Road tripping, SF

So we had hit up South Tahoe in fine style and we were on our way down to the Bay Area. We had to take a little detour to Emerald Bay just to get some nice mountain views of Lake Tahoe for Arthur, but after that we were off to the lowlands. We kept on going down 50 and as we passed through Sacramento we stopped in to visit Belle for a quick gas stop and bite to eat. It was good to see her again, even if it was just for a few minutes. We finally got down to my parents house around 6:00 pm and stoped by to say hello and drop off my winter gear. After a few minutes we set off for the city. We headed to Dustins place and parked the car before hailing a cab to meet him at a happy hour spot, but not before seeing the critical mass ride jam the streets around us. It was very different finally being in a city after 4 months living in Breck, then driving across the nothingness of the desert. The atmosphere was completely foreign. After just seeing happy hour as a way for ski bums to drink dirt cheap for the whole winter in dive bars we were surrounded by a bunch of city workers in nice clothes ordering fancy food and wine trying to look like they were successful and all that crap. They weren't taking about the stuipid gaper who fell in the lift line, the sick run they hit or how fucked they got last night. They were taking business and politics and culture. I couldn't say that I laughed at them being so pretentious because I do enjoy some intelligent conversation, but I must say that it did all sound like a load of crap being spewed by pretentious idiots trying to look and sound important. I guess it was just so different to what I was used to at Breck. Anyway, the evening got appropriately stupider as we drank more and moved to a less pretentious bar and I started to try and convince everyone that I was a South African diamond smuggler. I thought my accent was pretty good and it ws a load of fun. After a while that was less entertaining and we got tired so we headed home.

Saturday wsa going to be sports day with all the boys from Berkeley and the house. We headed on up to Golden Gate Park and rolled out a key and BBQ. Some slosh ball was played and I caught up with a load of people from the house who I hadn't seen for a long time. It was pretty nice to be able to hang out outside in the sun in just shorts and a t-shirt after being bundled up all winter. Arthur was sidelined unfortunately because he'd caught a nerve in his neck or something similar and was limited to not moving too much. We chilled out for the whole afternoon until the shadows started getting long and threatened to turn the day cold. We headed home and then off to another BBQ at one of Dustins work friends houses. It we pretty good and two BBQs in a day is never a bad thing. They alos had guitar hero 2 so we had a bit of fun playing with that. But soon enough the tiredness set in and we headed home. We were supposed to go out and meet up with people in the misson district but by the time we were heading home it was a bit late so we cancelled going out and rented Borat instead. We had a movie night and then crashed out.

We woke up a bit later than I would have wanted but oh well, we've got no real time limits. After getting up and getting some breakfast we did a driving city tour so Arthur could see the sights. The beach, Golden Gate Bridge, Pier 39, Fishermans Warfe, Alcatraz, Lombard St and then it was time to head back to the parent house and try and sort out a few things. It turns out that there was an accident on Saturday night and a tanker truck ran into an overpass support and caught fire. The fire weakened the support and the overpass collapsed. And yes, you guessed it, that was the freeway we needed to take. So we had to dive through the surface streets of Berkeley and Oakland. They were jam packed and I almost lost it with frustration trying to get through it all. After what seemed like years, we finally made it back to the freeway and got home just in time for dinner. We were a bi tlate home though and we could have done with getting to the autoparts store because Arthurs brakes were starting to make some unhealthy noises. So we're going to have to take care of the brakes and a few other things before we can head of down to LA on Monday.

Road tripping

Road tripping, Tahoe

So we had got to Tahoe, and gone out the first night we were there getting to bed when the sun was rising. We slept the next day and got up late. We didn't get up to much but got lunch and chilled out a bit. We hit Carson City so Arthur could buy a digital camera and generally didn't get up to much. Arthur picked up a racing form so he was happy as a clam. Surprisingly, I didn't feel too bad after the long trip and late night, but we attributed it to going from 10,000ft in Breck to 6,000ft at Tahoe. Anyway, if the day was easy, the night was looking bad. There was a beruit beer pong tournament at Sam's Place (a local bar) and the boys had won it last week so we were all entering. Arthur and I got seeded in the first game and started off a bit slowly. The other team was ok but they got lucky with a double cup sink and we never recovered despite closing to two cups at the end. Oh well, I wasn't too disappointed because I figured it would save me drinking so much. The other guys did well and ended up in the finals against each other, for the second week in a row and Ted and Bo won it again. After the games were done we went off the casino where Ted worked to go to a party in the club there. We partied it up some more, and it being a casino, the gambling came again, except this time I joined in, and lost. Oh well, it was a good night and we ended it with the sunrise again.

