Lucky Number 22 ! (Ski days so far)

With downtown Vancouver well on the way toward hitting its wettest February on record, the 300 odd millimetres of rain already recorded in the city and on the coast could only mean one thing !

Ooooooodles of snow in the mountains ! Timing our assault nicely to Blackcomb on a sunny Sunday after days of heavy snow - Stigs 22nd day of the season would be the most memorable by far to date !

Award of the day had to go to the one and only A.D.D Hudson who in addition to his usual exciteable hyperactivity added a large measure of gulability combined with an extremely weak resolve toward peer pressure !

Bombing down the face of 7th heaven, the elements had provided a wonderful and natural jump where one of the green run cat tracks cut into through the face of a steep open field. Watching both Adam and I gain huge air by succesfully running straight and true downhill before passing the flat of the road and floating into the dip behind, Leigh set off no doubt full with confidence at how east it all seemed before him !

Only in the face of horrendous baiting and with obvious lack of self regard in the powdery conditions did our Australian hero accelerate to the point of his oblivion !

All was going well on the approach, perhaps even up to the point of lift off. It was here however that matters began to go a bit 'Pete Tong' as they say ! Hitting the air at a velocity that was clearly troubling our kamikaze powder hound (judging by the audible squeals the entire hill were subjected to) the airborne body posture he presented resembed that of a perfect olympic ski jumper !

Eddy the Eagle Edwards - eat your heart out!

The only problem being that in forgetting to bring his skis back from the classic airborne 'V' into the parallel position for landing, as contact was made with the ground both skis departed in opposite directions whilst our man's chin headed straight for the ground in between !

Glorious ! Perfect 10's all round from the amassed judges watching ! Skippy the snow man may be able to jump high in the sky on his skis - but landings leave much to be desired !

Go you mighty Eels !

Miggy takes on the Olympic Mens Downhill !

What was supposed to be a long four day break away for Miggy and Owen unfortunately turned out only to be a speeding three day flyby this weekend. No thanks to the numpties at United Airlines in Washington DC.

Having arrived at the airport bright and early on Friday morning, sadly my intrepid and continental visitors got as far as their seats and no more as the old banger upon which they were about to depart upon for Vancouver via Las Vegas was diagnosed as sick !

Needing new parts that were flying in from Atlanta Georgia, the race to make the sick bird well enough to fly before crew hours expired was eventually and cruelly lost around mid afternoon. So off went A+O back to bed ready to reconvene again the following morning. Only of course having left a suitably buzzing flea in the ear of the airline customer service manager on duty at Reagan National !

Eventually arriving early afternoon Saturday I packed them up along with the Viking and headed up to Cypress Mountain, where time allowing we would mount a quick snow shoe tour of Holyburn peak. Knowing of course my sister would typically be on holiday mode I had the forethought to pack enough ‘supplies’ to make this a slightly boozy orienteer of the trails. One ruck sack full of Alexander Keiths Pale Ale being the refreshment of choice this mission.

Suspiciously like her mother, the best giggle of the day had to be Miggy deciding steep downhill sections of the trail were best taken not on snow shoes but in a curious arse down feet up bum sliding motion ????? As with mother dear, Miggy found out all too quickly that this form of maneuver leads to an acceleration that far from assuring safety renders that person somewhat like a human bowling ball, skittling all in their path ! Namely me !

Finally feeling the pace after dinner in one of my local’s – Sailor Hagars Brew Pub, team DC crashed out ready for a days mountain bike around Stanley Park the next morning.

Hooking up with Will and Gorgeous George (who was looking far from Gorgeous sporting the worlds greatest hang over from hell) off we went for what we thought would be a casual ride around the sea wall. Horribly, due to massive a winter stormthat had not so long previously passed through, some several thousand trees had been wiped out and we had to revert to trails up to Prospect Point and Lions Gate bridge. A trail which nearly killed poor Gorgeous on his hired mountain bike in its verticality !

Again dinner was taken in my second local - 'The Rusty Gull' only after having stopped for a pint in the 'Rowers' rugby club bar.

Thirsty for all the ski action he could get and having purchased some shiny new skis, Owen decreed over dinner that a Whistler visit should be mounted the following morning ! And who would I be to say no ! Especially as the road conditions were so nice waking up and with a fairly sporty motor on hire to get us up there in good speed !

My abiding memory of the day will of course always be Miggy's face of pride and joy at the base of one run as we confirmed to her that she had just completed the middle section of the Men's Olympic Downhill course for 2010.

