Due to the lack of time and the absence of internet connection, we haven’t been able to put up any posts since Pittsburgh. Here’s an update of our progress. The Pittsburgh game was awesome. They won against the flyers and we got to see Crosby score a sweet goal. Even though the arena is the oldest in the NHL, we had a blast at the game. In Ottawa and Montreal we had friends and family come join us for our last two games. The Ottawa game wasn’t very exciting. They didn’t play good. Boston won that game. The Montreal game on the other hand was the total opposite. It had to be the best game we saw. The fans there are loud. They love their Habs! Montreal won the game.
We ended the road trip with a little detour to Sudbury where we partied with friends, had BBQs and watched more hockey on TV. Now we’re back in Timmins and will be planting trees for the summer.
The past 8 months have been unreal. I had the time of my life on this road trip. We got to see a lot of cool things and make new friends. Thanks to everyone who followed us on our trip and we will see you soon.
PS. I’m so pumped that the little truck made it the entire way!!

Darcey

Last night we arrived at our campground near Washington, PA. We rented a cabin for a couple days. We needed a place to stay until the Penguins game tomorrow night. The cabin is quite cozy and the people here seem friendly. Last night we watched the game on a big screen TV with the owners from the campground. They are pretty cool. The guy comes from Sudbury and the girl from Thunder Bay. He told us a bunch of hockey stories from when he was young. Today we’re taking it easy and tomorrow we get to watch the Penguins play the Flyers.

Darcey

The other day when we went to Wal-Mart, Danny and I noticed that they had some really good deals on food. We bought a massive sandwich for $5. We split it and couldn’t finish it for lunch. The left over’s served as a bedtime snack that night. We also bought $5 of lunch meat that will last us for a good 4 lunches. To my surprise, the Wal-Mart had cookies that my mom use to buy when we were kids that I can no longer find in Canada. I was more pumped than Paul (my oldre bro) with his new snowblower and a foot of snow. The cookies were awesome. They were so awesome that my head would explode if I even began to blog about how awesome they were!
Anyways, the food was cheap and the junk food even cheaper. A normal price for a chocolate bar was 50 cents. Maybe that would help explain the high percentage of obese people in the States. Thank you Wal-Mart for helping us save money on our trip.
Oh yeah and today i bought a towel for $1.50. Not bad!

Darcey

 

  Although there were no trolls we still had to pay ridiculous tolls. It seems as if we had to pay for every highway we drove on between Minneapolis and Pittsburgh. When we first stopped at a toll booth, there wasn’t anyone there to take our money. There was a sign indicating that we had to drop $1.50 into the basket coin counter and then there would be a green light indicating that we can drive off. We didn’t have enough American coins and Canadian coins didn’t work so we took off with the light still being red. As we left, the high-tech cameras took a picture of our license plate. I feel like such a rebel! I hope they don’t find us. When we got to the second toll both, we drove through it barely slowing down. The next day, I thought we were done with the toll booths. But no, they were all over the place and this time with gates. We couldn’t be rebels anymore and skip-out on not paying. Luckily for us, this time there were people working at the toll booths. We were able to pay with bills. Our tolls ranged from $10.50 to $0.15. I almost started laughing at the girl when she told me I owed 15 cents. I find it funny how they back-up the traffic by making cars stop in order to collect 15 cents. All these unexpected expenses are really hurting our budget. Not really, but Mom if you’re reading this post you should probably send us some cash incase we have more tolls to pay on our way home or incase we decide to pick up a few cases of beer at the duty free shop. P.S. Hopefully we run into Toll Booth Willy or at least get the opportunity to see a troll.

Darcey

Darcey

Yesterday we said goodbye to Canada and hello to the States. It took us a while at the border. They made us get out of the truck, asked us questions and searched the truck. It took at least a half an hour. They didn’t find my half empty bottle of vodka I had brought with me from whistler and didn’t make us toss out the beef Jerky. So… not bad! We drove through North Dakota and part of Minnesota. There wasn’t much interesting things to see on our way here unless you love prairies and fields field with nothing. We did see a Budweiser factory, a Kraft factory, many U.S. flags and a sign advertising a K.F.C buffet. Ah! A K.F.C buffet! That would be so gross. All you can eat K.F.C. Only in the states you’ll see that. They probably have an ambulance ready in the parking lot.

