Dude, Where's My Snowboard?: My snow-called life!

(big ups to AlexFromBournemouth for the title - nice one boyo!)

Well, this is probably getting a little repetitive for you lot now, but take a wild guess... go on. We dare you....

Yup, it is STILL snowing!

Needless to say we've been taking full advantage and have been for not one, but TWO big hikes up the mountain - it's absolutely knackering but totally worth it. When you think that a five minute chairlift ride takes about an hour to walk, in deep snow, carrying boards and rucksacks, you get an idea of how puffed out we both are at the top, but the ride down is worth it!

The first long hike we did was on Sunday. We got to the car park, to find about 15 other cars there - a busy day, then! The powder was knee deep at the base, but the snowcats had bashed the side of one of the runs which made the walking a bit easier on compact snow. We were soon joined on our solitary walk by about 20 other assorted skiers, hikers, telemarkers, boarders and doggies! It made for a great atmosphere with everyone chatting, laughing, and encouraging each other up the side of the steep slope. With a few water and chocolate stops, we made it to the top and were astounded to see those crazy Canadian locals hiking even further up. To be honest, there has been so much snow that we would be foolish to go much further. We don't have avalanche transceivers and we don't know the conditions or the mountain as well as the locals.

Hammo came with us to the top, bearing in mind he's never set foot on a snowboard before. Everyone steamed off, leaving me and him behind, so I figured no-one was going to give him any pointers - the general bit of advice seemed to be "Just point the board down, dude!". I spent a few minutes explaining where his weight should be and what his stance should be like, but he didn't need any of it. He executed a textbook heel to toe turn within the first second, and carried on at some speed, tearing past everyone else. Sickening!

The ride down was worth all the effort on the hike up. I still find riding in deep powder extremely hard work, so I dipped in and out. There were a few handmade jumps (kickers) on the way down which the boys were keen on taking, but they were a tad huge for my liking. Maybe next time! ;-)

We had a rest day yesterday. Well, I had a rest. Jethro went over to the boys house and built an 8ft kicker in their back garden. I was extremely glad I stayed at home though, as I got a visitor in the form of Lisa from the Powderroom forum. She's just arrived for the season so it's great to meet her and show her around a bit.

Today was another snowboarding day, particularly as we got another few centimetres of wonderful light powder overnight and the skies were blue this morning. We loaded up the van with a bunch of friends and drove up to the hill, nearly being anihilated by two massive logging trucks who thought it would be fun to overtake us. The truckers around here are NUTS. They drive so fast on icy roads, but I guess they're carrying a heavy load so they don't need to worry about skidding off to the side. They're either speeding, or stopping to let you cross the road! Crazy. Jethro drove up the hill beautifully. His driving skills on the snow are getting better by the day.

We did a different hike today, and got halfway up to see the chairlift above us was suddenly operational with two guys sitting on it. Thinking we'd just knackered ourselves out for nothing, we despaired. But we soon found out that they were engineers going up the top, and no-one else was allowed which made us feel a bit better.

Again, the effort to hike up paid off, and the snow was soft and fluffy and WONDERFUL on the ride down. It was much quieter today and we met some nice locals on the way up. One chap was telling us that he does all his skiing pre-season as he works as a CAT operator during the winter. He prefers to hike the mountain when it's empty! We asked him how far he was going and he told us he was going to the rock line, so he had a good three hours to go. Superfit!

By the time we rode down, I was somewhat tired and had the genius idea of building the World's Smallest Kicker TM so I could practice my jumping skills. Sarah joined me, to practice her turns, but ended up going over my jump a few times which was very impressive as she's another beginner. Jethro and the others sessioned a larger kicker at the top of the slopes and came down to join us. I am pleased to report that I got much bigger air of my baby kicker than Jethro did!

Well, we've just got out of the hot-tub (world's best invention) and had some scrambled egg. It's Wings Night at The Pub tonight - 30 cents for a chicken wing, so we're heading there later to sink some beer and have a good natter about the epic powder day we just had. Life is good.

Matt, me, Sarah, Peta and Hammo