Snow Much Fun

The snow is back!!! I had faith it would return and it’s back with a vengeance. Whistler was having the worst season in about 20 years, even the BBC pointed out last week that some Scottish resorts have more snow than here in Whistler… but not anymore! In the last 7 days we’ve had over 140cm of snow fall and it doesn’t look like it’s going to stop anytime soon.

Like the last time we had a lot of snow, my days off fell at the perfect time. For my first day off we had about 15cm of pow then the second we had 35cm! Like everyone else I got up for the first lift at 8.15 so there were big queues which weren’t moving due to waiting on avalanche clearance. Well worth the wait though, even the main groomed runs still had great snow on them and we found good stashes of powder. I had so much fun going down some of the bowls and tree runs. Boarding from 8.30-3 both days killed me off – definitely the most tired I’ve been. The snow hasn’t stopped since then and I now have two days off again to enjoy even better powder!

3 Months into Whistler Life

Can’t believe it’s been 3 months since we left our jobs, flat and life in the UK to fly out to Vancouver for the winter season. Time is flying by and I can’t even remember what back home was like (exaggerating now, it hasn’t been that long). It only feels like weeks ago we were last minute planning everything and writing a blog ‘3 Months to Go’. Whistler life seems very normal to me now – waking up at ridiculous a.m on both work days and snowboarding days, drinking Kokanee, a Canadian beer and tedious work. I found out this week that I’ve already scanned over 12,000 people this season whilst validating and I’ve probably said ‘Hey, how you doing?’ (in a non-Joey way, people just don’t understand ‘you alright?! so that’s easier) to almost all of them…. that’s a lot of people!

So what’s new?! We still haven’t had snow for two and a half weeks, since my last post when we had 70cm in a couple of days. We are due a whole 8cm in the next few days, which we usually wouldn’t get excited about but every little bit of snow helps at the minute. It’s been sooo hot this week, it was 13 degrees at the top of the mountain a couple of days ago. Literally like spring skiing, not that I’ve ever skied in spring, but that’s how I assume it will be! Enjoyed not having having to wear 10 layers whilst boarding and having a beer outside at the top of the mountain, but I will be relieved when it cools down again and we get some much needed snow. A few recent pics:

Snow Gods, Fresh Powder & Whistler Fame…

The snow (proper snow) has finally arrived in Whistler. After a slow start to the season for snowfall, the last week saw over 90cm of snow fall! We were forecasted to receive 20cm on Friday night, which for the season we are having would have been great, instead we got 49 whole cm’s overnight with the snow still falling heavily on throughout Saturday. Luckily I had the weekend off, which is a rare occasion in Whistler as weekends are the busiest time for my work, to do a Women’s Snowboard Camp here.

I was like a very excitable 5 year old at Christmas to go out and play in the fresh powder (for once!). Even better that I was on a 2 day training camp so it was the perfect opportunity to learn how to snowboard in proper snow :-). The Arc’teryx womens camp was good fun and think I’ve finally managed to get there with snowboarding! The good snow conditions made it much easier for me to turn down a lot steeper runs than I have been doing. I did my first tree run, first black run and we even hit the park at the end of the day on Sunday… haven’t quite mastered jumping yet! Although I did get the tiniest bit of air on a ‘jump’ yesterday and I didn’t fall – that’s progress right there 🙂

Good day to have lift line priority!

Fresh pow in the trees

Our First Hockey Game, Settling into Whistler Life & It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Hello! It’s been a busy few weeks in Whistler. We’re now just over 5 weeks into Whistler life but it feels like we’ve been here so much longer. Time goes so quick here.

Last week we went to our first hockey game, woo! Although it wasn’t to see the Vancouver Canucks (the team we’ve been following since we got here), but the Vancouver Giants, who are in the league below the National Hockey League here. As part of one of the perks of working for the Whistler Blackcomb mountain you can join Club Shred which gives you discounted tickets. So for $20 we got transport to Vancouver, tickets to the game and a $10 food voucher… which was an absolute bargain! We were three rows from the front at the side so had a great view, although it seemed to close a few time when the players barged against the glass I really thought it was going to smash right in front of us!

It was obviously very different to football (sorry, soccer) back home and our beloved Bradford City, but it certainly didn’t disappoint. Within the first few minutes there was a big punch up between two players, seemingly over nothing, but that’s the whole point of the sport! It was just a little hard to keep up with and I lost where the puck was quite a lot. The Giants won 3-2 after scoring a late goal. We will definitely be going again, it’s probably the best $20 we’ve spent since arriving in Whistler. But will still be venturing to watch the Canucks at some point too, once we have a few more spare pennies  cents.

We had to buy some merchandise!

Don’t usually see signs like this at city!

Pretty close (just before a fight!)

Opening Weekend At Whistler Blackcomb 2013

Whistler Blackcomb opened for the season on Saturday, two weeks earlier than expected. Luckily I wasn’t scheduled to work on Saturday so I could go snowboarding for the first time in two years woo (Kyle wasn’t so lucky and had to work). So exciting to hear opening was sooner than we had all expected, although I wasn’t quite as keen to get up there as the people who had queued 24 hours to make sure they were first up the mountain.

