Hockey, Riding and Silverstar

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Well it has been while since a proper update of this blog and so much as happened. Let hope I can remember most of it.

Firstly, I finally got to go to a hockey game. I got to go on big whites tab as I was employee of the month (in tickets) and as such got to go to my first hockey game in a box with a buffet and never ending drinks. Finally learnt most of the rules and had a really good time. The Kelowna Rockets got up 3 - 1 on the Chilliwack Bruins (whats a bruin?). Finally seei.ng a live game first hand you realise what a quick and intense game hockey is, and this is just the WHL (Western Hockey League). Cant wait to see what a Canucks game is like.

Powder, we have had so much of the good snow lately. Since I last wrote we have had at least 3 20cm+ powder days and countless 10cm+ days. Luckly for me and stace alot of those days have happened on either wednesday, thursday or both, which is our days off. We have both gotten so much better in our riding and been all over the mountain (Steeps, glades, bowls, parkrats and even the groomers).

Stacey had her 25th birthday here, we took a trip down to Kelowna on the bus and got stace some presents. Then came back up and went out for dinner at the Copper Kettle. She got lots of presents and I also got her tickets for a hockey game (but more about that later).

Silverstar....... what can I say. The sister resort to big white and owned by the same family. The resort is about 2 hours casual drive from big white and north of Vernon. We got to go for a day trip on a staff bus. The resort is nice and only nice, if you are a skier. For boarders it is just really frustrating, there are cat tracks all over the mountain, the gladed trees are overly gladed (for skiers) and the mountain just seems set out badly. All in all, it was good to get off big white for a day and see some of the country in between big white kelowna vernon and silverstar. There were some really nice runs around the village is quite different. Its set up like an old mining town except every building has to have at least 3 bight colors (see the pictures). It was a good day, but im so happy that I ended up at Big White for the season.

With the Falcon chair being open we finally were able to make it to one of the highest points on the mountain. We took our boards off and went for a hike (ok it was about 15meters, but we are 2319meters high and walking in soft powder). It was so nice to finally see the big white back country and massive long steeps of the back of the mountain. We also climbed some snowghosts, so we really were on top. Snowghosts for anyone that doesnt know are trees that get covered in snow, which then sort of forms into ice, so they just look like big puffs of snow. Apparently because they only get to grow when they arnt frozen the ghosts at the top are said to be thousands of years old, which makes you feel alittle bad when you snap a branch off climbing them.

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