Back to the Blogosphere...

Since late in April lots has happened in my life, it has been a time of massive transition. Currently, I’m taking a break from snowboarding; given all the head injuries I’ve had I’m not sure that racing is the right thing for me right now, or in the future. Though it feels like I’ve been up in the mountains nearly every week getting my shred on (albeit far from the race course)!! 

2012 is going to be remembered as the year I became a randonee snowboarder.  What the hell is that you ask? It may take me a few posts to make sense of this. So let me start at the start.

During the midst of my return from overseas depression I purchased a splitboard & skins from Nick, a friend of my good friend Jock Gunn. I have done some backcountry touring on snowshoes, with only hiking boots/crampons and a trip or two on a borrowed board, but I am pretty keen to get serious about taking my carving turn to more adventurous surrounds. The new board was made by Nick and  although not as high performance as a Kessler race board seemed to serve my purposes pretty well – it is a cheap way for me to try out and work out what type of splitboard will be ideal in the future.

The first trip me and the board went on was fairly tame. It was decided that due to horrendous weather, lack of knowledge of whether the gear would work and perhaps a dose of laziness that my first splitboard experience would be in bounds at Mt. Buller. I headed up one Sunday afternoon to be greeted at the base by the dynamic chauffeuring combination of Ollie and Wooly – two dedicated Melbourne University Ski Team members and wonderful friends. That they had a bit of a green tinge, perhaps due to a few too many nights at Buller, seemed to bode well for my Monday/Tuesday weekend. At least if the splitboarding wasn’t ideal, the dance floor was there to be carved up with plenty of awesome friends!

Sunday night was a feast of delicious throw-it-all-in-frittata at the palatial surrounds of Watkin’s house, with aforementioned touring buddy Jock Gunn (JG).  

This prepared us ideally for an adventure to the summit of Mt. Buller on Monday, a turn or two in chutes one and two and even a little trip down Men’s Downhill. The board and skins worked!

However my skin-sition was fairly slow.
By the time I had changed from Walk Mode to Ride Mode the boys had devised a way to hang off a pole with an ice axe...

and got a shot of JG front flipping whilst holding said axe...

I think I need to speed up the skin-sition, if for no reason other than to prevent them hurting themselves! 

Port anyone? Celebrating me FINALLY getting the bindings back on my board!

At this early stage of experiencing my board I was pretty conscious of the fact that performance is lacking when you saw a snowboard in half. There is an immediate need to remedy the noodle that is created of the board. I think the first time I mentioned that I needed some hard boots was after some pretty horrendous turns down Little Buller Spur.  I had seen my coach in Canmore, Mike, set up his splitboard with hard boots and this seemed like an ideal fix. Better touring performance uphill and improved responsiveness downhill were the spoils of such a transition, however the concept definitely is rather new to Australia and would require some development.

We started that mental process with a quiet camomile tea after a fairly big dance session. There were some awesome ideas thrown around! However, all needed a little clarification over the following weeks!

Thus the train started rolling on the tracks of my life as a randonee snowboarder…

Second photo on the Louise website!

On a day off I headed up to Louise with my friends Pete, one of the guys who works at the hostel, and Alex (of the German Male Variety) for some fun shredding. We were lucky enough to happen upon the opening of the ER3 chute off the Paradise chair.

Check out this shot of me that appears on the website dropping over the cornice..

Felt like a minor celebrity when my coach text me that this was up on the website before I had even left the ski hill. I have, after all, had two photos on the site this season!!

The last week my sister Hannah has been staying which has been great. We had some lovely bluebird turns up at Louise, have enjoyed going out for dinner with friends in Canmore and I have loved showing her how my life works here. It was also a great opportunity for Han to catch up with some friends from Melbourne who now live in Canmore. Unfortunately she is heading home on Thursday to finish off her pHd. However, these are some really special memories that I will treasure & remember for a long time.

In any event I'm pretty excited about Thursday as it is the day we fly to Denver to race our first Nor Am at Copper Mountain in Colorado! Can't wait to hit up the course as I know that I'm riding better than I ever have before and have got all the skills to really show people what I'm made of this season. On that note I better get back to putting more layers of wax on my super fast board!

I will keep you updated on the course at Copper and how the race goes. Fingers crossed.

Sending happy & excited smiles from Canmore!!

Fish Live Under Ice

On January 2nd I had an awesome day Ice Fishing with Christian, a new friend from France who has been living in the Area since the 80's, who serves with me at the Habitat Restaurant. Prior to 2012 I had never caught a fish before, now I've caught a few from under the Ice!

Christian picked me up at 9:00am to head out to the Spray Lakes, 16km past where I lived last year (see earlier posts from 2010). It was a gorgeous mild day with just a bit of a wind blowing. Christian loaded up the Sled with a shovel, two fishing rods, an auger (giant screw driver for making a hole in the ice), some snout for bait and a giant ladle he assured me was for making soup. I was dubious.

Gear loaded & sled in tow Christian definitely had this organised! 