Darcey

This morning, after eating a bowl of cereal and saying goodbye to our four legged friend Jojo, we left Calgary and made our way towards Regina. Along the way we saw a few interesting things. The first cool thing was the world’s largest tepee, ok maybe not that cool. After that, we passed by Rouleau, Saskatchewan, where they film the show Corner Gas. We had done this on our previous road trip but this time there wasn’t much to see. I guess they board up the buildings and take a break from filming for the winter. Shortly after leaving Rouleau we saw what looked to be like the start of a small tornado. It was nice and sunny on one side of the truck and on the other there was a dark cloud that got lower and lower to the ground until it touched it. As we passed through the dark cloud there was a light snow. It was cool, but it was obvious that there wasn’t going to be a tornado. It was just too nice of a day. We ended up driving further than Regina to shorten tomorrows drive. Tonight we sleep in Estevan, Saskatchewan near the U.S border.

Darcey

 

 

Last night the Calgary Flames took on the Vancouver Canucks. Danny, Steph and I took the C-train to the game to avoid getting stuck in traffic near the Saddle Dome (arena). A few Calgary fans on the train got their beer taken away from the transit security. Haha, transit security! They thought they were so tough! They were dressed in black and were wearing sunglasses, Men in Black Style. Their main objective – Check everyone’s transit pass! No one rides for free on their watch. It gave us a good laugh.
The game was intense. For the most part of the game Calgary was losing. Vancouver was out-shooting them like crazy in the first period. After the first intermission Calgary smartened up and started playing some good hockey. The final score was 3-2 for Calgary. They took the lead late in the third and managed to keep it for the win. I’ll have to admit, our seats were a little further than expected. Even though we were not anywhere near the front, we were still able to see the game perfectly. The action was not only on the ice. There was almost a small fight that broke out between some fans in our section. The one fan was apparently spilling beer on another fan on purpose. Eventually security took care of it.
After the game, we went to the near by casino for a little betting. Danny won 40$, I lost 20$ and I think Steph lost 20$. Our last night in Calgary was a good one!

Darcey

 

Yesterday, Danny and I drove from Calgary to Edmonton to watch the first hockey game of our road trip. We arrived in Edmonton a few hours before the game and scored a free parking spot near the Rexall Place. The Edmonton Oilers took on the Minnesota Wild. It was an important game for the Oilers. After an intense 3 periods of hockey, the Oilers won 5-3. The game was great; we even got to see a guy get kicked out for being drunk and sneaking in some liquor. Poor guy! Oh, and we got some free Oilers memorabilia for singing up for an Edmonton Oilers master card which we will never activate. Fun times in Edmonton!

Darcey

We’ve been in Calgary for about a week now. Our stay here has been great. I haven’t eaten this good in a long time. Our dinners this week compromised of a huge ham, a massive pork roast, T-bones steaks and salmon steaks cooked in with lemons and asparagus. Steph made us a huge omelet for breakfast one morning and yesterday we went to a Vietnamese restaurant for a big bowl of soup and spring rolls. Being that it was a long weekend and that we hadn’t seen our cousin Steph in a while, we had to drink a little bit of beer. Steph’s friend showed us how to make a drink called “crowned float”. It contains Guinness and Strongbow (apple cider). We learnt the secret to mixing this drink so that the Guinness stays on the top and the Strongbow on the bottom. The secret involves a bent spoon. Other than the eating and drinking, our visit in Calgary was spent driving around the city, doing a bit of shopping, watching hockey games and movies, playing the drums and the guitar and finally playing with Jojo, Steph’s nice little dog. Today, Danny and I are going to Edmonton to watch the first hockey game of the road trip. We have our sandwiches made and are almost ready to leave. We come back to Calgary after the game.

P.S. Thanks mom for the parcel of chocolates you sent us. The chocolates are almost all gone.

Darcey

We got a new buddy for our way back home.  Paul won’t be alone now. The new buddy’s name is Phel. Phel is a little kangaroo with an Australian flag. Phels name comes from our friends Phil and Mel who gave him to us on our last day in Whistler. The little Australian will travel half of Canada thanks to Phil and Mel haha.

Once again, while driving, the weather was nice. We drove from Golden to Calgary. It took us about 3.5 hours. We stopped to take some pictures in Lake Louise. It’s cool that they have hockey rinks on the lake. It’s just too bad we didn’t have skates. We are now in Calgary for a week. We are staying at my cousin Steph’s place. I hope he doesn’t make us party to much.

