Brown Chicken, Brown Cow…

…in a snow plow! 

That’s Hannah’s new slogan thing for getting into a snow plow. It’s much funnier having her say it herself, but it’s still funny if you ask me!

The last couple days have been a pretty good time. It’s been gorgeous outside, at least down here. From the reports I’ve been getting, the snow is better up top, but snow is still needed. This year has been a bit of an anomaly for Fernie in that we haven’t gotten much snow at all, even by regular resort standards, not to mention Fernie. Supposedly we’re going to get 30cm in the next week. To be honest, we’ve been hearing that the snow is coming all year long and it just hasn’t, so I’ll believe it when I see it. 

From that point of view, it’s not been a bad year to be injured, if there is such a thing. I’d still rather be skiing than anything else right now, but if it was dumping every day, then it’d be much harder to see everyone go out every day. On that same note, there have been quite a few injuries this year. At least 2 others have done the same thing (or similar) to their knee that I did, a couple shoulder injuries, wrists, ankles, and a couple back injuries that have sent people home for the year. Nothing terribly serious, everyone is going to be fine in time, but there have been an unusual amount of injuries this year. Most are saying that it’s due to the lack of snow, because we all know that more fluffy snow is better to fall into than hard packed icy crap. Nature of the beast, I suppose, but for the sake of everyone else, I’m hoping for a good dumping of snow. 

Back to the Level 1 party that I mentioned last time, there were indeed some naked table sliders. There were pictures, and even a video running around somewhere, I think. I won’t post any here, for your sake, but it was pretty funny stuff. I believe the end count was 4 people sliding, just in case you were wondering. 

 

Everyone had a great time and most people did pass their Level 1 tests. There were a few who didn’t pass, but for the most part, everyone did just fine. Those who didn’t do have another chance to re-take their tests, and I’m sure that the second time through they will get it with flying colors. 

The rest of that night went well with people heading over to the OGS for what turned out to be a pretty huge party. Most of the people there I knew, but there were a few new people and that was cool to meet them. 

 

Nonstop is cool enough to have a pretty good size movie room with a big flat screen TV and about 10 couches in there so we kind of took it easy and had a movie night Friday night. The movie room was absolutely packed and there were people sitting on the floor and stuff. Being injured, I got the big, comfy couch. I suppose injury has it’s advantages every once in a blue moon! It was nice to relax for a night in any case. Lots of people had Cat-skiing the next day, so most called it a night after that, but a couple of us stayed up for a second movie.

The reports from Cat-skiing were really good, a couple minor injuries, but all in all, everyone had a blast. People were absolutely exhausted that night, but that didn’t stop some good times from happening! 

Saturday night we had dinner out as a small group, which we actually haven’t done yet. Thus far, we’ve either eaten in the Lodge or made dinner somewhere else, so it was kind of nice so splurge a bit. We originally thought that we could eat at ‘El Guapo’, a little mexican place in a board shop called ‘Edge of the World’. I’d still like to eat there, everything looks really good, but we couldn’t get in there simply because it’s so small and there were already a few people in there. We ended up heading to the Pub to eat (yeah, the name of the place is The Pub) which was really nice. I had a “Pimped out Burger” and was pleasantly surprised. Malin’s dad and sister joined us as well, and it was nice to sit down and talk with them.

Malin’s dad was very interested in South Dakota, the ‘wild west’, indians and all of that, so it was cool talking to him and telling him about the history of the place and what it’s like there. I think that he might know more about South Dakota than me! He asked if I’d been to Mount Rushmore and Wounded Knee and Custer’s Last Stand and all of that stuff. It was cool to talk to someone so into it! And here I thought South Dakota was a place no one knew about!

After dinner we had a few drinks at the Pub and then headed to the Royal and eventually to the Fernie for the end of the night. I’m not sure what the deal was, but there was some pretty official karaoke going on there and one girl was singing nothing but country. No one else was into it, but I’m not going to lie, it was nice to get a little taste of home so far away. 

Instead of having Fat Tuesday, they have Pancake day on Tuesday across the pond, so we’re making them tonight because apparently we just can’t wait. They aren’t pancakes like we’re used to though, they’re more like crepes, which is fine with me, but they had me confused for the first few times they mentioned it. 

