Area 51

Sorry about the cryptic entry title above, but I just noticed that my last post breached the 50 posts mark, and I totally forgot to make any mention of it! So here we go with my 51st.

Things are going pretty good right now. Summer is here with a vengeance. In fact with even more of a vengeance than most of the locals expected, with unusually high temperatures. After a miserable few weeks that meant still getting wrapped up in all the winter gear at work, the sun has definitely got his hat on. For about the past week there have been temperatures of 30 degrees plus each day, accompanied with cloudless blue skies.

This has called for lots of chilling, although it can be pretty difficult to chill when it's as hot as this. Some time has been spent at Lost Lake, with the warm temparatures meaning that you can walk around and swim comfortably with only boardies on well into the evening. Well, as long as you can avoid the mosquitoes.

Lots of time has been spent at Merlins, with it being situated conveniently at the bottom of the slope on the return from work. Since my house is further away from work than most other people's, Merlin's proximity has meant that some nights I go there straight from work whilst other's go home and change. When people return an hour later, I've normally had a beer or two and then I crash out by 10pm! I'd like to emphasise that there hasn't yet been any cases of drinking alone though!

Work is good. I'm getting into the rhythm of being a lead hand, and quite enjoying the early starts. Apart from anything else it's the only cool part of the day, and you get to meet your neighbours, such as the local bears, coyotes and marmots crossing your path. Although I've seen hundreds of bears now (The mother and cubs are pretty cute!), it's still pretty thrilling when you get one crossing the road, turning and looking you in the eye in front of you!

I still get a thrill from being here in the mountains. My colleague Amelia today commented on the fact that it's pretty easy to start taking this place and the surroundings for granted. Which is definately true. I've probably been up mountains in one form or another well over a hundred days so far this year, and it can be easy to just go up, do your days work and not really think about it. However, working on the 7th Heaven chair which ascends to 2200m or so, it really does pay to take a step back and just look at the amazing place you're in. When you think that you're getting paid (Admittedly not much!) to not really do much work in these amazing surroundings, you can't really complain. The views I had this morning were incredible, and I have to think that not a huge many people are able to get views like this, from 2000m up a mountain, watching the sun rise at 6am. It really is gonna be strange being away from the mountains when I leave, and finally not having the option to go ride my snowboard if I want to.

It's strange as well seeing photo's from earlier in the year, seeing all the snow all the way down to village level. I do miss the snow, and although there's so many more things to do here in the summer than the winter, I still yearn for a 30cm powder day, charging down through the trees on 7th Heaven, or dropping into Harmony or West Bowl on Whistler.

It's going to be difficult to tear myself away!

Bouncy Bouncy

Following the previous days introspectiveness, and then the memorials call to do things you want to do, and not let them pass you by, it was last Friday I decided to finally give downhill mountain biking a go.

All I can say is that I would be hooked if I could afford it!

After getting fully kitted out with shin and knee pads, elbow and arm pads, and a full on helmet, I was finally given the most glamorous piece of kit, a $5500 Kona mountain bike. I have to say now (For Rik's benefit!) that it wasn't a big red bouncy bike as depicted in the previous blog, but was in fact a bouncy green bike. In all other ways though it was the same bike as that shown.

It really is pretty strange trying to get used to riding it to start with. Just riding over to the bottom of the lifts (About 50 yards) you notice yourself bouncing up and down whilst you pedal. You also soon notice (By dint of nearly going over the handlebars just slowing down!) that the brakes are pretty good, being disc brakes all round.

The next challenge was getting on the damned lift. Most people seem to have a method of just pushing it straight on, but not being quite so proficient I ended up just carrying it and dropping it into the relevant slots! Luckily it didn't fall off as all the lifties were previous colleagues, and so messing up in front of them would have been seriously embarassing.

With the lift system, the bikes go in special bike racks that have replaced the chairs that used to be there. You then follow the bikes up on the next chair, and the lifties at the top grab the bikes and hand them to you as you get off the chair. Seeing as I knew the lifties working that day pretty well, that gave them free reign to grab my bike before I could get off the chair and have a little ride around on it, as I wait for them to return to sight!

As for the actual experience of downhill biking, all I can say is that it's awesome fun. Even on the green beginner trails I started on, I had such a blast. These trails were generally pretty mellow, but steep and narrow enough to give you a blast, with numerous high speed corners and dips, followed by switchback after switchback, all of which had big berms built around the sides to charge around.

