Merry Christmas to all from Pablo!!!
It's my first white Christmas and my first away from the family. We received a good dump yesterday so we will start the day with a few runs down the hill. With the new snow yesterday they are opening the Powder Chair today giving us some new terrain to play in.
I worked this morning so I will head to Happy Valley for a free Christmas lunch around midday before apres beers at Unit 231. All staff who have to work on holiday days are rewarded with vouchers for dinner or lunch somewhere on the mountain. That combined with the time and a half wages for the holidays makes working on Christmas and New Year very worthwhile.
We are having Christmas dinner this evening with all the boys and girls of Whitefoot Lodge. One of the guys is a chef so he is in charge of the turkey and ham with the rest of us preparing accompanying dishes. I had the baker throw together some dinner rolls for me this morning and I picked them up hot off the oven around 6am so they will be a nice fresh treat on a mountain where the only thing that is always fresh is the powder.
Hope you all had a great Christmas day wherever you are. Merry Christmas!!!
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Sunday, December 21, 2008
I've got your nose...
Remember that game you play with kids where you pretend to steal their nose and use your thumb to make it look as if you are holding the tip of their nose...well mother nature played that game with me last week...but for keeps.
The right hand side of the tip of my nose has become the latest victim of the cold. A minor case of frostbite. For the first few days the pain was incredible - like someone was constantly pushing a needle into the tip of my nose. Today the pain has gone, along with the first few layers of skin. It was never so bad that it blistered but I have lost a small patch of skin and will need to be careful now for the rest of the season. One of the side effects of frostbite is that the affected area becomes very sensitive to the cold increasing the chance of my nose suffering the same fate again.
Mof - get those needles cracking before I loose my whole face!!
The right hand side of the tip of my nose has become the latest victim of the cold. A minor case of frostbite. For the first few days the pain was incredible - like someone was constantly pushing a needle into the tip of my nose. Today the pain has gone, along with the first few layers of skin. It was never so bad that it blistered but I have lost a small patch of skin and will need to be careful now for the rest of the season. One of the side effects of frostbite is that the affected area becomes very sensitive to the cold increasing the chance of my nose suffering the same fate again.
Mof - get those needles cracking before I loose my whole face!!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
This wasn't in the brochure...
It's 3:53am...the air temp outside is minus 25...with windchill the forecasters are calling minus 49 tonight...I have all the heaters cranked at work and my hands and feet are still cold. There is a draft coming from somewhere I just cannot work out where.
They closed one of the lifts today - it was considered too exposed to the wind and the risk of frostbite was too high!
The outlook for tomorrow is for blue skies and minus 16 (minus 24 with windchill). At these temperatures I am good for about 4 runs before I can no longer feel my toes, fingers or nose all of which are stinging in pain. You cannot afford to be outside with any exposed skin. Everyone gets around with balaclavas on and no one can recognise anyone.
Hope it is warmer where you are.
They closed one of the lifts today - it was considered too exposed to the wind and the risk of frostbite was too high!
The outlook for tomorrow is for blue skies and minus 16 (minus 24 with windchill). At these temperatures I am good for about 4 runs before I can no longer feel my toes, fingers or nose all of which are stinging in pain. You cannot afford to be outside with any exposed skin. Everyone gets around with balaclavas on and no one can recognise anyone.
Hope it is warmer where you are.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Winter is here
We have had an incredible opening week here at Big White. Following the excitement of opening day and the fresh snow that came with it, the mountain's attention was turned towards the opening weekend. Traditionally this is a very busy weekend for the mountain as all the locals (Kelowna folk) head up the hill for their first turns of the season.
The weather up here is terribly difficult to forecast. The mountain seems to create and destroy weather systems. I use about three websites to try and predict what is in store for the coming days and they are all as inconsistent as each other. The forecast for two days in the future can change from a predicted 10cm of snow to nothing overnight...what's with that. But the forecast for last Friday seemed solid. A huge weather system was making it's way across BC and they were calling for in excess of 10cm of snow down in Kelowna and 30cm on the mountain so we knew we were in for a treat. It started snowing about 5am Friday morning and did not stop till late Saturday night. In total we received about 28cm of fresh powder in time for opening weekend.
The scenes at the bottom of the lifts on Saturday morning were amazing. The tragics (myself included) waited patiently in line from about 8:15 for the scheduled opening at 8:45. As the minutes ticked by the queue grew to about 50 people all wanting to be the first person down the hill with 30cm of fresh powder. I caught the fifth chair up the hill and opted for the less popular run at the top of the chair and was rewarded with being the fourth person down the run. The powder was amazing...you could not feel the bottom as you floated down the hill. For most of the run I could not see anything below my knees it was that deep. And when I eventually did loose control the consequences were nigh. You simply fell into deep deep powder. The hard part was being able to stand up again in the powder to keep going. The next few hours were like a race between all on the hill to try to get as many runs in before all the fresh snow was tracked out and only the edges of the runs and trees provided new lines.