With us celebrating Pancake day tonight, that leaves Tuesday open for us to celebrate Fat Tuesday, which is good, because, you know, I like Fat Tuesday!

Alright, time to figure out how to make crepes… wish me luck!

Oh, I also put up a new ‘Header’ picture… it’s actually one I took awhile ago and just got around to putting it all into a panoramic. It’s from the top of the White Pass chair on an day with an epic view. I am working on getting a resized version uploaded onto flickr, so keep an eye out for that!

Now, about those crepes…

2 Down

…and 6 weeks to go until the brace comes off for good. 

I have moved into the Lodge, and now that I think about it the name is a little misleading in that it’s not much of a lodge at all, more of a hotel. That’s just fine with me, but I just wanted to clarify. I’ve moved into Tom and Adam’s room and it was very cool of them to let me crash here. It was a double room, but we’ve squeezed another bed in here, so now it’s a triple. It’s a little cramped on the far side, but it’s not too bad. 

I was a bit bummed out about the speed of the internet around here, because it’s known for being super slow, but the reality is that it’s only bad when everyone comes back from the hill and wants to check Facebook all at the same time. During the day and even later at night when people are starting to get to bed, it’s not too bad. Not OGS fast, but not too bad. 

Today is the day that a lot of people have been looking forward to, either in excitement, dread, anticipation, or all of the above. Today is the final day of Level 1 testing and they day they will find out if they’ve passed, or if they have to re-take the tests. The day ends a little early with people congregating at the Grizz Bar up on the hill where they will anxiously wait for the instructors to come back and present them with an envelope. If the envelope has a pin in it, then congrats, you’re now an instructor. If not, then better luck next time. Ether way, it’s going to be a rough Friday morning for a lot of people, if you know what I mean. There is a bit of a tradition, or so I’ve heard, that once you get your pin for passing, you’re supposed to clear off the bar so that you can run and slide on the bar top… naked. Now, whether this is true or not, I guess I’ll find out in about 6 hours. Honestly, I can’t decide whether I want to see that or not. I guess we’ll find out. 

There is a party at the OGS tonight of epic proportions. Supposedly lifties (the guys who run the lifts at the resort) have been asking Nonstoppers about this party. Apparently the entire town has heard about it, so it should be a good one. 

Unfortunately I have to cut this a bit short. Tom’s sister, Amy, is here to hang out and probably have some lunch. Afterwards it’s off to the Grizz, the celebration, and maybe some naked bar sliding. 

It’ll be entertaining if nothing else!

Keep it Loose, Keep it Tight

So with Valentines day here , you’d think I’d blog about that. You’d be wrong. The truth is that just shy of a million other bloggers are doing the same thing, so I am going to do my best to be original and come up with something else to blog about. Well, the originality thing and the fact that I’m not currently seeing anyone, and so the thought of Valentines day kind of sucks on this end. But it’s okay. I am more than content. It’s been a good Valentines day so far, and it’s practically halfway over.

We had pretty good day and quite the night last night. Tom’s Sister, Amy, came in from London last night to visit. She’ll be here for 10 days or so and then she has to head back. Malin’s Dad and Sister came in last night, but we didn’t get to meet them yet. All in good time, I’m sure. Nothing too spectacular last night, but there was a live DJ and live music as well… a good way to bring in V-day. Came back to the OGS, played a bit of the guitar and had me a video chat. 

Let me tell you about video chat. It’s pretty freaking awesome. The price of the Mac is worth it alone. I know that you can VC from a regular PC, but I’m pretty sure it’d suck somehow.  On a Mac, video chat is literally 3 clicks away. It’s just that simple… and awesome! There’s just something you miss in a phone call, and I’m not saying that you can get it all with a VC session, but you can get much closer. They say that over half of communication is done non-verbally, and I can totally agree with that. You get to see the persons expression on their face, from how sad they are to how funny they thought that really was. You get to actually see that smirk that you haven’t seen in a long time. There’s no more “Oh, I got this really cool *insert object here*… I wish you could see it!”. Just bring the thing in front of the camera, or better yet, bring your computer to it! I’ve given tours of my house with it and even taken a tour of someone else’s humble abode. It’s just good stuff. Throw in a little mobility and wireless internet is your new best friend. Personally, I’m a bit stuck at the moment, but you get the idea.