Darcey

 

 

 

 

The drive from Whistler to Golden was just as we remembered it, pretty frigging sweet! The roads were nice. There were a few snow covered spots but no avalanches and we had my bad ass truck to keep us safe. Once in Golden we stayed at our friends, J-F and Chantal’s place. Check out the pictures of their house, they scored a good deal by living there. We had supper with them, pork chops and pierogies, and had some beer for St-Patty’s day. We treated ourselves to a beer called Thirsty Beaver. It was ok. It’s brewed in Kelowna. I guess we bought it because the name sounded cool. After having some drinks at J-F and Chantal’s we went to a local pub for some green beer. We ended the night by eating chicken and wedges at the 711. It was a good trip and a St-Patty well spent with our friends in Golden.
P.S. Look at the size of that Potato Masher!!

Darcey

So far, my last week in Whistler has been awesome. I have to admit it, I will miss this place. Two of my last four working days were spent skiing on Blackcomb. On Wednesday, because it wasn’t busy in the warehouse, my boss let me go skiing pretty much all day. It had to be some of the best skiing conditions I have seen all winter. There was a lot of fresh snow in the alpine since it was closed the previous day due to high winds. Yesterday, my last day of work, I got to ski again pretty much all day. Once done with the skiing I made my way back to the warehouse where we had some beer. Last night, we had a going away party in the lounge here in staff housing. I lasted till 10pm and then passed out as soon as I hit my bed. I guess maybe I was tired from the skiing or maybe it was all the beer I drank. I’ll say it was the skiing. Today, as soon as Danny wakes up, we’re going up on Blackcomb to get one last good day of skiing. Tonight, I’m going for some drinks with friends from work at Merlin’s. One of the managers told me earlier this week that he would pick up the tab!! As much as I am sad to be leaving Whistler, I’m getting excited for the road trip back home.

PS. We will keep everyone informed with what is going on through many posts on the website on our way home.

Darcey

  

 

 

 

 Thursday night was pretty awesome!  I went to the Vancouver Canucks game with two guys from work.  Vancouver matched up against the Nashville Predators.  After the first 30 seconds of the 1st period I was scared a little bit since Nashville got a power play.  I wasn’t scared for long because the Canucks scored short handed.  The first ten minutes of the game was intense. The score after ten minutes was 3-2 for Vancouver.  The first period ended 4-2 for Vancouver.  The rest of the game was really awesome and Vancouver out shot Nashville 45 to 22. The final score was 6-2 and in the last minute of play there was a big fight. A bunch of players got into it and everyone was cheering, I was pretty pumped myself. This Hockey game got me really excited and now I can’t wait to watch the other 7 games on our way back home.

On the 22nd of April, Philip, Melanie, Brent, Shane and I will be catching a plane to San Diego California. There, we have a 30 foot RV waiting for us. We will spend the next 14 days traveling around California in this RV. First stops are Los Angeles and San Fransisco along the coast. We will then head back down to San Diego taking in-land routes passing through a couple national parks. We will stay in San Diego for a few nights until three of our British friends (also from our floor in staff housing) Thomas, Douglas and Laura join us after taking their own Californian road trip. Renting the 30 foot RV for two weeks will cost us about $950 each including gas and campground costs.

On May 8th (approx), we plan on all crossing the U.S./Mexican boarder together by bus. We will only be in Tijuana with our British friends as we have different priorities than they do in Mexico. While we Visit 9 towns along the pacific and Gulf Coast, they plan on visiting towns more in-land. Our 9 stops in Mexico are as follows: Tijuana, Cabo San Lucas, La Paz, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, Acapulco, Puerto Escondido, Veracruz and Cancun. We plan on taking the bus everywhere in Mexico as our Primary mode of transportation. We will however hop on a over night ferry from La Paz to Mazatlan. Once in Cancun, Approx 6 weeks after being in Tijuana, we plan on taking our separate ways. While Philip and Melanie will catch a plane to New York, Brent and Shane will catch a plane back to Vancouver and I will make my way back to Toronto.

I say this Trip will last approx 8 weeks because we plan on staying in Mexico until our funds run out, and we estimated it would take about 6 weeks after California for us to all be broke. As for me, While in Whistler, I have managed to save about $5000-$6000 for this trip and plan on getting back to Toronto in mid to late June with a couple hundred left.

