11 April, 2006 (Monday)
It has finally started snowing! The long promised April powder dump has arrived, and while it's a bit slushy it has compensated with volume - 18cm in just 12 hours, and it is still going! Well, that's excitement for me these days. I've been pretty quiet in the last few weeks. Certainly Sam's hasn't profited from my custom.
A farewell dinner
Last night three of us (Jae, Dave and myself - we haven't seen much of Josh lately, or heard much for that matter) made our way to Snowpines to Tony and Alex's (kiwis) place for a farewell Big White dinner. Tony and Alex are good friends with our neighbours in 306 - Tim, Hayley and Ben - and the five of them thought it would be nice to have a big dinner as a proper get together and farewell to our time on the mountain.
The drive down was a bit slippery but manageable. That is until midway through a turn I found the back of our jeep drifting out. My first attempt to compensate seemed to work, I pulled the wheel across to straighten and the car moved with it. Until the back slid out in the opposite direction. First left, then off to the right, then left, then out to the right again. I kept to the middle of the road and tried to guide the car. My wheels locked and then went their own way. Fluttering my foot on the pedal I tried to get some traction, but the car just slid through the thin layer of ice and snow despite my best efforts. Finally I softly touched down on the brake and the car came to a stop. Jae and Dave let out a collective breath of relief, they'd immediately gone quiet as soon as I initially slid out.
"Hey, look out the back window" cried Dave.
Three pairs of eyes focused on our tyre tracks that perfectly s-ed back behind us. There was no sign that the road had any less traction at the corner, and I definitely hadn't been travelling at speed. Just a touch of bad luck. Needless to say that we immediately pulled down the lever for part-time four-wheel-drive. Jae and Dave started laughing.
"I was willing to put money that we were going to hit one of the embankments for sure," confided Dave.
Jae agreed, "I was just waiting for it, but I didn't want to ruin the moment by talking."
"Uh, thanks guys" I managed to reply.
"But you did a good job. Controlled it well" Dave reassured me. Jae nodded in encouragement.
At Jae's insistence we parked a good 30 metres down the road from the house. It was still snowing heavily, but at least it wasn't melting as soon as it hit, like it had over the weekend.
Main course
It was a half-hour wait for dinner, but worth it. The spread was fantastic- medium rare roasted lamb, rubbed in salt, pepper, coffee and rosemary, The meat had a subtle aroma and tasted divine. There was a big bowl of flavourful garlic prawns and a selection of roasted vegetables - fresh sprigs of asparagus, roasted butternut squash, potatoes and capsicum. To mop up the rich sauces we had crispy oven-fresh garlic bread.
Luke, Gemma and Chris were in fine form, leaving us in hysterics. Luke and Gemma have travelled widely and shared some of their Australian travel experiences with us. Then there was their recent trip to Vernon - skiing, golfing, flatulence in bed and people they've shared accomodation with. Dessert was as decadent as dinner was filling. We had our choice of three cakes - chocolate lemon tart and dusted devil's food cake.
Dessert
To follow was our choice of ice cream - cookies and cream or strawberry. Gemma's frosted lemon tart disappeared in minutes, the glazing deliciously crunchy and the cake beneath it firm but moist. We sat around sated, chatting on about experiences and travel plans.
While we were sitting and talking Tim ran around and nipple pinched myself and Chris, leaving me in stunned shock.
Everybody was falling asleep by 11pm, so we made our goodbyes and left, pelting snowballs up at the kiwis in the hot tub., There was a good 10cm of snow on the roof of the car, and the snow was still falling as we drove our way home. A nice way to close the season.
A day to ski - powder day
Jae has hit the slopes on my Monsters and by all accounts (well, Jae and Dave's in any case), he's doing a good job of carving it up.
Which left me today in 18cm powder with my Scratches. Not perfect, but still workable. Just lots of leaning back to keep the tips out of the powder; the heads on them aren't quite as fat, so they don't float on the powder quite as well. (Picture: My Scratch BCs)
Originally I'd planned to take Ardana (blonde chill kiwi chickie with dreadlocks) out on the skis, but the snow was too good to waste.
Instead, I met up with Precious and Ardana and we ploughed our way down the slopes. Precious is still learning and back edged it most of the way.
Because of the thickness of the snow I caught my edges more than once and tumbled, but no real ski loss. Precious however came out looking like a kiwi snowball.
(Picture: Ardana carving it up on Powder Keg)
he's doing a good job of carving it up. Which left me today in 18cm powder with my Scratches. Not perfect, but still workable. Just lots of leaning back to keep the tips out of the powder; the heads on them aren't quite as fat, so they don't float on the powder quite as well. (Picture: My Scratch BCs)
A farewell dinner
Last night three of us (Jae, Dave and myself - we haven't seen much of Josh lately, or heard much for that matter) made our way to Snowpines to Tony and Alex's (kiwis) place for a farewell Big White dinner. Tony and Alex are good friends with our neighbours in 306 - Tim, Hayley and Ben - and the five of them thought it would be nice to have a big dinner as a proper get together and farewell to our time on the mountain.
The drive down was a bit slippery but manageable. That is until midway through a turn I found the back of our jeep drifting out. My first attempt to compensate seemed to work, I pulled the wheel across to straighten and the car moved with it. Until the back slid out in the opposite direction. First left, then off to the right, then left, then out to the right again. I kept to the middle of the road and tried to guide the car. My wheels locked and then went their own way. Fluttering my foot on the pedal I tried to get some traction, but the car just slid through the thin layer of ice and snow despite my best efforts. Finally I softly touched down on the brake and the car came to a stop. Jae and Dave let out a collective breath of relief, they'd immediately gone quiet as soon as I initially slid out.
"Hey, look out the back window" cried Dave.
Three pairs of eyes focused on our tyre tracks that perfectly s-ed back behind us. There was no sign that the road had any less traction at the corner, and I definitely hadn't been travelling at speed. Just a touch of bad luck. Needless to say that we immediately pulled down the lever for part-time four-wheel-drive. Jae and Dave started laughing.
"I was willing to put money that we were going to hit one of the embankments for sure," confided Dave.
Jae agreed, "I was just waiting for it, but I didn't want to ruin the moment by talking."
"Uh, thanks guys" I managed to reply.
"But you did a good job. Controlled it well" Dave reassured me. Jae nodded in encouragement.
At Jae's insistence we parked a good 30 metres down the road from the house. It was still snowing heavily, but at least it wasn't melting as soon as it hit, like it had over the weekend.
Main course
It was a half-hour wait for dinner, but worth it. The spread was fantastic- medium rare roasted lamb, rubbed in salt, pepper, coffee and rosemary, The meat had a subtle aroma and tasted divine. There was a big bowl of flavourful garlic prawns and a selection of roasted vegetables - fresh sprigs of asparagus, roasted butternut squash, potatoes and capsicum. To mop up the rich sauces we had crispy oven-fresh garlic bread.
Luke, Gemma and Chris were in fine form, leaving us in hysterics. Luke and Gemma have travelled widely and shared some of their Australian travel experiences with us. Then there was their recent trip to Vernon - skiing, golfing, flatulence in bed and people they've shared accomodation with. Dessert was as decadent as dinner was filling. We had our choice of three cakes - chocolate lemon tart and dusted devil's food cake.
Dessert
To follow was our choice of ice cream - cookies and cream or strawberry. Gemma's frosted lemon tart disappeared in minutes, the glazing deliciously crunchy and the cake beneath it firm but moist. We sat around sated, chatting on about experiences and travel plans.
While we were sitting and talking Tim ran around and nipple pinched myself and Chris, leaving me in stunned shock.
Everybody was falling asleep by 11pm, so we made our goodbyes and left, pelting snowballs up at the kiwis in the hot tub., There was a good 10cm of snow on the roof of the car, and the snow was still falling as we drove our way home. A nice way to close the season.
A day to ski - powder day
Jae has hit the slopes on my Monsters and by all accounts (well, Jae and Dave's in any case), he's doing a good job of carving it up.
Which left me today in 18cm powder with my Scratches. Not perfect, but still workable. Just lots of leaning back to keep the tips out of the powder; the heads on them aren't quite as fat, so they don't float on the powder quite as well. (Picture: My Scratch BCs)Originally I'd planned to take Ardana (blonde chill kiwi chickie with dreadlocks) out on the skis, but the snow was too good to waste.
Instead, I met up with Precious and Ardana and we ploughed our way down the slopes. Precious is still learning and back edged it most of the way.Because of the thickness of the snow I caught my edges more than once and tumbled, but no real ski loss. Precious however came out looking like a kiwi snowball.
(Picture: Ardana carving it up on Powder Keg)
he's doing a good job of carving it up. Which left me today in 18cm powder with my Scratches. Not perfect, but still workable. Just lots of leaning back to keep the tips out of the powder; the heads on them aren't quite as fat, so they don't float on the powder quite as well. (Picture: My Scratch BCs)
posted by the wastrel @ 11:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home