Merry Christmas to all. Hope everyone is getting ready for a fun day of turkeys and flaming fruit cakes. We will probably go over to a snowmakers house for Christmas lunch. It doesn't feel like Christmas with all this snow around.

Another great sunset on my last snowmaking shift.

It's official...I get to go heli skiing and apparently sooner rather than later. They want the servers and bartenders to go heli skiing so we can talk about it with guests. Talking to people that did it last year they got to go between 3-6 times so fingers crossed there will be some cancellations. They usually charge around $1000 for a day trip so I am very lucky to get it for free.

Probably not my best pour of the night.

I gave myself an early Christmas present and bought a waterproof HD video recorder (GoPro) that you can stick to your helmet. My aim is to get a video uploaded for Christmas so I can show everyone the hill that I am skiing. The camera has a fish eye lens so it captures the slopes very well.

Warning signs at the summit

There is an avalanche course that runs in January, which I am looking at doing. The course consists of a theory day and then a day out in the field.

Getting down through the trees

Taking a break near the summit

Anyway that's all for now. Looking forward to a white Christmas and plenty of powder days on the hill. Hope everyone is doing well and will hopefully speak to a few of you on Christmas day.

Well I've been in Canada for a month now and things are starting to get busy around the resort. The rest of the staff arrived this week so staff accommodation is full to the brim...many many Aussies, Kiwis and English.

There has been a lot of natural snow early this season so the resort has allowed some snowmakers to find other jobs before the end of our contract (6th Jan). I was one of the lucky ones and found a job working as a part time bartender, which will start next week. The restaurant/bar is part of the Heli Skiing tours so fingers crossed I will get a few free trips up in the helicopter. Last year the bartenders got about 4 rides but it has changed hands this year so will have to wait and see if there are any perks...hopefully there might be a few cancellations.

So my snowmaking career is over before it began with my last two shifts coming up. I'll have to give up the perks of riding ski-doos and playing with tiger torches.

Defrosting a gun with a tiger torch

Sunsetting at the start of my shift

Panorama Resort is about 20km from Invermere, which is a town of about 3,500 people. It has a big lake, which freezes over during winter and I am hoping to do some ice fishing.

Playing around with the camera on the lake