Those are the plans for now.

Nick

Last Monday, Shane, Nick and I went up on Whistler to do some skiing. It was a really nice day. Given that it was President Week in the States and Reading week here in Canada, the mountain was really busy. The line-ups to get up the mountain were huge. On the bright side, the sun was out. I’m sure it must have been anywhere near 6 degrees. We decided to cut the skiing short and to go have a BBQ in our backyard (on the ski run behind our place) for Shane’s B-day. We drank some beer, had some hot dogs and sausages and watched people ski down Blackcomb Mountain. We even got to see a few people crash and fall. Don’t worry, no one got hurt. We finished the day by going to Crystal Lounge (sports pub) for Karaoke night. Another fun time in Whistler!!

Darcey

 

 

This week we were lucky to have our good buddy Luc come visit us. Luc is moving to Tasmania for school and decided to spend a week in Whistler before leaving. He finally got to relax after working overtime every week at the mine for the past 5 months. We went out to Longhorn’s for local’s night and partied in Staff Housing. I’ll admit it, Luc was lucky. He got to ski on one of the nicest days we had so far this winter. On Luc’s last night here, after walking around the village for half an hour, Luc, Nick and I found the Thai restaurant we were so desperately searching. The food was awesome! Overall, we had a good week. Thanks for the visit Luc and good luck in Australia.
P.S. I won at Poker (10$ buy in) and Luc got third. Not bad!

Darcey

If you had to chose the winner of a race down part of the Blackcomb Mountain and one person was on a toboggan, a second on a downhill bike and a third on an air-mattress, who would you chose to win? One night, while chilling in the lounge, we thought it was a good idea to see exactly what would happen in that given situation. Ben took out a toboggan, Josh took out his downhill bike and Danny took out his air-mattress. Once outside Danny noticed his air-mattress lost a lot of air because of the cold weather. He was doomed before even starting the race. Ben’s toboggan looked like it can lead him to a win. When interviewed, he said “this toboggan has been built by 1000 different scientists from 1000 different locations”. This was no ordinary sleigh. Josh with his full body armour looked like he can fall from a cliff and still get back up without a scratch. To make things more challenging, the race took place in the dark. Shortly after starting the race, Ben fell off his toboggan at full speed. I don’t know if this was part of his strategy to win the race, but because of his fall, Josh stopped to see if Ben was alright. After racing to a nearby bush where his toboggan had crashed, Ben got back up onto it and zoomed down the hill with incredible speed. He was the first to finish the race. Josh came in second with his downhill bike. In third place came Danny running down the hill with his near empty air-mattress tossed over his shoulder. As he finished the race we noticed he had found an exact replica of Ben’s toboggan somewhere on the hill. The challenge was on. Toboggan vs. Toboggan! Danny and Ben hiked half way up the original course where they embarked into their race vehicles. After a short sprint, Ben took the race for a second time. Even though Ben won, I would say that the real winner was Danny. Even if he had a no good air-mattress he finished the race and had the courage to take on the ever so fast Ben on his red 2008 speedster toboggan.

Darcey

 

 

Last week Nick, John, Phil and I spent a few hours snowshoeing instead of skiing. I got back home early from work to find out that they we’re going snowshoeing. I quickly agreed to join them. We rented snowshoes ($10 each) and explored different trails. It was a nice and sunny day. We made it to lost lake where we had fun running in the fresh powder the lake had to offer. It was a nice change from skiing and great exercise.

Darcey

 

 

 

On January 26th, Australians celebrated Australia Day. This day proves to be quite popular in Whistler being that a third of people here are Australian. Up on the mountain the lift operators were dressed in 80’s retro and in the village it was party time. About 8 of us tried getting into Longhorns at 2:00 pm but it was already full. We would have waited a good couple hours to get in. We ended up partying at Crystal Lounge, a sports pub, from 2:00pm till 1:00 am. It was good! We met some Americans from California. They we’re really nice. The one lady bought us each a couple shots of tequila and some Jagerbombs. I’m sure she spent over 200$ on our group. The bar was filled with Aussies (Australians). Everyone had a good time. I’ll admit that my first Australia Day was a good one. It reminded me a lot of Canada Day.  