I even managed to graduate up to the blue intermediate trails, and relatively famous ones at that, such as Heart of Darkness, Fantastic, Crank It Up and best of all B-Line. B-Line is great, with superb single track winding through some pretty dense forest, before wide open rough rocky stretches where you reach top speeds whilst still bouncing around. I even managed to gain enough confidence to get tiny amounts of air on Heart of Darkness and Crank It Up. H of D was probably my favourite trail. After a few scary jumps I took it easy on, theres a nice easy drop that I found it ok to get air on, and this awesome bit where it's pretty narrow single-track, a small cliff on your left, and a big drop on your right down to Fitzsimmons Creek about 50 yards below. It certainly gets your adrenalin going.

These kind of faster tracks were more to my liking. I did try it down two other intermediate trails, Ho Chi Minh and Devils Club. Both were very tight and technical, over tree roots and the like, and due to the torrential rain the night before, they were pretty damn difficult. Especially Devils Club, as there was also some super narrow boardwalk section, some of which where pretty steeply downhill, and slightly of camber. Of course, in such wet conditions it was near impossible to slow down, as too much of the back brake meant that the tail started sliding off the edge of the boardwalk, and the front brake was a complete no-no. This was the only trail that made me fall. Of course I managed to fall right onto a little spiky tree stump, giving me a big bruise and a dead leg for the afternoon!

All in all it was ace, and it exercised muscles I didn't remember having. I wish in one way that I hadn't had a go at it till the week before I left, cos then it wouldn't be there tempting me to have another go. All day yesterday I kept thinking of the trails, and thinking how I could improve my technique, despite knowing that I wouldn't be having another go in a while.

Still, with my improved pay, hopefully I will be doing it again before I leave. I'll try and make sure someone is there to take photo's this time though!

In Memoriam

Things have got better since my last post. As you may have been able to tell, the last blog was written on the day that I was told about the accident, and obviously it was pretty horrific and hard to grasp at first. Following that, there were two days of thought and reflection, before a moving memorial set up by the mountain management.

On the evening after the accident, there was an improptu gathering of lifties in Merlins, toasting Josh and Ben's lives and generally just having a get together to chat about things and support each other. If anything, this kind of brought events home, and made us realise fully what had happened, especially with Josh's fiancee out that night.

The next two days were pretty introspective. I helped out some guys putting together a slide show for the memorial on one day, and the next I pretty much spent the entire day inside thinking about things.

The memorial was on Thursday night, and was in Rebagliatti park, a pleasant spot beside Fitzsimmons Creek. It was well attended, with nearly all of the current lifties, and some past lifties who had known the two guys. Music was played, and memorials were read out. It was pretty hard listening to some of them, especially from the brother of Ben, and Josh's dad and fiancee, but they were pretty inspiring. There was an account of the day the accident happened from one of the Ski Patrollers on duty, which was incredibly powerful, as it gave enough detail withoug going too far. It was especially moving as he told people "If you decide to go up the hill to the site where it happened, don't look down into the trees, look at the view they would have seen right up until the last moment".

Many of the speakers made the point that they had the time of their lives over here, and that they were doubtless having great fun on the sled right up until the point they lost control. In many ways, that fun is exactly the reason why we're all out here, and exactly the reason why we should try and make the most possible of every single moment you have, cos you never know when it all might end.

Perhaps most touching was the pile of snow that had been brought down from the mountain, and had the two guys snowboards in. This was the reason they were over here, and it was moving to see them there.

All in all, the memorial was very therapeutic for all involved. Back at Merlins, the slide show was enjoyed with personalised shows for both Ben and Josh, and a general show featuring lifty related photo's. This helped everyone greatly, not least the family, who felt amazingly cheered that in all the photo's in the shows, the two guys and everyone in them generally had the biggest smiles. It got everyone involved, and back in touch with each other, and I think really helped out everyone involved.

Perhaps the phrase which most summed up the mood of the tributes, was Ashleigh's (Josh's fiancee) when she said that "If there's something you want to do, don't put off till tomorrow, or next week, do it now and make the most of it".

Today started pretty well. Compared to yesterday, I had a whole bunch more sleep, and I wasn't hungover at all! I headed into work and the sun was just beginning to warm the tops of the surrounding peaks, still white with snow. I got to work, and actually felt pretty comfortable with my new duties and responsibilities, after spending most of yesterday finding my feet. I knew I was going to be on the 7th Heaven lift, which meant that I should get a chance to actually see and ride the glacier.

