargain :) and at my reckoning, you surely do need to support the local economy. Returning to celebratory cries, the hockey sticks hadn't turned up but my fellow housemates were most appreciative of the fresh beers instead! Eventually, the road hockey was abandoned, we later found out that the man with the sticks was in fact not bothered at all as he was getting merrily drunker in a pub in town with his mates. Typical! Instead, a pool competition was suggested, and we moved to the pub accross the road. A tournement of epic proportions was started, as people paired up with well thought out team names - the northerners were first on the list, followed swiftly by the southeners, the Scots came along next, meanwhile I was negotiating at the bar for cheap drinks :) With all the early arrivals gone i was left waiting for the next arrival. Angus was next through the door and willing to play, but as a Snowboarder from Scotland, we couldn't have been more polar opposites. As such, we came up with the team name the Husky Hustlers and the games were underway. More teams were formed as we went through, and the Husky Hustlers played well. An interesting element was added, in that at the end of every round, 2 of the eliminated teams had the chance to play for a redemption chance. In the second round the Scots, we narrowly beat the Scots, eliminating them from the competion only for them to come back to challenge us in the final. Nail biting shot after shot, we battled on. the scots appeared to have been caught on the black, with no easy shot left, a H&H special sent the black carreering round the table, eventuall ending up in the pocket. The flukey Scots had won! Nursing my wounded pride, we set down to enjoy some more beers with the captors before I lead 2 other to town to meet up with everyone else who had gone out. We had arranged to meet at Melissa's, but no time was set and I still did not have a Canadian mobile to liase with them as to where they were. We sat in the nearly empty bar, and had a great chat over more beers seriously frsutrating the barman and the other 1 occupant of the place who had a film on all the TV screens and kept increasing the volume to drown out our conversation. By midnight, with no sign of anyone else, we called it a night. On returning home what did I find - only that everyone had gone to bed already having decided town was too quite to have a proper night out! Lame housemates! I was definetly missing my drinking buddies back home.
Tuesday 24th November.
We had todays off, and after 4 days of solid skiing I chose to sleep in late. Getting up in the afternoon and chatting to various people on Skype, I promised Dad I wouldn't go out tonight and would get an early night instead. I had a long list of things to do in town, such as changing my helmet and sorting out a library card, as well as renting a man truck for when Doug and Rhea arrive over. However, by the time I had finished skyping, our house manager arrived. He needed to have us sign a few things and give us some information. As he left, Nancy from GapYearCanada arrived, who I needed to see about an Insurance Number. I eventually made it to town, only to find that all the rental shops had closed and that the library was also closed! Typical. Instead, I headed home stopping at the supermarket for the first of my MASSIVE shops. On arriving home, I just about had time to cook dinner when everyone else decided to go to the cinema. Scoffing my food down and swiftly departing, we headed to watch The Blind Side, a film based on a true story about american football. Its nice to immerse into the local culture, and at $10 with free drink and popcorn it was a excellent way to spend the evening. However, we did have to visit the pub afterwards to discuss the film, Sorry Dad, didn't quite keep to the not going out :)!
Wednesday 25th
For the first time, today I made it to the bus stop with spare time! It certainly freaked my housemates out, but perhaps it was just because the bus to Lake Louise where we were skiing today is 10 minutes later :P.After a long hard day in the new resort, I had found my favourite area so far. It would typically be the furthest away! Lake Louise is also one of the locations for the Mens and Womens Downhill and GS World Cup event. As we sat having our lunch, we were surrounded by the top skiers in the world milling around and chatting to everyone indiscriminately. It was a most surreal experience. In the evening, we had our second technical session. This consisted of our Ski Instructor, who also works in one of the repair shops showing us how to maitain ski's making sure they were smooth and flat and well waxed. It turns out my lovely ski's which had done so well since I got them, had never been properly waxed or tuned. Ski's come out of the factory in a pristine looking state, but not very good for the slopes. There was no point in me maintaining them myself yet - there was lots of work to have done before I could even start to help. the tuning shop had closed for the night however, so that was going to have to be a task for tomorrow!
Thursday 26th
Once again skiing up in Lake Louise, today saw further development - especially with the MASSIVE dump of fresh powder that occured all day! It was perfect, soft and fluffy snow - and so DEEP. There has already been a better snowfall with many runs open that didnt open until much later in the season last year. Good times. Slowly but surely our skiing technique was getting better and better, and we were starting to be able to diagnose where improvement needed to be made on other skieres on the hill. Despite knowing what we needed to do, it certainly felt to a few of us as if we were now much worse at Skiing than we had been before, silly mistakes popping up here there and everywhere. On the journey home, it was exceptionally tempting to stop at the hotel to sneak into the hot tub - a lack of fresh clothes, towels or swimwear was all that could stop this! So instead I took my skis to the tuning shop, with the aim of picking them up at 9 the next morning to get on the bus and head out to practise practise and kill my legs some more! Thursday night last week was wings and bingo night - this week we wouldn't be able to do that as there was a group meal in town, with everyone from the course. Still, it was good to sit down as a group and eat for free and with everyone in one place it made it much easier to persuade people that it was time for a big night out! A few pubs later and we hit Hoodoo's - one of the club's in town. Having already been around the town, arriving here to find the hottest barmaid serving jagerbombs meant that much money was spent which shouldnt have been spent, just to have a longer time at the bar!