Darcey

Once a week, in the common room located on our floor, we have an event called the community kitchen. A lady comes over and shows us how to cook healthy meals. The food always turns out great. We are usually about 10 people who participate. The best part about this event is that we don’t have to spend one cent and we get a nice big supper. I forget the name of the stuff we prepared this week but, there was a dish containing Chinese noodles, a rice bowl, potato wedges, couscous and for desert rice pudding. Can’t wait till next week.

Darcey

The first time I ate a Beaver Tail was in Ottawa on the Rideau Canal. I have to admit, it was pretty good. A Beaver Tail is a pastry which they deep-fry and then add toppings. They are normally sweet. When we first got to whistler, we noticed that they had them down in the village at a chip stand named Zogs. We tried them but they weren’t the same. We were really disappointed, especially Danny. I believe the pastries were shipped to them from frozen. It didn’t taste at all like the ones in Ottawa. Last week, we decide to try our luck with another Beaver Tail place located on Whistler Mountain. This place was bigger. We figured they probably had room in that building to make fresh pastries. When we finally had them, they we’re exactly like in Ottawa. Everyone has to try a Beaver Tail. It’s quite good! Here’s a picture of the maple one I had up on the Mountain.

Darcey

Nicely said Paul and Thanks mom!

Darcey

The average snowfall in Whistler is 33 feet. Last year they got around 60 feet. That’s a lot of snow. It is unreal being here and watching it fall virtually every day. This past week we got over 4 feet of snow. The skiing was great. On Sunday it snowed so much that the traffic was backed up like you wouldn’t believe. What is usually a 5 minute drive to Creekside would have taken hours. Danny, being he works for roads and parking, missed out on the fire and ice show but managed to rack in the overtime. All this to say there’s a lot of snow! Take a look at the picture I posted of my truck. That’s after only a few days. Luckily it’s parked for the winter. Oh yeah, and I guess it doesn’t get cold in Whistler. My guess is that for the past month the daily average was close to – 5c. This week they are calling for around 0c. The coldest we got so far was -17 here in the village. The weather is perfect. We love Whistler!

Darcey

 

 

JMac’s visit started off as a good one. He arrived in whistler this past Saturday. Little did he know he was about to spend a lot less money than what he expected. Saturday night we went out looking for boots for him to buy. As I was lending him my second pair of skis, he only needed boots and poles. After an hour of shopping, the cheapest boots we can find were $399. Equipment is expensive in whistler. We shopped around for rental boots and poles. Many of the places had them for well over $100 for the week. Jon’s first hook up of the night came when we set foot in Source for Sports. He was able to get the boots and poles for $75 tax in. I think the guy accidently charged him for kid’s boots and on top of that gave us a 10% discount because I am staff here in whistler.
Jon and I made our way back to rez where we would start off a great night with a few beers. For a while now Jon has wanted to try Kokanee Gold. Unfortunately they don’t sell this beer in Ontario. Getting hooked up again, he was able to able to fulfill his life long dream of tasting a beer he had long heard off. We went down to a pub called Crystal Lounge for a few pitchers of beer, or as they say here in whistler, Jugs. Then with our luck, we got hooked up again. We left Crystal Lounge for a club named Buffalo Bills. Since a friend of mine works there, we were able to by-pass the line by entering the back door and didn’t have to pay a cover charge. Thanks Josh! We played some pool and had a great time.
Sunday morning we got up nice and early, put on the skis and made our way up Blackcomb Mountain. It snowed all day. It was Jon’s first time skiing in all that powder. We made our way to the ticketing office in order to pay for Jon’s passes for the week. Hooked-up again! Ben, a friend from rez, used his magic and was able to hook Jon up with early-bird season prices (best deal you can get to get up on the mountains) and the ticketing person accidently hooked Jon up with a free day of skiing. (It was no accident, but in case someone asks, yes it was.) There he was, getting hooked up left and right like if it was his job. Jon, Ben and I went for some après-ski at the Amsterdam Pub. We split on a Jug and each had a poutine.
After showering and a few drinks, Jon and I went to GLC, a pub situated at the base of Whistler Mountain, to go watch the Fire and Ice show. This is a show where skiers and snowboarders perform tricks and try their luck jumping through a ring of fire. We were able to hook ourselves up with a sweet table on the outside patio of the GLC right near the show. We even got the guy who works there to hook us up with a big propane lantern to keep us warm. The waitress told us they don’t allow people to sit there but made an exception for us. The fire and ice show was great.
It’s now Tuesday. I’m typing this post as Jon and Danny are making themselves grilled cheese for breakfast. Soon we will be back up the mountain for another fun day of skiing. This afternoon we will watch the Montreal Canadians on TSN. Hopefully our luck will continue.

