where, oh where, did the snow go?

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Wow - it’s hard to believe it’s been well over a month since I last wrote, in which time we had little if any fresh snow. So I’ve just scoured back through all my photos to remind myself of everything that’s happened, and there’s a fairly common re-occurrence of food, snow, more food and the occasional visitor. I’m not sure if I’m just becoming used to the surroundings and am therefore less inspired to take original photos, or if my days have really become that predictable… perhaps a bit of both.

There were however a few definite highlights worth noting…

We’ve had lots of visitors come to stay, which always spices up life in Whistler: Sara’s parents came to visit for a few days on the 21st Jan and although it rained most of the time, their last day was blue skies and sunshine so luckily they got a day of skiing to explore the mountains. We also had a really beautiful dinner at the Wildflower, the restaurant at the Fairmont where we get 50% off, making it extremely affordable to eat really well!! I had a much needed 6 oz. steak with mushrooms and creamy mash but had a slight bout of food envy when Sara’s cioppino arrived at the table - a delicious tomato based fish stew served in an enamel pot with crusty bread… mmmm. It was really nice to spend time with Eva and Andrew although I’m finally seeing first hand how kooky her family really is (in a good way of course!!). Makes for extremely entertaining dinner conversation though. Oooooh and I nearly forgot… Australia’s favourite morning TV host was sitting at the table next to us and I was lucky enough to carry her skis for her for the rest of the week… none other than Kerri-Anne Kennerly!! I must say it would have been way cooler if it was Angelina or Madonna, but Kerri-Anne will have to do.

Kate’s brother Nic stayed with us for a week at the beginning of Feb and was an awesome boarding buddy. Always fun having a “brother” to hang out with - especially when they’re good snowboarders AND good company for the chairlift and après beers at GLC! Oh and I should mention how privileged we were to have him stay with us because he can jump lengthways over a bus on his snowboard… and even has the cool snowboarding sequence photo to prove it! Nic, you are sooooo cool. Ha!

And last but far from least, one of Sara’s workmates, Ben, came to visit with his mates Charlie and Nathan. We made good use of their plush apartment at the Sundial while they were here, although I feel the rooftop hot-tub was slightly neglected with only 1 soaking in the whole 2 weeks they were here. Not that we only love them for their amenities. They provided that excitable tourist attitude that rubs off easily on us hardened Whistler “locals” and spices it up for us again.

However backtrack to the blue skies and sunshine… this continued on for 16… yes sixteen days. It was soooo nice to feel the warmth of the sun as you rode up the chairlift however the novelty was definitely starting to wear off by about day 7 when the snow was so hard packed that the only place worth riding was the terrain park, and then its inevitable that you fall on your ass, over and over again, bringing that lovely shade of purple back to my cheeks!

The best thing though was that the sunshine coincided with Australia Day, making for a perfect opportunity to pub-crawl / board across both mountains with all the other Aussies, proudly flying their flags behind them as capes. I would have to say its one of the best Australia Days I’ve had, and definitely the best day in Whistler by far! While all the other Aussies were queuing for hours to get into a pub in the village, we started out with breakfast beers on the chairlift, followed by beers in the sun on the patio at Rendezvous at the top of Blackcomb, one run down to Glacier Creek for another beer then a full run all the way to the bottom of Whistler for a quick Zog’s burger and more beers at GLC. Then after a rowdy gondola (pronounced gŏn-dō'lə in an America accent) ride to the top of Whistler and a few quick runs through the terrain park, we retired to the patio of the Roundhouse for our final beer stop. We were ushered out by ski patrol at 4pm for the long run home to the bottom… although it would have felt a lot longer for Greg who made it down in only boardies and a wife-beater Bonds singlet. Was an awesome day! However we didn’t stop there, after ducking home for a power-nap, a quick shower and some dinner, we headed to the village for round 2 - Australia Day party @ Moe Joe’s! Danced til 2am and still made it to work at 9 the next morning! Nice…

Soon after came Valentines Day - not the most exciting day when your boyfriend is on the other side of the world although the web cam was acquired just in time for us to have an almost proper date, although we were so excited to be actually looking at each other again we spent a good hour giggling and looking longingly into the web cam then quickly looking down at the screen to catch the other doing the same thing… quite sad really! Has made me miss Matt so much more now that he is so much closer yet still so damn far! However good news is we are past the half way mark - 101 days down, 83 to go.

Time is actually flying here… its hard to believe we are only 6-8 weeks away from the end of the season. Really looking forward to Spring though - boarding in hoodies, après drinks on the patio in the sun and the Telus Ski & Snowboard festival which runs for a week in April and has live concerts every afternoon and heaps of snow events. Should be a fun way to end the season.

So back to the present… after 3 weeks of no snow, its finally arrived and I couldn’t be happier. We’ve now had 64cm in the last week and its been around -10 C every day so its light & dry! mmmm - loving the pow!!! With fresh powder comes the confidence to do things I haven’t done before so I seem to get a little bit better every time it dumps.

The latest discovery and cause of great excitement is an out of boundary tree run called Kybers. It’s a full hour top to bottom, literally, as it runs from the peak of Whistler to Creekside. You start on the Peak to Creek run, but cut off to the side until you come to a little tunnel cut through the trees (reminiscent of something out of the Magic Faraway Tree). After unstrapping and clambering through, you come up into the open and feel as though you are on top of the world as you look out over deep powder that quickly turns to massive old pine trees that are spread as far as the eye can see. If you squint, you can just make out the quaint little village at the bottom that is Creekside. This is Kybers! Once you’re inside the trees its quite a daunting feeling. If you stop and listen its absolutely silent with the occasional woosh as a tree dumps its snow, that then sparkles in the sunlight shining through. It’s one of the most amazing places I’ve ever been!

Well its getting pretty late now and we’ve got 40 cm forecast for tomorrow… which is conveniently my day off … yippeeeeeeee! So I really should get to bed. Apologies for the long-winded epic update... I will try my hardest to write more regularly in future but can’t promise anything! Missing you all terribly. Love hearing all your news from home.

Love Gen xxx

p.s. speaking of news from home - Jemima has started school! Can’t believe she has grown up so fast. She already needs the hems on her uniform letting down and she’s only been at school for just over a month!
p.p.s. just a few more highlights that i seem to have missed... discovery of Hot Buns (our new favourite cafe), soup and sandwich from the Gone Bakery (they are just so damn good), new hoodie AND new shoes, and finally the half-pipe comp (the comp was good but the photos are even better!)

** to check out the rest of my photos click here **

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[Sara]

Kooky family
You know you love us! Dinner with the kooks ;)