Friday 27th
Throughout the night, I kept thinking I was having strange dreams. I thought I was proped up in a hospital bed, I thought I was on the top of a cliff, I thought I had developed a sever case of vertigo as everything felt very topsy turvy. But no, as I got up to use the toilet I discovered it wasnt that, it was just my broken bed. By 11.30 all the buses had gone, but my hangover was not. So much for altitude hangovers not being so bad - i have a feeling that jagerbombs break that rule of thumb :P Very little got done today because of this, except for the walk to collect my skis. They looked spanking and new and very slick again and with a little bit of luck i wouldnt be passed by weather hardy snails anymore on the flats. It had been most frustrating not having any wax on!
Saturday 28th
Due to yesterdays epic fail, Saturday would have to be my sking day. I had gone to bed early for a change, and woke up bright and early at 7.50.... felling absolutely terrible. The cold i had been fighting off for days finally hit me with a vengeance. Yesterday's dehydration not helping, i felt rough as. Plans for hitting the slopes were abandoned, and instead I got more sleep and rest and took some paracetemol. Waking up at various stages of the day and deciding that I wasnt better yet at 6 I was visited by various housemates, who informed me of the plan to go out later after the others had gone out for dinner. Perfect - i needed to eat and I needed to get better. As we all know (mainly because it is my personal mantra) Beer Cures All. Liasing with the hotel residents who were heading out for dinner, I met them all in town. Our table would be 30 minutes, "shall we go for a drink while we wait then?" was asked. ANd you'd be surprised to learn it wasn't me suggesting it for a change. With the best knowledge of the town, we headed outside and chose a pub I hadn't visited yet. With 10 of us to squeeze in we were immediately given our own booth to keep the bar more tidy and had avery pleasent drink before dinner. Dinner was really good, a great bargain. Anyone coming out to visit will undoubtably be taken there, so no names for now you'l have to guess when your here. For those NOT visiting me - well why arent you :-P and tough you'l not find out until the end of the season in case you ever do come here :) Following dinner, I led the troops up for a night out to the liquor store and then back to ours for some cheap pre - going out socialising.... The numbers started to dwindle but there was still 8 of us out, so we headed to a favourite pub for the remainder on the night.
Sunday 29th
After the past 2 days failures - I refused to lose anymore mountain time. I made it to the bus stop to find some others from the house had got there before me (no surprises!) so we all tried to practise what we had been taught, and mainly managed it with only the occasional free runs to bomb around and just enjoy ourselves. The world Cup main GS event was today, but finished very early. Anyone who had been there the day before had come back with masses of freebies so I know exactly where I will be next week! Heading home, it was decided early on that it would be best not to go out, despite the fact that it was once again a great night fro locals in town and I hadn't visited the best night club in town - Auroras. Still - we had 4 days of intensive skiing to come and my bank balance, let alone my liver, was not up for another night out. Instead, much time was spent searching for my man van. The lack of mobility here in town has finally got to me, and I have decided I need a vehicle to help get around. There are only a few options in a place like this, and a flat bed 4x4 pickup truck is the ultimate "MAN" vehicle - i had to have one. Ebay led me to the first possibility and I started my searching and bid on my first truck.... only 3 days left to go to find out if i win it!!!
I'm sure that was an long read for you all, I hope you broke it up into smaller sections. Next weeks installment is about to be started before I hit the sack, and I'l continue to keep you up todate. But expect to wake up on Monday morning to another installment of my time over here. Much love to everyone back home, as much fun as I'm having I do miss what i've left behind.
Until next time.....!
Monday, 30 November 2009
Its been busy
HI Everybody.
Just a quick post to say thanks for your patience and sorry for leaving you with baited breath - the course and social side has got incredibly busy recently so the last weeks activities is all only in note form at the moment. Fear not, it will all be uploaded shortly although the way things are going at the moment it will be weekly updates with the highlights in!
The course is going great and there have been many adventures to share - especially as there been so much snowfall over the last week. Check back in a couple of days to catch what has been happening and once again thanks for your patience.
Just a quick post to say thanks for your patience and sorry for leaving you with baited breath - the course and social side has got incredibly busy recently so the last weeks activities is all only in note form at the moment. Fear not, it will all be uploaded shortly although the way things are going at the moment it will be weekly updates with the highlights in!
The course is going great and there have been many adventures to share - especially as there been so much snowfall over the last week. Check back in a couple of days to catch what has been happening and once again thanks for your patience.
