Snooooooooooow!

Let me give you a small idea how much snow we've had this November.

Whistler is reporting 84 inches of snow in the past 7 days (that's right, one a foot per day)
There is a 75 inch base (a landmark we didn't reach until March last season)
I got face-shots. (Plural. Face-shots.)
Nothing above treeline can be opened until it stops snowing (ski patrol was triggering 3 foot deep slabs quote "with certainty")

I came home from the village today at 4pm. The roads were wet, but clear. At 9.30pm I went to shovel the driveway. It took over an hour. The snow in the driveway is knee-deep. Knee deep!!! In the Driveway! I was whooping and hollering so loud I probably woke all the neighbors.

My forecast for tomorrow?

Epic with a chance of legendary.

Awkward....but successful...and with dry legs

First day on the hill!!

I'd like to say it was picturesque and sunny and I slayed everything, but it wasn't quite that way.

First off, I showed up at the shop at 8am (a stretch to be sure), because I was meeting friends and my skis are in the shop. Problem: Sam has decided not to open until 10am until business picks up. So instead of skiing I went to two coffee shops and read two newspapers and waited two hours to get my skis out of detention.

Second, it was pouring down rain until one reached the roundhouse, where it was dumping snow and extremely windy. There is a lot of snow....about 3 feet in the past week....(yes)....but it's pretty wet. Which, actually, is fantastic because it makes for great base to cover the rocks. But it's heavy and not that great to ski. Especially when, at the end of last season, you turned your DIN settings to 6 and forgot about it, then tried to ski two feet of liquid concrete and double ejected facefirst into a snowbank. Fantastic.

Also, one should scrape summer wax from the bottom of one's skis so they can be expected to slide. Finally, don't ski in the rain. The only part of me that stayed dry was my legs, thank you sweet patagonia pants. Everything else was completely, wring-me-out, sodden.

The good news?

It's puking right now, there will be at least a foot of fresh snow in the morning, and the temperature dropped so it will be nice and fluffy. Also, it's supposed to keep snowing all week.

As for my skiing abilities, well, it's a work in progress. It took a couple runs to get the feel for the sport again, and at first I felt extremely awkward with two giant semi-slippery planks bolted to my legs. But I started to flow a little better towards the end of the day, so things are looking up.

Oii!

My Life as a Clock

I left Fort Collins one week ago today. Since then, my life has ticked like the smoothest of chronometers.

The drive was uneventful. I slept in the car only once, visited Alex and Lily in Portland, then cruised up to the border on Wednesday--an event I approached with some trepidation. Thankfully, my work permit was approved without hassle. After a brief victory dance in the parking lot, I proceeded to Vancouver where my visit to the city coincided with that of my mother, aunt, and uncle. This slice of serendipity resulted in a superb gourmet dinner, good company, and a 23rd floor suite at the Fairmont.

In addition, I got the job as the house manager. That means not only a place to live but discounted rent as well. Best of all, the house is currently empty, giving me the chance clean, organize, and generally prepare for the winter. It also means I get to indoctrinate all incoming housemates so things get done my way. Hehe.

This weekend I'm going hot-springsing with Mark and Meg and Co, and I start work next week. There's only 5 of us this winter, as opposed to 13 last season when I couldn't get enough hours. On top of that, I ordered the skis I've been dreaming about all summer, sold my snowboard to fund said purchase, and finally found some ski pants that fit to replace the ones I destroyed last season (see archives "R.I.P, R.I.P.").

But most importantly, it has snowed all week with no signs of stopping in the near future. Which means the resort may open as early as next week.

I hope last week was as good for you as it was for me.