We wandered out onto the ice. Which was cracking, apparently a good sign that more ice was forming. Though I felt a little nervous. Christian engaged his mental GPS to find his lucky spot and we halted on the ice to set up the holes. After ensuring the Auger was running straight Christian left me to hand turn it to create a hole for him and myself. Others use power Augers but Christian is a Frenchman and a traditionalist, no point interrupting the peace with an unnecessary tool and it is a good work out turning the Auger! I was puffed with only a foot of ice to get through, sometimes there are 3 or 4 feet!!

Christian set up two hooks on a rod for me with the little snout cut his special way, and after clearing out the ice with the "soup ladle" we were ready to get underway. We dropped the lines to the bottom and then pulled them back about 15 turns of the reel. This is about 65ft under the ice. Deep but not too deep as apparently down really deep there are only little fish & the bigger better eating is a little off the bottom.

My wonderful guide. He was definitely more appropriately dressed than me. Apparently cosy hats are a must!

Our little holes, protected from the wind.

Christian pulled up a gorgeous lake trout as soon as he dropped his line, he demonstrated how to pull the fish away from the hole and make sure it didn't dive back to freedom. He then demonstrated killing the fish by bashing it's head against the shovel - kind of brutal really but at least then the fish didn't have to lie waiting to freeze to death. We buried the fish in snow to make sure that they didn't freeze too much as it is slightly insulated compared to the air. It was time to reset the hooks and try again. Alberta rules say with one permit you may take 3 fish per day so we still had some fishing to do!

My first catch came shortly afterward. This was one of the most awesome feelings ever! I have never caught a fish from the sea or a river & now I was pulling one out from under the ice!! WOW. I took the honors of killing the fish via a few sharp hits to the head on the shovel and buried him neatly next to Christians catch.

Christian fish dancing in the Sun! 

We were ready to get number three after a short break to eat some PB & J sandwiches and chocolate. Fishing is tiring work especially in the cold & the wind! The fish seemed to disappear for awhile which led to much fish dancing to stay warm. The fish can't hear it so it is okay. I suggested that they may have wised up to the idea that bait was not good food. Christian assured me that these Lake Trout have a short memory & that he had in the past gutted a fish and found two of his pieces of bait inside. Dumb fish - perhaps they were just lost!



We had a few bites, lost a few fish and eventually pulled up a couple of little guys each that were catch and returns and had declared that we would only wait until 1:30pm to see if something bigger came along. My feet were getting very cold & the wind began taking its toll. As is the way, after saying we were going to leave in 40 minutes Christian had a whopper on his line. It was a good fight but the Human won and we had a big guy to add to our catch to bring home & cook up!

Fish number 3 and the tools. What a good 'un!

With our catch! So stoked & a little cold!

Ice is cool.

Although there were other groups of fishermen and women it was amazing how peaceful the ice was. Standing facing away from the wind and watching the line with one eye and the majestic mountains really does give you some time to re-evaluate. Listening to the ice crack as you stand there (which apparently is fine????) makes you realise how insignificant you are, somewhat like watching a big open ocean. As Christian said, ice fishing is very Zen. Very Zen and very exhilarating at the same time. It is impossible to be anything but in the moment as you pull a fish carefully from the black hole in the ice.

WOW! 

I bought my fish home and was taught to gut it by another man at the hostel. So many lessons in one day! This was quite shocking how easy it is to pull out all the guts from a fish. However, once all the guts were out it was still quite a beautiful little guy. I couldn't wait to cook him up!

My friend Ali came out from Calgary for the night so we feasted on Baked Lake Trout (with butter, lemon, sage and garlic), Baked Potato and Sweet Potato Salad, Roasted Beatroot and Goats Cheese Salad and Green Salad. Yummy!

I think everyone in the Hostel heard about my big catch. I was pretty proud at this point of my wonderful dish. Though his eye was a little creepy!

And here are the remnants...

It was such an incredible day, an amazing new way to enjoy the mountains and a massive learning experience. I am very grateful to Christian for including me in his favorite activity, I'm sure I interrupted his Zen somewhat but definitely enjoyed the lessons taught (imagine these with a thick French accent!)

• Fish are not patient. Fishermen must be patient.
• Small bait is better for catching bigger fish. (I feel like this could extrapolate to some deeper meaning though I'm not sure what!)
• A soup ladle is critical to ice fishing. 

How cool are Snow Cats?

Just before Christmas, Coach Adam and I headed up to Lake Louise early, very early (actually 5:30 am is too early in my books!) to build the start section on which we will train for our Christmas Training Camp prior to the full course being ready for us in the New Year. With the help of a friendly and talented Cat Driver we managed to build a mound to put the start gate on, a small wu-tang and a couple of rollers. It was a pretty amazing experience being up on the hill in the dark watching the Cat move snow so quickly and effortlessly to create features. Here are some photos...

Adam chatting about the possible things we could construct.

Snow!

Temple mountain in the back ground as the Sun comes up...

"I'm going to eat you...." watching a Cat come towards you is a little frightening!

As you can see the views were pretty spectacular with the sun rising over those crazy Rocky Mountains! It was definitely a unique experience to be standing on the wu tang as the cat pushed more snow up. The accuracy of the Cat Driver was amazing. 

