its dumping fresh

Well we've finally got some snow. It's dropped about a foot over night and today and hopefully it continues on through tonight because I've got two days off coming up. It's time for some freshie pow pow. I'll try and take a few pics and post them.

Gapers

Alright, so I was finishing work with Nathan, a guy from Wales on our team, and we were just leaving the lift shack about to put our boards on and head home when this guy sitting in the middle of the run with one ski yells out "Are you guys leaving?"
"Yes, the lifts closed"
"Oh, can you help me out?"
"Sure, where do you need to go?" Assuming that the guy just needed directions to get down the mountain.
"I lost my ski just up there, can you help me look for it?"
"Err, ok, where did you lose it? Where do you think it is?"
"I feel just up in those trees and the ski came down this way." Pointing a little bit up the hill.
Ok , so we can help out this guy for a minute or two. So we hike over and start going up the hill where he was pointing. "Where did you fall again?"
"Oh, it was a bit further up, higher and to the left of where you are." At this point I look back and the guy is just lying in the snow looking up at us. I figured that he'd come up and help out and point out where he had fallen and where he thought his ski went, but no, he just lay in the snow and waited for us to find his ski. So at this point I said "Hey, can you come up here and show me where you fell and where the ski went?" So he gets up and takes a few steps.
"I fell just up there, a bit higher than you are."
I was now a hunderd yards (meters) up the slope from him in the trees. "So how did you get down there from where you fell?"
"I fell, stumbled and crawled on one ski."
"And you didn't follow your ski or see where it went?"
"It went off somewhere down there." Really helpful stuff.
Now we've got to get down to another lift before it closes so we can get home so we give up trying to find this gapers ski. Then this guy says "I can't ski home with just one ski, I'll need soome help." So we call up the ski patrol to pick him up but we have to wait around till they come. Ten minutes later the ski patrol roll up with a snow mobile and take this guy away and we cruise down to the lift we're supposed to get. They've already called last lift so we get the only bonus from the whole experience, a ride on a snow mobile home. That was pretty fun but this fucking gaper pissed me off. He just expected us to romp around the whole slope and find is ski for him as he sat in the snow like a beached whale. Fucking gapers.

Gaper definition for those who don't know

Johnny B

So there's a liftie thats on my team whos been working out here in Breck bumping lifts for 22 years and 2 years before that in a little palce in Canada. Basically he's a legend on the mountain. Here he is in the middle of this picture between my room mate John and Kristen.

Like I said he's a legend and here's a little video of him describing a couple fat people trying to get on the lift when we were working together. Enjoy.

New ride

So I finally got round to picking up a new ride. Here it is, a Rome Agent 158 with Burton Cartel bindings. I got an afternoon of riding on her today. I got to sort out my stance but she rides like a dream. All I need now are some new boots.

Mountain pics

So I finally took my camera out on the mountain and took a few photos. But you only get a few because the battery is so crap that it dies after couple of photos, especially in the cold. Anyway, enjoy.

First Breck pics

Space available

One couch, not sure how comfortable but located in Breck, going on a first come first served basis

wired

We finally got the internet hooked up in our place out here so hopefully I'll be able to post thigns a bit more frequently now. I've got a few stories that I'll put up soon and hopefully start taking some photos and videos of all the action out here. So keep checking back.

Vail today

So I'm almost all setup. The last piece in the puzzle is the internet connection, which should come through tomorrow. So then I'll be able to update everything and stay in touch a bit better.

Apart from that I took the shuttle over to Vail today and rode the whole mountain, or as much as I could. It's quite big with tons of terrain. The back bowls are really pretty good but there wasn't really enough snow to cover the moguls. So pretty much everywhere I went there were bumps and with a bit of fresh on them. But even so its still pretty sweet and it seems to get a bit more snow than we do so its generally better.

I'll get a bit better update later in the, week once I have the internet connection hooked up. There a re a couple of good stories from the last week that I want to pass on, so stay tuned.

Finally settled

So I've finally got a home. After a week of staying in hostels and couch surfing a space opened up in employee housing. It's a massive relief as you could probably tell from my previous posts. Right now I've got to go hit the mountain but when I get set up with the internet at my place I'll post a few more things. But for now Casa Dr Nick is open for couch surfing so if anyone wants to come out just let me know and I'll book teh couch for you.