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Sunday 22nd November
Today was the first proper on slope lesson. Of the 3 resorts serving Banff, todays lesson was at Sunshine Village. With the lesson starting at 10, and the bus's running at 8.30, 9.50 and 11.10 there was only 1 option of bus to get. With this in mind, alarms had been set and activity in the house started at 7.30. With 6 people and 1 bathroom, 1 kitchen getting ready in the mornings is challenging enough. Coupled with my ability to get out of bed in the morning, it was a recipe for disaster. The bus stop is a 10 minute walk away, so an alarm was set for 8,20 to remind me to leave the house. Having finally managed to get out of bed at 8, I managed to make my lunch and put the water on to boil for tea. I even had time to put breakfast in the toaster before everyone left the house. Unfortunately, I was nowhere near ready and spend the next 8 minutes finishing off. With a challenging walk ahead, my ski boots on but not done up and probably about a million things left behind i start the icy quick time march to the bus stop. at 8.32 as i reached the corner, skidding around it on one foot, poles swinging wildly and skis' teetering on the edge of my shoulder I made it just in time.... to watch the bus pull past. My first day of lessons, and i'd missed the bus - it was like school all over again! And much like school, i entertained the idea that if I ran hard enough in the same direction as the bus I might be able to overtake it at the next stop. No such luck. I sat there, panting through a haze of sweat in the -2 degrees temperature contemplating my next move. There had been a car loading up along our road, and the temptation was to take a walk back and see if they had space in the car. As only 2 resorts are open at the moment, there was an even chance they were heading that way and being Canada, hitching a lift is far more acceptable. As I sat there catching my breath, a man van pulled into the layby. By all coincidences, it was tagged up with Sunshine Village, and the driver had the blue uniform of a member of staff. "You heading to Sunshine?"...... the question hung. "Sure, hope in" Perfect, who ever said that asking didn't get you anywhere. As I clambered into the van, petting the guys dog as it explored my ear with its cold wet nose, I couldn't help but smirk. The others would have been laughing their heads off at me missing the bus, probably blaming someone for not having woken me, or for having left without me. as we drove alone, the guy got on the radio getting a number check for the bus. With a favourable reply coming back, instead of taking me all the way to resort (a good 20 minute drive) he dropped me at the last stop in town, having advised the staff on the bus he was doing so and that they should pick me up. Less than 5 minutes later, I was clambering onto the bus, grin spread from ear to ear to scattered applause and cheers, with everyone asking how I had managed it!
Once we arrived at Sunshine, it was time for breakfast. My poptarts had gone cold, stuffed in my pocket as I ran for the bus, but they still tasted great. With as much excitement as I could handle out the way for the day, the lesson proved exceedingly dull. Made even more so, by the instructor not recognising me as I was in "normal" clothes - the one peice ski suit was tucked back away for another special occasion. We got to know our instructor and the group but skied at a very slow pace, getting right back to basics on positioning and stance. Tales from the other group of skiers later in the day indicated that they had been given a little more instruction, but it was the snowboarders who rued the day, as they had all had a sick day exploring the mountain and tree runs, and taking it off piste. Lucky sods! All day my helmet had been bothering me, despite having tried it on in the shop, it just didn't seem to fit right. I decided to leave it, surely it was just me and tomorrow it would be back to fitting right - clearly my episode with the bus had swollen my head so it didn't fit.... right? Only tomorrow would tell.
It was a busy night in town on Sunday, due to the weekend and the best club night of the week. Plus the added benefit of the local CFL team playing an important game, but we opted instead for a quiet night in, I did not want a repeat of this morning as I caught the bus, and had to get an early night to make it so. With a laptop set up and Crank 2 on the go, the beers flowed fine and for a change I wasn't tempted to go out regardless. I was determined to make the bus on time!
Tomorrow, I will include 2 days worth of events in an attempt to catch up with real time. Ideally, I would like to be blogging the days activities and anything relevent from the night out before and to do this I will need to catch up first. Look forward to a double bill coming your way tomorrow!
Run out to base of Mountain at Sunshine Village
Once we arrived at Sunshine, it was time for breakfast. My poptarts had gone cold, stuffed in my pocket as I ran for the bus, but they still tasted great. With as much excitement as I could handle out the way for the day, the lesson proved exceedingly dull. Made even more so, by the instructor not recognising me as I was in "normal" clothes - the one peice ski suit was tucked back away for another special occasion. We got to know our instructor and the group but skied at a very slow pace, getting right back to basics on positioning and stance. Tales from the other group of skiers later in the day indicated that they had been given a little more instruction, but it was the snowboarders who rued the day, as they had all had a sick day exploring the mountain and tree runs, and taking it off piste. Lucky sods! All day my helmet had been bothering me, despite having tried it on in the shop, it just didn't seem to fit right. I decided to leave it, surely it was just me and tomorrow it would be back to fitting right - clearly my episode with the bus had swollen my head so it didn't fit.... right? Only tomorrow would tell.
It was a busy night in town on Sunday, due to the weekend and the best club night of the week. Plus the added benefit of the local CFL team playing an important game, but we opted instead for a quiet night in, I did not want a repeat of this morning as I caught the bus, and had to get an early night to make it so. With a laptop set up and Crank 2 on the go, the beers flowed fine and for a change I wasn't tempted to go out regardless. I was determined to make the bus on time!
Tomorrow, I will include 2 days worth of events in an attempt to catch up with real time. Ideally, I would like to be blogging the days activities and anything relevent from the night out before and to do this I will need to catch up first. Look forward to a double bill coming your way tomorrow!