This experience also gave me a new appreciation of what it must take to build a full course for us to race on. The hours of Cat time, digging and planning that go into each course must be immense. At times as racers we can be quick to judge a course; complaining that it doesn't flow or the features are too small, too big, too rough etc. etc. However, I'm sure at each of those courses there were factors, including the amount and type of snow, the natural shape of the terrain, the amount of money and time available, that came to play and the builders did their best to create a challenging and manageable course. We racers should perhaps learn how to better deal with these different issues rather than determining that it was the course that was the problem. 

After a couple of test runs down the features prior to a final grooming we were satisfied that it would work for training & we headed off for some early lunch to fill the bellies after a cold morning out on the hill. Now I just can't wait to spend some time out there perfecting my starts and getting the legs moving!

Bring on the 27th of December & training camp Day 1!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Canmore in Alberta! I hope that I find everyone who reads this blog enjoying some good times with friends and family.

I tried to go ice skating today (Christmas Eve) and failed due to a shortage of skates in Canmore, playing Boot-Hockey was still fun! Though it is these times of the year that seem to be the hardest to be away from home. I'm definitely glad that modern technology will allow me to skype with the Family that remains in Australia & see their happy, suntanned faces!

Stay tuned for some photos and a blog about a recent experience building the start section of a boardercross course for us to train on at the post-Christmas training camp! It was pretty amazing watching the Cat work.

Eat up & be Jolly!

Walking in Canmore - a reminder why being away from family so worth it... It's so beautiful!

Sending well wishes for the "Holidays" from Canmore.

What we do when we are not snowboarding

Friday is official activities day in Canmore. After completing our final workout of the week it is time to have some fun & enjoy the fact that Saturday is solely for free-riding, sleeping, eating or whatever we please!

We start the "weekend" with team recovery in the form of cupcakes at a local cafe that bakes delicious gluten-free chocolate cupcakes with green tea icing.

Feeling a little guilty about the poor post work out recovery but enjoying the treat!

Friday afternoon is then for cooking, cleaning clothes (I have constructed a temporary clothesline in my room at the hostel) and cruising the shops. This past Friday I managed to get a uniform consisting of dress pants and a black shirt for my new job at the Thrift Store for $7.63!! I was pretty excited.

After all this down-time it is time for some fun-time. The Canmore Legion, the local Veterans Club/RSL, hosts a bingo night every Friday night. There are lots of corny jokes, decent cash prizes and $11.25 pitcher/jugs of beer - what more do you need to have a good time? After getting a handle on the bingo lingo, what a "dabber" is and all the crazy shapes that you need to get a "BINGO" I managed to pocket $7 with a little win with one line of the sandwich - don't ask me now what that is...!

Me with my winning card!!

Saturday is always a pretty mellow day riding at one of the hills and recovering from all the friday night frivolity!

My aforementioned job, at a restaurant in a hotel across the road from the hostel, may cut in to these fun times as I'm going to be working Friday and Saturday nights at least until mid January. However having some income is pretty important and I am looking forward to making a whole new group of acquaintances. I'm sure I will find some time to fit in extra-curricular activities. There are so many post snowboarding options - hot springs in Banff, bakery in Lake Louise and even skating on the town pod. if I can find some for a bargain around town. It is important to make sure that training is balanced out with some light entertainment. It is too easy to get really caught up in progress on the snow such that training becomes unproductive. Luckily I have great team mates and friends at the hostel to enjoy all the other things that the area has to offer.

Sending shouts of BINGO from Canmore.

November Powder Shred

Hi all,

Just thought I would post a few photos from training last week taken by team mate Gen.

Technical training was called off with over 60cm in a few days and the 'rock boards' were strapped on to our feet. Although there was a lot of fresh snow, these early snowfalls really demonstrate why these mountains are called the "Rockies". I hit a few big rocks and had a memorable cartwheel through a fairly decent rock garden. This resulted in bruises on my back and yet another reason why I should organise myself to get a back protector. All in all it was a great week training - lots of fresh pockets to be had & a few glory turns under the chairlift that evinced yelps from the viewers riding up!

Fun times...

Hiking up for some late morning fresh turns off the gondola. Unfortunately due to avalanche danger the back bowls at Louise weren't quite open - the snow is unusually wet and sliding to the ground at the moment.

From the right: Coach Mike, Josh and Myself getting ready to take some turns.

"Aussie Powder Turn" - generally involves commando rolling yourself in as much snow as possible at speed. Mike has perfected it - here I failed by not landing back on my feet but enjoyed the sweet taste of powder!

Pretty stoked that it is only November!!!! January is looking like it could be quite fun with this base that has been building up. We went up to Sunshine yesterday and it was fun to get back to hitting the little drops & jumps around the Standish lift. There was at times train rag-dolling due to a lack of skill at stomping jumps & lots of laughing at the attempts. Mike managed to show us all up yet again really sending a couple of hits a few times. It is pretty awesome riding with someone who is so talented every day, I feel like I'm learning so much!

Praying for more snow in Canmore.