Adventures around the globe

2012-02-09T14:10:00.000-08:00

It's been another busy few weeks over here. I can now call myself a ski instructor as I completed my level 1 last week!! There might be an opportunity to teach a few classes as the resort begins to get busier again. It was a 4 day course, which surprisingly focused mainly on the participants own skiing. The idea is that they need to teach us good technique so that we can show students how to ski properly. Considering my last lesson was probably when I was 15 years old I learnt quite a lot about my own skiing.

Level 1 certificate with my instructor Jason and fellow participant Rod

A few friends and I headed to the states for a 2 day trip to another mountain called White fish. It wasn't as steep as Panorama but the views were amazing on the days we went. It was a good 5 hour drive with some early starts. The price of everything was also so much cheaper with $1 beer mondays at the pub we visited. I also played around more with the GoPro taking some pictures with it.

The starting line up at 4am about to head to the US border

A couple of shots with the GoProp above.

The group at White Fish summit. Amazing peaks in the background

Otherwise all is well in Canada. I'm planning a few trips to Whistle/Vancouver and Banff in the coming weeks to visit friends and family. Hope the summer is treating everyone well and will talk soon.

Ciao for now.

2012-01-24T23:24:00.000-08:00

Happy Australia Day!!! Everyone is getting excited about celebrating Australia Day away from home and plans underway for a great day. The hottest 100 will be playing in town so will be heading down town for the night to listen to triple J.

Over the last few weeks I have managed to get a few trips away. We went to Kicking Horse, which had 15cm of snow overnight so it was an awesome day. Managed to get to Banff for a night and see another town, which was nice after being in the same spot for the last 3 months!!

Taking a break with the fellows at Kicking Horse

Last week I took a 2 day introductory avalanche course. The first day involved the theory and youtube videos (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qVwIuznFW0) followed by a day in the backcountry learning how to navigate through and identify avalanches.

Hiking out into the backcountry for the avalanche course

Setting up avalanche test

Testing avalanche conditions

Practising digging someone out after an avalanche

One of my mates managed to get access to an ice fishing hut on the lake. So we organised a day and headed out onto the frozen lake for some ice fishing. We managed to catch a couple of fish and the bloke that owns the hut came down and gutted the fish, which we then cooked on the stove in the hut. A great Canadian tradition ticked.

Work is going well with the resort about to get busy with a few public holidays coming up. There is good snow forecasted through until mid feb so hoping for plenty of pow days coming up. Hope everyone is doing well and enjoys Australia day.

2012-01-09T21:28:00.000-08:00

Hi All, It has been a while since my last blog as the last few weeks have flown by. The resort has been very full over the Christmas period so I have been working many hours at the heli skiing restaurant. Christmas day was great spending it with mainly the snowmaking friends. Food was plenty and many drinks and laughs were had.

Christmas Dinner

I guess the biggest news since I last wrote was that I went heli skiing 2nd January 2012. It was an amazing day consisting of 6 runs through a glacier in the Canadian Rockies. The Helicopter took us about 60km away from Mt. Panorama. The day was a clear blue sky, which was great as I used my GoPro and made a video of the day, which is going to be put on the RK Heli Skiing website hopefully.

Heli Skiing Video Link (Copy into your internet browser to watch, Clicking link doesn't seem to be working at the moment)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTN8croGBuo

A photo taken by one of the heli ski guests

The other big news is I managed to get a job as a water ski instructor in a summer camp in the USA. Still need to do a bit of practice water skiing but how hard can it be? A mate from college had a contact at the summer camp as he had done it for the last two years so I was fortunate to bypass the normal application process. The camp is in Wisconsin for 9 weeks starting at the beginning of June. The camps are for kids between 7-15 with 2 camps lasting 4 weeks each. I will be a boat driver and teacher for the waterski activities at the camp along with about 5 other people. My plan at this stage is to travel after the Canadian winter down the west coast of the states, through the south and then up the east coast to New York and then the summer camp in June. Plans are starting to develop about the route and I am looking forward to some sun in the states.

The new camera is going well and I managed to burrow someones tripod and take some night pictures around the resort. The picture below is just after I finished work at the restaurant.

Choppers Restaurant - Practicing some slow shutter speed pictures

That is about it for the moment. I hope everyone is doing well around the world and look forward to hearing stories of what you are up to.

2011-12-18T16:22:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-12-03T14:11:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-21T11:12:00.001-08:00

Day 23

Well I have now settled into the snowmaking lifestyle. Going into the 4th week of snowmaking and temperatures are starting to drop as low as -25 degrees. We have now made 4 runs and moving up the hill to work on runs that will lead to the summit. The other night we had a nice 25cm dump of fresh powder, which has meant a lot of digging hoses and snow guns.

Commuting to work

Matt from Ireland

We have had about 4 staff ski days, which has been good as I managed to find a pair of old rental skis and boots and hit the slopes for the first time for the season. I also picked up a board, boots and bindings for a steal so I am ready to hit the slopes with the board tomorrow!

Hanging out with Doug from Scotland

My new board ready for the slopes

I have had a few more opportunities to play around with the new camera. There have been some professional stunt ski-doo drivers at the resort for the last few days getting ready for a competition.

Hitting the jumps hard

The fan guns that will put snowmakers out of a job!

Most of the staff will be arriving at the end of this week, which everyone is looking forward to as it has been very quiet on the mountain with minimal staff working. Some resorts have already opened but Pano is still scheduled for 9th December although staff get to ride a lot of the days to get the slopes ready for the guests.

For now that's about it. Hope everyone is safe around the globe and look forward to hearing what you are up to.

2011-11-09T13:41:00.000-08:00

Day 11

Well I am finally here after 72 hours of planes, buses, taxies, cousins and a friendly family from Holland I made it to Mount Panorama. It has been a quick change working in Perth, Australia on Thursday (a nice 25 degrees) to working in Mt. Panorama, Canada (a nice -10 degrees).

I am working as a snowmaker working shifts 4pm - midnight, which is much better than the midnight - 8am shift! I think I am quite lucky with my shift as I get to ski all day, work in the evenings and then have a few knock off beers at the local. I am working in a team of 4 with irish/english/scottish nationalities and a relaxed Canadian supervisor. To make snow it is basically mixing pressurised air (150 psi) and pressurised water (600 psi). After a week of work we have nearly completed two runs, which is probably the equivalent of 3 burke streets at Mount Buller.

Taking a break during work

Checking the guns to make sure they are making snow

The scenery is pretty spectacular up here with many of the trees changing colour. I have been told different stories about the yellow pine trees below. Some people have told me that the yellow trees are dying from an imported asian insect while others have told me it's just the changing of the seasons. Either way I got to try out my new Nikon SLR camera.

I have Friday and Saturday off so I hiked up the mountain on one of my days off. After 2.5 hours I made it half way up to the submit and realised how good it will be once the powder starts falling.

Checking out the slopes on my day off

I found a deserted hut on the slopes to have lunch with a nice view

Tomorrow there is going to be a staff ski day to get the slopes ready for the 100+ professional skiers that arrive next week for pre-season training. So it is the first chance to get on the slopes and brush away those cobwebs. The plan this season is to buy a snowboard and learn how to board properly so theoretically I will be able to ski and board by the end of the season!

Hope everyone is doing well around the globe.