Thursday broke, and we had just gone to bed. Once we woke up the call was made to hit the all you can eat chinese buffet. I certainly didn't get my monies worth due to feeling a bit rougher than I would have liked. We spent the rest of the day chilling out and I went to the casino with Arthur to bet on some ponies. We lounged away the day there before heading back home. It was a pretty chilled day and the night came by with no party to go to so we chilled out in front of Ted's newly replaced LCD bigscreen. We certainly needed a break so it was very welcome. In any case we were heading down to SF the next day to hit happy hour and go out so a night off was always good.

Road tripping

Road tripping, day 1

So we got out of Breck and started our road trip. We had a few chores to take care of befoer leaving, like turing in our keys and paying the internet bill but we finally left late morning on Tuesday the 24th. We got onto I-70 in a snow storm and headed west. Vail pass was covered in snow but very quickly after that it turned to rain. Beaver Creek was completely green and the golf course was out. By the time we got any further it was only raining. We kept cruising through Colorado, passing through some really cool canyons and slowly leaving the rain behind. As we crossed into Utah, everything was turning nice a dry and the temperature was picking up nicely for a couple of guys who had been stuck in the snow all winter. We passed through some good rock formations as we drove by the national parks in Utah but soon enough everything was becoming flat, straight and empty, something we would be getting used to. We were running low on gas and weren't sure if we'd hit the next services so we decided to head off the freeway to the nearest town. We had to go 12 miles before we hit the first gas station, and there was nothing there. A small nothing town in the middle of nowhere, it just made you think what the fuck were these people doing here and how could they every stand it? Anyway, we would come across places a lot worse than that through out the trip because we had decided to go by highway 50, which is the loneliest road in America, instead of I-80.

We mananged to get through Utah and into Nevada. First thing we saw? (apart from flat, straight and empty) Yup, a shitty little motel with some slots. People could get their fix as soon as the crossed the border, but they must have driven a long way to get there becuase there wasn't anything around. It was the same every place we got to. A little motel, gas station, post office and a casino and that was a town in Nevada. We kept on trucking and night fell. I was behind the wheel and a massive rabbit decided to dive for the headlights and I hit the beast at about 60. It caught us by surprise but there were plenty more rabbits going for the car after that. Luckily we were ready and didn't hit anymore but they were coming for us. We finally made it out of the desert and started coming up on the Sierras and then Lake Tahoe.

After almost 16 hours on the road we made it to South Lake Tahoe but we weren't getting any rest yet. Arthurs friends we were staying with worked evenings and nights and the day was just starting for them. We got in a 12:30 am and went straight out to the bar. A few drinks and a few hours later we had to stop by a casino and show Arthur what was on tap. And when you're in a casino and drunk someone is inevitably going to gamble. Well to be fair Arthur was pretty set on it from the get go so we hit the roulette table for a bit of early morning gaming. After a bit of fun we headed home and went to bed watching the sun come up. If this was the way the whole trip was going to go it was going to be trouble.

Road tripping

Final runs

So we had our employee ski day today, which gave the final runs of the year. Colorado, T-Bar and Imperial were open from 9-12 followed by a BBQ until 2. We hit the mountain and took some gentle cruisers before heading to the top of Peak 8 for a final run from the very top to the bottom. So that ends the ski season. Now its time to pack up, hit a road trip and head down to the rafting. I'll keep you posted so check back. I took a few pictures of my last day on the hill so check them out.

Pictures from the Breck slopes

End of the season

So we just had the last day of the season, my last day of work and its all over. We have the employee ski day tomorrow and then Arthur and I are going to hit our road trip out of this town. But we sent out the season with a bang. We had a massive night in the old Salt Creek on Thursday, well I had a massive night, I'm not sure about anyone else. I certainly felt it in the morning, in fact I couldn't go into work and to be fair I'm still not quite feeling right and my credit card is also feeling the pain. Oh well, you only live once. Alissa left on Saturday to do her final move down to Telluride and I think everyone else leaves within the week so soon this town is going to be completely different. To be fair I'm ready for the season to end. It's been really good but I'll be quite happy to take a break. This town has a way of running you into the ground. Its a place where you can't escape from going out, where sleep is always something you need and never something you have. Maybe I'm just a sucker for peer pressure but either way this town has taken it out of me and I'm looking forward to the break. The only daunting thought is that raft guiding is probably only going to be worse. Oh well, here we go.