The other thing is that you can’t half-ass a video chat conversation. We’ve all been there, just saying “hmm….yeah?… cool… uh-huh…” and not really paying attention to what the other person is saying. But with video, there’s no more of that. You are forced to pay attention, and it makes for much better talks, believe me. Plus, awkward silences are more or less a thing of the past, because you can always stick your tongue out at them or play rock-paper-scissors.

Enough on that, just go get a means to video chat and a good internet connection. The only thing better is actually being there!

On the “Hey I tore my MCL” front, there isn’t a lot of news, honestly. I am looking into getting a second opinion because I’ve read some stuff online and it seems like my doctor is taking it pretty easy. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but I just want to be sure that I’m doing everything I can to get back on my feet as soon as possible. I have pretty much resigned the thought that I might ski again this year, but I just want to get off of these crutches. They are SO limiting, and it’d really be nice to have a little bit of my mobility back. I don’t want to push things, but I do want to get off of these. So yeah, that’s my new goal. 

1 week down though. It was last week Thursday when it happened, so actually it’s been a week and some change. 

The one good thing though is that I’ve had lots of time on my hands. I have been playing insane amounts of guitar, and I think I’m getting a bit better every day. Lots of new songs to learn… I am taking requests! I am also giving what’s turning out to be impromptu guitar lessons every once in awhile. It kind of starts out that someone just wants to learn one song, but then they want to learn another and before they know it, they are a guitar player and know quite a few. Hell, that’s how I started.

I’ve also had a lot of time to think about what’s going to happen next. I have decided to stay in Fernie for the rest of the course. I mean, I have 2 meals a day here, a bed, good company and wonderful scenery, so why wouldn’t I stay? About the time the course is over I should be back on my feet… maybe not 100% but I should be walking and driving, hopefully. After that, though, I really have no idea. Maybe I’ll still do the road trip that we had planned, sans the skiing on my part. Who knows. A lot of people are planning on coming back to Canada to instruct next season already, so maybe I’ll do the same. I might not be able to get my Level 1 until the start of the year next year, but I might be able to get another job around the resort while I work up to my Level 2 certification. Although that plan does leave an enormous hole called “Summer” in there where I still have no idea what I’m going to do. 

I don’t know. 

I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know. 

Oh well, It’s not like I don’t have time on my hands to figure it out. None-the-less, it’d be nice to have planned sooner rather than later.

EmSeeElle

I am out. 

I have a grade III MCL tear on my left knee. Not the thing you want to hear from the doc when you’re only 3 weeks into an 11 week long ski course. I have been here for 4 weeks or so, but the damage is done, and the ski season is over for me. 

The week started out very well with a bit of snow. Nothing too deep, but it was pretty cool to ski a little bit of powder in the morning before it was tracked out. Our instructor for the week was Bruno who is known for jumping everything in sight. He used to be the freestyle coach for Fernie, and so he’s still pretty in tune with that. I think he’s best described as a big little kid with ADD. He literally just keeps jumping off of anything with a lip. Another thing he is great at is picking a line. You can go to runs that you’ve skied a bunch of times and go once with Bruno and he takes a completely different and fun line that you didn’t even think about, or see for that matter. Bruno is plain fun to ski with! 

The first day was a day where we focused on another program called All Mountain Pro, which is another path you can take apart from taking your level II instructor. Bruno took us down some stuff that just plain scared the crap out of us, but it was good because we all came through it, and after looking back, we all thought “Wow, I can’t believe I just skied that!”. Kind of a trial by fire type of thing, but we all came out with much more confidence than we went in with. The next couple days were filled with much of the same. Not quite the same kind of terrain, but still having fun, jumping off everything, and improving every day. 

Thursday we headed to Kimberly resort. Kimberly is about an hour and some change away from Fernie. Everyone with Nonstop went, so there were 3 full buses going. Kimberly is a much smaller mountain than Fernie and it’s only got 3 lifts, 2 of which I’m pretty sure were built before WWII. It’s gets you up the hill though, so I suppose I can’t complain too much. The morning started off with a few mellow runs and then getting into some steeper stuff, nothing like Fernie, though. Kimberly just doesn’t have the same kind of terrain that Fernie does. 