By lunch I was exhausted. I had boarded all over the open sections of the mountain and scored some amazing powder sections. I had made plans to ride with a couple of other guys on Saturday morning but when they turned up late at the lift I was not going to lose my spot in the line...there is no such thing as friends on a powder day...sorry guys.
Some more snow is forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday at this stage but that could change any minute. Hopefully it will come and with another chair opening yesterday the mountain is really a fun place to be. I have a whole new section of the hill to explore today... have fun at work!
The weather up here is terribly difficult to forecast. The mountain seems to create and destroy weather systems. I use about three websites to try and predict what is in store for the coming days and they are all as inconsistent as each other. The forecast for two days in the future can change from a predicted 10cm of snow to nothing overnight...what's with that. But the forecast for last Friday seemed solid. A huge weather system was making it's way across BC and they were calling for in excess of 10cm of snow down in Kelowna and 30cm on the mountain so we knew we were in for a treat. It started snowing about 5am Friday morning and did not stop till late Saturday night. In total we received about 28cm of fresh powder in time for opening weekend.
The scenes at the bottom of the lifts on Saturday morning were amazing. The tragics (myself included) waited patiently in line from about 8:15 for the scheduled opening at 8:45. As the minutes ticked by the queue grew to about 50 people all wanting to be the first person down the hill with 30cm of fresh powder. I caught the fifth chair up the hill and opted for the less popular run at the top of the chair and was rewarded with being the fourth person down the run. The powder was amazing...you could not feel the bottom as you floated down the hill. For most of the run I could not see anything below my knees it was that deep. And when I eventually did loose control the consequences were nigh. You simply fell into deep deep powder. The hard part was being able to stand up again in the powder to keep going. The next few hours were like a race between all on the hill to try to get as many runs in before all the fresh snow was tracked out and only the edges of the runs and trees provided new lines.
By lunch I was exhausted. I had boarded all over the open sections of the mountain and scored some amazing powder sections. I had made plans to ride with a couple of other guys on Saturday morning but when they turned up late at the lift I was not going to lose my spot in the line...there is no such thing as friends on a powder day...sorry guys.
Some more snow is forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday at this stage but that could change any minute. Hopefully it will come and with another chair opening yesterday the mountain is really a fun place to be. I have a whole new section of the hill to explore today... have fun at work!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
The Summit
The day after I arrived at Big White I took advantage of the Autumn conditions and lack of snow and went for a walk to discover my new home. I never intended to reach the top...but sometimes these things happen.
In hindsight it was quite silly, I walked to the top of a mountain I had never been to before, home to brown and black bears all alone in nothing but a t-shirt without telling anyone where I was going (probably because there was no one around to tell). But I lived to tell the tale and in reality I never really set out for the summit that morning I was just going for a walk but the 'I wonder what is over that ridge' mentality took over till I was so close to the top it seemed silly not to make it.
For the nerds...the summit elevation is 2,319m or 7,606ft (Mt Kosciuszko's summit is 2,228m). The village elevation is 1,755m or 5,760ft.
I do apologise for the poor quality photos my camera takes but this is what it looked like:
A video taken about 50-100m below the summit taking in the Monashee Mountains
In hindsight it was quite silly, I walked to the top of a mountain I had never been to before, home to brown and black bears all alone in nothing but a t-shirt without telling anyone where I was going (probably because there was no one around to tell). But I lived to tell the tale and in reality I never really set out for the summit that morning I was just going for a walk but the 'I wonder what is over that ridge' mentality took over till I was so close to the top it seemed silly not to make it.
For the nerds...the summit elevation is 2,319m or 7,606ft (Mt Kosciuszko's summit is 2,228m). The village elevation is 1,755m or 5,760ft.
I do apologise for the poor quality photos my camera takes but this is what it looked like:
The home trail
This lake is at the bottom of the 'cliff' near the very top of the mountain. By now this lake is frozen and in a month or so when the cliff is open for riding the lake forms the bottom of the powder bowl which you ski or board over having successfully tackled the cliff.
Looking back over the Okanagan Valley from near the summit
The 'Cliff'. If you look closely at the photo you can see the Cliff Chair. Ski Patrol have started bombing and ski-cutting this part of the mountain to make the base less of an avalanche risk.
About 50m shy of the summit
A video taken about 50-100m below the summit taking in the Monashee MountainsFinally...