Run out to base of Mountain at Sunshine Village
Saturday 21st November 2009
Today, the course officially kicked off. It started at 9am with a Technical session from Brett from a specialist boot fitting store in town. No surprises, it was about boot fitting. The entire course was there, skiers and snowboarders alike, some of us slightly tired/hungover from the previous nights antics, some fresh as daisys as they had been awake for a few hours due to not coping with the time zone change. As Brett was talking, it started to sink in. I was out here, finally doing it. In just a few weeks I'd be a qualified instructor, teaching groups of 6 year olds and having to help them with their boots and skiing. Scary. Still, the more I listened the more i took in, and then something he said made me realise that the oots I had been wearing for the last few years weren't (or probably weren't) correctly fitted to my feet. There seemed to be a few of us thinking the same thing as after his talk while everyone went to get ready 5 or 6 of us queued up to chat to him to see what could be done. Having booked an appointment for later that afternoon, it was time to walk home and get my ski gear together. I'd planned on not going up the mountain today and instead focus on getting all my gear together and bought. After 5 years without, I had decided that it was time to take the plunge and buy a helmet (as an early christmas present with the money that had been given to me already - many thanks to Nonna, Sam, Roman and Gill, the money has been put to good use slightly early - Happy Christmas!). However, always easily persuaded I found myself talked into going up with the group to ski the first afternoon together. I headed home and chatted to my housemates over a cup of tea. Still tired from last night, and with everyone dropping out like flies around me, 5 minutes before needing to leave i dashed to get changed and made the bus on time. Getting up the mountain, it was a complete white out. With no goggles (i was supposed to be buying those today as well) it was rather cold, miserable and within minutes of getting on the first run I'd scraped a gouge out the bottom of my skis on the rocks and subsequently lost the group. Thankfully we had just taken the time to go off on our own and so 40 minutes late we rejoined the entire group and split up to "explore the mountain" with people who had been out a number of years. It was a quiet day skiing, with poor visibility and freezing cold weather, the main highlight for everyone was me in a retro pink 1 piece ski suit. the housemates had spotted it as I unpacked the other night and demanded that I wore it out! A nice early finish followed up with a hot chocolate at the bottom of the mountain before getting the bus home meant that we were back with plenty of time. The walk from the bus stop home kept everyone amused as every car that went passed nearly caused accidents as they double took on the pink one piece. Pure comic genius.
Tonight was out first mean together as a group, however I needed to go shopping first and headed out with plenty of time to spare. Banff is full of shops selling helmets tho, so hopping from one to another took massive amounts of time, and when I finally decided i'd try "just one more" shop to see if they had what i needed I found it. A nearly perfect helmet, with built in speakers and a nice white look, coupled with some sexy yellow goggles just outside my budget meant I was 10 minutes late for dinner. It wasnt until I walked in that Harriet, one of my housemates, remembered that they had forgotten me!
Dinner was laid on with the course, but drinks were on us. Having been on a shopping spree already I definitely needed something to calm my nerves at all the money I had spent and the venue had a cocktail menu. The poor waitress must have been new as she hadn't ever tried any of them so couldn't recommend a good one - the best she could come up with was what had been ordered the most, so blindly i agreed and one elk sized blind oarsman later I was much happier to be half way through the shopping spree.
After dinner, I packed myself off to the boot fitting shop to have my boots checked out. Brett was an absolute star again, as he sized up my boots and confidently told me that there were an entire size too big. The effect this had was that my control of the my ski was severely diminished, and so he set about adding pads and bits of felt in all sorts of places, explaining as he went how each would re-distribute pressure to the right spots. While I was being sorted, Bianca off the course came in for the second time of the evening. She was collecting her new boots, having been in earlier and discovering the same thing, she had been less resistant in the new boot offers Brett was offering and had caved under the pressure. She still ended up paying less for her correctly fitted, custom moulded boots with new socks than I had for the boots alone. Equipment out here surely is cheaper. She also managed to pass on the location of the group for the evening drinking, and while I continued to shop for more bits, she went to join everyone there.
My shopping spree ended. New helmet, goggles and face warmer, consultation fee and labour on my boots and over $300 later - it was time to join them all myself. Tommies was a lovely little local bar, hiddne below road level with scaffolding and building work on just outside. many hours later there were 4 of us left. "Lesson tomorrow, lets call it a night. We'll have a big one tomorrow night!" was how it was left and the stagger home saw the end of another eventful day in Banff.
Tonight was out first mean together as a group, however I needed to go shopping first and headed out with plenty of time to spare. Banff is full of shops selling helmets tho, so hopping from one to another took massive amounts of time, and when I finally decided i'd try "just one more" shop to see if they had what i needed I found it. A nearly perfect helmet, with built in speakers and a nice white look, coupled with some sexy yellow goggles just outside my budget meant I was 10 minutes late for dinner. It wasnt until I walked in that Harriet, one of my housemates, remembered that they had forgotten me!
Dinner was laid on with the course, but drinks were on us. Having been on a shopping spree already I definitely needed something to calm my nerves at all the money I had spent and the venue had a cocktail menu. The poor waitress must have been new as she hadn't ever tried any of them so couldn't recommend a good one - the best she could come up with was what had been ordered the most, so blindly i agreed and one elk sized blind oarsman later I was much happier to be half way through the shopping spree.
After dinner, I packed myself off to the boot fitting shop to have my boots checked out. Brett was an absolute star again, as he sized up my boots and confidently told me that there were an entire size too big. The effect this had was that my control of the my ski was severely diminished, and so he set about adding pads and bits of felt in all sorts of places, explaining as he went how each would re-distribute pressure to the right spots. While I was being sorted, Bianca off the course came in for the second time of the evening. She was collecting her new boots, having been in earlier and discovering the same thing, she had been less resistant in the new boot offers Brett was offering and had caved under the pressure. She still ended up paying less for her correctly fitted, custom moulded boots with new socks than I had for the boots alone. Equipment out here surely is cheaper. She also managed to pass on the location of the group for the evening drinking, and while I continued to shop for more bits, she went to join everyone there.
My shopping spree ended. New helmet, goggles and face warmer, consultation fee and labour on my boots and over $300 later - it was time to join them all myself. Tommies was a lovely little local bar, hiddne below road level with scaffolding and building work on just outside. many hours later there were 4 of us left. "Lesson tomorrow, lets call it a night. We'll have a big one tomorrow night!" was how it was left and the stagger home saw the end of another eventful day in Banff.