I wasn’t expecting too much of the conditions as had heard it was pretty icy and not that much snow up at the top, plus only a couple of lifts and runs were open…how wrong I was! There was quite a bit of snow overnight and the sun was shining, what could be better than powder and a bluebird day for the opening day of the season?!

The conditions were great… my snowboarding not so good! After two years of not getting on a board and only having done a week anyway it was safe to say I was a little rusty. Nevertheless it was so good to be on the mountain, despite all the falls and many bruises! Roll on the rest of the season 🙂

I had to work on Sunday and had my first shift as a Ticket Validator at Creekside Gondola (where most of the locals live) so no snowboarding for me. A pretty easy job and it was quiet for most of the day, apart from a few keen people queuing from 7.30 to hit the pow. It snowed pretty much the whole day so was pretty jealous of all the people I was letting up the mountain, better get used to it I guess!

In 10 Days Time…

In 10 days time I’ll be…

– Jobless (just until I start at Whistler Blackcomb)
– Flat-less
– Car-less (though have been for a month!)
– Sat in the airport bar with fellow Working Holiday Clubbers heading to Vancouver
– Stressing that I’ve forgot something but not caring as much as usual as I’m going to Canada baby!
– In disbelief that we’ve actually taken the plunge to do this

Can’t believe how quickly the last few weeks have gone. I feel like I’ve wrote a still to do list loads of times and still not completed it. Here we go again… Still to do:

– Finish packing up our flat
– Finish packing our lives into 2 suitcases and hand luggage (actually started now, go me!)
– Finish at work (4 and a half days working days left!)
– Print all documents
– Check into flight

Whistler To-Do List

One of the things I’m looking forward to about live and working in Whistler is living like a local and a tourist at the same time. We’ll get to know all the cool places the locals go (if locals actually exist, heard it’s mainly Aussies), how to avoid lift queues in a morning (hopefully!), learn which runs have the best powder stashes and get discounted food & drinks! But we’ll also have time to do all the touristy type things. Here’s my Whistler to-do list:

• Achieve 75 days snowboarding
• Zip lining & bungee jumping
• Bob sleighing at the Whistler Sliding Centre
• Snow mobiling
• Heli-boarding (or at least cat-boarding)
• Master t-bar drag lifts
• Attempt the student lifestyle again  (just swapping the studying with working)
• Learn to do jumps and tricks on my board
• Do a double black run (possible double black but not getting carried away)
• Get a google tan
• Do fresh tracks a few times (get on the first gondola up the mountain and have a big buffet breakfast)
• Go to the coca-cola tube park
• Back country boarding / tree runs
• Make lots of videos with my GoPro
• Go to the fire and ice show
• Work and play hard!
• Have an awesome time and make the most of every minute

Not to do list

• Get injured
• Not have fun
• Take enough photos / videos

One Way Ticket to Canada = Booked

It’s actually happening… we’ve booked our one way flight to Vancouver!!!!

28th October and we will be out of here! That’s just 65 days and 45 working days. And only 99 days until the opening day at Whistler, hope I’m not working that day…

We got a pretty cheap flight, £289 Gatwick to Vancouver with Air Transit. Pretty budget airline but who cares for that price?! Can get a snowboard or GoPro with the money I’ll save with not going with BA.

Job – check! Thanks to Andy and the Working Holiday Club.
Flights – check!
Transfers from Vancouver to Whistler – check!
Insurance – Meh, will sort soon…
Vancouver accommodation – Need to book
Staff accommodation – Will be sorted soon!
Work notice handed in – Check!
GoPro Camera – Buying today, thanks to a Wowcher offer!

Cannot contain my excitement right now!

Dear Visa…. Where Are You?!

So, it’s been 37 days since I submitted my CIC application for the IEC work visa. Haven’t heard a peep out of them, not a single reply to any of my messages. I wouldn’t mind, as they do have up to 6 weeks to process the CIC part of the application, but so many people who submitted way after me (and a lot of others) have already got their LOI/POE. At least Kyle is one of the ones who has is and I couldn’t have been happier to see his sitting in his account. I had almost given up hope on a working ski season in Canada, as he had driving offences I really thought it would be declined… but I was wrong. Never been so happy to be wrong haha.

We won’t be heading until October/November, so we’re not in a rush to get my visa but the uncertainty of not knowing what’s going on is killing me! Yes, I might not have family or partner in Canada that I need to get my work visa to be able to go over, like a lot of people I’ve been speaking to are. But, there is a lot riding on this for us and a hell of a lot of things for us to do:

The Story So Far

Hello! Welcome to Our North America Travel Adventure 🙂

First off we is me (Laura) and my fiance Kyle who are soon to be moving to Canada for an adventure that is new to us both.

We have always enjoyed a holiday or two and going to new places, but we’ve always craved going away for a little longer. The backpacking travelling thing had never really appealed to us and there are different places that appeal to us both, so planning a trip would be a bit of a nightmare! So, we quickly scraped the idea of travelling. We had always talked about doing a ski season, but neither of us really wanted to do one in Europe and be a chalet couple and work stupidly long hours. So, what was the other alternative? You guessed it…. Canada!

We’d talked about doing a ski season in Canada a long time ago, but decided against it with Kyle being in a stable job and me deciding I wanted to get a grown up job straight after uni. However, an offer of a career break for Kyle and me thinking why the hell not – we decided to go for it!