Sunshine Village

Friday was an EDO (Earned Day Off, as they like to call it at Jacobs) & it was my first opportunity to head up to the Ski fields when you take advantage of  shorter lift lines & less chopping up of the runs. Shane had the day off as well, so it was on. Kira came along with us as well. Kira's the daughter of a guy that Shane & I have both worked with back in Oz & Shane is still quite friendly with them (they live over here now as well). It was Kira's first time snowboarding.

We reached Sunshine right on 8.30 and headed up to the village in the gondola nice & early. The photo above is what they call Sunshine Village. It's at the top of the gondola, but is the hub for most of the lifts.

It's always an advantage to get to the ski fields early. The runs haven't been chopped up & the lift lines are shorter. This applies in Oz & NZ as well.
We left Kira with the instructors & hit the mountain when there were next to no marks on the groomed runs & there lifts were clear. It was awesome! We had the place to ourselves & had an absolute belter of a day. The only downside was the minus 20 something temperatures. It was a small price to pay. Sunshine Village scored over 1/2 metre of snow last week & it showed. Notice the snow on the trees behind me in this photo. It was much better than when we were there last weekend.

This was the sight that greeted us when we headed up the first chair lift for the day. There was so much snow! And the day was as clear as I've seen it since we arrived in Canada. Beats the hell out of sitting at the office!
There are a couple of runs high up to the left of shot that were groomed in parts, but still had 30cm of powder. Having learned to snowboard on ice & chopped up runs in Oz & NZ, I had no concept of how to deal with it (and still don't). Apparently you have to change the way you balance & steer. I came of second best. I was traveling pretty fast, went to turn & dug the nose of the board into the powder. I must have tumbled about 6 times before I stopped. It rattled my confidence for a bit & I've got a sore neck & shoulders to show for it. It won't stop me going back & having another go!

This is what happens when 57cm of fresh snow falls in a matter of 3 days. Needless to say the outdoor tables weren't getting much use.

The mountain over to the left of picture is Goats Eye, where he wrecked his beloved snowboard on a rock & I'm lucky not to have done the same to mine. The lesson learnt, is not to get too excited when a run opens for the first time for the season.

Hot Chocolate with a Dash

My cousin, Mark, put me onto this one when we were in New Zealand snowboarding last year. It's a standard hot chocolate with a hearty dash of Brandy. Sounds odd, but it's really quite nice & gives you a warm feeling inside. Just the tonic when it's pushing -20 outside & your core temperature is low because you've been out snowboarding in it all morning. It's become a bit of a lunch time tradition for us.
Normally one at lunch is sufficient, but Shane ended up having about 4 on Friday after he destroyed his board. Can't blame him really.