We wont say anything of course about the abusive language and dirty looks that preceeded the incident as our intrepid intermediate had a major paddy about who was leading who on this hill and into what class of run.

'this isn't a *!$#!* blue run you *!*$#!*' etc etc ........

The second abiding memory will be the drive home on 6 inches of freshly fallen snow in the dark watching SUV's and their supposed all weather ability spin off the side of the highway in all directions ! That the Viking would not concede Canadian road markings are more than non existent and that those which do exist only create confusion, only made me more wary of the North American driving experience !

Crap cars on crap roads with crap drivers ! Welcome to the Sea to Sky Highway !

The trade off of having so much snow was that a final day's skiing could be made locally at Cypress Bowl right up until a direct transfer to the airport !

Thanks for coming out guys. Happy trails on the East Coast Miggy - your skiing is amazing !

Enter the Viking !

For the benefit of the folks back home - I am sure most of you by now will have heard strange mention of a wild and mysterious charachter refered to only as 'Vicky the Viking' !

Well, the Viking in question is a local Mountain Girl Gone Wild with whom I have been spending ever more time with recently as she continues her mission to terrorise me at every opportunity !

Why the Viking nickname you ask ? Well having been acosted by her in a nightclub whilst minding my own business, Leigh in his drunken state (and having forgotten to put on his glasses) later explained that his abiding drunken memory of that night was that my aggressor appeared to be very tall and very blond and hence very Viking looking on the dance floor ?

Notoriously shy of the camera (perhaps because she is a wanted person) this is the only photo I have ever managed to sneak of her !

Paulo and the Snoozy Crew !

All of twenty seconds after the five o'clock whistle and with ski's packed under one arm and boots under the other, this Friday I shot out of the office and headed down to the bus stop where to grab the Snowbus up to Whistler.

As is usual for those of us who endure the mire that is a standard working week, Friday night brings a surge of energy and enthusiasm long since beaten out of your average worker in the hours since 9am the previous Monday morning.

So upon my arrival and staggering up the snowy village streets of Whistler (packed with revellers quaffing apres beverages) I grew ever more anxious to join in with the festivities side by side the ranks of BA visitors Doogie, Franki, Clare and Ian who I was certain would be propping up the Blacks Pub bar with a round of shooters ready to go ! Those crazy kids won't let me down I thought !

No such bloody luck ! Three phone calls later, in staggers Fonters looking like a bear just woken up from hibernation with a grumpy mood to suit ! I should have known better ! I mean - it was past nine o'clock and his usual seven o'clock ski holiday bedtime !

In fairness to the fella, two beers later he did come round and wipe the sleep from his eyes. Shortly therafter Ian (armed with authorising approval note from his travelling team of personal physicians, therapists, dietitians and sherpas) accompanied by Franki arrived to join us for a nightcap.

Ian's poison these days of course being a ginger tea or shot of milk of magnesia ???

Not wishing to give him opportunity to instigate one of his defensive verbal tirades on why he was being such an old woman, I let him be and hoped that he was just taking it cooly in preparation for a hard days skiing.

Photgraphic evidence of which said hard skiing I would love to provide. Unfortunatley I have no such pictures to provide as our man didn't come out of his suite next day. I did hear however he scored a new record for watching 8 episodes of CSI in one day ! I'm not sure what that is but it sounds a bit dull !

Fabulously though I was lucky enough to witness the wonderous display that is the 'Italian Silk Cut Ski Leader'. The amazing Lady Fonters of Godalming herself ! Never one to let a ciggy, mobile phone and lipstick get in the way of her driving prowess, Franchi has now mastered the art of managing all three whilst skiing moguls at break neck speed too !

Truly amazing ! Not so is Lord Fonters insistance on skiing a pair of cocktail sticks that barely reach his waist.

Great too was bumping into my old Carillion mate from days gone by as a graduate on the tear in Dartford and Rugby - the one and only Mr Paulo Martini ! One who really does live by the motto 'Any time - Any where - Martini' ! The motto really should actually include 'Anyone' as well in my opinion !

Refreshingly still unable to drink more than three pints without degenerating into a state of giggles that resembles an eight year old who has just seen his first naked girl, all the old tales of past misdeeds were recounted over several more Kokanee's in the GLC and MoJo's.

Accompanied by two fine fellows that seemd to love their U-Boat commander wooly jumpers we even managed to sneak in a Vancouver pub crawl the following week before they had to head home.

Good to see you everyone ! Paulo - get yourself out here for the summer you big tart !