Boarding

Well, I've been out a couple days on the mountain and I've got tomorrow off so that will be another day on the slopes. The mountain is pretty good there's a lot of good terrain and a nice variety of slopes. We do need some more snow but we had a bit last night and we're getting a bit more tonight so hopefully tomorrow will be good. Cruising through the parks is quite good for watching. There are quite a few pro boarders out here so you do get to see some pretty amazing tricks. Shawn White is supposed to have a house out here and he's been seen out on the mountain a few times since I've been here.

Actually, on the lines of my previous post, I think I'll just stop here because I can't really think well enough to write anything very interesting or entertaining. I'll try and take some pictures tomorrow and show you what it looks like out here.

Not so easy living

So I've been out here for a week now, I've started up my job as a liftie but I still haven't found a place to live ... and its starting to wear me down. As you all heard (if you bothered reading my previous posts) my journey out here was pretty rough. I got about 3-4 hours of bad sleep each night for 3 nights in a row. Then when I got here I've been staying in a hostel in a dorm room so the sleep hasn't been that good either. Being kept awake by people snoring and getting up in the middle of the night. Then I've had to start work at 7:00am the last 2 days, so getting up at 6:00am. I've just not really been eating that well, not getting good rest and either boarding or working all day. So basically I'm running my batteries down. I just need to find a place to live and settle down. Then I can start buying good food and cooking it, sleeping well and just get unpacked a bit so I can sort my self out. Hopefully something comes up soon. I'm going to try and get into employee housing tomorrow but I'm not too excited about it. It probably means living with a bunch of 18 year old who just want to party all the time. It would be just like Bodington Hall again. Oh well, I can't really be too picky. My reservation runs out in a couple of days so I might be crashing couches after that. So its all a bit crap on that front but bottom line is that I'm out here for the season and I'll sort something out, it just might not be that easy, nice or convenient.

First day on the slopes

So I've had three days of training (Mon-Wed) with a day actually working the lifts. But today was a day off and I finally hit the mountain. I cruised the whole place with a guy who also just started as a liftie. We hit up the whole place and tried to get a few runs on every lift. The snow was pretty hard and icy and the wind picked up towards the end of the day. So the conditions aren't the best and we could really do with some snow but there's supposed to a storm coming in this weekend so maybe we'll be alright. Anyway, I'm boarding tomorrow and then I've got to work over the weekend, but tonight its Ullerfest and the town is going to party so we'll see whats happening.

A couple more pictures

I've just added pictures from my trip out to Breck in my California photo album, nothing too interesting just a couple of pictures. Here's the updated link again.

California, and out to Breck

... and when the dog is sick?

... So we headed out to get some breakfast. It looked like the roads weren't going to open anytime soon and if I couldn't get hold of the Greyhound station on the phone to check the road conditions and I didn't want to keep having to return to the station just to be told that buses weren't running. On the way we decided to look into flights and with a little help from my friends I managed to get a flight out to Denver that afternoon. So it was a quick move away from the dregs at the dogtrack and up scale to the airport. This is when it paid off making sure I had my bags with me at all times and also making the decision to catch up with friends and not just plow on ahead to Vegas. All of a sudden things were looking a lot better and life was much more pleasant. Apart from the fact that I missed my flight because there was a massive line at checkin, it was all good. I was going to fly on stand by an hour or so later and get out to Denver that night, Saturday (I had started travelling Thursday evening and was originally supposed to get into Breckenridge Saturday midday-ish). The only problem now was that I had called up my hostel and said I was delayed and moved my reservation. So I no longer had a place to stay Saturday night. Oh well, at least my big bags were checked in so I didn't have to deal with them any more and I was hanging out at LAX and not the Greyhound station.

I got out to Denver by 8:30pm, but my big backpack wasn't on my flight. It was waiting out in Salt Lake City since I missed my original flight and it went on a different plane to me, which was starnge since my board bag had made it out with me. Anyway, it was going to be delivered out to Denver in the morning. This worked since I didn't have a place to stay for the night so I may as well crash in the airport, wait for my bag to arrive in the morning, then head out to Breck. The airport was pretty quiet. I chilled in a bar. I'm not sure if the bar tender was just stupid or it was his first day on the job or what because he was useless. Anyway, I started getting tired and decided to look for a place to bed down. It was the typical airport with all the seats having arm rests so you couldn't stretch out and sleep on them. So another night of shitty no sleep, the third in a row, bedding down on the floor of the airport. After waking up I decided to have a proper walk around the airport, and guess what I found? Couches without arm rests, the perfect kind for crashing on. That pissed me off, oh well what can you do.