Oh and I put a couple extra pictures in the galleries so check them out.

New lifts

With the season winding down and people leaving early we hnow have one massive rota at work which means we are starting work a bunch of different lift. So today I was a T-Bar and I took a few pictures so check them out.the crappy thing is that as people leave there becomes less incentive for you to stay longer because you now have to cover all the people who have gone. They are closing down a few of the lifts for the last week of the season but it looks like I've only got a couple of days left to ski or ride. The other thing that sucks is that there are a bunch of end of season events going on that I'm completely missing because I'm working, especially at the weekends. Oh well, at least the sun has returned so hopefully it will be sunshine and warm days for the last week.

The office

Ski patrol party

So we've had some late season snow. A good foot or more in the last day and more before that. So I got out on the mountain today and headed up to T-Bar and then Imperial when it opened, getting up high where the powder was the deepest and best. We hit Imperial a few times and the whole time there was a massive line going up in to the warming hut between 6-Chair and Imperial. After a few runs we decided to go over and have a look. It turned out that all teh ski patrol people from the whole area were over in Breck having a party. We just tagged along and got some free food and beer which was pretty good. But they also had a bunch of events. The best of which was a sled race. They had two patrollers running the sled, one at the front and one on the rope at the back. They had to bomb down to a third guy where they had to eat a doughnut and then whistle. At this point they picked up the third guy in the sled and raced down to the bottom of the run. With all the powder there was snow flying everywhere so unless you were in the front you couldn't see shit and once they loaded the sled and kept bombing down there were gates to go through on this black diamond gully run so people were flying everywhere with tons of carnage. I just wish I'd taken some pictures because it was some good entertainment.

Mentos 1

So John rolled back through Breck last night. It was a quick stop since we was just driving through to LA. Why might you ask? Because he was delivering a promo vehicle, but not just any promo vehicle, it was Mentos 1. Of course we had to pimp it around Breck and take a bunch of classic Mentos photos with some Mentos. Check out the album, and don't be too jealous.

Mentos1

Rafting is on

So the ski season is running down and it time to sort out my summer. I applied for a bunch of rafting jobs in Colorado and after looking around and the interview etc I've got myself hooked up with Echo Canyon River Expeditions. I'm on the raft guide training course which doesn't guarantee employment but as long as I do alright I should get a job with them. So if you want to get some boarding or skiing in you've got two weeks left, the last day of the season is April 22nd. After that I think I'm hitting a road trip over to Tahoe, SF, LA and Vegas before getting back to Colorado and starting all the training for raft guiding on May 15th. So if you've missed the ski season (pretty much all of you) start booking your trip out here for some rafting. Check out the company website here http://www.raftecho.com/

Gaper day

April 1st is not only April fools day but its gaper day on the slopes. Basically all the locals dress up as gapers, wear snowblades and ski and act like idiots, oh and they also get hammered before, during and after. There's a lot of one-piece suits, neon makes and big showing and jeans tucked into boots all go well. Since loads of gapers come from Texas there's also a lot of cowboy hats, camo, and Texas shirts as well as all the hooting, hollering and yeah ha-ing that the Texans all seem to do whenever they get on lifts or pretty much do anything. Unfortunately I had to work but I was over at Rocky which is right next to Colorado where everyone was skiing. They were just doing laps and going through Freeway park. People were hitting the big kickers pulling massive 720's in neon. It was pretty funny watching people falling over and acting like idiots in the Colorado maze but it was pretty shity for the guys working there. It looked completely excesive and like it was over the top acting but the funny thing was that at work today I saw everything that they were doing in line. People fell over, got hit by chairs coming out late and did it all. The only difference was that on gaper day, nobody caused the lift to stop and ski patrol said that even though everyone was hammered and skiing like idiots, they had the fewest collisions on the slopes on gaper day. All I know is that if I ever get a chance to hit gaper day in the future I'[m going to be there in a neon one-piece with sweetness drinking some beers and having fun. Next year. Anyway, check out some photos here.

Gaper Day