Sunday, 22 November 2009
Friday 20th November 2009
Today had been planned as my first snow day. Despite still needing to buy loads of equipment and sort a bunch of other stuff out, the calling of the mountain was too much. There are 3 busses running to the open resort of Sunshine Village, the first at 8.30, then 9.50 and finally 11.10. Due to the drinks the night before and still adjusting to the time difference, getting up to walk into town to collect my lift pass anytime before 9.30 wasnt going to happen so I arranged with housemate Kira that i'd go up with her on the 11.10 bus while everyone else took the earlier bus. So as they were all preparing to head to the bus stop, up I got to make the walk into town, arriving at the pass collection centre I received some bad news. All season passes were issued with a photo and so once again my hat had to come off. So much for hiding the damage - the gitls behind the desk exchanged some furtive mirthful glances but didnt say anything to my obvious discomfort or my slightly turned angle for the photograph. They did however "somehow" mess up the first attempt so my pass was printed with a black square instead of a picture, meaning once again the hat came off for another photo! Once finished up getting my pass I decided to start browsing for 5 minutes before heading home to gear up, only to be tapped on the shoulder by the course co-ordinator Emily as she had recognised me. 15 minutes of chatting later I was once again true to form running late and had to break of the conversation to dash home for the bus. Arriving to gear up just as Kira had decided she couldnt wait any longer we were very shortly on our way to the bus stop. Catching a bus to get to a ski slope was a new experience for me, all my previous ski trips were ski in/ski out of within a short walk of the slope. Sunshine Village is a 20 minute bus journey away, plus extra time for loading people on at all the stops but by 12 we arrived at resort, and made it up the gondola to the village part of the mountain. Sunshine is home to the areas only ski in/ski out hotel as well as having plenty of facilities for people arriving on the mountain just to ski. Kira was suffering from a damaged knee so headed off on her own to gently test it, while I set out to find the others while easing myself back into being on Ski's. a few runs later and i started pushing it harder and harder, eventually working up to a powder stack in the late afternoon. 3 hours of skiing later I still hadn't found the other guys, but having reached the limit of how hard I could push without injuring myself I headed down the mountain and got back onto the coach, only to be joined moments later by the elusive housemates who I'd been looking for all day! It certainly is a different way to end the days ski, being more used to hitting a bar for some apres ski before dinner or making sure everyone knew about dinner on the university trips - here I was able to just rest and nearly fall asleep.
Once home, it was time to cook and relax before heading out to meet the new arrivals for the course due to arrive from the group flight about 6. However, delays on their flights and transports meant they were late arriving and a message was left with 2 girls who had been in town a while so that they could come and join us at the pub after they arrived to help the jetlag. When we turned up to the bar they were nowhere to be seen and when eventually the group did show up it was only people who had been in resort previously anyway so there was no newcomers. Still, we got right onto the drinking, and as things always go - we ended up on the pool table. Through sheer luck and some incredibly fluky shots, when the group left for the night club, I was still winning and in control of the table. Having promised to follow along, nearly an hour later i gracefully retired, handing the reins over to a worthy component who lost out only to peculiarities of Canadian rules. Heading off, the group has seriously diminished when I arrived at one of 2 night clubs in Banff, Hoodoos. Perhaps this was due to the ...interesting... dj skills, who's tracks included dance remixes of The Beatles and Black Sabbath. Another late night later, it was time to head home for the course to start tomorrow with a technical briefing session at 9am.
Once home, it was time to cook and relax before heading out to meet the new arrivals for the course due to arrive from the group flight about 6. However, delays on their flights and transports meant they were late arriving and a message was left with 2 girls who had been in town a while so that they could come and join us at the pub after they arrived to help the jetlag. When we turned up to the bar they were nowhere to be seen and when eventually the group did show up it was only people who had been in resort previously anyway so there was no newcomers. Still, we got right onto the drinking, and as things always go - we ended up on the pool table. Through sheer luck and some incredibly fluky shots, when the group left for the night club, I was still winning and in control of the table. Having promised to follow along, nearly an hour later i gracefully retired, handing the reins over to a worthy component who lost out only to peculiarities of Canadian rules. Heading off, the group has seriously diminished when I arrived at one of 2 night clubs in Banff, Hoodoos. Perhaps this was due to the ...interesting... dj skills, who's tracks included dance remixes of The Beatles and Black Sabbath. Another late night later, it was time to head home for the course to start tomorrow with a technical briefing session at 9am.
Saturday, 21 November 2009
Thursday 19th November Pictures
One of the many mountains visible from Banff Avenue.
Bandstand and park in Banff
Banf Post Office.
Banff Town Hall
Thursday 19th November
Before even leaving the UK, I had an appointment booked in the Bank of Montreal to set up my account so that I could be paid over here. I'd arranged it for 11am to make sure I had time to get out of bed, however last nights escapades meant that i was not so refreshed as needed, and nor was anyone else. I'd been offered a guide for the day, but by the time I was up, had deciphered how to get a cold shower as hot was too complicated and breakfasted (yeah strange as it is I am currently eating breakfast out here!) it was nearly 11am and my guide was no where near ready to leave. With a hand written map in my pocket, I set out alone to find the bank and surprisingly arrived only 5 mins late for my appointment. The bank was deserted, and having asked for who i needed to see i was parked in a seat to watch the 3 other customers who came in while i was waiting. I couldn't quite tell if i was waiting to get me back because i had arrived late or because the accounts advisor was busy, but eventually I was called to the office and less than 20 mins later i was out of there, with a bank card, some money deposited and dismayed by the charge on insurance and other basic functions - like withdrawing money! Still, I was now able to be paid, and proceeded to wander the town to get my bearings.