So my bag arrived from Salt Lake City fine and I finally had all my stuff and I just had to get out to Breck. I had two choices, either bus into Denver to the Greyhound station then bus up to Frisco (my original destination) and then another bus out to Breck ... or an airport shuttle that would take me straight there. The plus side of the mulitbus route was that it would be cheap and I might be able to try and get some sort of refund for my unused Greyhound tickets at the Denver station, but the obvious draw back that I'd be riding the dog again. The airport shuttle would be quick and easy but cost more money. The choice was simple, I had learned the first time, fuck the dogs, hit the shuttle. So I pulled out the plastic and charged it up and hopped on the shuttle out to Breck. I was in town by noon, checked into my hostel and ready to rock and roll.

I've just had a quick wander around town and checked it out. I've got my first day of work tomorrow (mainly orientation and paper work type stuff I think). The only problem on the horizon now is my accomodation. I still need to find a more permanent place to stay. Its worse than just not having a permanent place to stay, my hostel is fully booked next Saturday, and that doesn't include me, the fun and games continue.

So what did I learn? Greyhound sucks, well actually I don't think I'm completely put off riding the dog. I think its fine if you want to save money and know what you're getting into. I just ran into problems with the weather, so maybe its only for fare weather trips. Apart from the delays, I was expecting the actual experience on the bus and in the station to be much worse than it was, it really wasn't that bad. Also, always keep your bags with you and try not to let them get out of your eyesight. And finally, always take the time to catch up with friends and keep in touch. Goods friends are something for which you can never find a substitute.

Riding the dog...

... or being riden by the dog.

Ok, so I finally made it to Breck, but it didn't all go to plan ... suprise, suprise.

So my parents dropped me off at the Oakland Greyhound station on Thursday night at 10:00pm for the bus down to LA. That part went fine. I sorted out my oversize baggage with the bagggage handler, Thaddeus. He was really cool. An old black guy who was into music and was telling me about all the concerts he had been to. People like Jimi Hendrix and all sorts like that. All of a sudden all my preconceptions of Greyhound being shitty were put aside and I figured I could actually have a decent trip. It's amazing how much good people can brighten your mood. So I was scheduled for the 11:30pm bus but there was onre leaving at 10:30pm and Thaddeus got my stuff on that, thinking that was the bus I was scheduled for. I didn't want my stuff to go without me so I was keeping an eye on it and saw what happened. Since my stuff was already on the bus and there was still space ln it I hopped on the earlier bus and got down to LA at 5:30am after a night of crap sleep. That was the first and one of best lessons from this trip, keep an eye on your stuff and always keep it with you.

So I was in LA and waiting at the Greyhound station. My bus left at 11:00am so I had a few hours to kill. No one I knew in LA was free to meet up so I was on my own. And thats when things started going wrong. There was a bunch of bad weather in Utah and Colorado, high winds, blizzards and the such. So the buses couldn't run beyond Las Vegas and since tons of people trying to get out through the mountains were already clogging up the Las Vegas station they werren't letting anyone on the Vegas buses unless that was their final destination. So I was stuck in LA, indefinitely because they had no idea when the roads would open and didn't really have a clue about anything overall. So I was stuck in the LA bus station, soaking up the atmosphere.

I was getting used to the station life and was settling in, but it wasn't nice. I hadd just got into that travelling routine and mindset so I was just going with the flow. I had made sure I got my bags off the bus and were with me. The good thing was that at least I knew where they were and they weren't being sent off around the country without me but it also meant I had a maasive board bag and massive backpack to keep an eye at all times. This meant leaving the bus station was out of the question because I wasn't going to lug them around more than 10m let alone around downtown LA. Even things like taking a piss or getting food had to be carefully considered. But all went well on the bag safety front and I survived the day. Only one person tried to scam me, a guy who tried to get $7 out of me to help him make up the last bit of money to get a ticket out to a family funeral or some story like that. Its the kind of story I've heard in bus stops all over the world when I've been travelling. I'm pretty sure he was scaming me but it really pissed me off because he tried to guilt me into giving him the money by using the racism card. Then there was also the white guy who, apart from having painted his face black with what looked like shoe polish, looked generally sketchy and tried to start something by asking me "Do you have a problem?" So there was some local colour in the station, but thats to be expected when you ride the dog, and I survived, character building and all that.

So I knew I was being delayed and called Ali to see what he was up to in the evening and see if I could crash at his place while waiting for the roads to clear. He was finishing work around 6:00pm so he was going to come by the Greyhound station and pick me up. But just before this the shift had changed at Greyhound and the new people working were going to let me on the 6:00pm bus to Vegas. I thought that I should push it and basically get as close to Denver as possible then as soon as the roads opened I could be on the first bus out. So it was quite a delema, should I get on the bus and get out to Vegas, crash out there and party it up a bit or chill in LA, catch up with a few friends and potentially miss a weather window on the roads. I went with option 2 so I could catch up with friends, which turned out to be far superior on many fronts.

