hallo

righto

im sat in the kitchen of my new place

well room in a new place

its a nice little place ( emphasis on little)

im sat drinking a lemsip with honey and a little fireball ( local whiskey )

as im still trying to shake this cold which has been festering since pretty much christmas

but luckily i have the next couple of days off so i can look after myself a little

so last time i was in victoria

im back in courtenay now

on the corner of 11th and fitzgerald

its good to be out of the hostel its my first night in the new house and im enjoying the just quiet

also im looking forward to a good kip with no peruvians snoring or drunken aussies stumbling through the dorm with their ipods blaring

im still really enjoying my time here snowboarding most days

got my knee crocked again yesterday just as i was getting it back to where it was before it got crocked first time round

this time i was helping up a youngster and said youngster flailed around with their snowboard on getting what i must admit was a fantastic arc on it straight into my knee

oh ho hum was the exact phrase used

so staying off it will help

the snow here is pretty icey at the moment

we had 5 cms a couple of nights ago but we could really use a good dump

im getting rather excited as a certain mr butler junior is coming out in a few weeks to help celebrate my 21st

dad always told me i would be lucky to survive till 16 so 21 really is a milestone for myself

its been pretty much all work for the past couple of weeks other than the few days off when ive just snowboarded really

i find that if i spend a day where i dont up to the mountain i get fidgity and wonder what the snow is like and how the visability is

i think im turning into what is known as a powder fiend

all the liftys seem to be a little down due to the lack of powder at the moment

same syndrome as surfers when the seas flat

weve had a good couple of nights out as a group

one for doms 19th (legal drinking age here)

and another was a nice little shindig at faffo's to celebrate getting paid so we had a few drinks at her place even the bosses showed up it was a nice chilled evening

we had a mount washingtons got talent event the other night

where the liftys very own mr p rudder came a creditable second before getting kicked out of the bar for ummmm de robing

truely hilarious

ive started hitting the features in the snowpark

one of the english instructors , jay, is also a park instructor so he took me and a couple of others through the park to just show us the basics

so we hit the medium stuff straight off

and now im trying the small stuff and cant seem to do it

just over jump it or in the case of the box it just kicks my arse everytime

im super glad im wearing my helmet its saved me a few times now definatly my most sensible purchase in 2010

weve endured temps as low as minus 15 in the past couple of weeks its been freezing luckily my new favourite hoodie is quilted so it keeps me resonably warm

anyway time for bed

cheerio chaps

oh this is a picture of my christmas eve 2010

before i lost not my camera

but somehow just the battery

blaah

happy new year

happy new year guys
so its 9 am im sat in vic drinking a cuppa at my old place
i got here 12 hours ago as both my knees are a little knackered at the moment so coming down here for a couple of days will stop me riding and give them some down time
also my good friend em is heading back to aus on the 20th and i wouldnt be able to get down here between now and then to say ta rah
i had a strange christmas and new year
it was the first one away from home and as all the guys were working all the time ( its the busiest time of year for the mountain ) it didnt really feel like christmas
me and the guys partied most of the time to make up for this so a few hungover days at work lead me to taking a couple of weeks off of the partying
give the organs a little time to relax

so we had that fantastic snow all the way up till the holiday break and then suddenly it was bright sunshine for literally the entire christmas and new year period perfect conditions
all the groomed runs were super fast and i was so glad that ive taken to wearing a helmet after a few ass over tit bails
one of them was literally 3 full rotations
the neck did feel a little compressed after that but after a good nights sleep it was fine
at the time i did think that man if i was a gymnast that would have been a perfect ten score

so i ended up working about 12 or 13 out of 14 days which just left me dead but it was all good fun as everyone was as busy so we just got on with it
although as i got the green chair boss position ive spent most of my time either picking kids up at one end or throwing them on the chair at the other
needs a lot of patience and im learning to just roll with it

i did get angry at one pair though
but after i had vented everything else was finne
although the buzzer in the top lift hut is right at ear level and on new years day the buzzer was soo piercing and i did wince every time it went off
said buzzer has now been covered with a sock just to take the edge off

some of the sunrises and sunsets ive seen from the top of lifts have just been beautiful views of the mountains and sea with scenery that looks like someones photo shopped it
the best is the backside of the boomerang
a lift that goes up and over a peak
you can see all the way across to mainland bc
and the rockies
and just breath taking

i officially love tree runs now
having spent the past couple of weeks on groomed runs as soon as we got some fresh snow just 25 cm or so it was straight into the gladed areas
i had the day off along with cody and english edd
so we went
shralpin ( riding )
we started off trying out the frontside of the boomerang ( the double black diamond only lift ) and the glades there still needed more snow so we went lower to the riptide glades ( single black diamond ) and just awesome boarding in there
we were playing follow my line
everyone trying to take an even more squirrelly line each run
as well we were playing lets see how fast we can do this
so a hella lot of fun was had
my favourite line was probably the one were we dropped down the steepest part of the glades through the tightest trees ( generally about 2ft gaps if not less ) and then out of nowhere there was a good 5 to 6 ft drop
didnt realise
hit it fast got some air and managed to keep it was awesome feeling
anyway
peace guys
happy new year