A little late post to whish everyone a great new year. We had a lot of fun for New Year’s Eve. Had some drinks here in residence and then made our way to 18 below, a restaurant near our place. They had cheap drinks and good music. After a great night out, everyone went straight to bed except for me (Darcey). I stayed up a little longer in the lounge with some friends. Before hitting the hay, I went into Danny’s room where he and Kendra were sleeping. I tried to wake them up for fun, but nothing. So I took almost everything Danny had in his room and put it onto his bed. When he and Kendra woke up they had a bunch of stuff on them. Kendra was cuddling with a bag of chocolates. Haha.. New Year’s Eve was fun. Hope everyone had as much fun as us.

Darcey

 

Christmas this year was truly different. Even though it was our first Christmas away from home, it was still a really good one. We got some visit from my mom, Nick’s mom and Danny’s girlfriend, Kendra. It was a full house in our little apartment. We had a lot of fun visiting the village. It was good to have some big home cooked meals again. The moms cooked some ham, turkey and even took the time to make 12 loafs of homemade bread, cinnamon buns and raisin bread. We got spoiled. They even did our dishes. The girls went out for a snowshoe hike while we were at work. Mom and Kendra had some baileys to make the hike a little bit more interesting. They took some really nice pictures. We went tubing and mom tried skiing. Christmas was great! We all had a lot of fun!! Thanks for the visit.

Darcey

Most teams came up with one main course and some came up with a main course and a desert dish but danny, darcey and I came up with an appetizer, a main dish and a desert. Our appetizer was a home made soup with a base of chicken broth and cream of celery with one fried perogie and one deep fried perogie balanced on top. Our main dish was a perogie pizza on an English muffin bun topped with some fresh vegetables, bacon, swiss cheese and of course a sliced perogie. Our desert was a deep fried perogie topped with caramelized apple slices, a sauce of brown sugar and maple syrup and some diced pear.

The best part of the whole evening was that we ended up winning the whole thing. What we won was 4 free nights of rent each (grand total of $165) and a nice gold medal.

Nick

 

 

We are now used to the everyday life in whistler. It’s awesome! We all like our jobs but especially our days off. This week, both the Whistler peak and Blackcomb glacier opened for riding in the alpine. There are many bowls, fresh powder, wicked back country, off piste hiking and really nice scenery. This is what separates the Rockies with the ski hills in Ontario. Today, Nick and I spent most of our day up on Whistler peak. It was such a nice day. We then went for some après-ski with Tom and Ben, friends from our floor in staff housing.

 Darcey

Danny

Sorry if this repeats lots of Paul’s blog, its cause I wrote it in the airport.

Danny

Danny is still in the learning process and Darcey is showing a lot of interest in learning how to snowboard as well, so we’ll all be able learn together. Should be fun/interesting.

Nick

4 out of 7 days a week, I wake up at 6am and get to the whistler village by 7:15. Although it’s only a 10 minute walk or 2 minute ski run to the village from staff housing, I like to take my time in the morning. Once in the village, I make my way to the Springs Building where our locker room is and where the morning meetings are held. Our supervisors meet up with us, inform us of the temperature both in the alpine and in the village, tell us how much new snow came down the night before and how many guests we are expecting that day. After our brief meeting, all 15-25 of us head to the whistler village gondola to upload. Once at the top of Whistler Mountain, we all take our separate designated routes to our lifts. This means we are the first to ski down the mountain every morning. I prepare the lift for the guests (make the maze, shovel snow, put signs up, perform mechanical tests, etc). During the day I get to meet a lot of people (each lift can upload up to 15000 people per hour – gondolas even more) and also work with really cool people (most from Australia or England). I also have to keep in contact with the alpine office/dispatch throughout the day to give them updates on lift lines and other stuff as well as inform ski patrol of any incidents or irregularities. There is a lot more that goes on behind the scenes at lifts then I could ever imagine. While most people think we only have to press a couple buttons all day, it is much more complicated that I thought. We are trained to deal with many types of incidents, some I wasn’t even aware could happen. I’m not just saying this to make my job seem cool, but I was very surprised about how much training it takes to become a lifty at whistler-blackcomb (about 80 hours + studying and an exam).