Those you who know me better will know that this blog is running about 4 weeks behind reality. To tell the truth not much of note has really happened in those 4 weeks. It has been quite a case of 'Groundhog Day'. We have sat around waiting for mother nature to come to the party with lashings of fresh pow pow.
A closed ski resort is an interesting place, especially one that the size of Big White. Technically, this place is the second largest ski resort in British Columbia, but when it comes to ranking resorts in Western Canada by size Whistler-Blackcomb comes first, daylight is second, then Big White and then well...who knows...there a lot of similar sized resorts in the rankings after that which I am sure will use minor details to distinguish themselves so we will leave them to fight it out amongst themselves.
When I arrived here in late October the place was in 'summer mode'. There were a handful of people living in the village, the grass was poking through a very thin layer of snow on the ground and nothing was open...and I mean nothing. No grocery store, no facilities not even the pub was open. It was as if I was camping in my apartment surrounded by the infrastructure of a ski resort long since closed.
For the first few days I would stand in the centre of the village and I was the only living thing in sight. Occasionally I would catch a glimpse of life as a door opened or closed or another lost soul scurried hurriedly across the village centre. I filled my days by sleeping in as long as possible, watching trashy cable tv, playing solitaire on the laptop and going for an afternoon walk discovering the mountain.
As the days went by the population grew. Almost everyday there was a noticeable difference in the number of people walking around as seasonal workers arrived from around the world (specifically Australia) and made their way up the hill. With the people, a village slowly came to life. The market opened, one of the pubs opened, the second pub opened, the village mall opened, a retail store within the mall opened...and so on and so forth until finally it was a village.
On Tuesday, nearly five weeks after I arrived and a week and a half behind schedule the Plaza Chair turned for the first time and the effect on the village was amazing.
We have suffered at the hands of mother nature. It has been and unusually warm late Autumn period. Three weeks ago we got some heavy dumps and everyone was talking about maybe opening early (Nov 21 instead of the scheduled Nov 27). People attended training to learn their role in the corporate machine that is Big White. Then the heat came...and came and stayed. The snow melted, the roofs cleared, the grass in the village poked through again. Everyone was told to go home from training and wait...we were in a 48 hour hold pattern waiting for the snow. This lasted two weeks.
A lot people (myself included) were still living on Australian dollars and the two weeks of Canadian dollars we had earned training went quickly. With the Australian dollar crashing amongst the turmoil of the Global Credit Crunch things around the village were grim.
Then last Friday as the 1,000 strong workforce gathered at the pub to do the only thing mother nature could not take from us...party...the skies darkened and the dark night turned white. It snowed and snowed and snowed. On Sunday when it was still snowing the village took on a whole new persona. People were rushed back into work, signs were dusted, railings were painted and Christmas lights were tested. A date was announced and the mountain was opening.
In the 24 hours leading up to the first chair turning the atmosphere was incredible. Everyone walked about with a smile on their face saying hello to everyone they past. On Tuesday morning the Village centre was alive. Hundreds of people, ski racks, an operating ski school, every shop in the mall was open, the bakery had fresh bread, the market had fresh vegetables and nearly every restaurant was open that night.
Those who had been in the village as long as I had had experienced a lot. The last month had been a roller coaster. The initial excitement of finally being here after months of planning and thousands of dollars and kilometres. Meeting new friends and comparing everything about where you came from, how you got here, where you were working, why you came, what you rode, where you slept, listened to, watched, read and cooked. Those days were behind us and what we had all been hoping for was delivered...and did the first day deliver. It gushed snow for the entire first morning of riding, in one hour on that morning we recorded 5cm of snow. For the last two days we have ridden the two lifts and 6 runs that are open nearly to death. The good news is we have over 30cm forecast for tonight and Friday and on Friday morning a third lift is opening expanding the rideable terrain.
Fresh snow and Canadian dollars - this place is looking up again.
A closed ski resort is an interesting place, especially one that the size of Big White. Technically, this place is the second largest ski resort in British Columbia, but when it comes to ranking resorts in Western Canada by size Whistler-Blackcomb comes first, daylight is second, then Big White and then well...who knows...there a lot of similar sized resorts in the rankings after that which I am sure will use minor details to distinguish themselves so we will leave them to fight it out amongst themselves.
When I arrived here in late October the place was in 'summer mode'. There were a handful of people living in the village, the grass was poking through a very thin layer of snow on the ground and nothing was open...and I mean nothing. No grocery store, no facilities not even the pub was open. It was as if I was camping in my apartment surrounded by the infrastructure of a ski resort long since closed.
For the first few days I would stand in the centre of the village and I was the only living thing in sight. Occasionally I would catch a glimpse of life as a door opened or closed or another lost soul scurried hurriedly across the village centre. I filled my days by sleeping in as long as possible, watching trashy cable tv, playing solitaire on the laptop and going for an afternoon walk discovering the mountain.
