so far...

Return of the snow blower and James learns to fly

Rudely awoken this morning by the snow blower clearing the roads out the front of the house, but it's a while since i've heard it so it means more snow has fallen. Decided not to catch the bus as it leaves a lot earlier than i've been used to. So Shane and I decided to hitch up later on. Eventually a car pulled over to let us get up and when it stopped it sounds like there was a rave going on inside. On the way up we got to speaking (more like shouting) and it turned out that the guy (who was Austrailian) and he got so excited this morning when he saw the snow that he jumped into his car and came up to the hill, but then realised in the rush he'd left all his gear at home! So had to drive back home and get it and drive back up (which is when he picked us up). Then when driving through the car park, sliding all over the place, slid into a space and nearly smashing into the side of the car next to the space.

Before James hitting his drop we went for a warm up run getting some fresh tracks down a run with some open parts and open trees. Next on the agenda was hitting the gulley again so that James could do his drop. On the way down, to the point where we cut off the cat track to hike up to the gulley, a wee black squirrel was running up the slope towards the cat track. I could see it running up and was trying to work out where our paths would cross. The closer I was getting to it the more certain i was the we would both cross at the same point, it was running across the track as i was coming down and had to slam on the brakes to let it cross and up the tree at the other side of the track.

We all did the gulley again, leaving James at the top to take up position on the cliff he wanted to jump off, at least 25ft above us. We were all positioned below with Aubrey on the video camera and Dave and Dan using the video on their cameras.

After a bit of positioning he was ready, then after some words of encouragement to himself and Aubrey telling him that snow was building on the lens. It was well worth the wait though as it looked very professional, even though he didn't quite land it.

It took James about 10 to 15 mins to come down from his rush after the jump. We made our way back up to the top and did a couple more really nice tree runs still finding fresh lines, then headed in for lunch to check out all the footage of the jump. After lunch we headed up Red to see what it had to offer. We found a new area to play in that we always saw when up Granite, but never looked at it before. At the top there was a really rocky part with some huge drops, but we stayed clear and came down through a really wide open part with no tracks which led to a nice tree run. The end of the run took us out to a cat track that we've been on before and needed a bit of walking. The walk took us by part of the old mine and the roof looked jibbable. So me, Aubrey and Dave started to climb up a snow covered roof and about 2/3 of the way up Aubreys foot fell through the snow and he said that all he could see was darkness through it. We thought it was probably best if we were to turn back, just to be on the safe side. On the walk back to the top of the slope i was messing about on my board and fell of leaving it sliding along riderless and started to tip over the edge. I managed to get to my feet and ran and dived to grab it and somehow got my fingertips to it and held on.

Next on James to do list was a tree jib he tried a few weeks back, but fell off and took all the snow with it. So we headed back up Red to go find it. Making our way down we eventually found it, James overshot it so had to hike back up a bit. No-one else really wanted to try it out so Dan, Aubrey and I made our way down to the cat track below and had a small snowball fight which turned into a snowman making exercise. In the time it took James to make it over his tree we'd done most of the snowman, with it needing some personal touches. In the end he had a face, arms and hair and should be a pleasent suprise for the cat driver when he's out grooming the slopes, hopefully he won't hit it!

We headed back up Red one last time to hit our new tree run followed by a short warm down run then headed in to claim our spot in the bar and wait for the skiiers to come in and get thier Level 2 results. After a few drinks of green beer (St. Patricks day thing) they were all called in. It was hard to tell how most did from the reactions of the people we could see through the window. From the Nonstoppers doing it, 4 passed: Scottish Mike, Abi, Sean and Stuart. Congratulations to all of them who took part, pass or not.

Some of us stayed back for a couple more drinks then headed back down. After dinner we had some more drinks round at our house for all as pre-drinks for a party that was going on in town. Shane and I headed down to the Steam shovel for an attempt to play some pool, but someone had stolen 5 pool balls! so we improvised a game finished our drinks and headed back to the house to drink some more and watch what seemed like endless episodes of Ray Mears. Now we know how to make a paddle from an old tree, a pair of traditional skis and how to light fires in any situation.

NOTE: This will probably be the last posting for a few days as i got a lot on before flying home, but will have the final installments in place by next week.