But to take away the little stress that we might get at work, we also get what we call ‘ride breaks’ where we take turns and go for a couple runs here and there throughout the day. On an average day, I can get up to 8 runs, which is pretty good considering when people aren’t working and ski all day, they get on average 12-20 runs.

When the day is over, we dismantle the maze, work along side ski patrol to make sure all guests have left the mountain, do a little paper work and contact alpine office/dispatch and then ski down to the village. I usually get home between 4:30 and 5pm.

Although some days can get pretty cold since you’re just standing there outside for hours without moving much, and although some guests can be very irritating and unpleasant to deal with, I still love my job and wouldn’t trade it for any other job in whistler. Plus the view from where I work is unreal, being thousands of feet above sea level looking down on the whistler valley and the chain of mountains all day/everyday is something else.

Nick

Yesterday I woke up shortly after 3:30 am. I tossed and turned in bed trying to sleep in until at least 5:45 am but my mind wandered off about work and countless things that I needed to get done. Instead I got out of bed and got some work done before heading off. At 5 am I showered and got ready. At 5:25 am I stumbled into Tim Hortons, picked up a coffee and a couple of bacon & egg muffins. At 5:33 am I filled up at Esso and was on my way. I didn’t realize it stayed dark so late in the morning. That could be because I don’t usually wake up that early. This is what it looked like at 7:14 am close to Gogama. (that’s the only picture I took all day…grr)

Pot holes, bumpy roads and congested traffic is what reminded me why I dislike Sudbury as I arrived at 8:50 am. I killed half an hour at Walmart as I waited for the mall Future Shop to open. I did a bit of Christmas shopping before I met up with Danny and Kendra for lunch at Swish Chalet. It was nice to see Danny again since I won’t be able to make it to Whistler at Christmas. After lunch we did more shopping at Costco and Future Shop. I dropped by Cambrian College to get a sweat shirt because mine got stolen back when I was in college almost 5 years ago… Kendra bought a wicked cool Olympus 790WS camera that is waterproof up to 10 feet, shockproof @ 5 feet, and freezable to -10 Celsius. Not to mention face detection and image stabilization. It’s way cool. I went to say hi to my good friend Steph at 4:50 pm before leaving to go back home shortly after 5 pm.

Sudbury got hit with snow just after noon yesterday which made it difficult for Sudburians to drive. It seems like everyone forgot how to drive in snow as it took over an hour to get to Chelmsford. Before I got to the Watershed fatigue set in and I started dozing off. Luckily I made it to the watershed and had a 15 minute power nap before going in and buying a Pepsi. The rest of the drive was fine, the Pepsi kicked in and after 4 and a half hours I was home.

I hope Danny has more time when he comes back in February. Maybe we can go snowmobiling!

It was about quarter after seven Friday night and I started talking to Kendra online. I told her about my day and how it was frustrating that the guy that I am supposed to work for screwed up and now I have a week off before I start work. Simply for fun, Kendra said well come and see me for the week. We checked it up online and we found a really awesome deal through aeroplan. A flight to Sudbury from Vancouver return was only 25000 pts. We had enough points for me to go see Kendra (most of the points were hers though haha, thanks Kendra!!) So now I am on my way to Sudbury! It was a little hectic having to book the flight since I had to transfer Kendra around 2500 aeroplan points. Then she had to book, I had to receive the confirmation, find a place to print it, pack my bags and all this on time to catch the bus one hour after realising I am going to Sudbury. Everything is good to go now and I am on the bus heading to Vancouver. I am going to have to pull an all nighter because my plane only leaves at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow. I don’t really care that I have to do that because I am so excited that I wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway. I am going to arrive in Sudbury in time to go to Kendra’s Christmas formal and will be there till Wednesday. Not bad for a last minute plan. I am super pumped and will post some pictures of my little trip back to Ontario.

Danny

Danny

Finally this weekend we got to go skiing. Saturday morning hundreds of people lined up for the opening day of Whistler Mountain.  We were not expecting much because of the absence of snow down in the village. Once up the mountain we we’re amazed. The runs we’re really nice and the white stuff was everywhere. It snowed all day Saturday and therefore we got to enjoy nice powder skiing. Sunday was nice and sunny. The scenery was great. We saw the peak of both mountains, Whistler Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain. As the week goes on, more runs will be opening and soon both Mountains will be skiable.

Darcey