So Ali came to pick me up and I was going to crash at his place for the night. A bunch of other people were going round to Estevans house in Long Beach so we rolled out to that in the M5, oh what a nice machine, and I caught up with a good bunch of people in LA that I wouldn't have seen otherwise. We played some wii and fooseball before calling it a night and heading home to crash out. In the morning I kept trying to get hold of the Greyhound station to see if buses were running out to Colorado but they didn't seem to believe in answering phones and I never managed to get through to anyone. I knew there was a 10:00am bus so the only thing to do was load up and cruise out to the bus station again and actually ask them. The roads were still closed so we deicided to take off and get some breakfast and figure out what to do ...

California dreaming

So I've been back in California for about 4 weeks, and its been interesting. I always have loved the Bay Area and would love to live here. I always had a fond longing to return. I imagined being back here with all my friends and being able to enjoy the amazing outdoors that are on your doorstep here. The mountains for snowboarding, climbing, backpacking and camping. You have the ocean for surfing and sailing. Great rivers for paddling. The good weather which means you can do everything year round. Just about anything and everything you want. But as the years went by I realised more and more that this was all just a dream. First off, most of my friends have moved away from the bay and altough I still have good friends here it will never be how I remember it with everyone just hanging out. Second, although I could convince my friends here to do outdoor stuff, its not as big in their lives as it is for me, so although there are tons of natural resources I'd have to make more friends to properly use them. And the third point of practicality is that I would find it quite difficult to get a job here. The is no car stuff here and I don't have any contacts. It might take a year or more to get a good job I want. So for all these reasons I fully realised that although I had a strong emotional attachment for the Bay Area I always knew that my future (at least for the next few years after I finish having fun) is in England.

What I didn't realise was the strength of my attachment to California. In the last few weeks I've really loved being here and could see how cool it would be to live in SF and have a bit of a city life during the week and escaping to the mountains on the weekends. Chillin with the boys in the city, going to the Cal football games. It would be a nice life. And it really surprised me how much I could get over my objective mind (which is telling me to go back to England) and paint this wonderful canvas of life out here. Almost to the point of actually starting to think of the logistics involved in being out here. It's amazing to see how easily I could conjure up an argument to stay.

But regardless of all this I'm leaving again. I have a job out in Breck and I'm getting on the Greyhound tonight for a 30 hour epic bus ride, yup, I'm "riding the dog" out there. I'll let you know how the trip goes with my next post. Highlights to include a 3 hours transfer in downtown LA and a 1 hour stop in Las Vegas.

Vegas baby, VEGAS!

Tahoe, first snow

So I went up to Tahoe for the day to get some boarding with my dad. We went up with Ed Lane, a friend's dad so I was chillin the slopes with the cotton tops. We hit Sugar Bowl and had a pretty good day. It was certainly a nice first day of the season for me. Now I'll hit Breck with some snow under the board and be flying from the start. Anyway, I put up a few pictures from my few days back home. I guess it made me realise two things putting together this album. First, I need to take my camera out more often and take more pictures, and second, I should have got out and done more. Oh well, enjoy, cause tomorrow the epic properly begins, Breck Baby! (after 30 hours on a bus, if it doesn't get stuck in the snow).

California, and out to Breck

Happy new year

Well I hope everyone had a good new year. After having a few nice new years in the last couple of years I went back to having a bit more random and interesting times. It turns out that most of my friends aren't in town for new years so I ended up going party hopping with a couple of friends. It bascially meant that we cruised around to a bunch of different parties where I didn't know anyone. I soon found the most entertaining game to play was the classic "talk shit and see what you can make people believe" I just so happen to have a bit of an advantage because I can now switch between an english and californian accent pretty easily. So if I went with the english accent anyone would believe anything I said because they were so impressed I was english. The classic was that I was an actor and my next role had me playing an english spy so I was staying in character and I had an agent named Chad and the later it got the more intricate and complex the story became. Anyway, it certainly povided plenty entertainment. I recommend you try it some time.

Apart from that, I'm just about finished with my corrections, maybe today or tomorrow I'll have it all sorted. I'm going up to Tahoe on Wednesday for a day boarding with my dad and a friends dad then Thursday night I start my 30 hour epic to Colorado.