As the days went by the population grew. Almost everyday there was a noticeable difference in the number of people walking around as seasonal workers arrived from around the world (specifically Australia) and made their way up the hill. With the people, a village slowly came to life. The market opened, one of the pubs opened, the second pub opened, the village mall opened, a retail store within the mall opened...and so on and so forth until finally it was a village.
On Tuesday, nearly five weeks after I arrived and a week and a half behind schedule the Plaza Chair turned for the first time and the effect on the village was amazing.
We have suffered at the hands of mother nature. It has been and unusually warm late Autumn period. Three weeks ago we got some heavy dumps and everyone was talking about maybe opening early (Nov 21 instead of the scheduled Nov 27). People attended training to learn their role in the corporate machine that is Big White. Then the heat came...and came and stayed. The snow melted, the roofs cleared, the grass in the village poked through again. Everyone was told to go home from training and wait...we were in a 48 hour hold pattern waiting for the snow. This lasted two weeks.
A lot people (myself included) were still living on Australian dollars and the two weeks of Canadian dollars we had earned training went quickly. With the Australian dollar crashing amongst the turmoil of the Global Credit Crunch things around the village were grim.
Then last Friday as the 1,000 strong workforce gathered at the pub to do the only thing mother nature could not take from us...party...the skies darkened and the dark night turned white. It snowed and snowed and snowed. On Sunday when it was still snowing the village took on a whole new persona. People were rushed back into work, signs were dusted, railings were painted and Christmas lights were tested. A date was announced and the mountain was opening.
In the 24 hours leading up to the first chair turning the atmosphere was incredible. Everyone walked about with a smile on their face saying hello to everyone they past. On Tuesday morning the Village centre was alive. Hundreds of people, ski racks, an operating ski school, every shop in the mall was open, the bakery had fresh bread, the market had fresh vegetables and nearly every restaurant was open that night.
Those who had been in the village as long as I had had experienced a lot. The last month had been a roller coaster. The initial excitement of finally being here after months of planning and thousands of dollars and kilometres. Meeting new friends and comparing everything about where you came from, how you got here, where you were working, why you came, what you rode, where you slept, listened to, watched, read and cooked. Those days were behind us and what we had all been hoping for was delivered...and did the first day deliver. It gushed snow for the entire first morning of riding, in one hour on that morning we recorded 5cm of snow. For the last two days we have ridden the two lifts and 6 runs that are open nearly to death. The good news is we have over 30cm forecast for tonight and Friday and on Friday morning a third lift is opening expanding the rideable terrain.
Fresh snow and Canadian dollars - this place is looking up again.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Location, Location, Location
At a little over 240 square feet my studio here at Big White is at best a mid-sized Australian bedroom with a very small ensuite. In fact I don't think my bed from home would actually fit in the room.
I live on the bottom floor on a four storey apartment complex in the heart of the village at Big White. My building forms one side of the village centre and is also home to one of two pubs, the kids ski school, The Market (grocery store), Pappas Roasters (yes I know the 's' on the end of Pappa is awkward but that is how it is spelt - its a Nandos-esk eatery), the medical centre, the police station and the post office...fair to say I am in the centre of town!! In fact, if you look on the Big White village webcam my building is the large structure framing the right hand side of the shot.
It's small...but I knew this when I entered the lease. Within the 240 square feet you will find the following:
Drop by if you are in the neighbourhood.
I live on the bottom floor on a four storey apartment complex in the heart of the village at Big White. My building forms one side of the village centre and is also home to one of two pubs, the kids ski school, The Market (grocery store), Pappas Roasters (yes I know the 's' on the end of Pappa is awkward but that is how it is spelt - its a Nandos-esk eatery), the medical centre, the police station and the post office...fair to say I am in the centre of town!! In fact, if you look on the Big White village webcam my building is the large structure framing the right hand side of the shot.
It's small...but I knew this when I entered the lease. Within the 240 square feet you will find the following:
- A double bed
- Three seater lounge with fold-away bed
- Built in robes with ample space
- A TV and DVD player with cable
- Two mini fridges, one with a seperate freezer
- Two electric hotplates
- A microwave
- A George Foreman grill
- Ensuite with shower, bath, toilet and sink
- Most importantly...wireless internet.
So it has everything I need for the winter. Add to this two large mirrors and ample hooks for jackets and beanies and the place is complete. I can control the temperature in my room and I have two windows one of which opens to a ledge covered in snow perfect for chilling a warm a beer in about 10 minutes.
I've posted a series of photos below so you can get a feel for the place yourself.
Drop by if you are in the neighbourhood.
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