I found many places which might be important - the hospital, the fire station, the police station.... and by the time i headed back I had a fair idea of where places were. At least well enough to find the supermarket where i randomly bumped into all my housemates. Once home, it was finally time to unpack. Despite my heroic efforts to throw out half my wardrobe before leaving, i discovered I still had far too many clothes. Just as I finished, my laptop binged and through the wonders of Skype - Mum and Dad got the guided tour of the house. Contact with home out the way, we all got dressed up for the weekly special in town. 25 cent bbq chicken wings at the pub, followed by Bingo! With prizes of 20 bucks up for grabs and bingo boards starting at a buck a board it was a cheap night out with a high potential for a good return. The downside to it was that the bingo is held at the local legionnaires club - and as a sign of respect there is a strict no hats rule. Disaster! Thankfully all the housemates had mostly laughed it through their system by now so it was only the rest of Banff that had to endure it! And considering that the venue was packed to capacity, it was a good thing we were sat in the corner. Only Sarah managed to win any money this week, better luck next week!
I found many places which might be important - the hospital, the fire station, the police station.... and by the time i headed back I had a fair idea of where places were. At least well enough to find the supermarket where i randomly bumped into all my housemates. Once home, it was finally time to unpack. Despite my heroic efforts to throw out half my wardrobe before leaving, i discovered I still had far too many clothes. Just as I finished, my laptop binged and through the wonders of Skype - Mum and Dad got the guided tour of the house. Contact with home out the way, we all got dressed up for the weekly special in town. 25 cent bbq chicken wings at the pub, followed by Bingo! With prizes of 20 bucks up for grabs and bingo boards starting at a buck a board it was a cheap night out with a high potential for a good return. The downside to it was that the bingo is held at the local legionnaires club - and as a sign of respect there is a strict no hats rule. Disaster! Thankfully all the housemates had mostly laughed it through their system by now so it was only the rest of Banff that had to endure it! And considering that the venue was packed to capacity, it was a good thing we were sat in the corner. Only Sarah managed to win any money this week, better luck next week!
Wednesday 18th November - Part 2
Waiting in line for my bags to be searched it was clear to see that it was late in the afternoon. The 7 bag-checkers were stood around with 1 open suitcase and very little action. With the minutes ticking down, i was finally called forward to hand my landing card over. One glance at it and they disappeared off to the office behind. I have to admit, at this point I was starting to worry that they were preparing some rubber gloves! The card was passed from person to person, evidently working its way up the chain of command to see what had to be done. Eventually I was called over to a table. Considering the delicate nature of my packing, I was dreading having to take everything out. Both items of hand luggage were stuffed full, my skis had been eased into their bag surrounded by clothing and the bag was busting at the seams. The rest of my clothes were vacuum packed to save space.... to unpack it all now would take hours! "You got a work permit now?" I was asked. As soon as I said yes, he handed my passport back, and waved me through. 15 minutes of checking paperwork, and the buck being passed from person to person to check whether I had a permit.... perfect. I made a mad dash to the arrivals area, searching left right and centre for the reception desk for my transport. As i walked up to the desk, the cute blonde behind it looked up and smiled. "Hi Rob, we're holding the coach for you - i'l show you where it's waiting." Before I could even say a word I'd been welcomed and directed to the coach.
Finally able to sit down and relax, but with no chance to have contacted my new house mates, no chance to have called anyone to say i'd arrived safely. It was time - time to do what id not planned on being able to do. I turned my mobile phone on! Many data charges later to try contact my new housemates, and a text back home to say I'd arrived and I'd roamed in Canada! The coach journey was otherwise blissfully uneventful. Perhaps due to the size of the country and how dispersed all the houses were, everywhere was pitch black. Which just gave even more emphasis to the bizarre road systems. The main "motorway" had sets of traffic lights with regular intersections along, and it was great to see that even driving on the wrong side of the road, lane discipline was just as bad over here too!
Thankfully, the coach does door to door stops, and so the driver called me up and he parked up outside. Dumping my bags on the snow covered ground - i was pointed at 413. Which had 2 doors. The driver smirked and drove off. Having dragged my bags infront of both of them I stood there trying to decide which one I had to go through, my hands frozen and my gloves too far away, so I couldn't even toss a coin for it. Instead, I knocked on both at the same time! Moments later both doors flew open, both had been opened by girls! The boys had apparantly and shotgunned not getting the door, and instead left it to the girls to see who the strange knocking was. Within minutes I was in the stood in the kitchen meeting everyone over a beer. They'd been waiting for me to arrive to head out for dinner - Subways! Hundreds of miles away and in another country and I was eating Subway. But its not subway like we have back home, for a start they had changed the breads around. The standard choice of hearty italian had been scrapped and replaced with parmessan and oregano, and they had a new option - Flatbread. The slowest serving time ever experienced was fillled with intricate detail of Subway breads and how confused we all were.
From dinner, we headed to the "cheapest place to drink" and got the pitchers in, where we were eventually joined by the remainder of the Cougar challet residents. All 12 of us sat around and chatting, with the Canadian open mic night going on. To fully celebrate the Cougar lodge completion we decided to make a full night of it, and we got a group photo at the same time!
Finally able to sit down and relax, but with no chance to have contacted my new house mates, no chance to have called anyone to say i'd arrived safely. It was time - time to do what id not planned on being able to do. I turned my mobile phone on! Many data charges later to try contact my new housemates, and a text back home to say I'd arrived and I'd roamed in Canada! The coach journey was otherwise blissfully uneventful. Perhaps due to the size of the country and how dispersed all the houses were, everywhere was pitch black. Which just gave even more emphasis to the bizarre road systems. The main "motorway" had sets of traffic lights with regular intersections along, and it was great to see that even driving on the wrong side of the road, lane discipline was just as bad over here too!
Thankfully, the coach does door to door stops, and so the driver called me up and he parked up outside. Dumping my bags on the snow covered ground - i was pointed at 413. Which had 2 doors. The driver smirked and drove off. Having dragged my bags infront of both of them I stood there trying to decide which one I had to go through, my hands frozen and my gloves too far away, so I couldn't even toss a coin for it. Instead, I knocked on both at the same time! Moments later both doors flew open, both had been opened by girls! The boys had apparantly and shotgunned not getting the door, and instead left it to the girls to see who the strange knocking was. Within minutes I was in the stood in the kitchen meeting everyone over a beer. They'd been waiting for me to arrive to head out for dinner - Subways! Hundreds of miles away and in another country and I was eating Subway. But its not subway like we have back home, for a start they had changed the breads around. The standard choice of hearty italian had been scrapped and replaced with parmessan and oregano, and they had a new option - Flatbread. The slowest serving time ever experienced was fillled with intricate detail of Subway breads and how confused we all were.
From dinner, we headed to the "cheapest place to drink" and got the pitchers in, where we were eventually joined by the remainder of the Cougar challet residents. All 12 of us sat around and chatting, with the Canadian open mic night going on. To fully celebrate the Cougar lodge completion we decided to make a full night of it, and we got a group photo at the same time!
Cougar Crew
Many bars later we called it a night, having introduced me to pitchers, the cheapest 2 bars and so many other sights and sounds, at 9.30am UK i finally called it a night and settled down to sleep in what would be my bed for the next 7 months.
Friday, 20 November 2009
Wednesday 18th November
Departure.
My flight out the country was scheduled for 2.55pm, Wednesday 18th November 2009. Mum had very kindly agreed to pick me up from Portsmouth after my "Final Send off" on Tuesday night. I dont think she quite realised at the time quite what that might mean. Despite numerous wake-up calls, and even toast hand delivered to my "bed", At 10.30 (departure time) I was still in dire need of a shower to remove the black marker pen and had still not seen the full effect of the night before's antics. With everyone sat around we recapped some of the nights events, until Mum rang to say she was outside but there was no parking available. Finally jarred into action - I flew to the shower while cars were re-shuffled and Mum was then entertained downstairs. A groggy 15 minutes later I was back - having cleared as best possible the pen off and having assessed the damage to my head. 5 years of harsh tricks on people at Uni has finally had payback - although it did take Mum a little while to notice!
After much rushing around, I was ready, Mum was back in the car all my bags had been taken out and it was time for goodbyes. As I stood there, with 4 of the 5 fools who had put up with me on the sofa for the last month chatting about the events of the previous nights it felt more like I was off on a weeks holiday. A few hugs later, and I was off. It wasn't sinking in yet that I wouldn't be back. I'd borrowed a hat to cover the failed mohican look and settled down into the car to go get my Canadian Dollars, adjusting it to a "jaunty" angle to hide the missing eyebrow. We were only 1 hour late leaving, and with a 5 minute stop off to collect the money what could possibly go wrong.
Arriving at the Ferry Port, the collection point for my money, we were directed into a car park right on the outskirts of the port, due to "congestion" which actually turned out to be just some building work. After 5 minutes of patiently waiting in the queue with very little action occurring in front of me, I was finally asked to take a seat to wait. It turns out that the 2 guys ahead, despite their young age, were entirely unable to fill in the required details for a cash passport online and had made the unfortunate assistant fill it all in for them. a lengthy task. After spending less than 2 minites at the collection counter, we were once again off! Now just past 12, a mere 1hour 30 mins behind schedule we started the journey to the airport - giving me the perfect opportunity to have a nap to try and recover. With the sat nav giving us an ETA of 2.20 and gates closing at 2.25 we started puzzling it.... and came to the conclussion the time must be wrong on the sat nav. An hour later, nap done, and ready to join the M25 and we discovered the problem. Instead of the clockwise 10 minute journey to the airport, clever sat nav had decided that we should go anti-clock wise for 1hour 10 minutes! Thankfully as both of us had brains, sat nav was retired and we reached the airport with plenty of time to spare.
Still not feeling the imminent departure, goodbyes were said and I was through to Security. Thankfully there was plenty of spare. My 2 items of handlugage include too many electrical items, which cluttered the xray scan so badly that my laptop bag had to be emptied to go through again! Finally with all cables wire and devices scanned and repacked I could move on - and finally had a chance to sit down, reply to a few of the masses of text message wishing me well, and make the promised phone calls. Boarding was smooth as pie, and the benefits of early check in was proven with my acres of leg room and great stretching out. I was next to a spectacularly untalkative Canadian heading home from a European tour. He was stuck with conversation as we waited ages for the plane to be refuelled and could finally take off before the entertainment system could be started.