After a long and filling lunch we headed back up the mountain for what would be my final run of the season. All morning we had been going under the main run. It’s long and has a good steepness to it with some good rollers in it as well. The day was pretty warm, and the snow was holding up well, a little sticky with a good base. Perfect for some fast hard carving, my favorite kind of skiing. We all stopped at the top and took in the amazing view that Kimberly offers and then we took off. 

 

The view from the top of Kimberly

 

 

I was loving it. The conditions were absolutely perfect and the run was ideal. I was pushing hard and smiling bigger. I carved hard right and went to switch edges to go hard left. Unfortunately when I did this I wasn’t prepared for just how hard my skis were going to hook up. It was just unreal how hard they turned and I was off balance. My lower body went left and my upper body kept going right and I went down hard. A split second before I hit the ground I looked up to see what I was headed for and saw a big, green floodlight post used to light up the run at night directly in my path. I knew right then that this wasn’t going to end well and that the only way I was going to miss it was by some divine intervention. 

The Divine did not intervene. 

I hit it. Hard. I’m pretty sure on my upper left leg, but I’m not positive. It happened pretty fast. I felt a pop and then a half second later, I felt a second pop. Somehow right then I new that my season was over, but I held out hope that it might be something I could walk off. Ski patrol came and they asked me how bad the pain was. To be honest, it wasn’t that bad. Just kind of a dull aching all over my knee area, so I told them a 3 of 10. It really wasn’t bad at that point. I took a ride in the sled down to the first aid patrol place and got checked out there. They called a cab and got me to the clinic in Kimberly, which was amateur hour to say the least. They didn’t have a splint. You’d think that’d be a pretty basic piece of medical equipment, but no. Not here. So I had to head to Cranbrook to the ER. Luckily one of the snowboard instructors, Meg, was heading there to talk to family, so her, Jenny (the ski host) and myself took off for Cranbrook. After checking in it took 6 hours before I was actually seen by a doctor, only to be given a splint, crutches, some pain killers and told to come back tomorrow. We were back in Fernie by 1 or so and I barely slept all night long. 

The next morning Tom drove me back to Cranbrook. The ER told me to be there by 10 so I could talk to the doctor before he had surgery. We were there at 10 and the doctor was already in surgery, so we checked in and went to lunch. After we got back, it was about 3 by the time I was seen. He told me that I have a grade III MCL tear (completely torn) and that I needed to stay in the splint 24/7 for the next 8 weeks. The he’d re-evaluate and see if I need surgery at that point. 6 to 12 months for a full recovery. 

Shit. 

I headed back to Fernie and the OGS pretty dejected to say the least. Tom dropped me off and I headed to bed. When I woke up I had a box of Oreo’s from a friend and a great note. I nodded back off and was woken up to a phone call from Tom letting me know that the entire OGS crew was outside waiting to come and see me.  I couldn’t have asked for a better crew to come and see if I was alright. Lots of hugs and concerned questions answered later, I got myself dressed for a nice dinner that they had all planned for us at the lodge. The dinner was mediocre, but the company was great. It was a great upper to end the shit show that was the last day or so. Last night there was the $10 party (you get 10 dollars to buy your entire outfit for the party) which I went to and sat in a corner for most of the night, but it was a great time and there was always someone hanging out. I was permanent DJ, I think! 

This morning most people were planning to head to the hill as it has snowed pretty hard last night (go figure… I get hurt and it starts snowing), but they found out that the queue at most of the chairs was over an hour long. No go. 

I had been planning on buying a guitar for the last few weeks, so a few of the OGS drove me to the music store and I brought up an Epiphone to the counter that I had had my eye on since I saw it. The guys then proceded to tell me that the entire OGS crew had chipped in and wanted to buy the guitar for me. I did my best to try and tell them that this was too much, but they told me that I didn’t have a choice. I honestly couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to be around. I owe these guys so much more than some money for a guitar. 

 

My New Guitar

 

 

I did sneak into the front of the line when we bought food for dinner tonight for everyone and managed to pay for that. It’s nowhere close to breaking even, but it’s a start. 

So tonight it’s curry with the best of friends. I’ve found so much more than a great place to ski here, I’ve found what I believe to be some of the greatest people around.

 

The OGS Crew (minus a couple!)