I was half way through the morning checks when I received a phone call from my supervisor, asking if I'd heard about the accident. Last night two of my lifty buddies were sledding down Whistler. Apparently something went wrong, as can quite easily happen in the current slushy conditions, they left the trail heading into rocks and trees, and they died. I apologise as this is a family blog, but it's pretty damn fucked up.

I saw both of them at the weekend, one doing laps through the pipe and park with some other lifty's, the other getting ready to purchase an RV to go on a road trip with his girl friend and other buddies on Thursday.

Man, both of them were 23. They'd just been having the time of their lives over the last season.

The 4 or 5 lifties working up on Blackcomb today really didn't know what to do with themselves. Some were staying up on the mountain to keep busy, others, like myself have left the mountain to reflect. It really brought it home when I saw the girlfriend and another lifty who were about to embark on the road trip.

I think there's a bbq by a lake tonight to get everyone together, and the mountain management will be holding a memorial at some point in the next week.

These were two great guys with so much to look forward to, and enjoying themselves so much out here.

Ben and Josh, it's been a pleasure knowing you. R.I.P.

Summer has Officially Started

The title of this post doesn't refer to the state of the weather over here, although it is a really nice day today, but Whistler mountain has now closed for the season for skiing, and the shift has been made to the Horstman Glacier at the top of the Blackcomb Mountain.

The last couple of weeks seem to have pretty much flown by, what with moving house and everything! There was much haggling between various parties, but we managed to get it all sorted out in the end and we have quite a cool place in the Tapley's Farm / Whistler Cay area. It's a bit closer to the lakes, so when Summer really does kick in it should be good for chilling and partying. It's got a super comfortable couch, and many hundred cable channels so I reckon I can see myself spending numerous hours there!

The season has officially ended on Whistler, and the last few weeks have been kinda winding down. The crowd numbers were getting smaller, and work on the lifts quieter. Good times were still to be had. Most of the work that was done was to create small jumps to use rather than actual proper work! I got shifted across to the Peak chair for the last few weeks which meant when the sun actually decided to come out there were some pretty awesome views to be had. I took some photo's so I'll be putting them up on the web at some point soon. The last few days were a little disjointed, being shifted to various different lifts, and being called in on my day off to cover a no show. In the end it all came to a close with little fanfair, and certainly no big party like the last days of the Winter season. A select few did make it out to mark the occasion with the almost mandatory $5 Merlins burger, followed by the just as essential $10 pitchers of Kokanee and Kootenay! This progressed, until later in the evening when we headed to a house party in our street. This was a pretty cool affair. There was a big bonfire roaring in the middle of the front yard, various sleds and mini bikes doing the rounds, and best of all a pretty good rock band playing on the front deck! There was a whole bunch of people there, and it was pretty fun.

Of course, these drinks and the late night didn't make this morning the best start for the start of my liftying career on Blackcomb. Moving mountains means completely different management, people and systems. It also means that there's lots of different things to do as it's predominantly elderly foot passengers that are struggling up the lift. The best thing about this move is that I have been made a lead hand. This means that I get some more money, and get a radio to use! It also means that I start pretty early in the morning, which is a good thing cos I don't have to stay till the lifts close, and I'm pretty much assured a whole bunch of hours. Therefore my future pay checks should look a little healthier!

It's not all rosy though, as the main manager seems to be a lot harder to get on with, and the whole system seems slightly more anal. They seem to be trying to be super organised and officious on every point, without actually achieving any more, and perhaps even less, than the more laid back and fun approach on Whistler. For instance there's four people working on each chair, but despite all these people everyone has to have their breaks in between the upload of ski campers at 730am, and the general public at 10. This means that everyone has to have their break when there isn't anywhere open, and just after they've had their breakfast anyway. Then they have to carry on working non stop till the end of the day, which is pretty much 7 hours later. They seem to be making it harder and less enjoyable when they don't really need to be. We shall see how it progresses, and how I get on with the new manager. I could see myself leaving this job if I can find another one, but we shall see.

Right now though, I really need my couch. I just can't wait to get back there, sit back, grab some food (So far one mars bar since 6am is all I've had!). Plus it's the first game in the Stanley Cup finals, and with a Canadian team (Edmonton) in there I might watch some of that!

Hopefully, on my next day off I should definitely be going biking at long last. Half price rentals and free lifts means that I should be able to do it on the cheap, and hopefully have a great time. My next post will carry a full review of the experience. Just out of interest at the top of the page is the bike I'll be renting: