But in saying that we came to Whistler for one main reason, Snow... but where is it all going, cause there doesn't seem to be any here. Everywhere we go and everyone we talk to people seem to be stating that so far this is the worst season anyone has experienced. Typical I guess when you go on a holiday and want it to be a great winter the opposite occurs. So I guess instead of skiing we do a lot a socialising and partying. With Xmas just around the corner we had orientation parties at work and then christmas parties which, you guessed it involved more drinking.
Despite the lack of snow we have still been having a pretty good time. Maddie has certainly grown as a snowboarder and constantly improving her snowboarding skills and recently did a good run from Roundhouse to Base in around 15 minutes. Not bad for an 8km run and a vertical drop of around 1200 meters. Also always attempting to break her top speed on run tracker, but more on that later in the post.
So christmas was just around the corner and we had decided to have an orphans night and day. Most of our new friends within our staff housing all requested the day off so we could ski on christmas day then back to one of our rooms where everyone would bring a plate (something xmas like) for the evening and Maddie would be cooking her first turkey....
Christmas morning was great, we all headed up for fresh tracks, which for those of you not around the snow is where we head up to the Roundhouse for a full cooked buffet breakfast and then get to ski the fresh and first runs in the snow. So we stuffed our bellies, as you should on christmas, sat around for a bit and then headed out to the snow. The snow was not great but the company was much better. We stayed for around half the day before heading back home to prepare the Turkey..
Maddie slaved over the stove perfecting the Turkey before we all headed to room 401 for Xmas dinner. What a great dinner it was. The photos to show will prove my point and and Maddie did an amazing job of the Turkey. Not too dry and her gravy was to die for. Big thank you to everyone at Brio housing for making it an awesome Xmas.
With christmas over the Holiday period was in full swing and all we seemed to be doing was working and not much else. I pumped out 95+ hours in a fortnight and my reward, fuck all pay. By the time rent and a bit of tax came out I was only left with a few hundred dollars. Slightly demoralising, even for Maddie as well. This is when we began to not only miss our jobs but the lifestyles we live back home. Kind of selfish really considering a lot of people in the world are so much worse off than us. Not only that but we were not seeing a lot of each other as work was taking up most of our time so we could try and do the nice things when in Whistler. Unfortunately everything costs money and Whistler is not the cheapest place on Earth that's for sure.
New Years had come and gone and with work dying down it was somewhat time to try and relax. On my day off, and with Maddie at work, I decided to go riding. Great plan until last run of the day when I decided to try a new trick in the park, a backside boardslide. Great idea until my board slipped out from under me and landing directly onto my right shoulder. I felt a pop and a small crack and could not move my arm, Oh no what had I done.... I continued to snowboard down the mountain, probably not the smartest idea but was the quickest way down before walking to the medical centre for a check up. Well that was an interesting experience to say the least. Let's just put it this way, it was by far the worst medical experience I feel like I have had to date. Administration staff=terrible, no help what so ever. Doctor, if that's what he calls himself. No sling for my arm, no pain relief before sending me to get an x-ray, however did write out a script for pain relief which was going to take 30 min to get. When he provided me with a sling=wrong size, and clearly had no idea how to put one on. After all that, x-ray revealed nothing, according to him and I was sent on my way. Spent the next two weeks resting up as Heli-skiing was on the cards and had to be completed by end of January to the cheap staff deal. Best thing about hurting myself was that I have a fantastic girlfriend who is awesome at her profession and the best caregiver of all time. Thanks Maddog I love you. Headed to the physio a week later who stated possible grade1/grade 2 Right AC dislocation tear. What a bugger but I pressed on.
Shoulder continued to improve with physio and two and a hlaf weeks later Heli-ski day was upon us. So on the 16th January, Me and 9 buddies jumped in a helicopter in search of some fresh powder. Best skiing experience of my life.. SO much nice snow and a great crew to do it with. Hopefully a cheap deal comes up again soon cause I know how much Maddie would love it..
Since Heli-skiing I have bought a pair of skis and had 2 ski lessons and three days of skiing which has been fun to learn. So look out Nephew Henrik next time we are on a ski holiday we can give Mum and Dad (Ruth and Stephen) a break and we can shred the slopes together. I still prefer to board but am liking the idea of skiing. This all came about by a hotel guest selling a cheap pair of skis and I thought why not. Then a few weeks later a guest gave away a pair of boots which I have given to Maddie so now she can learn too. Once again when in whistler, why not.
Now into early Feb Maddie's snowboarding is awesome. Now able to navigate down most runs with a few minor hiccups but even I have those. and was able to break the 30km/hr and 40km/hr mark in one run. Awesome work top speed of 49.4km/hr and soon to break 50km/hr mark I am sure. Speaking of which I decided to try my hand at breaking my top speed of 68km/hr in Whistler. My goal for the year is to break 90km/hr and I haven't quite reached that limit yet but was able to push the 80's to a top speed of 81.4km/hr. A little scary but the adrenalin rush is worth it for sure.
Much planning and discussion has gone into what we are doing next in our travels but we have come to a decision. We will finish winter here in Whistler before heading off to travel the Americas. We have already booked a cruise around the Caribbean for 9 days and the planning is going well to include broadway shows, Disneyland, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon and much much more over the coming months.
And finally the snow is coming. Judging by this weeks schedule we are meant to receive between 120-150cm on snow in the next 7 days. Finally.... Hopefully some POW boarding to follow. Hope everyone is well back home..
Love always
Andy and Maddie