A short nap, a couple of films, some tv and 9 hours later - We'd arrived in Canada.Clearing the plane at 5.30pm I had an hour to make it through customs and baggage collection. No problem right? Wrong. As is always the way when there is a choice of queues, I managed to choose the slowest moving one. As my passport was about to be checked, a change of passport officers had me standing at the front of the queue for a further few minutes. Once through, it was time to get my work permit. Stood there with bullet proof vests, thickset scowls, the Canadian officials chatted more about how i had to give up beer as they dont have that over here and instead needed to drink Jack Daniels than any serious questions about me getting in and after they had broken, then fixed the printer I was issued my work permit and off to baggage reclaim. My delays meant my bags were already circulating, and i grabbed them and moved onto Customs balancing the over packed ski bag as it wobbled into everyone and everything. Due to the Christmas Cake declared on my landing card, I was directed to have my bags searched.... approaching 6.15 with my bus leaving at 6.30 and the extremly overpacked nature of my bags I was getting worried!
Find out in the next post what happens! :-)
My flight out the country was scheduled for 2.55pm, Wednesday 18th November 2009. Mum had very kindly agreed to pick me up from Portsmouth after my "Final Send off" on Tuesday night. I dont think she quite realised at the time quite what that might mean. Despite numerous wake-up calls, and even toast hand delivered to my "bed", At 10.30 (departure time) I was still in dire need of a shower to remove the black marker pen and had still not seen the full effect of the night before's antics. With everyone sat around we recapped some of the nights events, until Mum rang to say she was outside but there was no parking available. Finally jarred into action - I flew to the shower while cars were re-shuffled and Mum was then entertained downstairs. A groggy 15 minutes later I was back - having cleared as best possible the pen off and having assessed the damage to my head. 5 years of harsh tricks on people at Uni has finally had payback - although it did take Mum a little while to notice!
Effects of Last Night Out
After much rushing around, I was ready, Mum was back in the car all my bags had been taken out and it was time for goodbyes. As I stood there, with 4 of the 5 fools who had put up with me on the sofa for the last month chatting about the events of the previous nights it felt more like I was off on a weeks holiday. A few hugs later, and I was off. It wasn't sinking in yet that I wouldn't be back. I'd borrowed a hat to cover the failed mohican look and settled down into the car to go get my Canadian Dollars, adjusting it to a "jaunty" angle to hide the missing eyebrow. We were only 1 hour late leaving, and with a 5 minute stop off to collect the money what could possibly go wrong.
Arriving at the Ferry Port, the collection point for my money, we were directed into a car park right on the outskirts of the port, due to "congestion" which actually turned out to be just some building work. After 5 minutes of patiently waiting in the queue with very little action occurring in front of me, I was finally asked to take a seat to wait. It turns out that the 2 guys ahead, despite their young age, were entirely unable to fill in the required details for a cash passport online and had made the unfortunate assistant fill it all in for them. a lengthy task. After spending less than 2 minites at the collection counter, we were once again off! Now just past 12, a mere 1hour 30 mins behind schedule we started the journey to the airport - giving me the perfect opportunity to have a nap to try and recover. With the sat nav giving us an ETA of 2.20 and gates closing at 2.25 we started puzzling it.... and came to the conclussion the time must be wrong on the sat nav. An hour later, nap done, and ready to join the M25 and we discovered the problem. Instead of the clockwise 10 minute journey to the airport, clever sat nav had decided that we should go anti-clock wise for 1hour 10 minutes! Thankfully as both of us had brains, sat nav was retired and we reached the airport with plenty of time to spare.
Still not feeling the imminent departure, goodbyes were said and I was through to Security. Thankfully there was plenty of spare. My 2 items of handlugage include too many electrical items, which cluttered the xray scan so badly that my laptop bag had to be emptied to go through again! Finally with all cables wire and devices scanned and repacked I could move on - and finally had a chance to sit down, reply to a few of the masses of text message wishing me well, and make the promised phone calls. Boarding was smooth as pie, and the benefits of early check in was proven with my acres of leg room and great stretching out. I was next to a spectacularly untalkative Canadian heading home from a European tour. He was stuck with conversation as we waited ages for the plane to be refuelled and could finally take off before the entertainment system could be started.
Last view of UK before take off.
A short nap, a couple of films, some tv and 9 hours later - We'd arrived in Canada.Clearing the plane at 5.30pm I had an hour to make it through customs and baggage collection. No problem right? Wrong. As is always the way when there is a choice of queues, I managed to choose the slowest moving one. As my passport was about to be checked, a change of passport officers had me standing at the front of the queue for a further few minutes. Once through, it was time to get my work permit. Stood there with bullet proof vests, thickset scowls, the Canadian officials chatted more about how i had to give up beer as they dont have that over here and instead needed to drink Jack Daniels than any serious questions about me getting in and after they had broken, then fixed the printer I was issued my work permit and off to baggage reclaim. My delays meant my bags were already circulating, and i grabbed them and moved onto Customs balancing the over packed ski bag as it wobbled into everyone and everything. Due to the Christmas Cake declared on my landing card, I was directed to have my bags searched.... approaching 6.15 with my bus leaving at 6.30 and the extremly overpacked nature of my bags I was getting worried!
Find out in the next post what happens! :-)
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